Christopher Hitchens vs. Shashi Tharoor FREEDOM OF SPEECH

[vesman81]

Fire!!!!!!!!!

[Utracia1]

you are an enemy of free expression when your argument goes "i favor freedom of speech BUT"

[Thinkdeep420]

Allah is a fictional character

Jesus was schizophrenic

Religion poisons the mind

[mgsriramiyer]

What a civil way of conducting a debate. Whatever else you may say about him, Hitchens comes out as interesting. By the bye, I wonder whether he was boozing and if so, what is it that he was boozing on?

[JoPrair]

And 5 years on, the theocratic tyrants, across the world are just getting more powerful and using less and less of their cerebrums. 

[shasiddx]

Christopher is a sterile rationalist without any spiritual dimension to his arguments. Furthermore he abdicates the notion of responsible expression and invites anarchism in the name of Freedom of Speech. What tosh!!

Shashi shows more humanity which at the end of the day is what we want in this world.

I am

[TomFynn]

@shasiddx "without any spiritual dimension to his arguments."

Yes, no bullshit in his arguments. Straight from the spring of reason.

"invites anarchism in the name of Freedom of Speech" Probably the most inane argument I have ever heard. Congrats.

[FlandreScarletTepes]

@shasiddx I found more spirit in the words of Hitchens than I ever have in the words of any religious text or speaker.

He also happens to be one of the few people I have ever seen who would always take full responsibility for his statements.

[ad0lfchrist]

goddamn, this guy is the most articulate person ive ever heard. you cannot be mad at this kind of person, even his oponents were fascinated by his discourse.

[kmitch92]

Man of the decade.

[zackhanscom]

tharoor's silence=he's being won over by the argument

[sulljoh1]

Yes the society is jeopardized by inflammatory writing about the prophet, just like a woman who dresses provocatively and walks through a bad neighborhood may risk being assaulted. Both may be acting stupidly, but there is no question that the law must blame those who directly cause harm by violence and protect those who, however unwisely, inflame them.

[thisisanewusername]

there will never be another CH.

[aresres]

Tharoor is pathetic here and it is gratifying to see him being bitchslapped time and time again. Every example a strawman, every 'rephrasing' actually redefinition. At the time, he was fishing for political office here in India, which explains his sudden appeasement of the lowest dregs of the voting bloc, and not just fanatical Muslims. Salman Rushdie had to avoid coming here last month because of people like Tharoor told him that three people - Muslims - were out to kill him - contd.

[aresres]

@aresres which was a lie. That, in my mind, is really offensive, because it creates a fear of the Muslim community where none is, in this instance, due. It is useful to note the two ways in which the current government is surrendering to the mob for political gain, because it could be done wherever you're reading this. One is by refusing to accept responsibility for the protection if its citizens, as it told the organizers of the literary festival that Rushdie was supposed to attend. contd

[aresres]

@aresres The second is where it goes out of its way to punish its citizens - it has stated that it aims to censor social media, and though it rapidly backtracked from that claim, as recently as three days ago there was news of it accusing Google of tax fraud, fraudulently as it were. I'm Indian, and I'm frankly sickened by those two dweebs who claimed to speak on my behalf.

[funkyleaf]

hitchens went to heaven

thwarted god through philosophy and reason

freed everyone from an eternity of opressive tyranny

and they finally thanked him!

[jameslock1]

a man of great passion talkin about the subject he felt most pashonet about!really miss this guy!

[Riiye]

Creeps me out seeing Hitch cough and wheeze BEFORE he knew he had throat cancer.

[roytromlleytube]

Sublime!

[AscendingParadigm]

Believers don't seem to have the faith that their wrathful god will carryout his own punishments for sins and blasphemy...

[prabhatpalpal]

Was this even a debate?

[sparkymmilarky]

Hitch dominates!

[addicted2facts]

dispite his views on the war i find hitchens to be one of the people whos ideas made me who i am today. a truely great person.

[addicted2facts]

@addicted2facts he was great not me just to clearify

[advers1078]

@addicted2facts same here, his one of the few people who I find to be almost entirely agreeable, if such a thing is possible, its only on his position on the Iraq war that I disagree. I love reading Richard Dawkins and enjoying listening to him but I love listening to Hitchens and enjoy read his books, what a sad lost.

[dontletmewatchthis]

@advers1078 Our endeavors to emancipate the Iraqi people from the cruel tyranny of Sadam Hussein could have been an entirely noble act of humanity, fighting alongside the Iraqi People's Army in liberating their country against one of the worst monsters of the late 20th century. Instead, it was mired in corruption and secrets and will probably go down in history as one of the worst-handled operations of US military history. I still stand by the noble actions, however underrepresented they are

[volound]

it brings such a satisfying feeling of relief to come across material by hitchens of which i am still unfamiliar. it vindicates the statement by hitchens himself: that a great person lives on post-mortem through his works.

[TheViolentBuddha]

Well, we lost a genius. Hitch is sorely missed.

[gasb911]

@coolwhipspecial they did but hitch is special for me when he debates he leaves the "BOOM in your face" feeling which make me amazed and proud :D

[gasb911]

Christopher Hitchens left me amazed

George Carlin and bill Hicks left me laughing

We miss you guys

[coolwhipspecial]

@gasb911 Don't you mean that all three of those guys left you amazed and laughing?

[NoNamesLeft0102]

Excellent discussion. Debate and versus don't quite seem to describe this very well.

[elvebrothergenju]

Ah, I really will miss this man...