Christopher Hitchens on Australian Q&A panel, October 1st 2009 6 of 7

[ceclovitch]

I dont understand the intellectual religious, i wish i could, but how can you square critical thinking and debating ideas with having a text that claims to be the unchangable truth? I'd really like a explanation on this, but im guessing there are only Hitch fans on this clip ;)

[tingfact]

One of the rare times when everyone on the panel is scrambling for cover at

the hand of one man. One individual with the truth of reality on their side is

invincible against superstition and brain washing.

[fidomusic]

The Muslim guy is Walid Aly, an intelligent commentator on ABC television.

[ExNihiloJimmy]

It humors me that in about 100 years the Arabs will look back at their ridiculous behavior with regret.

[CartervonRiedel]

Hitchslapped...

[rastarigate]

I like that chick. I want her.

[CigarStudLasVegas]

wow - brave girl thinking she could really outsmart Hitchens - that won't happen!

[regelemihai]

How cute, she sees a moral equivalence between Israel having nuclear weapons and a fascistic autocracy that spouts apocalyptic mantra having nuclear weapons.

[MrBlues1993]

god

another religious person who believes in a zionist conspiracy

sure israel should recognise the rights of palestine for a state

but there isnt actually a conspiracy

they just act like pricks without a plan

not trying to offend but come on!

[tomclunie]

Poor wee lass, had no idea who Hitchens is.

[aweiss]

That girl is cute :D

[Crosskeys]

Wow, she just got obliterated.

[seanearnest]

Typical pro-Palestine drivel from that teeny bopper (although she is quite attractive). Hitchens lays waste to her in grand style. Gotta love it!

[fidomusic]

@seanearnest Actually Hitchens is pro Palestinian and anti Zionist, although he doesn't make much of it these days.

[GarchompNation]

@seanearnest

She is hot.

[SigDrums]

@seanearnest Hitchens was pro-palestine for decades and until his death, and rightly so. He despised the Israeli settlers, and the theistic public support from europe and particularly the united states. Why your comment has gotten so many votes up I do not understand.

[HuntingGoodWill]

@SigDrums Hitchens was always pro-Palestinians. Not pro-Palestine (read: Palestinian "authorities" aka terrorists) warlords who oppress their own people and who's struggle is used by all Islamic states to take the focus off their disgusting human rights violations AGAINST their own citizens. And that's exactly what he said in his answer.

[SigDrums]

@HuntingGoodWill Fair enough.

[ruinedbyidiots]

Haha, agreed, the poor girl was demolished and forced to eat her own words.

Aside from that, Hitchens has so far been remarkably restrained.

[navid99us]

one of the best pieces i have heard about the fraudulent election in iran

[theviolator23]

Hitchens and the Islamic man are by far the best on this show, I would love to see them have a formal debate

[xentech]

@theviolator23 yes the muslim guy seems like one of the most intelligent public religious speakers i've seen so far, although his dodging of the homosexuality stance was pretty weak. but yeh a formal debate would be good i think.

[Seanze329]

@theviolator23 Hitchens would win but, yes, it would be interesting.

[uberhikari]

@theviolator23 He's not Islamic. He's a Christian convert.

[CaptainStern2]

Don't bite off more than you can chew, luv

[rkullberg]

If anyone is wondering why Hitchens continues to get the direct questions, compare the answers of the blonde woman and Hitchens about Iran as a threat. Hitchens is much clearer, much more accurate and, I'll give him this, much more entertaining.

[enors412]

High I'm stupid and don't understand half of the things they are talking about. I sure do like looking at Christopher Hitchens though, lmao. I'm not even gay. It's so weird. I guess cause he's the god of punk outs.

[JayLeePoe]

He's soooo good at debating

[Tcheuchter1]

Checkout the priest commenting on Roman Ploanski. He should look a little closer to home, the Catholic Church is rife with paedophiles. Shame on them

[theREALshafan]

damn good point, tcheuter, I'm surprised nobody in these comments brought it up sooner.

[BTheAheist]

Hitchens made that girl look lke the idiot she is. Nice.

[enors412]

You're damn right he did.

[kylejones7]

id still give her a nice push in

[PurushaDesa]

Hitchens' exchange with the young woman is telling of a typical apologist strategy : if one bad thing is happening, divert the discourse to another that's bad or worse.

Israel's hideous ethnic cleansing program doesn't excuse Palestinian suicide bombing or rocket attacks, nor does it mean Iran is less of a tyrannical regime.

This isn't so unrelated to the Polanski affair where many liberals are under the misapprehension that a corrupt Californian justice system nullifies jailing a pedophile.

[BTheAheist]

I'm a liberal and a Californian and I think Polanski should be jailed. So did the judge he ran from... don't be ignorant.

[PurushaDesa]

I took care to say "many liberals" not all. And irrefutably, in Hollywood the support for Polanski was predominantly liberal. That gives me no pleasure in saying, given that I consider myself a liberal with the vast majority of political opinion. And the opportunism of the lawyers on that case is well documented - none of which of course excuses Polanki, of course.

[Gnomefro]

Well, Israel's "hideous ethnic cleansing program" is a result of the "hideous arab ethnic cleansing program that started the entire conflict", in other words - it's self defense. The early arab attempt to annihilate Israel demanded the expansion from the UN borders. Mostly to secure Israel from its barbarous neighbors, but also to serve as a lesson to imperialist muslims who can't live with the idea that Jews are governing themselves. Even today Hamas' charter includes the destruction of Israel.

[TheAntiSeMight]

You should look further back. The British broke the promise of Arab independence in Palestine with the promise of a Jewish homeland. How do you think seeing British soldiers ushering in European Jews after that broken promise of independence made the Arabs feel?

[PurushaDesa]

That reads as demonstrating my very point where one uses any act of previous oppression to excuse terrorism.

In what way does Israel's war against terrorism from Hamas, Hezbollah, PLO, etc., excuse their intentional killing and annexing of Palestinian civilians?

The aforementioned Islamic extremist faction' activities of suicide bombing, rocket attacks and blowing up schools, are well documented, as are their anti-Semitic charters - so why do Israel's equivalent crimes get re-categoriesd?

[regelemihai]

what's equivalent about it? Israel's "intentional killings" are initiated because Israel likes to bomb brown people. It's a retalliation to the terrorist groups who DO initate attacks against civilians(war crime under Geneva convetions) while using their own civilians as human shild.

There is no, I repeat, no comparison between the two. People should stop with this redundant and idiotic mantra.