Part1 Christopher Hitchens vs. Michael Medved

[jq747]

Medved: "God bless you."

Hitch: "That's ok, I say 'thank god' all the time"... lol

[hevy99]

plain and simple. HITCHENS IS AN IDIOT! +++

[EasingDifficulties]

Abide by and obey your survival instinct because: dead is dead, death = permanence, lifespans are finite and the eternal, dog-eared commandment of Earth's dog-eat-doggers is kill or be killed...As O.J. Simpson can attest to: it's not illegal to kill everybody.

[Shad3251]

I like how the picture of Hitchens is he with an angry look. Gee how did that get picked, random?

[ObjectiveBob]

@Shad3251

I think it's the picture Hitchens would've chosen himself.

[mymentor]

I'm afraid Hitchens' protestations about the secularity of the USA work better in theory than in practice.

Given he is often loath to admit the good done under the name of religion, he is at pains to emphasise the good done under the banner of the United States.

In fact, the USA and institutions of religion have a lot in common: both have plenty of ticks in both 'pro' and 'con' columns. The disparity in his commentary to this end has always been a point of contention for me.

[Enginmaster]

@mymentor Well, but imagine the state of this country if it had started out with a theocratic perspective on paper, and the politicians had license to do things without the fear of a supreme court ruling against them. Indeed, if Iran's revolution had at least pretended to be secular at first, they'd not have the problems they do today.

[mymentor]

@Enginmaster

I agree with you.

It's more Hitchens' intellectual inconsistency I was referring to.

[PlanetBongoSan]

@Enginmaster i think iran's revolution was secular at first... then again most of my information comes from that movie Persepolis...

[sejembalm]

"Another great day in this greatest nation on earth."

Start with infantile jingoism and move right in with the superstition and ignorance.

Medved is a sub-moron.

[AdUtrumquePeratus76]

Than you Christopher.

Thank you for thinking for yourself, for diligent analysis, for being so God damned well read, for routinely taking positions that ruffle the feathers of those closest to you, if only to make the point that they may not be thinking for themselves, for exposing a body of great depth of thought to more of us than you will ever know, for being so belligerently correct, for your wit, for your humor, and most of all, for challenging me to think. Your thoughts are immortal.

[KenMacMillan]

Medved is a piece of crap.

[EnthalpyH]

If Hitchen's body dies out, for the love of god at least implant his brain in a cyborg machine that can simulate his voice.

[rchertkow]

@EnthalpyH The love of who now?

[RudiCast]

Medved is not great, but a retard.

[spareaxe]

I always wondered what that fucking Medved looked like......an asshole.

[dmg46664]

@kikosemmek I was impressed by Medved's insight that American churches are so powerful because they have a free market in religion. Compare that to the UK which has the church of England... a state institution. I'm an Atheist, but I don't think Medved is a stupid guy, even though he is ultimately wrong. I also don't think he's malicious, but ignoring his good questions by calling him so is just an ad hominem attack.

[sohappyIcouldshit]

all this talk about god and religion is starting to give me a headache

[yunged]

@sohappyIcouldshit I have two suggestions -

1) paracetomol

2) Stop clicking on videos about religion

:-)

[pixxispad]

No-one remembers the Belgian Revolution.

[writersblock26]

2:43-2:45 No, it's all right- I say 'Thank God' myself all the time."

So did Ayn Raynd, another prominent public intellectual (and atheist).

[shanemcglashan]

What is Micheal Medved on about? America is probably one of the most religious countries in the west???.He obviously hasn't been to the Vatican,Italy,Spain,Ireland...­That just epitomizes American's ignorance and naivety...They are not religious but if anything they are ''thick'',that is of course going by George Bush's statement when invading Iraq ''and may God help us''.................They are not the most religious of the west ,yet the thickest of the west.

[objectivebob2]

@jakethewoz

Now you're changing the topic. I can't stand arrogance from the religious (neither can you, I'm sure), but nor can I stand arrogance from atheists. And it's become increasingly clear that angry YouTube atheists tend to appeal to emotions more than to reason when confronted with the opposing point of view. For some reason they feel that anyone who disagrees with them on religion MUST have a low IQ. Your comment is a perfect example of that emotional (thereby illogical) reaction.

[jakethewoz]

@ObjectiveBob

For one thing, you cannot say "Suppose he's being dishonest; suppose he has bad scholarship," because those two statements are directly conflicting. What you're doing (knowingly or not) is slyly creating both sides of the argument, so that whatever the response, you can claim victory. You must be oblivious to the irony of your argument, otherwise you are being cunningly deceptive (which is much WORSE).

Do you not see that?

[objectivebob2]

@jakethewoz

No. I am perfectly entitled to argue the way I did. Here's the claim that I was refuting:

"He's not intelligent because he does not show that he knows the first thing about Christian history."

I simply made the case that the above argument doesn't follow. I was not "slyly creating both sides of the argument" because I wasn't arguing whether Medved is dishonest or sloppy with his scholoarship. I was merely responding to the claim that Medved is not smart.

[MrMZaccone]

Medved has made a living touting movies that appeal to religious people and downing those that don't.

[MrMZaccone]

@kikosemmek I think Islam is only the most violent of the three because science has so completely fallen down on the job in the parts of the world where fundamentalist Islam is the order of the day.

[dgdfhfghgfhgfgffjhj]

I have to say that Medved is a bit of a dick. He makes a point of a saying that Jefferson performed Christian ceremonies, and then when Hitchens tries to reply Medved basically says "well let's not get into that".

"I hear that you beat your wife, but I don't think we should waste time talking about it..."

[bfoaliali]

When did this air? Hitchens sounds healthy. This was uploaded a few days ago, but did the discussion take place prior to the cancer diagnosis?

[MrMZaccone]

@bfoaliali Hitchens became a U.S. citizen in 2007. They are discussing it as though it were recent so I would presume that it dates from around that time.

[kikosemmek]

@ObjectiveBob I'm being very kind, by the way. My patience is normally very low when I see public figures put this kind of tripe out for others.

Of course, later on, Medved draws comparisons between Hitchens' harrangue of Falwell and Christians' tolerance of Hitchens. To start, Hitchens never said 9-11 was divine punishment for harboring homosexuals on live television. Comparing a great journalist to a professional hatemonger is insulting to our intelligence, in the least, and indefensible.

[kidlomax]

Hitchens is one of the smartest primates on planet earth.