Born in Newfoundland in 1947, his brilliance took him to Oxford in 1968 where he studied law for a year before returning to Canada to continue his education in English literature. Inasmuch as my familiarity with him is based almost exclusively on his articles in the National Post which he joined in 2010, I find it hard to believe, given the unwavering “conservatism” of those articles, that he had in fact had lengthy relationships with the CBC and Globe and Mail, each of which are prone to the very sort of mindless political correctness he so thoroughly despised.
Rex’s daily language, apparently, was as acerbic and colorful as the language of his weekly Post articles which I always anticipated with delight. In the various obituaries I have read since his death on May 9, he has repeatedly been described as a man of intelligence and charm, even by those whose politics were clearly not in line with his. Yet while he was no doubt constantly assailed with the usual assortment of cliched Leftist insults when he was alive, he was unwavering in his loyalty to the Rational, Humanist Principles of his “conservatism.” It was always clear in reading a Rex Murphy article that those who might call him a racist, white supremacist, etc., were doing so only because they were utterly devoid of reason or simple common sense.
Rex, you were the epitome of that Rationalism which the Enlightenment philosophers deemed essential to a truly Civilized world. I will miss your weekly insights on the insanity of the “woke” world of Entitlement bequeathed us by the contemporary Left. But while I mourn your passing, I am given hope by the many others who clearly share your commitment to Truth and Morality and are unafraid to express themselves. whatever the repercussions imposed by the defenders of Political Correctness. Who more perfectly epitomizes this category than Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the most courageous women on the planet and the subject of my next blog.