RIP, gin-soaked ex-Trotskyite popinjay

[sabotabby]

You know, I am truly and genuinely sad about Christopher Hitchens' death.

I've spilled a good number of pixels here bashing the man, and he entirely deserved it, but he was a complicated villain, and thus generally more interesting than the people I typically mock on his blog. He switched from the right side of history to the wrong one, but I can't forget that he wrote The Trial of Henry Kissinger or that he subjected himself to the same torture techniques that he endorsed, and having done so, changed his mind about them.

So yes, he was racist, misogynistic, and warmongering, but as far as racist, misogynistic warmongers go, I had a strange and twisted affection for the bastard. I'm sorry we don't have him to kick around anymore.

Comments

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Dude was reeeeeallll big on the post-9/11 "If we don't murder all the Muslims the West is doomed" rhetoric, like a lot of shitbags.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

My understanding was he was talking about ideology rather than ethnicity.

[sabotabby]

In real-world terms, there is not a clear distinction. My problem with the New Atheists in general is that they seem to support a continuation of Western imperialism and the White Man's Burden through other means.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I knew a racist element had embraced Hitchens, but I do not know whether or not he had encouraged it. I have not actually read that much Hitchens beyond his stuff on Mother Teresa and Henry Kissinger.

I thought Hitchens's throwing in with the Neo-Cons was stupefying since it is simply tarted up cynical Kissengerian realism without the Cold War nuclear restraints. Throughout the Cold War, the West had justified propping up despots by arguing that brown people were "not yet ready for democracy." Obviously, Neo-con rhetoric about "spreading democracy" said the opposite, so it was not overtly racist.

I saw through their democratic charade. I recalled that the Bush Administration told Saddam's reputedly more sadistic sons and generals that they could avert the invasion by handing him over, thus replacing one authoritarian puppet with another. Plus, Cheney, Rumsfeld and other Nixon alumni were in the Bush administration. The name John Negroponte says all you need to know about the honesty of their love of democracy and human rights. And of course, I remembered all the democratic rhetoric associated with liberating Kuwait during the first Gulf War.

I presumed Hitchens was bamboozled by the democratic rhetoric. Are you saying we was not? Granted, I was shocked by his position because I thought he was too smart to be fooled; and if anyone should have known better, it would be the author of The Trial of Henry Kissinger. If it was imperial cynicism on his part, it would certainly explain a lot.

Is Richard Dawkins linked to this imperialist impulse as well?

[sabotabby]

He took a right turn in the 90s and then a hard-right turn after 9/11. Hitchens, whatever else he was, does not strike me as stupid enough to be bamboozled by the likes of Bush. I would be more inclined to suspect cynical opportunism and a lack of empathy (remember, he insisted that waterboarding wasn't torture until he had it done to himself). Weirdly, Kissinger seems like a progressive next to the neo-cons Hitchens supported.

I would absolutely say that Dawkins is an imperialist. It's neither here nor there, but he also came down on the wrong side of Elevatorgate.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Well, fuck. Now I don't want to call myself "the Richard Dawkins of American History" anymore. Are there any comparably outspoken defenders of evolution that I can compare myself to? Specifically, ones that also say "fuck off."

It seems many of my questions about Hitchens have also been answered here ...

[sabotabby]

I think you're safe with PZ Myers. He's ornery and pulls no punches but seems to have pretty good politics and strikes me as an overall stand-up guy.

...I have been trying to get to that article all day and all I get is 404 Salon bollocks.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Check your emailbox. Yours via the miracle of cut & paste.

Apparently, the New Atheists have also clashed with Stephen Jay Gould and Tom Flynn, who I like (at least, that I know of).

[sabotabby]

A number of atheists, famous and otherwise, have problems with those guys. So do I. I find their views fundamentally contrary to what I find most valuable about secular humanism: inclusiveness, diversity, and a live-and-let-live attitude towards people's personal beliefs.

I mean, I like the idea of holding religion up to scientific scrutiny—it's a fun exercise—but no one is going to be convinced. NOMA as a philosophy makes far more sense to me.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I just now finished reading Tom Flynn's article "Why I Don’t Believe in the New Atheism". I guess I'll be re-reading his The Trouble with Christmas this holiday season.

Plus, Stephen Jay Gould was on The Simpsons.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Hitchens, whatever else he was, does not strike me as stupid enough to be bamboozled by the likes of Bush

On Real Time with BM, Hitch ranted on about how intelligent Bush was
and how ignorant his critics were. He then flipped off the booers.




Richard Dawkins linked to this imperialist impulse as well?

Well, he was against the Iraq invasion and "always votes left".

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

As I wrote sabotabby elsewhere:

I was surprised by that Dawkins map of Africa because when I saw his documentary Root of All Evil he says, "Clearly, historic injustice towards the Palestinians breeds hatred and anger." (Line at 43:00) In the U.S., that passing line would get him branded a "terrorist sympathizer." It would become a Fox News talking point.

The impression I got from the movie was that he was equally hostile to all religions and that he put suicide bombers in the same category with Christians who shoot abortion providers. By contrast, the map implies that he thinks one religion is a lesser evil. I would point out to him that the genocide in Rwanda happened on the Christian side of the map. It is even helpfully labeled for him.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Richard is from South Africa, yes? Anyway, it may be hard for Americans and British not to be literally blind to it.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

His post Hurricane Katrina article was extremely harsh on Bush as an elitist douchebag who has no understanding of the problems of the 99%.

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

No. He was a staunch supporter of the Arab Spring and he wrote one of the most moving obituaries to Edward Said.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Hey there, scumvermin! How does fash like you find their way here?