christopher hitchens

ljb · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:28 pm Post subject: christopher hitchens

i have a friend who supports the war and uses a lot of christopher hitchens thinking in his support. i can't stand christopher h. and i'm not sure exactly why. he just seems to be a pompous windbag at the moment. has anyone deconstructed his arguments and can put it to me in plainer language?

ljb

Echo · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:25 pm Post subject:

First of all I have to analize christopher hitchens. Then... maybe I'll tell you why he seems to be a pompous windbag.

When you say windbag, do you mean the ones that you inflate, put on a chair and wait for someone to sit on it, right Wink

?
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ljb · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject:

that's pretty funny, echo. and i also mean, by windbag, that he seems to use a lot of high fallutin language to express a simple idea. i'm not opposed to high fallutin language when it is in the service of humor or furthering irony, hyperbole or other literary tools. but ch just seems to use it in the service of what he perceives to be cleverness. i'm not sure what he's trying to further by using it other than his sense of his self importance and literary sophistication. in fact, i think it does his ideas a disservice.

ljb

Echo · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:47 pm Post subject:

I see where he stands... He uses the thesaurus a lot, that's where you see him "pompous". As for the air(bag), it's the breath you hear while he speaks bro!

No way, very misleading.
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ljb · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:56 pm Post subject:

are you saying that he's misleading or that i'm misunderstanding him.

ljb

Echo · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:29 pm Post subject:

Tell you what, I see two christopher hitchens here. One before the 911 and one after. Still digging. Some sentences seemed misleading. But more time is needed to see where he REALLY stands.
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ljb · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:47 pm Post subject:

that is right, echo. the leftist liberal of pre 911 and the christopher hitchens of now. try this link
http://www.slate.com/id/2121212/

linda

Echo · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 9:52 pm Post subject:

Thanks!
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Pepper · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:34 pm Post subject:

I have to say that Hitchens, a self labeled neocon, actually used the term towelheads in an article. Seems a bit bigoted to me.

Read This: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/eric-boehlert/the-dsm-and-the-meaning-o_3021.html

It seems that Hitchens supports war even if the United States was guilty of criminal behavior in Iraq.

ljb · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:18 am Post subject:

my friend says that part of hitchens' reasoning for support of the war is something along the lines of secularism vs. religiosity--that he thinks the iraqis, amongst other middle east countries, live in a backward, religious theocracy.

he also has some feelings about chickens coming home to roost in that we never learned from previous encounters with these folks and were actually sleeping with the enemy. this, according to my friend who apparantly can understand what hitchens is saying.

linda

Pepper · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:54 am Post subject:

It sounds like he understands the neocon argument well. Democracy cannot be imposed by force, so they're just clearing a few obstacles.

ljb · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:25 pm Post subject:

hee hee hee. yeah, i'll say. kind of like the recent supreme court decision that govt. can seize people's houses (i mean obstacles) when they get in the way of big business (i mean democracy)

linda

Echo · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:55 pm Post subject:

Thanks Linda, that makes it a lot clearer.
I would say that thinking someone's society "inferior" is only a point of view and it's not a reason good enough to go to war and kill thousands of innocent people.

I am with you here girl Smile

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