Christopher Hitchens on the Satanic Verses Affair - Part 2 (1989)

[Pawlit360]

I encourage you to find/google the article from cracked magazine titled "6 Ridiculous History Myths (You Probably Think Are True)" in which the "War of the Worlds" broadcast panic is pretty well explained as an urban legend.

[xxxMarzikinnsxxx]

i read the book and i injoyed it i recomaned it.

[jameskparos]

Love Christopher's cheeky look at 3:05 lol go Hitch go!

[stevolution666]

@jameskparos do you not mean 1:35

[mikecook6266]

Mr Hitchins..... get off the fence . choose a side, other than disagreeing with everything.

[MaskedMarvyl]

I have to say that I disagree with Hitchens for once. His disregarding frightened radio listeners as "Fools and Lemmings", too stupid to understand what they are listening to, is frankly callous, and I have to say.....even stupid.

There is a simple solution to that, and that simple solution was that the FCC required that a notification of what the listeners were listening to be regularly announced. That's a sensible compromise that doesn't restrict speech.

Hitchens is too dismissive here.

[Danmolaijn]

@MaskedMarvyl Hindsight is a bitch, huh?

I don't think Hitchens would disagree with you here. The point is the FCC didn't require this and this performance did not breech any law. Also, read up on the 'panic' before you post. The overwhelming population did not go insane. Of a 100+ million, an approximate 6 million heard the broadcast and 1.7 million 'believed' it. The same percentage of "Fools and Lemmings" that believe the president of this country is a Kenyan Born Muslim.

[MaskedMarvyl]

Thank you for uploading this. Isn't it odd that after all these years, the relevance of freedom of speech versus Islamic bullying is stronger than ever??

Now we have 80 Sharia courts in the UK, and expanding. We have anti-blasphemy laws forbidding criticizing Islam in Islamic countries, on penalty of prison; and they wanted ALL European countries to abide by it! The pressure to expand is relentless, and the West concedes every time. And the more we retreat, the more they push.

[lec0roh]

Hitchens, superb here as usual!

[jizzfish]

This is still such a sensitive issue today, especially since the south park controversy.

people are still scratching their heads wondering why these contradictions keep popping up, some say it's human nature, I say the human race just needs to grow up a bit.

look at a small group of people as they grow up, as if it were a microcosm of the human race; I'd say we are at about the 8-12 years old mark.

[Isrealit360]

@jizzfish interesting!

[CornCob6000]

@jizzfish Spot on, Freud said something very similar. 

[bauhaus1017]

Good ol Hitch, Hitchslappin' the microcephalics 20+ years ago. Good on you mate.

[redryan20000]

@bauhaus1017 microcephalics...that's a new one!

[Hamandchees3]

It's H.G. Wells and the War of the Worlds radio panic is a myth in the form its usually told.

[jemidai]

@Hamandchees3 Orson Welles did the radio broadcast.