Christopher Hitchens: The Fifth Annual Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture

[JoshwithaJ]

I love Rushdie's sense of humor! Also, apropos of nothing, I hate when people pronounce "PZee Myers" as "PZed Myers", it just sounds wrong.

[hznfrst]

As much as I admire Mr Hitchens, I've always wondered why he couldn't have someone keep his hair under control!

[unlyckystrike]

@hznfrst well, apparently that isn`t something he need to worry about any longer :/

[trinigma]

This is such a tough discussion to watch. Both of them are brilliant and I absolutely love Hitchens - he's undoubtedly one of the most brilliant men alive - but it depresses me to no end that only a few weeks after this was filmed he was diagnosed with the cancer which is keeping him away from allowing the thousands (I hope millions) of us who wish to keep hearing his brilliance and insight.

Hitchens may have the greatest voice I've ever heard, and his throat cancer is such an awful irony.

[06mustangCE]

"There's never a good occasion for keeping your mouth shut!" love that

[gh778jk]

as always Hitch rules!

[princemuqrin]

Great integrity here. Hitch is invited to speak at an even honouring freedom of expression under Arthur Miller's name and shows how AM didn't meet every test here himself. And this is not polemically done but with some understanding, short of approval.

[EdJ343]

Re the spartacus petition for Salman Rushdie: someone needs to get on that now.

[whysers]

99 percent approval rating on the video... fuckin a

[Kargoneth]

I didn't realize how cowardly the US media behaved. I am shamed by a country that supposedly values freedom of expression.

[luarionte]

Talking about these king of cartoons!

Denmark is not the only country with cartoonists that depicts the prophet or suicide bombers - in America there is a show that already depicted many times, actually even MORE offensively, Islam and suicide bombers - FAMILY GUY!

[luarionte]

I love when C. Hitchens talks about Freedom of Speech!

It should be the theme of his next book - in the style of "god Is Not Great"!

[CntrBrdr]

this was sick I cant believe i havent seen it before on YT

[mironowak]

@exchangeisno

Please note I intentionally used word "FLIRT" with all its semantic connotations and interpretations....

What proportion? Let us leave it to historians...

You mentioned the Civil War in Spain...By the same token: I wonder how many Scandinavians, Dutchmen, Belgians and other citizens of so called pre-WWII democratic West (albeit occupied) volunteered to the Viking and other SS Divisions ....

[mironowak]

@exchangeisno

Tx for the comment.

Well, there was hardly any country in the pre WWII Europe (and beyond) which did not flirt with the ideas of fascism...

[sulljoh1]

Hitchens was supposed to debate Tariq Ramadan Oct 5, 2010 an Pen.  He's probably not going to make it to that debate. What a loss.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 Great, I'll be CHEERING when this cunt Hitchens DIES OF CANCER.

SCUM WARMONGERING NAZI CUNT!!! DIE!! DIE!!! DIE!!!!

[niginit]

@MoscowMaestro

The Nazis were catholics. Pretty sure Hitch is anti-catholic. Dumbass.

[MoscowMaestro]

@niginit GO FUCK YOURSELF UP THE ASSHOLE, WARMONGERING CUNT!"!!!!

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro yeah yeah everyone's a cunt. seriously. did a cunt hurt you as a child? did a woman abuse you with her dirty cunt?  I CAN USE THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON TOO INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY TALKING SENSE OR MAKING A POINT!!!

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1

GO FUCK YOURSELF, YANKEE SHITCUNT MORON!!

FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR TROOPS! FUCK YOUR WAR!! FUCK YOUR GITMO!

FUCK YOUR SHITBOX MORON CUNT COUNTRY!!!!

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro Hitchens was beaten to an inch of his life for defacing a swastika. He would have been the first to sign up for the British forces in WWII. The best you would have done against the Nazi's is call them all cunts.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 Hitchens has cheered-on the Iraq War which killed half a million muslims.  For an "atheist", his wedding was conducted by.. a Rabbi?? He is a rightwing neocon facist, and his forthcoming death can only be welcome news for a free world.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 Well strangely enough Hitchens hasn't signed-up for the British Army in Afghanistan or Iraq, has he? But he's cheered them on to their deaths from the comfort of his New York penthouse! What a gutless warmongering torture-peddling CUNT Christopher Hitchens is!!

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro lol. You seem to be having some mood swings. It is easy to criticize what happened in Iraq. What would you have done? Left Saddam safely alone in his safe little box? As the regime crumbled the place might have turned into another Rwanda, which could still end up happening. Obviously we fucked up many things in Iraq, but Hitch has been arguing that the issue is not as black and white as we thought it was. We have to look at all the facts, not just the ones that vindicate us

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 Show me your WMD and you'll have a point.

Until then, you and your pal Hitchens blow chunks.

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro I was personally against the Iraq war, like most of the yanks I know, until Hitchens convinced me that perhaps Iraq would have been better without a dictatorship government. What really convinced me of his cause was the fact that he didn't mention WMDs, like the jackass Bush who I didn't vote for. His argument was based on reason instead of scare tactics.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 Guess you must be a yankee Nazi asshole, then? FUCK YOU!!!

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro That must be it. For some reason I surround myself with intellectuals and keep voting for liberals. That must be part of my sneaky Yankee Nazi cover!

Unlike you, I actually consider the possibility that I am wrong.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1  Keep supporting genocide, yankee sack of fucking shit. Keep taking it up the asshole from Christopher the WMD-man. You're a knuckledragger. A real asswipe. A *cunt*.

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro You touch on one of the things that actually impressed me about Hitchen's arguments. Not only did Hitchens make very little of the WMDs in arguing for war, he made little use of them BEFORE THE INVASION. That is what got me interested in thoughtfully looking up the arguments, rather than blindly assuming I was right as you seem to be doing. Oh sorry, I forgot to add the cunt shit cock douche whatever part. You seem to think that stuff improves an argument.

[MoscowMaestro]

@sulljoh1 You're a CUNT warmonger. A CUNT. A FUCKING CUNT. That's the only issue. I don't care if you let Hitchens give it to you up your stinking ass or not. You're still a CUNT. And that's the only issue.

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro Fine. Whatever man. Any American must be a dumbass warmonger. We are getting pretty sick of those stereotypes. Tell me how many of the worlds best universities do you have in your country? I'll leave it to anybody who is still reading this to decide who sounds reasonable and who sounds like a ranting psychopath.

[sulljoh1]

@MoscowMaestro Murdering kids for fun? Where the hell did you get that idea. Have you ever heard of a straw-man argument. Saddam's police raped and murdered young women, then they presented a tape of the scene to the parents. Why did they do that? Just to show who was boss. You want murder for fun? Iraq was the place to look. Tell me, if you could have killed Saddam would you? or is a Islamic dictatorship just fine with you as long as they aren't from America the great Satan

[juikm]

@MoscowMaestro The image of you impotently assulting your keyboard is making us all smile.

[whysers]

@MoscowMaestro atrocities are committed in all wars this has always been true it doesn't mean the war was not just.

[telejimmy57]

@MoscowMaestro It's quite amusing to read a Russian calling someone else a warmonger. Quite amusing indeed. You're a citizen of a nation that was imperialist LONG before there was a United States.

[bubblebutt1950]

@MoscowMaestro Fck you dick breath,,, have a nice day mate.

[biosnap]

great stuff. about writers been presidents Rómulo Gallegos was president elected in the 1st democratic election in Venezuela in 1948 sadly just few months and finished by militar coup, maybe another story for Vzla if Gallegos had completed his mandate. Nowadays is yet to confirm if Jaime Bayly peruvian writer pupil of Vargas Llosa will run in the presidential campaign next year.

[UnionKid15]

Awesome stuff, thanks for the post.

[PlanetoftheAtheists]

i love listening to Hitchens speak about religion, almost as much as i loved watching George galloway rip his arguments to shreds in their debates on Iraq

[sulljoh1]

@PlanetoftheAtheists @PlanetoftheAtheists George Galloway is not the person I would site for that purpose. Do a youtube search for "George Galloway Meets Saddam"

[choney20]

no he didn't, saw him yesterday enjoying a marlborough light

[mironowak]

Mr Hitchens forgot to mention that Denmark -despite being a relatively small country-accepts one of the highest in Europe quotas of refugees including those escaping from sectarian wars, terror & persecution in their native countries-very often Islamic theocracies.

That yarn reg The Danish people (or King) wearing a yellow arm band in solidarity with persecuted Danish Jews during the Nazi occupation although beautiful is merely an urban myth.

The Jews were smuggled to Sweden by fellow Danes.

[jobw87]

Great chat! Thanks for posting.

P.S.

What's in the cup Hitchens?!?!?!? I thought you quit that and smoking?

[niginit]

@jobw87

Go easy, he is stressed by the legion forces of fascism, rightly so and nearly alone.

I do wish he would turn his vice to the direction of a more herbal persuasion, though.

[MoscowMaestro]

@niginit m  HE'S A WHISKY-SODDEN NAZI WARMONGERING CUNT

CAN'T WAIT UNTIL HE DIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[niginit]

@MoscowMaestro

Gah, I sometimes wish there were a hell.......

Pieces of shit like you would descend into everlasting farts, or whatever you silly idiots believe in.

[Taranofsky]

@jobw87 just the ciggies. he's said many times he's fine with drinking til the day he dies,