“Given this overwhelming tendency to stupidity and selfishness in myself and among our species, it is somewhat surprising to find the light of reason penetrating at all. The brilliant Schiller was wrong in his “Joan of Arc” when he said that “against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.” It is actually by means of the gods that we make our stupidity and gullibility into something ineffable.” -God Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens
-Rant on
T
By Christopher Hitchens
Here, here. And. Hear, hear.
Rant on
-T
“His honesty about this paradox or contradiction is what determined him to write Nineteen Eighty-Four as an admonitory parable or fantasy in which ‘Ingsoc’–English Socialism–was the Newspeak term for the ruling ideology. It would have been perfectly easy for him to have avoided this crux. In the late 1940s, a dystopian novel based on the notorious horrors of ‘National Socialism’ would probably have been very well-received. But it would have done nothing to shake the complacency of Western intellectuals concerning the system of state terror for which, at the time, so many of them had either a blind spot or a soft spot.”
-Why Orwell Matters, Christopher Hitchens
“Pilgrims had sailed to ‘The Americas’ to establish doctrinal purity, and pirates had made the same voyage in search of treasure and slaves. In Paine’s time, however, the New World of ‘the United States of America’ (a name he may have coined) was an actual and concrete achievement; not an imaginary Utopia but a home for liberty and the conscious first stage of a world revolution.” -Christopher Hitchens on Thomas Paine
Naom Chomsky, a most distinguished intellectual and moral dissident, once wrote that the old motto about “speaking truth to power” is overrated. Power, as he points out, quite probably knows the truth already, and is mainly interested in suppressing or limiting or distorting it. -Christopher Hitchens, Letters To A Young Contrarian
No greater cruelty will be devised than by those who are sure, or are assured, that they are doing good. -Christopher Hitchens, Arguably
Where does the buck stop? Does it stop with the lie or with a truth? Or does it stop when both lie and truth are made to merge? Enter Christopher Hitchens. The grand debunker of lies and grandest debunker of truths dictated by religious nut-bags (which are ultimately lies). What is it that makes me so happy having read The Hitch? Is it the ammunition he’s given me? Is it the heads-up on my America–where he has a unique perspective based on his birth and education from the staunchness of Britain? Nomatter. The thing is. I haven’t read everything by Hitchens, but five of his books are on my shelf. The Hitch, my man. What a writer, what a journalist, what a critic, what a speaker–what a hot-damn thinker! And when he went off on the lies of Jerry Falwell, I loved him for it–especially after Falwell, as Hitch puts it, dropped dead with a grand belch and fell right over his desk in his office where he concocted so many lies and took advantage of so many inept Americans. I mean, is there a better choice to ridicule and spot than any of the money-hungry religious nut-bags that have first-hand partaken in the ruin of America at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Just search youtube for Hitchens and Falwell and you too can get a luscious ear full of The Hitch taking apart not only Falwell but all the nut-bag money-hungry religious followers–and he takes care of most other zealous political conservatives, as well. But I suppose, as usual, I’m off subject. For I only want to worst-link to an article that was initially written in 2013 that I stopped reading because it was the wrong angle. I finally broke down and read in full this morn. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps out of boredom–it’s a rainy day at the beach. Anywho. It is indeed an essay. It is also a grand attempt to nullify, or is it, justify, ridiculing The Hitch. Obviously the author doesn’t like The Hitch. And that’s ok. He even does a pretty good job of holding his own when it comes to breaking down–or is it breaking-up–Hitchens’ idears regarding all the lies of the bible (&Co.). And then there’s the idear that he does to Hitchens what Hitchens did to others, especially Falwell. Ridicule them after they die. Oh well. If you can’t be original then I suppose it’s best to copy others. Speaking of others. Or other than that. This article is useless if you are a skeptic and wish to expand your skeptic mind. If, on the other hand, you want to follow the crowd, then go for it. And have a laugh or three at The Hitch’s death while you’re at it. I’m sure, unlike the disgust of people like Falwell, who will whisk his magic wand from his pulpit out of spite (if you believe in that sort of thing), The Hitch will just laugh with you.
Christopher Hitchens’ Lies Do Atheists No Favors | Salon.com
