Admired Work

Bourdain

I am trying to find words for my friend. I will post something here later if they ever come. For now, just know how much Tony Bourdain — for all his wit and sharp edges, for all his grandiose and larger-than-life persona — was a genuinely good man and careful colleague. And that doesn’t begin to express how empty the world feels this morning.

 

***

Also, I have been banned from Twitter, and as I am at this moment indifferent to removing the tweets they insist are violative of their rules, it is unclear when I will return to that framework.  So I’m hoping that if I post anything remotely meaningful about Tony, others will do me the favor of linking it beyond this digital cul de sac.

Suffice to say that while you can arrive on Twitter and disseminate the untethered and anti-human opinion that mothers who have their children kidnapped and held incommunicado from them at the American border are criminals — and both mother and child deserve that fate — or that 14-year-old boys who survive the Holocaust are guilty of betraying fellow Jews when there is no evidence of such, you CANNOT wish that the people who traffic in such vile shit should crawl off and die of a fulminant venereal rash. Slander is cool, brutality is acceptable. But the hyperbolic and comic hope that a just god might smite the slanderer or brutalizer with a deadly skin disorder is somehow beyond the pale.

Die of boils, @jack.

Seriously.  As far as I’m concerned, your standards in this instance are exactly indicative of why social media — and Twitter specifically — is complicit in transforming our national agora into a haven for lies, disinformation and the politics of totalitarian extremity. The real profanity and disease on the internet is untouched, while you police decorum.

 

50 Comments

  • I’m sorry for your loss, and ours. So many others have said it already, but respected all cultures and wanted to bring us all together through food. He respected art and writing, was a fine writer himself, and always walked the walk.
    And fuck Twitter. Look at who @jack-off follows if you want to know why you are banned and actual Nazis are allowed to flourish.

  • Yes, fuck Twitter and I’m sorry they treated you like that. But if I were to be honest, in a totally selfish way, those of us who’ve been early followers of this cul de sac are happy to have you back to ourselves.

  • Strange that I feel such an acute loss because of the death someone I never met. Yet I Feel like I knew him. Does that count? That just shows you how strong his influence/ his goodness / his teachings spread. He was much more than a chef/tv personality. He taught us that through food/ travel and basic understanding of others, we are all just…humans. He will be well missed. Thank u for being his friend.

  • I did see that you were not on Twitter but I thought perhaps there was a family vacation with school being over. Twitter allows the most vile things -I was not banned- I have been shutdown for 12 or 24 hours- perhaps my regular pointing out of people who post hate and bigotry but have Christian in their bio. How will I find new heights of fine cursing with you missing?? How will I know where to eat on my next Baltimore trip(near the Senator – to see a movie in a historic theater) or if there is exciting Silver Spring news to share?? Coming here is an option, I know. And Boils are biblical – part of the ten plagues!

  • I’m so sorry about the loss of your friend.
    I was afraid you might cancel your trip to Austin in the wake up of it. Thank you for coming to Austin despite the shock and grief you must have been experiencing. You said so many great things in your panels. What helped me the most was your dad’s advice: everyday you gotta wake up and kill a few snakes. You can’t kill all of them, but you can kill a few. You have killed so many snakes in your work: racism, the atrocities evolved from chain of command, the insidious nature of how power is routed, the dark side of capitalism. It informs my work as a mental health provider. It has given me edges and sensitivities I didn’t know I had. I remember when you refused to do Twitter because 140 characters could easily allow you to be taken out of context. Despite your reservations, you got on Twitter with a razor sharp machete and started sleighing snakes. I am so proud of you!

    • I’m sorry I got hustled away to do publicity after each panel. Next time we plan better. Iron Works or Franklin or whatever you prefer. Very good to meet you finally.

  • Is there a way to sign up for your communiqués outside of the Twitterverse?? I’d gladly sign up for an email newsletter or some such correspondence. Keep on fighting the good fight, Mr. Simon!

  • I interviewed Tony Bourdain often over the years, we first met in 2001 in Philadelphia (before he became TV superstar Anthony Bourdain) and he always remembered it. When we talked in 2011 and he told me he was going to write for Treme. He had such joy in his voice and was really excited. Such a nice, smart, funny, kind, generous man. I’m really going to miss him, and I’m not ever deleting his number. from my cellphone. http://blogs.delawareonline.com/secondhelpings/2011/02/16/anthony-bourdain-wears-jammies-would-write-for-treme-naked-appaulds-marc-vetri/

  • Bourdain’s death affected me deeply yesterday, a feeling made more acute by the evidence that it was deliberate. At first, I wondered at mourning the death of the stranger. But returning to his writing and interviews, I found myself spirited away by his warmth and curiosity and intelligence. I can only imagine how this news must have felt to those who knew him. My thoughts are with his loved ones.

    Also: die of boils, @Jack. I’d like to highlight that, as of this writing, Laura Loomer is still spewing racist venom on your platform.

  • I thought of you the moment the news of Mr Bourdain’s death was announced, around 4am in Australia. I’m so sorry for your loss. I will miss your daily insights on Twitter, your persistent humanity and righteous anger. You were always right to give it to those loud mouthed Twitter ghouls, in exactly the way that you gave it. Thankyou to you and your wonderful friend Tony.

  • Sent a few FYYFFs out into the ether when I read of your banishment, comrade.
    My condolences on your loss. Our reserves of genuine cantankerous foul-mouthed big-hearted articulate flesh and blood humans seem far too finite this dark night.
    Putting my queer shoulder back to the wheel.

  • I went looking for your tweet today for the certain comfort and continuity I needed. He’s breaking up a family of sorts, mistaking civility for sensitivity. Someone needs to tell him the first is worthless, the latter essential.

  • I left the house this morning to the news that Tony Bourdain, who has given me so many hundreds of hours of delight and guidance, had left us. Now I come home and find out that David, who has been a beacon unto the righteous in this plague year, is banned for speaking truth. In David’s honor: die of boils, Twitter.

  • This is a travesty. We are on your side! Your’s is one of the few accounts that make twitter worth it. Hope to have you back soon.

  • Miss your posts already, especially today, and in this slough of despondency. You’re a beacon of clarity. Can’t thank you enough for your passion and eloquence.

    Last week, as I read your angry words, I almost wrote you, but it seemed inappropriate. I worried that all of this intensity would start to get to you. Hope it hasn’t and that you know how much good you do.

  • Oh no, oh no, your tweets keep me sane. You have the words I need. Will you be back?

    And yes, the loss of Anthony Bourdain is a sad, sad thing. I’m sorry for your loss and ours.

  • I’m terribly sorry for the loss of your friend, Anthony Bourdain. I really loved watching his show on CNN. He seemed so down to earth & just really cool, for lack of a better word. This world, the way it is, is sometimes too cruel for a person with a heart. What this administration has done to our country is beyond deplorable. May his spirit be with you & I will light a candle for both of you tonight for I understand the loss completely. ???

  • Just when I think reality can’t get any stranger, I read your post. I just don’t understand this thing we call reality anymore.

  • I feel for u, both in your loss and in your frustration. It is maddening that people can disseminate lies without consequences. It is aggravating that good manners is valued over honesty. Politeness is the weapon of the enfrachised, who kill with kindness and perpetuate their harmful agenda behind the veil of civility.

  • I always find that a Twitter banning results from not enough swastikas in your posts.
    Fucking @jack-off.

  • It is absolutely nuts that Twitter has banned you. I hope you’ll be able to return soon, although I wouldn’t fault you for being done with that contrarian cesspit.

  • I don’t know you, have never heard of you before Tom Colicchio linked to your post, but I just wanted to add a “Fuck yes!” here and briefly revel in the realization that there are other people with clues still left in this world. Thanks for that, especially on a day when that world sucks a whole lot more than I wanted or needed it to.

  • Fuck decorum when the house is on fire. Hitler hated dirty jokes and profanity, and look how far that got Germany. Twitter is the asshole saying Auschwitz-Birkenau just needs a splash of paint and some new drapes to liven the place up. As for Bourdain, from one traveler to another, RIP. He was a force for good in the world. He showed that Americans can look beyond themselves. He showed that rather than fear other cultures, we can celebrate them. No one represented Americans the way he did on TV. Doubtful anyone will again.

  • I’m so sorry about your friend’s death. A genuinely good man, it seems, in a world full of the opposite.

    I’ve savored your tweets and fabulously insulting words and have appropriated one or two. Will follow you here.

  • I really 100% believe that @jack allows twitter to be overrun with white supremacists because he is one himself.

  • A beloved man, Anthony transported us to new cultures and educated with a real elegance. Truly gifted and you could see he really lived passionately through the people, food and experiences he shared. I never met him, I admire and adore him. He lived in the moment and that I understand. Give all of yourself to every experience, be present and remain intuitive. A gifted man who will be missed but his contributions to the greater good and unity of others will live in our hearts, souls and memories. Bless you Anthony, rest in peace.

  • I check your twitter feed every day, for the humour, and the humanity. You’ll be missed. I hope you come back, but fuck Jack if you don’t. Take care man.

  • Indeed this morning feels empty knowing that Bourdain is no longer with us – that we will no longer receive the pleasure of watching his unique style, and wit.
    Sorry to here that you are off Twitter. When I was on, your feed was where I found the most entertainment/thoughtful discussion. But I banned myself from Twitter as I was overtaken with the feeling that I was part of the problem. It was just too easy to feel burned and then send that anger out into the Twitterverse without even gathering my thoughts on the subject. Also, if Trump is there, then it’s probably not a place I want to be. Still, it is the modern battlefield, and I sometimes feel that I’m missing out. I’m hoping that eventually places like this blog, where thoughtful words are put together into meaningful sentences will be come the new “in” thing – but I do have an over-active imagination and this fantasy doesn’t seem to be the direction we are headed in…

  • Thought of you when I heard the news of Mr. Bourdain’s passing. I’m so sorry for your loss. May you, and everyone who loves him, find some measure of peace and comfort in your memories of him.

  • “And that doesn’t begin to express how empty the world feels this morning.” …..

    I never met Tony but through his books and TV shows, felt I knew him well. He exposed me to so many parts of the world – people, foods, ideologies, and cultures – that went beyond what I read in social studies and history books (my wife and I visited South Carolina earlier this spring and re-watched his episode on Charleston before going because who better to show travelers where you needed to go). Above all, he was a masterful storyteller …… He was an incredible writer.

    This hurts a lot. Thanks to you and Laura for sharing your memories with him.

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