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239 Comments
- funkyjunk3, on 01/18/2008, -13/+329One of the great chess geniuses of the world. He was an amazing chess player.
Interesting note: age 64 - the number of squares on a chessboard. - frobozz0, on 01/18/2008, -21/+115Good riddance.
His genius for Chess devolved into a paranoid delusion of self hate and anger towards anyone that would listen.
It's okay to admire his intelligence and early success, but pretending like he didn't hate all jews and endorse the attacks of 9/11 on America as welcome would be, sadly, ignorant. But I suppose most obituaries omit the bad stuff ... - Predater, on 01/18/2008, -9/+92e2-e4 RIP Fischer
- goblindegook, on 01/18/2008, -11/+87If by "politically incorrect" you mean "***** insane", then yes. He was a great chess player, though.
- Verchiel77, on 01/18/2008, -10/+77Fischer went fairly far beyond "politically incorrect."
- oldhick, on 01/18/2008, -14/+81Denying the holocaust is courageous? Admiring the 9/11 hijackers and wishing that America had been completely wiped off the map (more deaths) is courageous?
Its easy to confuse the courage to stand up for what you believe in with the arrogance of believing that you alone are worthy of living and that those that disagree with you are worthy of death. I don't find the latter courageous in anyway. I find it a bit disturbing and I genuinely feel sorry for Bobby Fischer. Imagine the isolation and the loneliness he must have felt to wish that pain and suffering on so many people. - z3r0c0O1, on 01/18/2008, -9/+72Fischer was one weird dude. But he was also one smart ***** as well.
- catalysis, on 01/18/2008, -18/+78He called for the "execution of hundreds of thousands of American Jews." Sorry, if I don't feel bad that this guy is gone.
- diggerydoo471, on 01/18/2008, -27/+80Checkmate.
- a2fan, on 01/18/2008, -6/+57I hear before he died, he was complaining of chess pains.
- inactive, on 01/18/2008, -16/+62Of course he was anti-US. It was ridiculous that a US citizen couldn't visit a foreign country to _play a game_ against another person. International sanctions like that _should_ be ignored. OH NOES HE PLAYED CHESS IN YUGOSLAVIA, DEPORT!
- AndersenWatcher, on 01/18/2008, -11/+55I can has ur Nazi books?
- petebot, on 01/18/2008, -7/+49You just blew my mind...
- Scopitone, on 01/18/2008, -10/+44I USED to like this guy
* "I say death to President Bush, I say death to the United States. ***** the United States, ***** the Jews, the Jews are a criminal people, they mutilate their children, they are murderous, criminal, thieving, lying, bastards. They made up the Holocaust, there's not a word of truth to it. They are the worst liars and bastards. And now, what goes around, comes around, they're getting it back, finally. Praise God... Hallelujah, this is a wonderful day. ***** the United States. Cry, you crybabies! Whine, you bastards! Now your time is coming! The US is getting what is coming to it. This is just the beginning."
— Speaking on Bombo Radyo, September 11, 2001
* "There is no United States as people think of it. It's just a puppet in the Jew's hands. It's a plaything for the Jews."
— Speaking on Bombo Radyo, Philippines
Haha-
* "I'm very concerned because I think the Jews want to drive the elephants to extinction ... because the trunk of an elephant reminds them of an uncircumcised penis. ... I'm absolutely serious about that."
— Speaking on Bombo Radyo, Philippines - Verchiel77, on 01/18/2008, -2/+35Pretty clearly anti-jewish, actually.
__________________________
"From the 1980s, however, his hatred for Jews was a major theme of his public remarks. He denied the "Holocaust of the Jews," announced his desire to make "expos[ing] the Jews for the criminals they are [...] the murderers they are" his lifework, and argued that the United States is "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards." [45]
In 1999, he gave a call-in interview to a radio station in Budapest, Hungary, during which he described himself as the "victim of an international Jewish conspiracy." Fischer's sudden re-emergence was apparently triggered when some of his belongings, which had been stored in a Pasadena, California storage unit, were sold by the landlord, who claimed it was in response to nonpayment of rent. Fischer interpreted this as further evidence of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy perpetrated by "the Jew-controlled U.S. Government" to defame and destroy him.[46] "
Re: 9/11--
Informed that "the White House and Pentagon have been attacked", he proclaimed "This is all wonderful news."[49][50] Fischer stated "What goes around comes around even for the United States"[49][50] and said that if the U.S. fails to change its foreign policy, it "has to be destroyed." After calling for President Bush's death, Fischer also stated he hoped that a Seven Days in May-type military coup d' etat would take over power in the U.S. and then execute "hundreds of thousands of American Jewish leaders", "arrest all the Jews" and "close all synagogues".
-----------------------
Not sure how you could spin such ravings to be a political critique of zionism. - fuzzmeister, on 01/18/2008, -4/+31Having different views does not automatically make you courageous.
- Anorexorcist, on 01/18/2008, -1/+28The search is over...
- Unclekoolaid, on 01/18/2008, -8/+33I heard an interview with an author who wrote a book on Bobby Fischer, I wasn't aware that if not for chess he probably would have gone insane, he was very very intelligent and almost too smart for his own good. He eventually became very anti-American and later moved to Iceland.
- Wargalas, on 01/18/2008, -31/+56On Sept. 11, 2001, he told a radio talk-show host in Baguio, the Philippines, that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were "wonderful news," adding he was wishing for a scenario "where the country will be taken over by the military, they'll close down all the synagogues, arrest all the Jews and secure hundreds of thousands of Jewish ringleaders."
So ***** HIM. I'm glad you're dead Bobby. Less people in the world like you make the world a better place. - weeeezzll, on 01/18/2008, -6/+31Thus begins the conspiracy theories....
- obediah, on 01/18/2008, -5/+25Fischer most likely was insane. There is significant correlation between chess mastery and schizophrenia. Both a symptom of a hyper active/connective brain.
- melonhedd, on 01/18/2008, -11/+30Jews did it.
- inactive, on 01/18/2008, -9/+28Anti-jewish or anti-Zionist?
- anderzole, on 01/18/2008, -6/+25An amazing chess player who brought in a new way to look at chess. Turned into a grade-A freak tho. Ah, the classic case of the child prodigy.
- DanShapiro, on 01/18/2008, -1/+19He also dared to claim he was the victim of an international Jewish conspiracy, denied the holocaust, and celebrated September 11th. Doesn't mean he was right, it just means he was a loon.
- redcard, on 01/18/2008, -2/+19A special mixture of the two.
He believed ALL Jews were Zionists, by nature. (Which, ironically, included himself.) He didn't use the "ZION" moniker much at all.. simply being Jewish was MORE then enough. - weeeezzll, on 01/18/2008, -1/+18elephant trunk = uncircumcised penis thing is too funny....
- napo79, on 01/18/2008, -11/+27There are plenty of crazy geniuses in this world. Many of whom have done worse than Fischer. If he wasn't a chess champ, he's just be one more lunatic spouting off insane hatred. Nothing he said outside of chess since 1975 made any sense, and should be kept separate from the genius of his chess career.
To say "***** him" is so ignorant. It would be like being happy when some crazy old bum that yells at people in the park finally drinks himself to death in a gutter. That's what Bobby Fischer had become, except that he had his name. - oldhick, on 01/18/2008, -3/+19He was both anti-American and anti-semitic. He was a holocaust denier and he praised the 9/11 hijackers and wished they had succedded in "wiping America" off the map. He held no love for the preciousness of human life and the sorry felt by those touched by tragedy. Insane or sane, I don't know.
- T8erT0T, on 01/18/2008, -3/+19And a follow up to this tragic death, his epitaph will read
"He can finally play his game Jew free." - TheVirus, on 01/18/2008, -2/+17It's not a race. Getting front page'd does not make you a better person. One of the greatest chess players in the world is dead and all you care about is getting your story dugg.
- Moshcrates, on 01/18/2008, -5/+19Nice grab.
eeiry - bolerobell, on 01/18/2008, -3/+17Kasparov himself has said that Fisher was probably the best player in the world, ever.
- fmaxwell, on 01/18/2008, -0/+13Why would you hate someone for becoming mentally ill? He was a paranoid, tormented, psychotic recluse who was unable to function in society. And you hate him for it.
- weeeezzll, on 01/18/2008, -3/+16ZOMG he destroyed democracy by playing chess!!!
The government used ''Pingpong diplomacy' with China, but Chess is treason...lol - asa400, on 01/18/2008, -1/+13RTFA. It didn't "omit the bad stuff." And I don't see anyone here praising his admittedly insane views. He is, however, an important historical figure. For chess fans, it's sad to see him go.
FTA: "He hit world headlines again after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.
In an interview to a radio station in the Philippines, he described the attacks as the "wonderful news"."
- Ndiggnation, on 01/18/2008, -3/+13Interesting that you say that. I have a childhood friend who is borderline schizophrenic. His mind races constantly, on everything. One of the only things (other than medications) that keeps focused and somewhat sane is Chess. He's played since he was very young and hangs out at college campuses in our city so that he can play chess with masters that come through. He routinely beats them..
It's about all he'll talk about at times, and is the only reason I know anything about chess. His obsession is so great though, it's why I don't want to know more about it. :) - Whence, on 01/18/2008, -3/+12Welcome to life.
- 3drage, on 01/18/2008, -12/+21Not Anti-American, just anti-jewish.
- colonelbuckshot, on 01/18/2008, -1/+9I read recently that he was in hospital with kidney problems, refusing treatment, "showing strong signs of paranoia". He probably thought the Jews were trying to kill him.
- weeeezzll, on 01/18/2008, -4/+12So he was encouraging small scale genocide? Big deal!!
- weeeezzll, on 01/18/2008, -3/+11Because our mother taught us "If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all..."
:P - norbiu, on 01/18/2008, -5/+13And the number of your diggs
http://tinyurl.com/2olqcu
This is getting weird. - Klepto21, on 01/18/2008, -1/+9AND the number squared of replies he's gotten!
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9827/picture3dn2. ...
Conspiracy...GO! - fmaxwell, on 01/18/2008, -3/+10As I read through the comments here, I am sickened by the ignorance and lack of compassion that many of them display.
Bobby Fisher's anti-semitism and his associated remarks about 9/11 were a direct result of his ever-worsening mental illness. That mental illness is what lead him to drop out of competitive chess playing after his brilliant matches in the 1970s. It's why he become a recluse, shunning most human contact. It's is how he became a paranoid, deluded shell of the man he had once been.
Instead of hating Fisher for things that his mental illness caused him to believe, hate the system that lets a genuine intellectual hero's mental illness go untreated for decades. Hate the fact that he could have remained a functional, brilliant human being if he had just had the medications and psychiatric care that he so desperately needed.
I recommend the Atlantic Monthly's article "Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame": http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200212/chun - Raian, on 01/18/2008, -4/+11You have to take his life in to account-- He just wanted to play Chess, and was forced to accept the ridiculous reality that prevented him from doing what he loved.
- rtjin, on 01/18/2008, -3/+10His mother, Regina Wender, was a naturalized American citizen of German Jewish descent.
[Wikipedia] - TalksInMaths, on 01/18/2008, -4/+11Everything about Fischer's life after his peak in the 70s has been a train-wreck! Even in later years, he mostly refused to play "standard" chess, insisting on his own time rules and he even invented new variations of chess (more squares) and would only accept challenges on these new boards. He basically alienated everyone in the chess world and his private life.
RIP BF - inactive, on 01/18/2008, -2/+9Maybe the greatest chess player ever. Although I am sorry for his death, I cant say he will be missed.
- colonelbuckshot, on 01/18/2008, -0/+7You're glad he's dead? His beliefs about the Jews sound as crazy to me as anybody, but I don't despise him wholesale for that. That's pretty vindictive.
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