The Blog of Death

So sad to waste a life and still go to hell.

This man served his country, both in the military and in the media. I'm grateful for his contributions.

I wrote for the BAR regularly from 1984-1996 and went thru at least four of the arts editors that Bob Ross abused and discarded, just as writers were, in turn, abused and discarded by the dozens. Bob Ross was a dreadful human being, a reactionary and a bigot; if it weren't for being queer, he'd have been in the John Birch Society. Actually, I'm not sure he wasn't in the John Birch Society anyway. Near the end of 12 years of service, I had received a raise of $10 per article I wrote for the BAR—but my story is only typical. It was one of Ross's follies to refuse to pay writers decently, and then to bitch to his editors how the paper couldn't find good writers. When it came to the paper and his staff, Ross was a venal, tyrannical SOB. His much-touted acts of personal charity for people with AIDS notwithstanding (why do rich people get extra credit for doing what is no more than morally right?), he also donated big money to the worst political causes and used the bully pulpit of his paper to shill for electoral candidates who, over the course of time, proved to be exactly the ones who labored to transform San Francisco into a mecca for the rich and to ruin it as a place where ordinary people could live, work, and prosper. If the BAR "contributed" to the "community," it did so in SPITE of Bob Ross and because many good writers and editors did their best to subvert his worst intentions – because mostly the BAR served Bob Ross. Many years ago, David Goodstein applied the phrase "toilet mentality" to his observation that many of the institutions in the “gay community” offered worse service, worse working conditions, or worse treatment than their mainstream counterparts, an expression, he felt, of internalized self-hatred. That was Bob Ross in a nutshell. For years, he gave an erratic drug addict the helm of his paper, unconcerned about how he treated editors or writers or about the fact that he hadn’t been able to write anything coherent for some time. The BAR prospered hugely from personal ads advertising drug-addled unsafe sex, even as Ross refused to run any safe-sex advertising for free; whatever was there was paid for by pharmaceutical companies and AIDS organizations. He was a working-class man who turned his back on working-class people, doggedly opposing, for example, every SINGLE tenants-rights initiative that was ever proposed in this city. He refused to endorse Tom Ammiano and, instead, became the unofficial gay campaign leaflet for Newsome’s racist and poor-bashing campaign for mayor. The attempt, in Ross’s obituaries, to link Ross with Harvey Milk is beyond disgusting, and even someone as revisionist and self-serving as Cleve Jones should know better. If Milk had lived, he’d have hated everything Bob Ross stood for. Ross is also given credit, in his death notices, for “founding The Tavern Guild,” but nowhere is mention made of the fact that The Tavern Guild hired union-busters the minute they caught wind of union organizing among the ranks of bartenders and waiters and thereafter blacklisted union members. Bob Ross was a kind of living fossil who clung to right-wing politics and a sleazy, old-style homosexuality while exploiting the need of gay people to communicate with each other and to find ways to be of service in the place where they lived. In the end, however, his biggest mistake was in failing to outlive the people who remember exactly what he really was.

i havent really met bob ross but I was so inspired by bob that im bob for hall of fame most of you probly dont know what that is but ill tell you. first you have to pick a perso that you like and has a good history then you do reserch on that particular person then they grade you on your performance. Any one willing to help me get reserch on bob.send me mail...

thanks,

good job , didn't know he was gay. thought it. didn't know. any way RIP BOB

Wendell,

Just found out that Ross died. You are right on target in your comments. He was a dreadful reactionary bastard and contrary to that lying obituary in the Examiner Bob Ross was on Harvey Milk's list of people that he NEVER wanted to see take his place. It was a short list and Bob was right up near the top of it. I brought this up in 1999 when I was having an exchange on capital punishment with BAR and they tried to laugh it
off without a real denial. Just picked up BAR
last night for the first time in ages and saw
his name listed in the past tense, so I suspected
he croaked but it's good to have confirmation.
Unfortunately the dreadful Feinstein boot licker
and SFPD whitewasher Friday is still pounding his
center-right bilge.

I BELIEVE THAT ANY KIND PERSON DERSERVES RESPECT. IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT SOME OF THE COMMENTS POSTED HERE ARE NEGETIVE. WHAT IS WITH THE BULLSHIT? HOW COULD ANYONE FIND A BAD WORD TO SAY ABOUT BOB ROSS? UNLESS YOU KNEW HIM PERSONALLY, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING... THE NEXT TIME YOU HAVE A BAD THOUGHT ABOUT SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW, THINK OF BOB ROSS AND SMACK YOURSELF ACROSS THE FACE... IF YOUR LUCKY YOU'LL WAKE UP!!!!

RIMA

I have to thank bob for giving me something to do with my art. I lost my leg in a RTA and am house bound. It has saved my sanity. THANK YOU BOB and RIP

I have been watching Bob on the TV for years. I don't care that he was Gay I don't care that some employee thinks he was an &*$%#@ whatever.If you felt that way and continued to work for him then you are the stupid one. He has brought a lot of joy & talent to many people that would not have had the courage to try to paint without his teaching and kind words on these shows. Classes are still being taught in his name and for that I and may others are very greatful. Where ever you are Bob I Love what you have done. Janis, Colorado

Janis has inhaled far to many paint fumes, you moron!!! This is for Bob Ross the publisher, not painter. Bob Ross the gay rights activist and the publisher of the Bay Area Reporter, died on Dec. 10 from complications of diabetes. He was 69. Janis needs to learn to read and get her facts straight. This is about the Bob Ross the PUBLISHER!
Not the Bob Ross (October 29, 1942 - July 4, 1995) that was a grandmaster American oil painter who primarily practiced the finer, more respectable arts of relaxation and kindness. The sale out painter that distilled the artistic process into steps and by keeping the number of colors to a minimum, grew to be one of the few artists whose name is associated with the "wet on wet" technique: the progressive addition of oil or watercolor to a canvas without wasting enormous amounts of time waiting for content to dry.

RIP bob, Austin here loves man meat!

Thank you for the nice comments and I respect the negative views as well. Bob was my uncle.Hey, will the man from Fairbanks please write me back thelmaswin@yahoo.com

The latest entry of the 23trd. december 2003 by Bob turnes my stomach. I'm sorry that this entry has been here since.

To Austin on Mar, 2006.You're the MORON. Do you feel better now that you let everybody know that your an asshole? Your comment to Janis COULD have resembled something that was nice, like: " Oh, you silly goose! It's Ross the publisher, not the painter." But noooooooo. You had to come out of nowhere and totally degrade and insult this person with your idea of an "intelligent" comment. You're an angry person with nothing better to do. Get some help you self-loathing, hateful bastard.

Thank you Bob, you are somebody to tribute, God bless you forever.