Just Because I disagree with you does not mean that I need to read up on Christopher Hitchens. I thought he was remarkably wrong very often. But at least he did have the decency to admit when he hadn't thought a position through well enough.

>> ^bcglorf:

>> ^
>>


I think you slightly diminish Hitch's name including Carlin, Hicks and Suzuki. Even Chomsky only bares inclusion for his great heights in the past.
I get your point, but you may want to read up on Hitchen's some more. He stood apart from almost everyone on your list by willingly putting himself in harms way to put his beliefs and understanding to the test, and in many cases surviving the ordeal to come back and declare that what he learned had changed his mind.

>> ^thumpa28:

I dont follow the argument hes making. Religion is bad, just look at North Korea? Seems a bit of a stretch.


I don't think that is the argument he is making. The point he is making is that some look at North Korea as a non-religious country, and an Atheist country, and try to blame the problems in that country to its lack of religion. His point is that North Korea is not a non-religious country, but in fact behaves like a theocracy.

So in this video he is not saying that Religion is bad (though Hitchens has occasionally made that point too), but rather Theocracy is bad.

Yes yes. Kurds, hmmmmmm let me think

oh yes they were abused by turks throughout history but most notably during the the 1890's 1920's 1930's and on up to the 70's and 80's. Ironically, Kurds also were one of the primary agents used by the Turks in the deportations and massacre Armenians before and during world war 1.

Those Kurds.

Who were also abused by Saddam. All part of a long chain of ethnic cleansing, genocide and nationalist violence caused in a large part by religion and creed as well as tribal identity throughout the balkans and the ottoman empire and what became the palestinian mandate.

Which Hitchens thought we should wade into because science and atheism will put right through warfare that which religion and warfare could not put right.

Hitchens got so much so wrong so many times, but he sounded soooo good doing it.

>> ^bcglorf:

>> ^spoco2:
>> ^kceaton1:
Goodbye Chris. Some of his most profound moments for me came when he actually screwed up and was wrong! It would often lead to other talks and dialogs between the people he had erred against and himself and in some occasions Christopher would merely present them and allow the other person to put the matter straight. He could be friends with these people and often was.
It showed me that he had within himself the ability to be very humble and that to him the truth WAS paramount! For that and much more I will remember him always.
He had it within himself to be the best of us all.

His about face on waterboarding after being waterboarded was the point that I started paying attention to him.

His about face on Saddam era Iraq stood out more in my mind. After being a champion of the anti-war movement in the first Gulf war he went and spent time with the Iraqi Kurds. He came back vehement in his conviction that America's worst crime in Iraq was in essence listening to him in the first place and not pushing into Baghdad and removing Saddam the first time.

>> ^heropsycho:

Simple: it doesn't matter how many facts or how stupid you make them look, they will still waste your time. The basic facts have been available for a decade now, and Truthers are still out there. Why would they stop believing it now?
>> ^coolhund:
Stupid response that I would expect from some corrupt POS politician or CEO only.
Why not simply use facts against these "truthers"? There are more than enough to shut them up and make them look stupid. But if you reply to them with ignorance, they will feel confirmed and will just keep coming.



Because I have witnessed it. When you confront them with hard facts they dont know what to say anymore and then start insulting. So they prove to everyone listening that they are just dumb. And thats what this is all about. If you start with ignorance towards them, then they only feel stronger.

Simple: it doesn't matter how many facts or how stupid you make them look, they will still waste your time. The basic facts have been available for a decade now, and Truthers are still out there. Why would they stop believing it now?

>> ^coolhund:

Stupid response that I would expect from some corrupt POS politician or CEO only.
Why not simply use facts against these "truthers"? There are more than enough to shut them up and make them look stupid. But if you reply to them with ignorance, they will feel confirmed and will just keep coming.

Your video, Christopher Hitchens on North Korea, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Here's another response by Sam Harris. This time on Chris Hedges equating Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens to the Christian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik



Dear Angry Lunatic: A Response to Chris Hedges

>> ^LukinStone:

Agreed on the "always think they are right" rebuttal. And, if watching all these videos remembering Hitchens underlines anything about his thinking, to me, it's that he wasn't just paying the idea of the Scientific Method lip service. In debates he seemed arrogant, but he always advocated thinking for yourself over taking anyone's, including his, word for it. And, if you think about what he was usually speaking about, religion, war, history...it cuts through a lot of useless BS and gets to the heart of the matter to say something like "god is not great" or "Mother Theresa was a fraud."
On Iraq...nope...never mind. You covered it.


On Iraq he put his opinion to the same test as every one of his other beliefs. He vehemently OPPOSED the first Iraq war. After having done that, he took the next opportunity he had to go to Iraq and see what the lives of Iraq's Kurdish people was really like. He came back convinced he was wrong and changed his mind.

I like how Cenk comments on knowing how infuriating religious people must find Hitchens, because Hitchens opinion on Iraq was every bit as well researched and thought out as his opinions on religion. Regrettably, very few on the left had any answer prepared for the arguments Hitchens made. Which I suppose is Hitchens true legacy, when it came to debate and argument he was simply without equal.

And he'd also have found a way to express all the above in 3 words or less.

http://videosift.com/video/Christopher-Hitchens-on-North-Korea
>> ^bcglorf:

So is this Hitchens way of trying to tell us there is a God and everyone gets one last wish after dying?

>> ^spoco2:

>> ^kceaton1:
Goodbye Chris. Some of his most profound moments for me came when he actually screwed up and was wrong! It would often lead to other talks and dialogs between the people he had erred against and himself and in some occasions Christopher would merely present them and allow the other person to put the matter straight. He could be friends with these people and often was.
It showed me that he had within himself the ability to be very humble and that to him the truth WAS paramount! For that and much more I will remember him always.
He had it within himself to be the best of us all.

His about face on waterboarding after being waterboarded was the point that I started paying attention to him.


His about face on Saddam era Iraq stood out more in my mind. After being a champion of the anti-war movement in the first Gulf war he went and spent time with the Iraqi Kurds. He came back vehement in his conviction that America's worst crime in Iraq was in essence listening to him in the first place and not pushing into Baghdad and removing Saddam the first time.

>> ^obscenesimian:

Another man in our times that matches his caliber?
Let me list a few that pop into my head:
Noam Chomsky
Carl Sagan
George Carlin
Stephen Jay Gould
Richard Dawkins
David Suzuki
Douglas Adams
Bill Hicks.
Granted, they all differ, but they certainly hold up in my eyes.
The same thing could have been said when Sagan passed, but others moved in to fill his shoes.
It's all good, we just have to keep an eye out for the new person who is waiting to have a go.
>> ^bcglorf:
He will be so very sorely missed. I truly can not think of or name another man in our times that nearly matches his caliber.
....................
It is a very sad day and our world is considerably diminished by his loss.



I think you slightly diminish Hitch's name including Carlin, Hicks and Suzuki. Even Chomsky only bares inclusion for his great heights in the past.

I get your point, but you may want to read up on Hitchen's some more. He stood apart from almost everyone on your list by willingly putting himself in harms way to put his beliefs and understanding to the test, and in many cases surviving the ordeal to come back and declare that what he learned had changed his mind.

>> ^kceaton1:

Goodbye Chris. Some of his most profound moments for me came when he actually screwed up and was wrong! It would often lead to other talks and dialogs between the people he had erred against and himself and in some occasions Christopher would merely present them and allow the other person to put the matter straight. He could be friends with these people and often was.
It showed me that he had within himself the ability to be very humble and that to him the truth WAS paramount! For that and much more I will remember him always.
He had it within himself to be the best of us all.


His about face on waterboarding after being waterboarded was the point that I started paying attention to him.

Hitch would be happy to find out there was a god. He'd pour a drink and engage it in an intellectual debate.>> ^A10anis:
If Hitch was wrong, and there is a god, i hope he looks favourably upon a man who used the mind, given to him by that god, to its utmost.

Your video, A Christopher Hitchens Tribute, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

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