Today is the 11th anniversary of commenter FredHJr’s death
[NOTE: The following is a somewhat revised version of a post that has appeared previously on this blog.]
Unbelievable that it’s been eleven years since commenter FredHJr died suddenly and tragically. As time passes, the number of readers here who don’t remember Fred must necessarily increase, so for those of you who don’t know who FredHJr was, please see this and this, as well as these.
Fred’s death was extremely tragic for his family. But it was tragic for this blog, too, because he was an invaluable and irreplaceable member of our community, a “changer” who knew a lot about the Left, and a keen observer of politics, history, religion, culture—of life itself. I still think about him often, wondering what he’d have to say about everything that’s happened in these last eleven years.
Every year on the anniversary, I offer some excerpts from his many comments here.
This comment is from October 18, 2008, just a few weeks before Obama was elected president for the first time:
It’s the Marxist/Leninist ethics of expediency. No regrets. Whatever it takes to discredit anything the other side does and excuse the sins of your own side.
…this reveals a lot about who is about to take power and how they will wield it against the rest of us. They get away with it and many will not at all be troubled by it because they are shaped by the post-modernism, cultural Marxism that they imbibed during their formative and educational experience. If we as a people cannot name this accurately and expunge its corrosive influence over our lives, then down into the wages of perdition and disaster we go.
The comment is from October 28, 2008. The election was getting close:
Obama is part of a nexus of interests. What the American dopes who will put him in office are getting is a NETWORK of alliances and interests, running the gamut from Finance (Soros) to academia to media to law. Thus far, in order to appeal to the Middle Muddle he has been packaged as a moderate or centrist. But once in office the venomous swarm of this network will burst out of the nest and devour the host. You wait and see. And I’m not eager for the moment to say “I told you so.” I really would it be the case that it never happens at all.
This was a comment of Fred’s from the very beginning of the Obama presidency, but I think it’s worth mulling over today:
For me, Western Civilization is an incredibly complex work that has eclectically and also seamlessly borrowed the excellence and the virtues of Athens, Jerusalem, Rome, and the Enlightenment. The High Middle Ages and the Renaissance also made important contributions. In its totality it is a meritocracy and a liberation of humanity that has resulted in ever greater learning and material prosperity and health for most of the people who live under it. It is not an unblemished history. Yet in its totality it gleams with advancement when juxtaposed against civilizations which enslave humanity.
I think the beginning of the end of our civilization began with the French Revolution and The Terror. It was the beginning of the elaboration of totalitarian thought and throughout the 19th century this kept on finding newer permutations of elegant, intellectual terror. The 20th century was the culmination of the barbarity of totalitarianism.
These are chosen somewhat randomly, but so very much of what I looked at that Fred had written was on target.
RIP Fred, and may your family be comforted in their grief. We miss you.
There have been other commenters here who may have died, and I would like to mention them too, but for no one else did I actually get official word of that person’s death. One commenter who comes to mind is “strcpy,” who announced that he was very ill and then disappeared shortly thereafter, about ten years ago. I wrote him an email but never heard back, and I fear he’s gone. But I don’t know for sure. Another prolific commenter who disappeared many years ago was Occam’s Beard. I was never able to contact him after that, and so I fear something tragic may have happened.
There may be others, as well. I wouldn’t necessarily find out. Sometimes people just stop commenting because they get busy or they get tired or they get turned off. But it stands to reason some of them will have died. So I’ll take this opportunity to say RIP for all of them.
I knew all those commenters, to the extent we can know one another in this medium. Thank you for continuing to remember them.
I can’t remember exactly when or how I found this blog but I fondly remember the Sanity Squad podcast days, so it was no later than 2006. Regardless of how infrequently I comment, this blog and its comments are part of my daily routine, and I appreciate the quality of this community… a bunch of people trying to make sense of these “interesting times” and cling to what remains of the Enlightenment. 🙂
I remember Fred, insightful and feet on the ground. RIP
I do remember Fred and the others, I have been coming around here for about 15 years, this was one of the early sites that I really followed. A lot of us are getting a bit older and that is the way it works. Thank you Neo for reminding us once more about Fred and the others.
I think I started coming here post Fred, but I sure would have liked to have known him.
He lives because we live…
Most never have that much in life let alone death…
Amazing how long..
Rest in peace
I remember those you cited and the 3 comments you highlighted were truly (sadly) prescient. I appreciate that you mark this occasion, continuing to honor the memory of a person who shared wisdom and reason. You are a remarkable host in so many admirable ways.
The monuments that can never be effaced are the ones inscribed on our hearts.
Thanks for keeping Fred’s memory alive, as a representative of this community.
Well, I’m 77 and will join the ranks of deceased commenters at some point. Meanwhile I am in excellent health having been Red Pilled out of the “Standard American Diet” by Dr Annette Bosworth and gotten away from killing myself with too many carbohydrates. (No I am not spamming you – relax) So I fast regularly, stay in ketosis and enjoy greatly improved physical health and mental clarity. EXAMPLE: I don’t remember Fred, but reading the above examples of his comments I only realise now that he may have been way ahead of my efforts to understand the “beginning of the end of our civilisation” when he points to the French Revolution as the inflection point. Nietzsche’s “God is dead and we have killed him” is another, but points to a later moment when it became obvious that the West had lost contact with its roots and its fate was sealed.
Lorenz speaks the truth. Not spamming you either.
And I am a doctor, so you can trust me! 😉
CARBS KILL.
Lots of places you can learn all you want about it: dietdoctor.com, Terry Wahl’s Ted talks, a fellow named Bernstein’s book decades ago. A book I recommend to anyone dealing with autoimmune issues is Steve Gundry’s Plant Paradox.
Atkins was right!
What a wonderful remembrance, again, Neo. Like Sharon says, you’re an exceptional host (hostess? funny how it’s not hostman, so no need for hostwoman).
I’m reminded that you also have a great blogroll. One of my own favorite liberals was Norm Geras, who died in 2013 – his daughter put up an announcement on his blog. https://normblog.typepad.com/
Any who want a great book recommendation can look at Norm’s recommendation – his last list of 100 books seems excellent. It’s fairly special, as he says.
I recall FredHJr, too — with many insightful comments.
Since I was working with 4 kids much of the time, I left fewer comments. But Neo so often chooses to comment on stories I would like to comment about, my habit is to come here daily (almost), tho not always read ALL the comments. (This year almost all of them, tho).
While warnings about coming problems are good, proposing solutions is much harder. I claim the key problem is the Democrat control of
education, er, indoctrination. Hiring discrimination against Republicans should be illegal, especially at colleges, and most especially those colleges getting Federal loans for their students, or Research, or tax-exempt status.Allowing colleges to discriminate against Reps has metastasized into accepting their demonization of Republicans, as well as Christians/pro-life folk, Whites, and Men. Polarization is an inevitable result of the demonization.
I’m still around… 😀
Don’t post as much, but I still visit regularly.
Here’s the thing….IMHO
Wild crazy, young, impetuous, violent, unreasonable, irrational, birds of a feather
tend to be just facing their first soupcon of reality after years of ….school.
Experienced, wisened by time and repeated observation, compassionate without blind tolerance, repeatedly reexamined and reasoned….well, such folk tend to be…old. Too old.
I don’t comment that often, but this blog has been one of my daily go-to sites for a long time. I well remember FredHJr, strcpy, and Occam’s Beard and the other commenters mentioned.
On another note, I agree with Tom Grey that the biggest problem we have today is the leftist (democrat) control of “indoctrination”. However, I would add that it not only includes the schools and academia, but also, and most importantly, the media. The left has an almost complete lock on our mainstream news sources – including, unfortunately, Fox News.
“…the venomous storm that will break out of the nest and devour…”
God Bless your incisive truth telling, FredH..!!
Thanks Much, Neo!!
Lee:
See this .
Eleven years since FredHjr passed. Oh my! Time flies and it flies faster as one gets older. I remember Fred well and Occam’s and strpcy. Fred, as a changer, had deep insight into the mind and methods of the left. His warnings have, unfortunately, been all too true.
I have come to regard you and your many faithful commenters as friends. Even though I’ve not met anyone in person, I feel like I would immediately hit it off with most who comment here. This has been like a prolonged conversation, which has not only been interesting, but very educational for me. I’m not as well read or historically educated as many here are. I spent most of my adult life mastering the skill of flying, attempting to be a skilled rock climber, and when too old to climb at high levels, to be a decent fly fisherman. My interests have been mostly in doing things outdoors. It’s only been these last 19 years (since 9/11) that I have read blogs and learned how little I knew of history and literature.
I still read many blogs, but because my eyesight is so bad now (writing a comment is quite laborious), this is the only blog that I comment on.
It’s a very nice thing that you take the time to remember FredHjr and others. It’s what makes your blog a special place.
I wonder what FredHJr would say about the upcoming election:
-massive Democratic mail ballot fraud is coming
-if Trump is re-elected, the howls will make the recent “protests” with their looting, arson and other felonies seem like an extensive, prolonged picnic. Anarchist Antifa and Marxist BLM continue to organize their networks, with serious funding, but from whom? If I were Xi and the CCP, I’d be funding!
-if senile Biden wins, the Senate will surely also be lost, so we will have a totalitarian country from inauguration January 2021.
I do not think FredHJr would be optimistic about ANY outcomes favorable to the survival of the constitutional American Republic. I’m not either.
J.J.:
I very much appreciate your presence, and that of everyone here.
Wow–Fred was pithy!!
May his memory be for a blessing.
and the last anniversary