I think Hedges is being a little too "cheap" with his constant statements about "I was there," so therefore ANY characterization I give of the people in those places MUST be accurate.
It's a crummy way to "win" a point--and he does it again and again.
This really doesn't seem to be a debate. Hedges is attacking positions that Harris is not taking. Harris is not claiming that ALL muslims are jihadists and suicide bombers. He is claiming that the religion is what is pushing these extremeists to do these things. Yes there are political and social factors to consider but those on their own would not have lead to 9/11 if not for their belief that they were doing God's work.
Sam: "Happily, we do not assess public opinion by having New York Times journalists go out and live in the Muslim world and make friends and get a vibe."
Chris spends 50% of his time talking about how much time he's spent in the Middle East, 25% of his time building idiotic strawman arguments, and 25% listening to that gregarious moderator.
"You're arguing against positions I don't necessarily hold" -- Sam Harris. LOL
It seems to me that Chris Hedges is a guy who likes to make all his points on the basis of "I lived there for awhile"....but without much reason or logic.
I was in Saudi Arabia in 1990, on Hajj as a matter of fact, a little after the fatwa on Salman Rushdie was ordered. I asked, Americans too, and many times didn't have to ask, what they would do if they could get to him. Unanimously, it was kill him on sight, many as bloodily and painfully as possible, many explained to me in passionate and animate fashion exactly what they'd do to him. NONE had read it.
This is just one of the things that made me reject Islam and tell Allah to go fuck himself.
@shaxanth27 (continued) If Chris Hedges lived for so long in Saudi Arabia and has this rosy benign picture of it it's because he closed his eyes and didn't ask any questions in order to get along. Some fucking journalist.
4:08: "You're arguing against positions I don't necessarily hold." - That's exactly what I've been shouting at Hedges since the moment he opened his disingenuous mouth.
The earlier segments of this video had a number of people comment and criticize Hedges for using lecture notes and speaking at a podium, as if he couldn't articulate his argument. He clearly has proved over and over again in this video and a few before it that he knows how to speak his mind on the spot.
Happily we do not asses public opinion by having New York times journalist go out and live in the Muslim world and make friends and get a vibe. A single well run opinion poll would be worth a thousand years of you wandering the middle east. Sam Harris
He's not a moderator, he's an old man from an old time when 95% of the people believed in God and Harris is telling him: "Hey, old fart, you were wrong, and still are, religion will die with your generation."
Hedges constantly reminds us of how he lived in the Middle East and so we should respect all his anecdotes. He makes the statement that honor killings are "not that common." The UN begs to differ rt.com/news/honour-killings-middle-east/
Was the Pew poll referred to by Harris taken before or after the US invaded Iraq on flimsy evidence? This debate is a fun to watch train wreck between two issues confronting modern thinkers. Are muslims dangerous due to the principles of Islam? Or are they only dangerous when you cap off 70 years of meddling with an unwarranted military invasion? Ha!!
All the Sam Harris fan-boys posting here are sniffing your own assholes and thinking it smells good.
Hedges puts Harris in his place. Harris comes off as a shallow and petulant sophmore entirely out of his depth.
Sorry fan boys: When you grow up and read some of the texts to which Hedges refers (Arendt; Popper), you'll see the shallowness of Harris' "argument," which, at its root, amounts to little more than garden-variety fear mongering endemic to present-day American right-wing politics.
@bapyou So people who think Harris is more correct are "fan boys" while if you prefer Hedges, you are "setting them straight" or some such nonsense? Great argument. For every bit Harris is extreme on the one side, Hedges ignores data and excuses religion of any negative influence whatsoever and excuses anything that comes from Muslims as reasonable reaction. "Our stupid religion versus their stupid religion" is a recipe for idiotic annihilation.
@rrpostalagain well said...and it doesn't seem as if they'll stop until they destroy everyone else in their attempts to *prove* their god is the BEST god, and will kick the shit out of the other gods...fuckin' monkeys I tell ya
@bapyou well bapu, you might want to reconsider the juvenile nature of your comment...Sam Harris actually OWNS Hedges in this debate no matter how much time Chris spent in the Arab world, he has NO standing here and his *arguments* are flimsy at best
This is fucking travesty. Two glib, arrogant, sanctimonious, and uncreative stooges jerking one another off as they spout tired, shallow apologist rhetoric. The ultimate redundancy if I ever saw one and a complete mockery of debate and intellectually honest discourse. Hackery.
@petermacaluso1 well peterman, nice use of multi-syllabic words but your comment is not impressive and so full of shit you MUST have spewed that from your anal orifice, sequentially...also
@oneirishpoet Well argued point, you Irish person! Just so it's clear though, I had no interest in impressing you. And yes, if it is full of shit, it COULD only have been spewed from my asshole (does the word "asshole" have too many syllables for you? My apologies-lets change it to "butt") So your aware, I've patented my butt and Bic is interested developing it into tomorrow's most cutting edge writing technology. Till then your gonna have to hold tight and lick an asshole the old fashioned way.
"Irregardless" isn't even a word. Chris Hedges is a world class idiot. I really enjoy watching Harris debate, but it sucks when he has to endure morons like these two.
Amen. Then again, it seems like Sam is always lightyears ahead. Do you know of any good vids of him debating someone a little more on his level? Would love to check them out.
3:18: Isolate terrorist in their homeland??Did this Chris fuckbag forget, THEY FUCKING CAME TO US ON 9\11!!!!!!!!! He creates one esoteric argument after another due to his lack of debating skills.& fuck that C.Sanders moderator he needs to shut the fuck up and fry some chicken.He adds nothing.
You can tell that Harris makes Hedges feel insecure because Chris desperately tries to establish his ethos (Hey Chris, how many years did you live "amongst" muslims? I don't think I heard you say it the first ten times) to give his anecdotal evidence some weight. Sam: 8, Chris (and his moderator lackey): 0
Omfg Hedges...if I hear you say "well I was in the middle east for 7 years blah blah blah..." one more time, I'll punch your teeth in. We get it, we respect it, move on.
Hedges implies that even if religion is useless, we should keep it and focus on curing human evil instead. It would be like saying that because homeopathy is useless and does nothing, we should keep it and not heavily criticize it or attack it, because at least homeopathy does some good for many people. If this is the case, why don't we also justify all sorts of other things too - if believing in the tooth fairy helps adults, should we not encourage that false b.s. to be believed?
why should a moderator be neutral?where the hell have u gotten that idea? shouldnt a moderator be flexible and take into account what people are saying? so if you fuck up and slip the moderator will arrest you, christ, it smells american presidental debate over peoples conception of moderators.
@Nemesis000000 Well let's look at it this way: In decades to come Hedge's books will be valuable documents chronicling how America got to where it is today and where it will be then, Harris will probably be out of print.
@AndrewMann552 Hedges books are like the fringe movie "freedom to fascism". Anyone who uses fascism to label america, is guilty of godwin's law. America is hitler. Sure. america is hitler. Yes, americans are fascists, that's why it's a multi racial society with a fairly free market... sure.. that's fascism, sure.
@SeeProfileForDetails Hedges' main argument is that America is moving towards a form of inverted fascism, not classical fascism in the Nazi Germany sense. Yes, it's a multi-racial society, where Congress holds hearings to investigate Muslim Americans and hate rallies take place in Orange County, yes, it has a "free market" system, just ask the 19,000 teachers about to be fired in California or Detroit's teaches who were all fired, or ask the thousands protesting in Wisconsin.
@AndrewMann552 well if Nazis flew planes into buildings on 9/11 then they would investigate neo nazis too, so what? why does everyone have such a problem with the fact that muslims are a threat to america and their religious beliefs are against freedom? Anyone will pick on a nazi and poke fun at him, but never we are allowed to put pressure on muslims to become less religious and more skeptical. Why?
@SeeProfileForDetails Ok, answer this, why is this suddenly such a major issue now? From 2001-2008 there were discussions about Islam etc., but nothing compared to what's suddenly happening now, 10 years after the attacks with no major, large scale attacks in the U.S. or Europe. Why didn't anyone give a shit during the 1990s when Al Qaeda was already attacking targets in Africa? It's all bullshit by neofascists and opportunist politicians trying to distract attention from real, serious problems
@AndrewMann552 You do realize that 9/11 is just the beginning, and that the next attack will be much bigger? Why do people forget, so easily, but yet they remember the nazis and the holocaust? The nazis are gone. The muslims are not gone.
If I have to hear this Hedges guy say one more time that because he lived in Asia for 7 years, he's somehow intimately tied to the ideological pulse of the Muslim world is pathetic.
It's AMAZING to me that this man thinks that it's politics and not religion that's the problem. AMAZING!
@dweeper1020 Hes saying that at the heart of fundamentalist religious movements is a despair and disenfranchisment that is completely secular. Political and economic problems are at the heart, of course they are.
@version191 If that's his argument, he is wrong. If you have a society that is heavily religious and fundamentalist, then your POLITICS and your ECONOMICS are molded by the religious thoughts of the people.
To suggest somehow you can have laws and politics that are intelligently formed a group of people who are marinating in superstition is ludicrous. How can intelligent laws and intelligent political arguments be made, when the population is swaddled in superstition and fear?
@dweeper1020 The point is that religious fundamentalism is not the original cause, is it more of a surface trait that arises when there are high leves of instablitiy and inequality. Going on about how to get rid of religion is a waste of time, and ignorant to the underlying issues.
@version191 I couldn't disagree with you more. I mean, your entire argument is so fundamentally against everything I know. To suggest that you ought to "fix" politics and "fix" the economy while the people who are ultimately in charge of it, are still fixated on superstition and religious ideology is ignorant.
George Bush often would take his commands (Politics) from, what he thought, was god's will. What makes you think other leaders and their electorate would think and behave differently?
A two against one debate...whatever...moderates will sooner or later have to speak up against "their" extremists...then as time goes on...the moderates will then have to "accept" the "other" moderates...any and all lines that divide, perpetuate the lack of global economical cohesiveness...
American Nationalism != racism. That man must be an idiot since he destroyed that comparison when he said we were against the French.... who are Caucasian in the same monologue.
"Happily we do not assess public opinion by having NY Times journalists go out and live in the muslim world and make friends and get a vibe" - Awesome Sam!
I bet Sam Harris is getting payed by the government to argue against someone who knows the facts and has lived in the life. Like the moderator said at the beginning. Sam Harris's book is being widely spread through out the world. So that way when someone reads it they will be misled and start believing in this morons vision. What a tool. The governments tool.
Chris Hudges knows what he is talking about. He doesn't let himself become a victim to society. Now Sam Harris is just trying to push his ideas to make people be deceived and act a certain way.
In this segment Chris Hedges is arguing against a position that Sam Harris is not even defending and the audience is clapping. I hate this kind of technique.
Chris Hedges speech was magnificent, shame the entire thing was a strawman...theres some people who really need this kind of blunt instruction; Sam Harris simply isn't one of them.
this whole anti-war rant, is irrelevant. They're not even topics that Sam Harris is even supporting, and seems that he just needs to rant on something.
this whole anti-war rant, is irrelevant. They're not even topics that Sam Harris is even supporting, and seems that he just needs to rant on something.
@AnotherMasterMind I did not get the sense that he was being biased, he explained why he disagreed, he had read the poll and it seems as though Harris was misusing the information to help his argument. So it's not biased to want to keep the debate as truthful as possible. A moderator does his job if he keep the debate honest.
"In a pre modern context!??" Really?? good grief that is the whole point there are enough people wit a pre modern mindset in christianity that makes it dangerous 6000 year old earth isn't a pre modern mindset?
@3234718 Why? It's the kind of place you could use "regardless", so you can use "irregardless" as well. Aside from that, one dictionary says it's just nonstandard for "regardless", and another (an etymological one) says it's an erroneous word to express the opposite of what it says, which is of course obvious. It's just that it's possible that it's become lexicalized such that it now means the same as "regardless", although it must've come to be by people using it wrongly.
@Whatsifsowhatsit I guess you're right. It may be proper but it doesn't conform to the standards of American English. You can say "I don't have no money", and be technically correct if what you mean is that you do in fact have money.
@3234718 Right... and then there's dialects where it's more or less obligatory to negate everything negatable, even if that leads to what's technically a double negative.
Anyway I don't really know anything about the word "irregardless" itself, so it may not be at the point (yet?) where it's really adopted into the language (not English myself either...)
if hedges mentions one more time where he's lived or been i'm gonna turn this off and throw my computer out the window. hopefully it'll hit him in the head as he apparently in all places at all times.
hedges totally takes a left turn when he starts talking about bombs being made in ohio and shit, its about religion and beliefs, harris is NOT there to argue whether usa was right or wrong in its military actions over the past 10 or 20 years in the middle east, its about whether religion is just another volitile ingrediant in what is causing so much mass confusion and friction around the world with beliefs and those who want to profess them
The despair theory is totaly wrong. He likes to talks about the middle east but all he needs to do is look at any inner city in america. Crime, poverty, drugs, death all around but they are not blowing themselves up. This theory sounds nice but It is alot more complex than just despair.
Why is Chris Hedges so angry every single time he talks? It's like someone who capitalizes every word thinking it will create emphasis, when it actually does the exact opposite. He actually has some good points, but his style makes his facts sound ad hominem ...not to mention the straw man arguments he keeps using (which Harris appropriately points out.)
The best part was at the end when the moderater skewed the pew poll question SO MUCH that anyone who was asked that question would have to be a pacifist to not say yes. "studied the pew poll carefully" yeah, sounds like it. I read the poll, Sam quoted it accurately.
as Geral Celente puts it, "wen people lose everything and have nothing more to lose,THEY LOSE IT"
kudos to Chris, desperate people are very malleable in hands of those not that desperate and with a bias, so religion seems the prefect excuse for controlling them and get them to do what you want based on the "interpretation" that comes handy on that particular occasion on any particular passage of any "sacred" book
I wonder how many times throughout this debate Hedges referenced having been in the Middle East. In my eyes referencing it once or twice gives you credibility, but when you feel the need to say it before every point you make I begin to question whether you actually know what the fuck your talking about...
Arguing with postions I don't hold, owned... dude you thought you were on a roll you are just babbling, you have not refuted Sam's position, get a clue.
What the fuck is happenning here? Hedges uses the non-word "irregardless" and this moderator is not moderating (though he does have some points, he should not be making them in this context)! Hedges brings a wealth of experience to the table, and in that regard, he is better-suited than Harris to argue about the intersection of religion and politics (his dissection of Iraq is excellent). However, Harris is better at philosophy and his arguments against religion are razor sharp!
Hedges used irregardless, for fucks sake. I suppose he is not an academic... but still.
Terrible moderator. Polls aren't the best, but they are better for facts than asking somebody who would only be acquainted with those who are willing to work with the inifidel in the first place.
2 on 1 and their argument is still on the defensive. Both those guys are struggling to keep their head above water.
Well said, felt the exact same way. Notice how Sam never gets angry or animated in any of his debates or interviews. I suspect it's mainly because he holds the facts (no matter how unpleasant to hear) above any bias or personal agenda, unlike these two.
So funny to hear that moron say that an Islamic leader criticizing Bin Laden for not being allowed to issue fatwas... My god how stupid can you get, its the damn point that there IS the possibility to issue them in the first place!!!
0:30 "the islamic world has not gone through a renaissance yet"
I wonder why that is. Might it have a little something to do with imperialism? Or is it just extremist imperialism? Are most imperialists good people? Surely not all imperialists fly Apache helicopters and bomb muslims while they are inside buildings. Not all imperialists use drones to pick people off in Afghanistan.
Is imperialism a valid belief? Should we tolerate moderate imperialists but not extremist ones?
For anyone not be able to admit that the Islamic faith is just more violent than the other faiths of the world TODAY (of course I admit the others have all been rediculously violent) is simply staggering
Chris didn't want to debate religion he just wanted to debate foreign policy. Not surprising because I think he knows there is no defense for literally believing in any of the main faiths, he's not even really religious. He just changes the meaning of religion and God from what most people take it to be to what he is more comfortable with.
@fortyone0 Mr Harris insisting here on riding his "religion the great satan and sole cause of all mayhem" hobbyhorse roughshod over the facts of appalling US foreign policy does not benefit his rational -lets weigh ALL the facts ALL the time EVERY time - cred he fancies himself being the sole patent holder of.
I keep hearing Chris Hedges quoting that guy from Dead Rising, "I've covered wars, you know..."
yayforspooky 6 days ago in playlist Religion, Politics and the End of the World - Sam Harris
who is this moderator and why do i have to keep listening to his opinions?
whatsnextyoulittlefu 1 week ago
I think Hedges is being a little too "cheap" with his constant statements about "I was there," so therefore ANY characterization I give of the people in those places MUST be accurate.
It's a crummy way to "win" a point--and he does it again and again.
GetMeThere1 1 week ago
This really doesn't seem to be a debate. Hedges is attacking positions that Harris is not taking. Harris is not claiming that ALL muslims are jihadists and suicide bombers. He is claiming that the religion is what is pushing these extremeists to do these things. Yes there are political and social factors to consider but those on their own would not have lead to 9/11 if not for their belief that they were doing God's work.
notharrypotter1 1 month ago
Hedges said "irregardless." He's done. Nothing he says can be taken seriously.
drewpluta 1 month ago
This moderator is really irritating. He should be given a pension to stay at home
scipio909 3 months ago in playlist Sam Harris
check out 7:15
Even some people in the audience yell something like, hey you're a moderator, act that way, douchebag
sonykroket 3 months ago 2
So, the moderator is so opinionated that he disagrees with the debater? It's his job to shut the hell up. It's the other guys job to disagree.
This moderator REALLY loves his own voice...
DaToNyOyO 4 months ago
"...no religious training and no right to issue fatwās..."
So, am I to understand that this religion of peace denies the ability to issues fatwās to people UNLESS they have the proper religious training?
Is that better in some way? If they've had religious training?
DaToNyOyO 4 months ago
Sam: "Happily, we do not assess public opinion by having New York Times journalists go out and live in the Muslim world and make friends and get a vibe."
My god, that was epic.
johnjsal 4 months ago 4
Shut the hell up about racism!!!! AAAGGHGHGH!!!
This man doth pisseth me off.
Joeofiowa 4 months ago
Chris spends 50% of his time talking about how much time he's spent in the Middle East, 25% of his time building idiotic strawman arguments, and 25% listening to that gregarious moderator.
Harris destroyed these mofos.
Joeofiowa 4 months ago 2
Honor killings aren't "that" common. Is this guy serious?
Strike2k2 5 months ago 3
"You're the moderator!" lol
CheeryWhale 5 months ago
"You're arguing against positions I don't necessarily hold" -- Sam Harris. LOL
It seems to me that Chris Hedges is a guy who likes to make all his points on the basis of "I lived there for awhile"....but without much reason or logic.
TonyRush 5 months ago 5
@TonyRush Good point.
bovinicide 5 months ago
@TonyRush Gratuitously emotive, too.
bovinicide 5 months ago
I was in Saudi Arabia in 1990, on Hajj as a matter of fact, a little after the fatwa on Salman Rushdie was ordered. I asked, Americans too, and many times didn't have to ask, what they would do if they could get to him. Unanimously, it was kill him on sight, many as bloodily and painfully as possible, many explained to me in passionate and animate fashion exactly what they'd do to him. NONE had read it.
This is just one of the things that made me reject Islam and tell Allah to go fuck himself.
shaxanth27 5 months ago 2
@shaxanth27 (continued) If Chris Hedges lived for so long in Saudi Arabia and has this rosy benign picture of it it's because he closed his eyes and didn't ask any questions in order to get along. Some fucking journalist.
shaxanth27 5 months ago
@shaxanth27 Ugh, stories like that are part of the reason why I will NEVER travel to Saudi Arabia. Or any muslim majority nation for that matter.
Drgamedood 5 months ago
4:08: "You're arguing against positions I don't necessarily hold." - That's exactly what I've been shouting at Hedges since the moment he opened his disingenuous mouth.
Really, WTF is wrong with that guy?
shaxanth27 5 months ago 3
@shaxanth27
I think he has down syndrome...
izzo31 5 months ago
lol Irregardless
Gedn666 5 months ago
The earlier segments of this video had a number of people comment and criticize Hedges for using lecture notes and speaking at a podium, as if he couldn't articulate his argument. He clearly has proved over and over again in this video and a few before it that he knows how to speak his mind on the spot.
proseed181 5 months ago
Happily we do not asses public opinion by having New York times journalist go out and live in the Muslim world and make friends and get a vibe. A single well run opinion poll would be worth a thousand years of you wandering the middle east. Sam Harris
nigelsenchez 5 months ago 2
He's not a moderator, he's an old man from an old time when 95% of the people believed in God and Harris is telling him: "Hey, old fart, you were wrong, and still are, religion will die with your generation."
lalaurentide 6 months ago 2
The very worst moderator I have EVER seen.
thethinkingallred 6 months ago 2
@thethinkingallred no, he's just a venerable journalist first. Forgive him for giving a fuck about the topic.
proseed181 5 months ago
6:58 Did the moderator just give Harris the Sieg Heil salute??
AGrandt 6 months ago
4:10 Harris says "You are arguing against positions I don't necessarily hold", and Hedges completely dismisses that statement.
AGrandt 6 months ago
Why did this 2 on 1 debate not have a moderator?
rrpostalagain 6 months ago 4
Hahaha, Sam Harris' face at around 2:30 after the honor-killings-argument. Priceless.
andimuellersc 6 months ago
Hedges constantly reminds us of how he lived in the Middle East and so we should respect all his anecdotes. He makes the statement that honor killings are "not that common." The UN begs to differ rt.com/news/honour-killings-middle-east/
nurseratchit 6 months ago 3
@nurseratchit Those darned facts can't hold up to Hedges. he was there for goodness sakes.
rrpostalagain 6 months ago
Just saying "I was there!" over and over again doesn't make your statements right.
andimuellersc 6 months ago 3
Was that a voice from the crowd yelling "you're the moderator!" Gah, what an idiot!
gwcstudio 6 months ago
Was the Pew poll referred to by Harris taken before or after the US invaded Iraq on flimsy evidence? This debate is a fun to watch train wreck between two issues confronting modern thinkers. Are muslims dangerous due to the principles of Islam? Or are they only dangerous when you cap off 70 years of meddling with an unwarranted military invasion? Ha!!
CribNotes 6 months ago
All the Sam Harris fan-boys posting here are sniffing your own assholes and thinking it smells good.
Hedges puts Harris in his place. Harris comes off as a shallow and petulant sophmore entirely out of his depth.
Sorry fan boys: When you grow up and read some of the texts to which Hedges refers (Arendt; Popper), you'll see the shallowness of Harris' "argument," which, at its root, amounts to little more than garden-variety fear mongering endemic to present-day American right-wing politics.
bapyou 6 months ago in playlist CHRIS HEDGES
@bapyou
Plain nonsense. Grow up already...
Wrath0fKhan 6 months ago
@bapyou reread your post. Do you see the irony?
andimuellersc 6 months ago
@bapyou So people who think Harris is more correct are "fan boys" while if you prefer Hedges, you are "setting them straight" or some such nonsense? Great argument. For every bit Harris is extreme on the one side, Hedges ignores data and excuses religion of any negative influence whatsoever and excuses anything that comes from Muslims as reasonable reaction. "Our stupid religion versus their stupid religion" is a recipe for idiotic annihilation.
rrpostalagain 6 months ago
@rrpostalagain well said...and it doesn't seem as if they'll stop until they destroy everyone else in their attempts to *prove* their god is the BEST god, and will kick the shit out of the other gods...fuckin' monkeys I tell ya
oneirishpoet 6 months ago
@bapyou well bapu, you might want to reconsider the juvenile nature of your comment...Sam Harris actually OWNS Hedges in this debate no matter how much time Chris spent in the Arab world, he has NO standing here and his *arguments* are flimsy at best
oneirishpoet 6 months ago
Sam Harris = EPIC WIN! (7 minutes in)
tpr007 6 months ago 2
Hedges is speaking a lot from his own experience, rather than the wider picture of evidence. This is the inherent flaw in his arrogant stance.
tpr007 6 months ago 3
Winner: Sam Harris. Second Place: Guy who angrily yelled "YOU'RE THE MODERATOR!"
cporter603 6 months ago 3
>Harris makes a valid point
>ramble on about American foreign policy
>Harris defeats point anyway
>moderator interrupts
>repeat x100
FreeInquisition 6 months ago 3
This is fucking travesty. Two glib, arrogant, sanctimonious, and uncreative stooges jerking one another off as they spout tired, shallow apologist rhetoric. The ultimate redundancy if I ever saw one and a complete mockery of debate and intellectually honest discourse. Hackery.
petermacaluso1 6 months ago 3
@petermacaluso1 well peterman, nice use of multi-syllabic words but your comment is not impressive and so full of shit you MUST have spewed that from your anal orifice, sequentially...also
oneirishpoet 6 months ago
@oneirishpoet Well argued point, you Irish person! Just so it's clear though, I had no interest in impressing you. And yes, if it is full of shit, it COULD only have been spewed from my asshole (does the word "asshole" have too many syllables for you? My apologies-lets change it to "butt") So your aware, I've patented my butt and Bic is interested developing it into tomorrow's most cutting edge writing technology. Till then your gonna have to hold tight and lick an asshole the old fashioned way.
petermacaluso1 5 months ago
Hedges continuously makes the argument from authority. Weak tea.
jskohut 6 months ago 2
senile moderator lol
esiosan 6 months ago 3
During Chris Hedges' bits, I have to periodically put the video on pause while I calm myself down.
neonatalpenguin 6 months ago 12
IRREGARDLESS! \o/
akikarvonen 6 months ago
"Irregardless" isn't even a word. Chris Hedges is a world class idiot. I really enjoy watching Harris debate, but it sucks when he has to endure morons like these two.
jds127b123 6 months ago 26
@jds127b123 Here here!
bovinicide 5 months ago
@jds127b123
Amen. Then again, it seems like Sam is always lightyears ahead. Do you know of any good vids of him debating someone a little more on his level? Would love to check them out.
Joeofiowa 4 months ago 2
@jds127b123 Neither is "complicitous." This guy is an incredibly sanctimonious ass
mistaboogy44 2 months ago
"I've been there" argument is terrible. Is this guy serious?
reasonformirrors 6 months ago 4
Hedges actually said "irregardless".
LACAarchitect 6 months ago 3
3:18: Isolate terrorist in their homeland??Did this Chris fuckbag forget, THEY FUCKING CAME TO US ON 9\11!!!!!!!!! He creates one esoteric argument after another due to his lack of debating skills.& fuck that C.Sanders moderator he needs to shut the fuck up and fry some chicken.He adds nothing.
turnipdaisy 6 months ago
Never seen Sam Harris this frustrated.
contracrostipunctus 6 months ago
7:14 Audience: "You're a fucking MODERATOR!"
7:18 Moderator: "I've done it for two hours, how long..."
iansaidhi 6 months ago 3
You can tell that Harris makes Hedges feel insecure because Chris desperately tries to establish his ethos (Hey Chris, how many years did you live "amongst" muslims? I don't think I heard you say it the first ten times) to give his anecdotal evidence some weight. Sam: 8, Chris (and his moderator lackey): 0
hikermanwa 6 months ago 4
Omfg Hedges...if I hear you say "well I was in the middle east for 7 years blah blah blah..." one more time, I'll punch your teeth in. We get it, we respect it, move on.
sparaticus039 7 months ago in playlist Sam Harris Debates/Lectures
Moderators moderate!!! They don't partake in the debate !!!! WTF WTF WTF !!!
ConzenEW 8 months ago
Considering the events of the first months of 2011, Hedges does seem to have some insight
johneamer 8 months ago
This was in NO WAY a legitimate debate.
GypsyRock 10 months ago
i dont think its physically possible to win an arguement vs sam
pawndominance1 10 months ago 2
@pawndominance1 Wrong, all you would have to do is drug his water bottle.
johneamer 10 months ago
@johneamer yeah you got me
pawndominance1 10 months ago
Hey I wonder if this guy lived in the Middle East. Maybe if he mentioned it eight more times I would know.
AngelSnacks 10 months ago
Sam Harris is brilliant at describing religion but has no idea how politics work.
Chris Hedges is brilliant at politics but I'm not sure what his religious views are.
johnpotter26 11 months ago 5
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Hedges implies that even if religion is useless, we should keep it and focus on curing human evil instead. It would be like saying that because homeopathy is useless and does nothing, we should keep it and not heavily criticize it or attack it, because at least homeopathy does some good for many people. If this is the case, why don't we also justify all sorts of other things too - if believing in the tooth fairy helps adults, should we not encourage that false b.s. to be believed?
SeeProfileForDetails 10 months ago
why should a moderator be neutral?where the hell have u gotten that idea? shouldnt a moderator be flexible and take into account what people are saying? so if you fuck up and slip the moderator will arrest you, christ, it smells american presidental debate over peoples conception of moderators.
RipTheJackR 11 months ago
@RipTheJackR a moderator should be objective, not neutral. This moderator is not objective.
SeeProfileForDetails 10 months ago
Chris Hedges makes Harris look like an elitist scumbag.
AndrewMann552 11 months ago
@AndrewMann552 He certainly tries to.
Nemesis000000 11 months ago
@Nemesis000000 Well let's look at it this way: In decades to come Hedge's books will be valuable documents chronicling how America got to where it is today and where it will be then, Harris will probably be out of print.
AndrewMann552 11 months ago
@AndrewMann552 I doubt that, but even if so that says nothing about who is right.
Nemesis000000 11 months ago
@AndrewMann552 Hedges books are like the fringe movie "freedom to fascism". Anyone who uses fascism to label america, is guilty of godwin's law. America is hitler. Sure. america is hitler. Yes, americans are fascists, that's why it's a multi racial society with a fairly free market... sure.. that's fascism, sure.
SeeProfileForDetails 10 months ago
@SeeProfileForDetails Hedges' main argument is that America is moving towards a form of inverted fascism, not classical fascism in the Nazi Germany sense. Yes, it's a multi-racial society, where Congress holds hearings to investigate Muslim Americans and hate rallies take place in Orange County, yes, it has a "free market" system, just ask the 19,000 teachers about to be fired in California or Detroit's teaches who were all fired, or ask the thousands protesting in Wisconsin.
AndrewMann552 10 months ago
@AndrewMann552 well if Nazis flew planes into buildings on 9/11 then they would investigate neo nazis too, so what? why does everyone have such a problem with the fact that muslims are a threat to america and their religious beliefs are against freedom? Anyone will pick on a nazi and poke fun at him, but never we are allowed to put pressure on muslims to become less religious and more skeptical. Why?
SeeProfileForDetails 10 months ago
@SeeProfileForDetails Ok, answer this, why is this suddenly such a major issue now? From 2001-2008 there were discussions about Islam etc., but nothing compared to what's suddenly happening now, 10 years after the attacks with no major, large scale attacks in the U.S. or Europe. Why didn't anyone give a shit during the 1990s when Al Qaeda was already attacking targets in Africa? It's all bullshit by neofascists and opportunist politicians trying to distract attention from real, serious problems
AndrewMann552 10 months ago
@SeeProfileForDetails For example, those 19,000 teachers who might be fired, they are worried about more serious issues than Muslims.
AndrewMann552 10 months ago
@AndrewMann552 You do realize that 9/11 is just the beginning, and that the next attack will be much bigger? Why do people forget, so easily, but yet they remember the nazis and the holocaust? The nazis are gone. The muslims are not gone.
SeeProfileForDetails 10 months ago
This is nonsense, I thought the moderator was supposed to be neutral.
Totenkopf6 11 months ago 2
If I have to hear this Hedges guy say one more time that because he lived in Asia for 7 years, he's somehow intimately tied to the ideological pulse of the Muslim world is pathetic.
It's AMAZING to me that this man thinks that it's politics and not religion that's the problem. AMAZING!
dweeper1020 11 months ago 3
@dweeper1020 Hes saying that at the heart of fundamentalist religious movements is a despair and disenfranchisment that is completely secular. Political and economic problems are at the heart, of course they are.
version191 11 months ago
@version191 nope, ur wrong. :D
ThatGuyWhoSucksBoobz 11 months ago
@version191 If that's his argument, he is wrong. If you have a society that is heavily religious and fundamentalist, then your POLITICS and your ECONOMICS are molded by the religious thoughts of the people.
To suggest somehow you can have laws and politics that are intelligently formed a group of people who are marinating in superstition is ludicrous. How can intelligent laws and intelligent political arguments be made, when the population is swaddled in superstition and fear?
dweeper1020 11 months ago
@dweeper1020 The point is that religious fundamentalism is not the original cause, is it more of a surface trait that arises when there are high leves of instablitiy and inequality. Going on about how to get rid of religion is a waste of time, and ignorant to the underlying issues.
version191 11 months ago
@version191 I couldn't disagree with you more. I mean, your entire argument is so fundamentally against everything I know. To suggest that you ought to "fix" politics and "fix" the economy while the people who are ultimately in charge of it, are still fixated on superstition and religious ideology is ignorant.
George Bush often would take his commands (Politics) from, what he thought, was god's will. What makes you think other leaders and their electorate would think and behave differently?
dweeper1020 11 months ago
A two against one debate...whatever...moderates will sooner or later have to speak up against "their" extremists...then as time goes on...the moderates will then have to "accept" the "other" moderates...any and all lines that divide, perpetuate the lack of global economical cohesiveness...
RayThaw 11 months ago
American Nationalism != racism. That man must be an idiot since he destroyed that comparison when he said we were against the French.... who are Caucasian in the same monologue.
Embrigh 11 months ago
"YOU'RE THE MODERATOR" - well said.
tbennett450 11 months ago 27
@tbennett450 Shut the f@#! up moderator
bovinicide 5 months ago
8:10 - So the MODERATOR had to resort to flat-out lying to counter Sam's point?
Disgustingly run 'debate'. Terrible moderation - the worst I've ever seen.
Skindoggiedog 11 months ago 5
"Happily we do not assess public opinion by having NY Times journalists go out and live in the muslim world and make friends and get a vibe" - Awesome Sam!
chewroot 11 months ago
Fuck that moderator.
lashkaretoiba 11 months ago
I bet Sam Harris is getting payed by the government to argue against someone who knows the facts and has lived in the life. Like the moderator said at the beginning. Sam Harris's book is being widely spread through out the world. So that way when someone reads it they will be misled and start believing in this morons vision. What a tool. The governments tool.
PRINCESSBillie07 11 months ago
@PRINCESSBillie07 wow. you are incredibly stupid.
ThatGuyWhoSucksBoobz 11 months ago 3
Chris Hudges knows what he is talking about. He doesn't let himself become a victim to society. Now Sam Harris is just trying to push his ideas to make people be deceived and act a certain way.
PRINCESSBillie07 11 months ago
the moderator should do his fucking job and moderate not debate thats harris's and hedges job.
HBCjunke 11 months ago
Man, Sam Harris REALLY knows how to keep his cool. It is incredible.
SocialDissimulation 1 year ago 5
In this segment Chris Hedges is arguing against a position that Sam Harris is not even defending and the audience is clapping. I hate this kind of technique.
nilsnelson23 1 year ago
Chris Hedges speech was magnificent, shame the entire thing was a strawman...theres some people who really need this kind of blunt instruction; Sam Harris simply isn't one of them.
Reerrpad5515 1 year ago
The moderator just wanted to jump on the "I was there! I have an unfiltered understanding of the Middle East." position with the blonde guy.
StatueOfMike 1 year ago
this whole anti-war rant, is irrelevant. They're not even topics that Sam Harris is even supporting, and seems that he just needs to rant on something.
but whats worse, is a biased moderator.
ccheng21 1 year ago
this whole anti-war rant, is irrelevant. They're not even topics that Sam Harris is even supporting, and seems that he just needs to rant on something.
ccheng21 1 year ago
Moderator is an idiot. I guess he read so much on religion and politics, he missed the paragraph on how to moderate a debate.
ImBackAJ20101 1 year ago
Somebody please go and punch the moderator on his bloody face!
Shulabh1982 1 year ago
WRONG. Hedges has no debate skills at all. He did not do any homework. Moderator is AWFUL.
Sam wins all.
phishyct 1 year ago 3
@phishyct hedges says "irregardless" @ 1:18, university educated?
saitamme 1 year ago
Any debate where the moderator yells WRONG WRONG WRONG, ...mmmay hint at a bit of a bias... just saying.
AnotherMasterMind 1 year ago 104
@AnotherMasterMind I did not get the sense that he was being biased, he explained why he disagreed, he had read the poll and it seems as though Harris was misusing the information to help his argument. So it's not biased to want to keep the debate as truthful as possible. A moderator does his job if he keep the debate honest.
hexnyc 6 months ago
scummy little dictatorships THAT USE RELIGION AS A METHOD OF CONTROL
eahazell 1 year ago
"In a pre modern context!??" Really?? good grief that is the whole point there are enough people wit a pre modern mindset in christianity that makes it dangerous 6000 year old earth isn't a pre modern mindset?
eahazell 1 year ago
1:19 irregardless?
3234718 1 year ago 76
@3234718 6:14 complicitous?
at4550 10 months ago
@3234718 Well, it's a proper word. It's nonstandard, but it's an actual word and it just means regardless.
Whatsifsowhatsit 8 months ago
@Whatsifsowhatsit I don't think it is a proper word. But regardless or that, he used it incorrectly.
3234718 8 months ago
@3234718 Why? It's the kind of place you could use "regardless", so you can use "irregardless" as well. Aside from that, one dictionary says it's just nonstandard for "regardless", and another (an etymological one) says it's an erroneous word to express the opposite of what it says, which is of course obvious. It's just that it's possible that it's become lexicalized such that it now means the same as "regardless", although it must've come to be by people using it wrongly.
Whatsifsowhatsit 8 months ago
@Whatsifsowhatsit I guess you're right. It may be proper but it doesn't conform to the standards of American English. You can say "I don't have no money", and be technically correct if what you mean is that you do in fact have money.
3234718 8 months ago
@3234718 Right... and then there's dialects where it's more or less obligatory to negate everything negatable, even if that leads to what's technically a double negative.
Anyway I don't really know anything about the word "irregardless" itself, so it may not be at the point (yet?) where it's really adopted into the language (not English myself either...)
Whatsifsowhatsit 8 months ago
@Whatsifsowhatsit Well can we both agree that this Chris Hedges guy is a douchebag?
3234718 8 months ago
@3234718 I would think so :)
Whatsifsowhatsit 8 months ago
@Whatsifsowhatsit I think it's a proper word the same way that a double negative technically isn't wrong. This guy's still an asshole.
3234718 8 months ago
@3234718 also 6:16 complicitous
InternalCompass 6 months ago
@3234718 If I had a religion, "irregardless" would be punishable by cream-pie throwing.
jdawgmcdawg 6 months ago
@3234718 Stewie says get to a work camp
macgibbon 6 months ago
"Let me finish!" (They won't even let Sam begin!)
dnallred 1 year ago
This moderator really really sucks
pipelineaudio 1 year ago
nationalism is a form of racism, thats a new, what a fuckin crack pot
Bearsir 1 year ago
Harris is right about religion's inherent, primitive lunacy.
Hedges is right about US's objectionable foreign policy.
crazybeff 1 year ago
@crazybeff And again Harris is right with the inherent and primitive lunacy of religion operating in our foreign policy.
illusionist11 1 year ago
Man I wish Chris Hedges would tell us where he lived. That's all I really wanted to know in this debate and it never came up.
DXP6 1 year ago
if hedges mentions one more time where he's lived or been i'm gonna turn this off and throw my computer out the window. hopefully it'll hit him in the head as he apparently in all places at all times.
harris is fantastic.
jokesmalone 1 year ago 3
WTF is up with the moderator?
JDSproducitons 1 year ago 3
Is the guy implying that islam and christianity etc are not superstitions?
annata12 1 year ago
hedges constantly sets up straw men to attack because he can't touch harris
manonthemount 1 year ago 2
School them, Sam... SCHOOL them!!!
MrDarkbloom 1 year ago 3
hedges totally takes a left turn when he starts talking about bombs being made in ohio and shit, its about religion and beliefs, harris is NOT there to argue whether usa was right or wrong in its military actions over the past 10 or 20 years in the middle east, its about whether religion is just another volitile ingrediant in what is causing so much mass confusion and friction around the world with beliefs and those who want to profess them
rekcilkcid 1 year ago
@rekcilkcid You said it, my friend.
MrDarkbloom 1 year ago
We need hitchens to shut that fuckin white man up
voodoocigam 1 year ago
Hedges said "irregardless". Instant fail
wilsopup 1 year ago 5
The despair theory is totaly wrong. He likes to talks about the middle east but all he needs to do is look at any inner city in america. Crime, poverty, drugs, death all around but they are not blowing themselves up. This theory sounds nice but It is alot more complex than just despair.
sakdiesel86 1 year ago
Agree that the moderator is terrible.
Why is Chris Hedges so angry every single time he talks? It's like someone who capitalizes every word thinking it will create emphasis, when it actually does the exact opposite. He actually has some good points, but his style makes his facts sound ad hominem ...not to mention the straw man arguments he keeps using (which Harris appropriately points out.)
jds127b123 1 year ago
Chris, have you been to Saudi Arabia?
Iran? Pakistan? Afghanistan?
It's just fkn unbelievable how he makes assumptions based on data he collected from some of the most moderate muslim countries in the world.
He's an ignorant fool.
TenraiX 1 year ago
honer killings happen in canada fact
FIGHTFANNERD3 1 year ago
The best part was at the end when the moderater skewed the pew poll question SO MUCH that anyone who was asked that question would have to be a pacifist to not say yes. "studied the pew poll carefully" yeah, sounds like it. I read the poll, Sam quoted it accurately.
Reerrpad5515 1 year ago
"Karen Armstrong has done great work on this..."
If I wasn't already sure he was backassward on this issue, I would have known then.
jodiebug1 1 year ago
Chris Hedge's psychology and anthropology is really outdated...
jodiebug1 1 year ago
1:30 "irregardless of religion." IRREGARDLESS IS NOT A FUCKING WORD CHRIS
VictorEchoNovember79 1 year ago 3
@VictorEchoNovember79 omfg, i signed in the second I heard this. i can't believe the stupid things that smart folk say
sprflyenya 1 year ago
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@VictorEchoNovember79 ""irregardless of religion." IRREGARDLESS IS NOT A FUCKING WORD CHRIS"
Yes, and this guy's a journalist and writes books. I hope he uses good copy editors.
queenastilon 1 year ago
Harris is no match for Hedges as far as politics is concerned.
willforrhall 1 year ago
Every segment of these videos the moderator gets worse.
You aren't supposed to be taking sides and argue/debating.
You are supposed to be M-O-D-E-R-A-T-I-N-G!!!!
You fucking suck!
Quellers 1 year ago 3
AAAAGH!!! He said irregardless!!! I hate that! Not not regarding to...
SgtDICTION 1 year ago
as Geral Celente puts it, "wen people lose everything and have nothing more to lose,THEY LOSE IT"
kudos to Chris, desperate people are very malleable in hands of those not that desperate and with a bias, so religion seems the prefect excuse for controlling them and get them to do what you want based on the "interpretation" that comes handy on that particular occasion on any particular passage of any "sacred" book
so religion is still the base for insanity.-
rosmer00 1 year ago
I wonder how many times throughout this debate Hedges referenced having been in the Middle East. In my eyes referencing it once or twice gives you credibility, but when you feel the need to say it before every point you make I begin to question whether you actually know what the fuck your talking about...
wilkja 1 year ago 2
I have to say that Chris (although it wasn't religious) nailed it about Israel and out bombs.
ospTube 1 year ago
Arguing with postions I don't hold, owned... dude you thought you were on a roll you are just babbling, you have not refuted Sam's position, get a clue.
dredawg1981 1 year ago
What the fuck is happenning here? Hedges uses the non-word "irregardless" and this moderator is not moderating (though he does have some points, he should not be making them in this context)! Hedges brings a wealth of experience to the table, and in that regard, he is better-suited than Harris to argue about the intersection of religion and politics (his dissection of Iraq is excellent). However, Harris is better at philosophy and his arguments against religion are razor sharp!
misterzonker2584 1 year ago
Hedges used irregardless, for fucks sake. I suppose he is not an academic... but still.
Terrible moderator. Polls aren't the best, but they are better for facts than asking somebody who would only be acquainted with those who are willing to work with the inifidel in the first place.
2 on 1 and their argument is still on the defensive. Both those guys are struggling to keep their head above water.
countertreason 1 year ago
@countertreason
Well said, felt the exact same way. Notice how Sam never gets angry or animated in any of his debates or interviews. I suspect it's mainly because he holds the facts (no matter how unpleasant to hear) above any bias or personal agenda, unlike these two.
crownbeatsjack 1 year ago
So funny to hear that moron say that an Islamic leader criticizing Bin Laden for not being allowed to issue fatwas... My god how stupid can you get, its the damn point that there IS the possibility to issue them in the first place!!!
PatrickMoog 1 year ago
The moderator needs a statistics class.
MMAharaja 1 year ago
0:30 "the islamic world has not gone through a renaissance yet"
I wonder why that is. Might it have a little something to do with imperialism? Or is it just extremist imperialism? Are most imperialists good people? Surely not all imperialists fly Apache helicopters and bomb muslims while they are inside buildings. Not all imperialists use drones to pick people off in Afghanistan.
Is imperialism a valid belief? Should we tolerate moderate imperialists but not extremist ones?
intercourseman69 1 year ago
Wish the old man would shutup..
MichaelnChristine 1 year ago
For anyone not be able to admit that the Islamic faith is just more violent than the other faiths of the world TODAY (of course I admit the others have all been rediculously violent) is simply staggering
WallyJ40 1 year ago
Chris didn't want to debate religion he just wanted to debate foreign policy. Not surprising because I think he knows there is no defense for literally believing in any of the main faiths, he's not even really religious. He just changes the meaning of religion and God from what most people take it to be to what he is more comfortable with.
fortyone0 1 year ago
@fortyone0 Mr Harris insisting here on riding his "religion the great satan and sole cause of all mayhem" hobbyhorse roughshod over the facts of appalling US foreign policy does not benefit his rational -lets weigh ALL the facts ALL the time EVERY time - cred he fancies himself being the sole patent holder of.
fctchk 1 year ago
bad moderator. hedges said IRRRRRregardless.
sam is the man
mchchicago78 1 year ago