This is the only debate for which I don't think quotation marks are lame in categorizing it as a "debate".
Hitchens was a warmonger, and his legacy will be a mixed one. But it takes an impressive degree of stupidity, displayed by Benjamin, to make Hitchens so easily come out ahead on the topic of the Iraq war.
I found myself, retro-actively, wanting to support the war just out of spite!
@MrJmhardison I agree with you about Hitchens in general, and would (possibly) have agreed with you about a war in Iraq had we not already been at war in Afghanistan.
As many do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hitchens threw in Iraq, as though all conflicts with all Arab and/or Muslim peoples HAS to be SIMPLY about Islam. To use a word of which Hitchens was quite found, that's a fatuous assumption.
Actually the moderator wasn’t really a deuche. Benjamin changed the rules of the debate as it went along. It’s not shown in the video but the rules were stated to the audience in the beginning and agreed to by the debaters. They were a 5 minute opening statement, which Benjamin went over and because of that Hitchens was allowed a longer period, followed by moderator questions followed by audience questions.
@MrSilverside2002 Perhaps I was a bit hasty in branding Michael Wolff a douchebag. Still, he, as Benjamin pointed out, excessively interjected himself into the debate and did not allow Benjamin and Hitchens to fully go after each other; that alone would have made for a more entertaining, if not a more fruitful, debate. At one point, Wolff even rebukes the audience for some small, irrelevent point, asking them, "Don't you people know anything about a debate?" Great way to alienate an audience.
After the debate started Benjamin changed the rules and wanted to cut moderator questions out all together so he could go on with his statements, which in case you didn't notice were little more than rants. Further, he asked audience members in advance to come with prepared statements to make. So instead of asking questions he encouraged people to come up to the mic and simply make political statements that were in agreement with him.
And I forgot about another rule, I can't remember anymore how long responses were only supposed to be but Benjamin also kept going well beyond the allotted time for them. More can be said about this tragic breakdown of a debate, but basically Benjamin turned the debate into a farce and the moderator was trying to reign him in in accordance with the pre-debate, agreed to rules. That's the job of the moderator, to make sure the debators follow the preset guidelines.
This Playthell character is a complete and utter fool. And he showed himself and the greater majority of his liberal extremist audience to be a pathetic joke.
@sooperfukker Agreed; the sponsors of the debate should have had a modicum of respect for the organizations they represented and at least attempted to find a professional to design the signs.
You don't mind if we go? Hehehe, well played. Playthell really is talking only to himself, and confirming his own beliefs, so that seems like a reasonable thing to do :)
Some on here have compared this debate to a bear mauling a puppy. I disagree. This debate is more like playing chess with a pidgeon. The pidgeon realizes it's losing, so it shits all over the board, flaps its wings in your face and flies back to its nest to claim victory.
Mr Benjamin is not a very impressive advocate of the anti- war position. His incoherant ramblings are painful to listen to. Hitchens drawing on Dafur is a real moral dilemma for anti war activists, pacificist & non-interventionists. As Hitchens asked is it really acceptable to sit on our hands when genocide happens because we once did bad things in our past?
Hitchens: "The Peshmerga...Kurdish freedom fighters...Patriotic Union of Kurdistan...Jalal Talabani....Massoud Barzani...Ansar al-Islam...Ottoman Empire...Operation Iraqi Freedom...Bush..." etc., etc., etc.
Benjamin: "Uhh...the Pesh- what? Nigga, why y'all tryin' to confuse a brutha?"
Complete and total ownage by Hitchens on the point of Darfur. If past crimes on our part makes us unable to take any moral stance as a nation thereafter, and forefits our right to ever intervene, then we must let genoicides take place, because after all who are WE to do anything, WE'VE done bad things in the past. What masochistic shit is this?
You are absolutely correct. Playthell here is a completely counter-productive and egotistical idiot. In fact wouldn't it be ironic if the Americans (as I am not one) adopt the same idiotic policies of isolationism for the next 2-3 decades and let genocides/dictatorships spring up all over the planet, consolidating power and oppressing their own people and neighbours.
Then this radio show bigot will be whining about how America doesn't do enough. Fucking absolute idiot.
You can't judge a person by race, the fact that he is black doesnt mean he speaks for all blacks any more than Hitler spoke for all Germans. When are we going to get around the tiring racial debate emerging in unrelated topics.
Hahaha slavery in the Middle East?? I lived there and theres no such thing you dumbfuck Playthell. Hitchens got it right when he corrected Benjamin by noting that its AFRICAN nations that still have slavery.
Thats half true. There are South Asian people lured into going to prospering cities (especially in the UAE) but they' are in fact paid much higher than what they are in their home countires. But to our standards in the UK and USA it seems little to nothing. Its all a matter of perspective. As valid as your point may be, Playthell said there are Blacks being enslaved in the Middle East. This is absurd
So you are saying that there is no Saudi Arabian slave trade that uses Africans as their capital? because this is documented by several human rights organizations up to the present day. Leftists will typically dislike western nations trading with the Saudi's for this reason.
Give me a link to a reputable news site explaining just that and I will acknowledge that.. But lets make something very clear. I am not saying that it is right when MIddle Eastern nations (specifically the UAE and Pre-2007 Qatar) signifigantly underpayin South Asian labourers. I am saying that the statement by Playthell "Middle Eastern nations are enslaving africans" is ludacris. Now there are instances when Somali slaves have been trafficked in Saudi Arabia...
Continued - But this is certainly not sponsored by the government. And the statement Playthell made was ignorrant at best and hatefully xenophobic at worst. And then theres his quote "I dont care about Kuwait!" Fuck off Playthell..
Worst debate partner for Hitchens ever. Plaything incessantly interrupts with his babbling and stuttering with "black this black that". Remember the bit about debating a fool at the start of the debate? Watching Hitchens just ignore him completely at 3:15, then watching Plaything keep talking even when he's the only person on stage at the end really verifies who's the fool here.
Also, if you want to watch a real debate with Hitchens about Iraq, go on over to bloggingheads and watch him talk to Eric Alterman. There's a discussion between two smart people where you can be sure to actually LEARN something.
Actually, despite how horribly moderated this was, Hitchens was in top form here. Unlike his other Iraq debates, he spoke on a lot of historical matters, and in detail. He was more relaxed and fluid because he wasn't worried about impressing anyone. He was at once informal and brilliant. One of my favorites.
It wasn't a debate so much as a series of witty, eloquent monologues by Hitchens. And Playthell's stammering inbetwixt. More entertaining than an actual debate.
this is what happens when you're more worried about having your voice heard than presenting a persuasive argument. the argument will work on its own in the time alloted. you see now why (as Benjamin noted earlier in the "debate") Hitchens gets paid and Benjamin gets fired.
@GaiusIuliusTaberna "to add, medievalism is not a word... f-cking idiot..."
"Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture." - Wikipedia
Sorry, Im not on the mentally unbuckled delinquant fishermans side, I have my Hitchens flag, but just thought I'd point that out..
M - "The quality of the unproductiveness of this discussion has been, uh, unrivalled certainly in my moderating experience, and I would love to bring this to a close."
PB - "One of the reasons why it's BEEN unproductive is that you interject yourself into it too much! You should have just let me and him go at each other!"
He talks about the black church? What?! What does that have to do with Iraq, the war, anything? Can you say, playing the race card? Hitchens, however, maintains his dignity. 'Dr.' Benjamin is so far out of his league, it's just gross. How is it that the scholar Hitchens is talking with a fucking jive talking retard? Who the fuck made this happen? Hitchens and the moderator were right to walk away from this douche.
What the hell was this abortion? Why is Christopher Hitchens debating this person? Benjamin doesn't give a shit about the Kuwaitis? What!? Murder is OK?! He avoids questions and tries to make the debate emotional. He refuses to engage in a real debate, most likely because he is too dumb to do so. For him it's a shouting match. He is a moron and charismatic(to morons), a dangerous combination for everyone. Doctor in what: anger, jive?
Well, it was primarily a relatively juvenile anti-American tirade by Mr. Benjamin masquerading as some kind of debate against the intervention in Iraq. Mr. Hitchens rightly made a reference to Darfur and predicted that the usual uninformed leftist hysteria would ignite - and it did. Sorry excuse for a debate. Hitchens informed. Benjamin was embarassing; if he had any shame.
For crying out loud, who the hell thought it was a good idea to put Redd Foxx and Christopher Hitchens in the same room, let alone the same area code?!? Hey Sanford, go back to your junkyard and leave serious discussions for people who know what the fuck their talking about!
Throughout this entire debacle playthell looked he didn't know if he were coming or going. Then one of his last comments was "I feel like I haven't made my points" to which hitchens responds "I have the same feeling."
A perfect closure Hitchens, don't debate him on his radio show. Even the moderator was embarassed who looked like he wasn't conducting it well. However I'd give him some slack as it does appear Playthell refused to play by the rules and the audience also rallied to deny decorum.
what a gong show. Benjamin has no real concept of how to debate with decorum. i'm afraid Hitchens won this one by default not just with facts, but through sheer lucidity.
Benjamin and his ilk in the audience come off as naive leftist rabble with the usual victim complex attached..
@circe888 It is indeed impressive. But then again, Hitchens debates a new ranter every other week. He'd have learnt fairly early that, in these situations, if you remain calm and composed you'll wipe the floor with your opponent.
Did anyone else notice the gold tassels adorning Benjamen's dais, I suppose to make him look more important? Also, I own a small retail store.When we need to have a sign, we just have it printed at Kinkos or Staples. It costs about $5. If I was running an important debate, I think I could have scraped up the money for a nicer sign.
Yeah, not many people will get that joke unless they are familiar with the nation of Islam. But if you are, it is a pretty intelligent quip at Playthells racism.
I think I've watched practically all Hitchens debates, in their entirety, that are available on youtube. I have yet to see anyone give Hitchens a slightest struggle in a debate about religion or politics and I'm not quite sure there is anyone who can. I must say, though, that this is the most pathetic attempt I have seen yet.
Hitchens is the ultimate debater on these two subjects and it is obvious that he has spent countless hours prepping himself so that he can obtain that position.
Hands down the worst debate I've ever seen. I would have left much sooner.
A debate has pretense of the agreement to adhere to certain conduct and structure. Just like you don't bring a knife in the boxing ring and complain when the referee refuses to let you stab your opponent.
Pathetic, horrible and complete embarrassment on Mr. Benjamin's part. Mr. Hitchen's isn't always right but he shouldn't have to suffer such fools.
this debate if you could indeed call it that was painful to watch, I am pleased and applaud Hitchens' civility he can bee rather abrasive and would have been justified in being so in this case, I suppose though that debates like this are not rare, I guess I expect a higher standard having seen so many debates from men Such as William Lane Graig and J.P. Moreland who conduct themselves with civility and intelligence
Benjamin is part of a luckily shrinking sect of people that see absolutely everything through the lens of racial struggle. Hitchens, on the other hand, is a glimpse of our future.
wow. a comment like that and more than 6 negative ratings?? I get it, everyone is on Hitchens's side here, so what he did MUST be the proper thing, but really... even though I completely believe that Hitchens blew the doors off this debate, getting up and walking out?? If the facts are on your side, there's just no harm in being polite, you've got nothing to lose. Just let an idiot use the rest of his time. Ya can't lose any ground over it. I think that the moderator DID overstep his role.
Of course, Hitchens and the moderator thought they were just too intellectual to listen to this, but they agreed to debate and host the debate. Neither one did enough due diligence and research about BP. If they had, they would not allowed the debate to take place. Most of the people that post these comments are people who have never done anything in their lives. They are effectively chickenhawks debating about life and death in their Ivory Towers. I feel sorry for them honestly.
Chickenhawks? I always find this kind of quasi-ad hominem argumentation annoying. I agree with Hitchens, and yet am not currently serving, though I suppose I very well could. Yet I also am against whaling and yet have never joined Green Peace and against starvation in Africa though I haven't joined the Peace Corps. Do either of these facts take away my right to stand up and say I agree or disagree with whaling and continued hunger in Africa?
Chickenhawk is a description of a political position, nothing "quasi-ad hominem" about it. While I admire your stance on "starvation in Africa", it's really a silly and ignorant comparison and adds nothing to the conversation. If you want to state that a war is justified, you need to provide your efforts within the Armed Forces. If you rather someone else fight for your "war", you are a Chickenhawk. Hitchen obviously does believe in a God, it's called Democracy, and his Jesus are the Iraqis.
"Chickenhawk" is a descriotion of a political position in about the same way "feminazi" is.
So I have no right to take a stance on domestic abuse unless I join the police force, underdevelopment in the 3rd world unless I join the Peace Corps, nor even to oppose the war unless I join a peace protest? I still don't understand this reasoning, nor your Jesus/Iraqi analogy, quite possibly because I'm too silly or ignorant or a fascistic feminazi chickenhawk or something.
Or you could be all the above. Of course, I would not have used "feminazi". I have no idea what your stance on MRA issues.
You can't understand the reasoning since you are not in the Armed Forces. Life and death consequences of war is thousands of miles away and you can watch death and destruction in the comfort of your own home. Your perspective would change once you are away from home, without the comforts of America, sleeping in 100 degree temps on a small cot, eating terrible rationed food.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Mr. Hitchens forgets whose blood is spilled and who would mourn the family of innocent in this "war". All in the name of Democracy. It never hits him that while there are some benefits of Democracy, it is not for people who are not willing to fight for it. He wields Democracy like an Evangelical Christian wields the Bible. Political change happens not without bloodshed. So who pays? Why the Iraqi people that never asked for it; hence, they are the Jesus. Hopefully this will help you understand.
Sorry, but if you walk out (as a member of an audience) no one will notice. Hitchen did have one good point, which is why is going into Darfur a good idea, but Iraq is bad. I am still debating that myself. It seems if W Bush's way is incorrect, then neither Kofi Annan's way is not much better. Too bad, they did not invite a better sparring partner for Hitchen.
I can't believe that such an inane event as this took place inside Cooper Union. I absolutely hate to say this, but the modern liberals are so completely boorish. Prejudice like this is even more malignant than that of the conservatives.
Because liberalism has seemingly merged with mediocrity and compromise with things, like Saddam's Iraq, that would be in their best interest to fight against. That is, of course, if they really believed in fighting for the ideals of humanism and rights.
What a waste of everyones time. I'm glad Hitchens and the chair walked out at the end. What should have been, and had the potential to be, a thoroughly interesting debate turned into an absolute folly, to use Playthells own words.
Again the man on the right is retarded. He doesn't understand the english language. The concept of answering a question. The best part is that I watch this several years later and everything Plaything says is wrong. How anyone could listing to Plaything on the radio is beyond me.
Black Black Black, the only thing I can say is black this black that. Nothing of substance. Slavery of black is evil, slavery and murder of everyone who is not black is just.
Hitchens took a whole bunch of facts, bent Playthell Benjamin over the podium, then fucked those facts right up his ghetto ass without mercy. Benjamin is nothing but an uneducated bitch-ass pimp. A uneducated bitch-ass pimp with a very sore ass, that is. He needs to retire from political debates and go back to pimping his bitches and ho's. What a fucking joke he is. Fuck Playthell Benjamin, and if you happen to be a fan of this ignorant punk-ass fool, fuck you too.
So Saddam abolished slavery in Iraq. Fantastic! That undoes all of the crimes of his regime. Let's take that slave-handling, war-mongering maniac Tom Jefferson off the nickel and put Saddam on there.
Not at all a doctor of any sort. You have to graduate from college, after all, to even begin the process of seeking a doctorate, and he did NOT graduate from any college anywhere at anytime. He certainly doesn't have an "honorary doctorate" from anywhere either.
Go get them Red Fox!
lifeschild1 3 weeks ago
This is the only debate for which I don't think quotation marks are lame in categorizing it as a "debate".
Hitchens was a warmonger, and his legacy will be a mixed one. But it takes an impressive degree of stupidity, displayed by Benjamin, to make Hitchens so easily come out ahead on the topic of the Iraq war.
I found myself, retro-actively, wanting to support the war just out of spite!
MrJmhardison 2 months ago
@MrJmhardison I agree with you about Hitchens in general, and would (possibly) have agreed with you about a war in Iraq had we not already been at war in Afghanistan.
As many do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hitchens threw in Iraq, as though all conflicts with all Arab and/or Muslim peoples HAS to be SIMPLY about Islam. To use a word of which Hitchens was quite found, that's a fatuous assumption.
MrJmhardison 1 month ago
@MrJmhardison wait... did you just agree with yourself?
VoteSkipper 5 days ago
Now that was just a horrifying performance by Playthell Benjamin.
Rossclairborne 2 months ago
Worst debate I've ever seen. If you want to see a much better debate on Iraq check out.
Hitchens vs Ritter.
Moh5Itachi1 3 months ago
Christopher's ending was f*cking epic.
"You can stop worrying about Darfur. They've all been killed!!!!!"
F*ck them until they love you Christopher. May you live a hundred years.
rockitvomit 3 months ago 4
"I think you should hear what your own arguments sound to you when they are played back to you...I think you deserve that".......classic Hitchens.
adstanra 4 months ago
hahaha. i think the double walk out was bad ass. i can't say i completely agree with hitch, but he made benjamin look like a complete idiot.
rysw19 4 months ago
take that damned hat off. I'm waiting for someone to walk up and throw a dollar at him...
noogetful 6 months ago
@noogetful lol
writersblock26 6 months ago
"Uh, yes, I have a question for Mr. Benjamin. Did you eat paint chips as a kid?"
swampdonkey152000 8 months ago
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MerryGoFuckYourself 9 months ago
Jesus finally someone I think George Bush could of actually beaten in a debate.
MerryGoFuckYourself 9 months ago
Funny how someone so obsessed with the past ironically seems so devoid of civilised behaviour
STEPASAUR 9 months ago in playlist Hitchens vs Benjamin
WTF @ the moderator not giving PB a closing statement. I wasn't a fan of this Playthell dude, but seriously.
TheLockon00 10 months ago
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MerryGoFuckYourself 9 months ago
@TheLockon00 Yeah, the moderator was kind of a douchebag.
writersblock26 5 months ago
@writersblock26
Actually the moderator wasn’t really a deuche. Benjamin changed the rules of the debate as it went along. It’s not shown in the video but the rules were stated to the audience in the beginning and agreed to by the debaters. They were a 5 minute opening statement, which Benjamin went over and because of that Hitchens was allowed a longer period, followed by moderator questions followed by audience questions.
MrSilverside2002 3 months ago
@MrSilverside2002 Perhaps I was a bit hasty in branding Michael Wolff a douchebag. Still, he, as Benjamin pointed out, excessively interjected himself into the debate and did not allow Benjamin and Hitchens to fully go after each other; that alone would have made for a more entertaining, if not a more fruitful, debate. At one point, Wolff even rebukes the audience for some small, irrelevent point, asking them, "Don't you people know anything about a debate?" Great way to alienate an audience.
writersblock26 3 months ago
@writersblock26
After the debate started Benjamin changed the rules and wanted to cut moderator questions out all together so he could go on with his statements, which in case you didn't notice were little more than rants. Further, he asked audience members in advance to come with prepared statements to make. So instead of asking questions he encouraged people to come up to the mic and simply make political statements that were in agreement with him.
MrSilverside2002 3 months ago
@writersblock26
And I forgot about another rule, I can't remember anymore how long responses were only supposed to be but Benjamin also kept going well beyond the allotted time for them. More can be said about this tragic breakdown of a debate, but basically Benjamin turned the debate into a farce and the moderator was trying to reign him in in accordance with the pre-debate, agreed to rules. That's the job of the moderator, to make sure the debators follow the preset guidelines.
MrSilverside2002 3 months ago
09:06 HAHAHA I love you Christopher, laughed out loud when I heard that.
fr0ber 11 months ago
debate about Iraq? More like Hitchens explains facts while the other clown talks about black history. Poor Christopher
fbaumans 11 months ago
I suspected at the beginning but am convinced now - Playthell is a FOOL!
SubliminalAttraction 11 months ago
This Playthell character is a complete and utter fool. And he showed himself and the greater majority of his liberal extremist audience to be a pathetic joke.
corposant 1 year ago
The audience is terrible. if you are there to listen, listen and stay shut. if you want to talk queue for the mic like others do
MrPootisman 1 year ago
That debate was as cheap as the billboarsd in front of the speakers desks #FAIL
sooperfukker 1 year ago
@sooperfukker Agreed; the sponsors of the debate should have had a modicum of respect for the organizations they represented and at least attempted to find a professional to design the signs.
writersblock26 11 months ago
5:22 the moderator finally wakes up!!!!
I actually like him JUST a little bit more now for his comment acknowledgin how much of a CF this "debate" was
EchoMike03 1 year ago
Playthell Benjamin -- Grady from Sanford and Son
Killer0fTheSun 1 year ago
Benjamin?! Get off the stage Nigga!
KingObould 1 year ago
Obnoxious man that Benjamin
PapaWilk 1 year ago
If Sam Harris was in there, that building would have blown up.
MarvelsofaLifetime 1 year ago
Benjamin is the effective characterization of aggressive arrogance.
RebelWrestler45 1 year ago
Bit of an intellectual mismatch.
hunterstl 1 year ago 5
I didn't know de-evolution was possible.
TheGasLamp 1 year ago 2
lol what a blabbering idiot
dodgers2213 1 year ago
"I have the same feeling." LOL
JediJesseS 1 year ago
You don't mind if we go? Hehehe, well played. Playthell really is talking only to himself, and confirming his own beliefs, so that seems like a reasonable thing to do :)
Kociubs 1 year ago 2
Playthell was routed! What a finale! Who the hell invited that guy fo a debate? He should be a character in "spongebob squarepants".
uknowimrightaboutit 1 year ago 2
Some on here have compared this debate to a bear mauling a puppy. I disagree. This debate is more like playing chess with a pidgeon. The pidgeon realizes it's losing, so it shits all over the board, flaps its wings in your face and flies back to its nest to claim victory.
F33bs 1 year ago 22
Mr Benjamin is not a very impressive advocate of the anti- war position. His incoherant ramblings are painful to listen to. Hitchens drawing on Dafur is a real moral dilemma for anti war activists, pacificist & non-interventionists. As Hitchens asked is it really acceptable to sit on our hands when genocide happens because we once did bad things in our past?
mob1fan 1 year ago
I can't say enough on how hard I laughed. What a damn fool, this Playthell is. Hail to Christopher !
saladin400800 1 year ago
Did the radio debate ever materialize? I wanted to hear more of Christopher Hitchens verbally beating the shit out of Playthell.
ATrueSeeker 1 year ago
Playthell Benjamin, what a complete fool.
eswyatt 1 year ago
Benjamin "Absolutely I do not feel like I have made my points..."
Christopher "I have the same feeling."
I lol'd
SatanPanda 1 year ago
Love Hitchens face at 3:19...like "wtf?". I'm sure that's what he was thinking throughout the debate
rubrbandball 1 year ago 2
Watching Christopher debate this guy was the equivalent of watching a bear maul a puppy.
khatool 1 year ago 3
Bigoted opponent, idiotic moderator, and an even more asinine crowd... Why did Hitchens waste his time?
l3lip 1 year ago
Very true...you're absolutely correct. But, this shows how courageous he is...he has brass balls, for sure.
undisputedgreatest 1 year ago
Hitchens: "The Peshmerga...Kurdish freedom fighters...Patriotic Union of Kurdistan...Jalal Talabani....Massoud Barzani...Ansar al-Islam...Ottoman Empire...Operation Iraqi Freedom...Bush..." etc., etc., etc.
Benjamin: "Uhh...the Pesh- what? Nigga, why y'all tryin' to confuse a brutha?"
Enough said.
dynamic717 1 year ago 118
@dynamic717 Hahaha
Territomauvais 1 year ago
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dynamic717 1 year ago
"I don't give a shit about the Kuwaitis! I care about the black slaves."
Well fuck you mate. You racist, bigoted cunt.
QwidgyboMan 1 year ago 8
"I didn't even understand the question"
oh there's a surprise
jkun17 2 years ago
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jkun17 2 years ago
Brillant by Hitchens..."You don't mind if the rest of us go..." Love it.
mjconley12 2 years ago 5
The very essence of being too stupid to know how dumb you are.
His closing statement if heartfelt could surely only have been 'Lets get naked and kill whitey!!'
biggest23 2 years ago 3
Complete and total ownage by Hitchens on the point of Darfur. If past crimes on our part makes us unable to take any moral stance as a nation thereafter, and forefits our right to ever intervene, then we must let genoicides take place, because after all who are WE to do anything, WE'VE done bad things in the past. What masochistic shit is this?
BillKiernan 2 years ago 10
@BillKiernan:
You are absolutely correct. Playthell here is a completely counter-productive and egotistical idiot. In fact wouldn't it be ironic if the Americans (as I am not one) adopt the same idiotic policies of isolationism for the next 2-3 decades and let genocides/dictatorships spring up all over the planet, consolidating power and oppressing their own people and neighbours.
Then this radio show bigot will be whining about how America doesn't do enough. Fucking absolute idiot.
RationalismWins 2 years ago 4
@BillKiernan Well said sir.
QwidgyboMan 1 year ago
lol
iComment17 2 years ago
You can't judge a person by race, the fact that he is black doesnt mean he speaks for all blacks any more than Hitler spoke for all Germans. When are we going to get around the tiring racial debate emerging in unrelated topics.
CadaverSplatter 2 years ago 3
I understand that, and please read the second part as you can see my point in this.
Jaaab 2 years ago
Hahaha slavery in the Middle East?? I lived there and theres no such thing you dumbfuck Playthell. Hitchens got it right when he corrected Benjamin by noting that its AFRICAN nations that still have slavery.
Jaaab 2 years ago
@Jaaab I recently read an article about Dubai and how Filippinos and other foreign workers are being kept in homes without pay, against their will.
givinitsome 2 years ago
Thats half true. There are South Asian people lured into going to prospering cities (especially in the UAE) but they' are in fact paid much higher than what they are in their home countires. But to our standards in the UK and USA it seems little to nothing. Its all a matter of perspective. As valid as your point may be, Playthell said there are Blacks being enslaved in the Middle East. This is absurd
Jaaab 2 years ago
@Jaaab
So you are saying that there is no Saudi Arabian slave trade that uses Africans as their capital? because this is documented by several human rights organizations up to the present day. Leftists will typically dislike western nations trading with the Saudi's for this reason.
CadaverSplatter 2 years ago
Give me a link to a reputable news site explaining just that and I will acknowledge that.. But lets make something very clear. I am not saying that it is right when MIddle Eastern nations (specifically the UAE and Pre-2007 Qatar) signifigantly underpayin South Asian labourers. I am saying that the statement by Playthell "Middle Eastern nations are enslaving africans" is ludacris. Now there are instances when Somali slaves have been trafficked in Saudi Arabia...
Jaaab 2 years ago
Continued - But this is certainly not sponsored by the government. And the statement Playthell made was ignorrant at best and hatefully xenophobic at worst. And then theres his quote "I dont care about Kuwait!" Fuck off Playthell..
Jaaab 2 years ago
Worst debate partner for Hitchens ever. Plaything incessantly interrupts with his babbling and stuttering with "black this black that". Remember the bit about debating a fool at the start of the debate? Watching Hitchens just ignore him completely at 3:15, then watching Plaything keep talking even when he's the only person on stage at the end really verifies who's the fool here.
Karanis 2 years ago
Also, if you want to watch a real debate with Hitchens about Iraq, go on over to bloggingheads and watch him talk to Eric Alterman. There's a discussion between two smart people where you can be sure to actually LEARN something.
Karanis 2 years ago
Actually, despite how horribly moderated this was, Hitchens was in top form here. Unlike his other Iraq debates, he spoke on a lot of historical matters, and in detail. He was more relaxed and fluid because he wasn't worried about impressing anyone. He was at once informal and brilliant. One of my favorites.
Bastardozer 2 years ago
It wasn't a debate so much as a series of witty, eloquent monologues by Hitchens. And Playthell's stammering inbetwixt. More entertaining than an actual debate.
Bastardozer 2 years ago
this is what happens when you're more worried about having your voice heard than presenting a persuasive argument. the argument will work on its own in the time alloted. you see now why (as Benjamin noted earlier in the "debate") Hitchens gets paid and Benjamin gets fired.
ciprianciprian 2 years ago 4
to add, medievalism is not a word... f-cking idiot...
GaiusIuliusTaberna 2 years ago
@GaiusIuliusTaberna "to add, medievalism is not a word... f-cking idiot..."
"Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture." - Wikipedia
Sorry, Im not on the mentally unbuckled delinquant fishermans side, I have my Hitchens flag, but just thought I'd point that out..
ihatelumberjacks 1 year ago 2
@ihatelumberjacks lmao 'mentally unbuckled delinquant fisherman'. Full marks.
disdanic 1 year ago
The only reason he supports WW2 is because we were allied to the soviet union, I'd be willing to bet my savings on that... scum bag...
Its nice to have sane intellectuals like Hitchens to destroy idiots like this.
GaiusIuliusTaberna 2 years ago 2
MY GOD. That was the most painful, wretched debate I have ever seen in my life.
Kropotkin26 2 years ago 3
AHAHAHAHAH. I love how Christopher and the moderator just say "F it" and walk off at the end.
spacerumsfeld 2 years ago
They'll use the 'racist' defence no doubt.
lepolemicist 2 years ago
euo
a8lg6p 2 years ago
PB - "Saddam didn't have no black slaves!"
M - "The quality of the unproductiveness of this discussion has been, uh, unrivalled certainly in my moderating experience, and I would love to bring this to a close."
PB - "One of the reasons why it's BEEN unproductive is that you interject yourself into it too much! You should have just let me and him go at each other!"
M - "Mmm...perhaps..."
Fucking hilarious.
SecondsToLast 2 years ago 4
playthell is a disgraceful debater
fuxu123 2 years ago 12
He talks about the black church? What?! What does that have to do with Iraq, the war, anything? Can you say, playing the race card? Hitchens, however, maintains his dignity. 'Dr.' Benjamin is so far out of his league, it's just gross. How is it that the scholar Hitchens is talking with a fucking jive talking retard? Who the fuck made this happen? Hitchens and the moderator were right to walk away from this douche.
frankspandrel 2 years ago 9
The comment that comes first is meant to be second.
frankspandrel 2 years ago
What the hell was this abortion? Why is Christopher Hitchens debating this person? Benjamin doesn't give a shit about the Kuwaitis? What!? Murder is OK?! He avoids questions and tries to make the debate emotional. He refuses to engage in a real debate, most likely because he is too dumb to do so. For him it's a shouting match. He is a moron and charismatic(to morons), a dangerous combination for everyone. Doctor in what: anger, jive?
frankspandrel 2 years ago 63
@frankspandrel
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
saladin400800 1 year ago
why is Dr. Evil moderating this debate?
BillKiernan 2 years ago 2
what happened next? that's the bit i'd be most interested in watching.
naishjam 2 years ago
That wasnt a debate, that was comedy...
Brantinger 2 years ago 12
Well, it was primarily a relatively juvenile anti-American tirade by Mr. Benjamin masquerading as some kind of debate against the intervention in Iraq. Mr. Hitchens rightly made a reference to Darfur and predicted that the usual uninformed leftist hysteria would ignite - and it did. Sorry excuse for a debate. Hitchens informed. Benjamin was embarassing; if he had any shame.
bobsteronic 2 years ago 7
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Well, well well. NYPD and Playthell Benjamin. What is the connection? Inquiring minds want to know and WILL find out.
NYPD cops are racist and hate black people. A black man and NYPD? Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, etc., etc., A black man and NYPD? Oxymoron.
pennyjones07 2 years ago
For crying out loud, who the hell thought it was a good idea to put Redd Foxx and Christopher Hitchens in the same room, let alone the same area code?!? Hey Sanford, go back to your junkyard and leave serious discussions for people who know what the fuck their talking about!
hitman2070 2 years ago 3
ahahaha i was just about to make a Red Foxx quip and I noticed your post. yeah jesus, a blabbering collection of iraq war cliches.
BillKiernan 2 years ago
I didn't read your comment before posting, but you summed it up perfectly.
frankspandrel 2 years ago
wise men have something to say
fools have to say something
artemis01 2 years ago 12
@artemis01
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.* -Plato.
BelfastAtheist 1 year ago 2
Throughout this entire debacle playthell looked he didn't know if he were coming or going. Then one of his last comments was "I feel like I haven't made my points" to which hitchens responds "I have the same feeling."
A perfect closure Hitchens, don't debate him on his radio show. Even the moderator was embarassed who looked like he wasn't conducting it well. However I'd give him some slack as it does appear Playthell refused to play by the rules and the audience also rallied to deny decorum.
DrewAWeeks 2 years ago
What a terrible debate, but mother of the divine, what is with the racism? It's ridiculous.
simonpjhall 2 years ago 5
Seems to be a pair of morons looking for attention.
JohnAdamCulligan 2 years ago
You're an idiot.
simonpjhall 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
It's obvious he is a nigger, there's no reason to call him black also.
Stop being so verbose.
rudenoodle 2 years ago
this pistol in the pocket stuff, citing documents but not presenting them, are not position points.
RhettWright 2 years ago
Woe is me with this race bullshit
RhettWright 2 years ago
what a gong show. Benjamin has no real concept of how to debate with decorum. i'm afraid Hitchens won this one by default not just with facts, but through sheer lucidity.
Benjamin and his ilk in the audience come off as naive leftist rabble with the usual victim complex attached..
shldnbschmn 2 years ago
Benjamin was acting like he was on his radio show more than a debate hall
canti1988 2 years ago
Hitchens is an amazing debater. What a terrible debate, though.
Gorevet 2 years ago 9
I am so impressed by Hitchens' composure & self restraint. I couldn't have done it. I'm sure he went straight to a bar for some good scotch.
circe888 2 years ago 38
He deserved it :D
123432112323 2 years ago
@circe888 scotch and a cigarette ...
diceyLee 1 year ago
@circe888 I'll go further and say it was a Johnnie Walkers black label ;)
Brascofarian 1 year ago
@circe888 It is indeed impressive. But then again, Hitchens debates a new ranter every other week. He'd have learnt fairly early that, in these situations, if you remain calm and composed you'll wipe the floor with your opponent.
disdanic 1 year ago
Did anyone else notice the gold tassels adorning Benjamen's dais, I suppose to make him look more important? Also, I own a small retail store.When we need to have a sign, we just have it printed at Kinkos or Staples. It costs about $5. If I was running an important debate, I think I could have scraped up the money for a nicer sign.
circe888 2 years ago 5
I'd pay to see Hitchens vs. Chomsky; I'd imagine he's one of the few debaters who could rival the Hitch on this subject...
masteryehudi 2 years ago 2
There's not a televised debate to the best of my knowledge, but there's a good radio debate somewhere.
naishjam 2 years ago
Hitchins is a superb debator.
And yes, they are nearly all dead in Darfour.
The UN can say, "This was our finest hour".
TroyaE117 2 years ago 2
"It was in the laboratory of Yakub, I think..."
Hitchens is brilliant.
theToryAnarchist 2 years ago 2
Yeah, not many people will get that joke unless they are familiar with the nation of Islam. But if you are, it is a pretty intelligent quip at Playthells racism.
CadaverSplatter 2 years ago
I think I've watched practically all Hitchens debates, in their entirety, that are available on youtube. I have yet to see anyone give Hitchens a slightest struggle in a debate about religion or politics and I'm not quite sure there is anyone who can. I must say, though, that this is the most pathetic attempt I have seen yet.
Hitchens is the ultimate debater on these two subjects and it is obvious that he has spent countless hours prepping himself so that he can obtain that position.
Brilliant
DustinAnders 2 years ago 3
Let me just say, let me just say, listen here now, let me just say... what a fucking idiot!
DharmRakshak2 2 years ago
Hands down the worst debate I've ever seen. I would have left much sooner.
A debate has pretense of the agreement to adhere to certain conduct and structure. Just like you don't bring a knife in the boxing ring and complain when the referee refuses to let you stab your opponent.
Pathetic, horrible and complete embarrassment on Mr. Benjamin's part. Mr. Hitchen's isn't always right but he shouldn't have to suffer such fools.
Jakeblood240 2 years ago
this debate if you could indeed call it that was painful to watch, I am pleased and applaud Hitchens' civility he can bee rather abrasive and would have been justified in being so in this case, I suppose though that debates like this are not rare, I guess I expect a higher standard having seen so many debates from men Such as William Lane Graig and J.P. Moreland who conduct themselves with civility and intelligence
monkeyfire087 2 years ago
Benjamin is part of a luckily shrinking sect of people that see absolutely everything through the lens of racial struggle. Hitchens, on the other hand, is a glimpse of our future.
CascarillaZoo 2 years ago 5
I don't think one could call the Black Intellectual Establishment a sect...
theToryAnarchist 2 years ago
Playthell Benjamin is an idiot
laxpol 2 years ago
Benjamin can't argue for shit
getupjumpy 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
How disrespectful of Hitchens and the moderator to get up and leave. At least have the class to respect this person as a man.
thewise80 2 years ago
wow. a comment like that and more than 6 negative ratings?? I get it, everyone is on Hitchens's side here, so what he did MUST be the proper thing, but really... even though I completely believe that Hitchens blew the doors off this debate, getting up and walking out?? If the facts are on your side, there's just no harm in being polite, you've got nothing to lose. Just let an idiot use the rest of his time. Ya can't lose any ground over it. I think that the moderator DID overstep his role.
instereovideos 2 years ago
Of course, Hitchens and the moderator thought they were just too intellectual to listen to this, but they agreed to debate and host the debate. Neither one did enough due diligence and research about BP. If they had, they would not allowed the debate to take place. Most of the people that post these comments are people who have never done anything in their lives. They are effectively chickenhawks debating about life and death in their Ivory Towers. I feel sorry for them honestly.
thewise80 2 years ago
Chickenhawks? I always find this kind of quasi-ad hominem argumentation annoying. I agree with Hitchens, and yet am not currently serving, though I suppose I very well could. Yet I also am against whaling and yet have never joined Green Peace and against starvation in Africa though I haven't joined the Peace Corps. Do either of these facts take away my right to stand up and say I agree or disagree with whaling and continued hunger in Africa?
theToryAnarchist 2 years ago 3
Chickenhawk is a description of a political position, nothing "quasi-ad hominem" about it. While I admire your stance on "starvation in Africa", it's really a silly and ignorant comparison and adds nothing to the conversation. If you want to state that a war is justified, you need to provide your efforts within the Armed Forces. If you rather someone else fight for your "war", you are a Chickenhawk. Hitchen obviously does believe in a God, it's called Democracy, and his Jesus are the Iraqis.
thewise80 2 years ago
"Chickenhawk" is a descriotion of a political position in about the same way "feminazi" is.
So I have no right to take a stance on domestic abuse unless I join the police force, underdevelopment in the 3rd world unless I join the Peace Corps, nor even to oppose the war unless I join a peace protest? I still don't understand this reasoning, nor your Jesus/Iraqi analogy, quite possibly because I'm too silly or ignorant or a fascistic feminazi chickenhawk or something.
theToryAnarchist 2 years ago 2
Or you could be all the above. Of course, I would not have used "feminazi". I have no idea what your stance on MRA issues.
You can't understand the reasoning since you are not in the Armed Forces. Life and death consequences of war is thousands of miles away and you can watch death and destruction in the comfort of your own home. Your perspective would change once you are away from home, without the comforts of America, sleeping in 100 degree temps on a small cot, eating terrible rationed food.
thewise80 2 years ago
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Mr. Hitchens forgets whose blood is spilled and who would mourn the family of innocent in this "war". All in the name of Democracy. It never hits him that while there are some benefits of Democracy, it is not for people who are not willing to fight for it. He wields Democracy like an Evangelical Christian wields the Bible. Political change happens not without bloodshed. So who pays? Why the Iraqi people that never asked for it; hence, they are the Jesus. Hopefully this will help you understand.
thewise80 2 years ago
Wow, I am embarrassed for Benjamin.
whosthechamp 2 years ago 7
me too
MysteryManoLove 2 years ago
me too
bradforever 2 years ago
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anon2999 2 years ago
I have no idea how hitchens lasted the whole thing! Benjamin debates like a 10 year old, if you're louder you're more correct, what a tool.
Stewayben 2 years ago 6
5:36 - the only good point Benjamin makes this entire debate
Irish0583 2 years ago
Comment removed
Irish0583 2 years ago
This was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
ByronC900 2 years ago 3
"And if the Democrats win the house, he will be impeached."
So much for his predictive power.
douglarocca 2 years ago 10
why does he have to talk about being black all the time? seriously every point...
ShaolinViolin 2 years ago 5
Because he's a cry baby!
AtheistRevolutionX 2 years ago 2
lol, classic
iDeist 3 years ago
Sorry, but if you walk out (as a member of an audience) no one will notice. Hitchen did have one good point, which is why is going into Darfur a good idea, but Iraq is bad. I am still debating that myself. It seems if W Bush's way is incorrect, then neither Kofi Annan's way is not much better. Too bad, they did not invite a better sparring partner for Hitchen.
Chemicalkinetics 3 years ago
right, but at least the moderator rectified his own manners; Benjamin and the audience continued to be boorish.
koreindian1 3 years ago
I can't believe that such an inane event as this took place inside Cooper Union. I absolutely hate to say this, but the modern liberals are so completely boorish. Prejudice like this is even more malignant than that of the conservatives.
koreindian1 3 years ago 8
Because liberalism has seemingly merged with mediocrity and compromise with things, like Saddam's Iraq, that would be in their best interest to fight against. That is, of course, if they really believed in fighting for the ideals of humanism and rights.
CadaverSplatter 2 years ago 4
What a waste of everyones time. I'm glad Hitchens and the chair walked out at the end. What should have been, and had the potential to be, a thoroughly interesting debate turned into an absolute folly, to use Playthells own words.
EGM52 3 years ago 6
Possibly the WORST debate I have ever seen, but glad I saw it.
MysteryManoLove 3 years ago 5
In almost the same breath, Benjamin praised both MLK and Saddam for abolishing slavery - unbelievable!
It never even occurs to him that one was a genocidal lunatic.
r22k10 3 years ago 3
I can see why Benjamin got fired so many times.
Darkaero199 3 years ago 4
This was fan-fucking-tastic. So entertaining.
talonferguson 3 years ago
Again the man on the right is retarded. He doesn't understand the english language. The concept of answering a question. The best part is that I watch this several years later and everything Plaything says is wrong. How anyone could listing to Plaything on the radio is beyond me.
Black Black Black, the only thing I can say is black this black that. Nothing of substance. Slavery of black is evil, slavery and murder of everyone who is not black is just.
Monty1994 3 years ago 2
Hitchens took a whole bunch of facts, bent Playthell Benjamin over the podium, then fucked those facts right up his ghetto ass without mercy. Benjamin is nothing but an uneducated bitch-ass pimp. A uneducated bitch-ass pimp with a very sore ass, that is. He needs to retire from political debates and go back to pimping his bitches and ho's. What a fucking joke he is. Fuck Playthell Benjamin, and if you happen to be a fan of this ignorant punk-ass fool, fuck you too.
dynamic717 3 years ago 5
"It was in the laboratory of Yakub I think." Genius.
chetshirepratt 3 years ago 3
indeed.
CadaverSplatter 2 years ago
5:08
So Saddam abolished slavery in Iraq. Fantastic! That undoes all of the crimes of his regime. Let's take that slave-handling, war-mongering maniac Tom Jefferson off the nickel and put Saddam on there.
Davco46 3 years ago 5
PATHETIC debate...nonetheless, this has to be one of Hitchen's strongest finishes. I love how Christopher can chastise an entire audience.
Mike3303 3 years ago 2
I challenge Playthell Benjamin to find Iraq on a map. This ghetto assclown is a fucking joke.
dynamic717 3 years ago 5
ahhahaah
I love his " LET ME TELL U THIS, LET ME TELL U THIS... uhhh"
lord69z 3 years ago 3
Not at all a doctor of any sort. You have to graduate from college, after all, to even begin the process of seeking a doctorate, and he did NOT graduate from any college anywhere at anytime. He certainly doesn't have an "honorary doctorate" from anywhere either.
pennyjones07 3 years ago 3