Christopher Hitchens on Anti-Communism and Freedom of the Press (1983 - Part 5)

[benehan]

I miss the days when people could smoke on tv and not get bullied out of legal acts by the politically correct

[MinotawrTV]

Badass.

[wizardaim]

"not everyone is as smart as you" funny since Hitchens been ranked in the top 5 public intellectuals :P <3

[wizardaim]

@wizardaim not back then though, but later :P

[gofeedtina]

6:46-8:17 = one of the earliest recorded Hitchslaps!

[rmj15mu]

Communist Hitch is as bad ass as Anti-Theist Hitch...brilliant.

[umbrellaman75]

What a stud.

[JeffMaylor99]

HItchens was a pure Communist back in those days. He never really outgrew it

[thisguy803]

@JeffMaylor99 uneducated (butt hurt) troll. thats you

[6Vital6Remains6]

Epic comment followed by an epic drag. I lol'd.

[glider1989]

I'm devoutly heterosexual, nevertheless, his voice bring about a tremendous sense of calm. An irrefutably charming man and badass motherfucker, he was.

[ec123456789able]

He still had the dark circles around his eyes even back then!

[mikem2780]

@ec123456789able Drinking Johnny Walker Black until 3am every morning will do that to you...RIP Htich

[weefeatures]

@mikem2780 Johnny Walker Black: breakfast of champions ;)

[dizzythegreat]

"Doesn't justify overthrowing the government ... even if it's a repulsive one."

WOW, how his tune changed.

[gspaulsson]

@dizzythegreat He doesn't claim that overthrowing governments is never justified; in fact, the left is generally quite in favour of overthrowing right-wing governments, just not left-wing ones. Also the post-1989 geopolitical context is utterly different. I saw Saddam Hussein as Hitchens did: a fascist responsible for two aggressive wars and multiple genocides, justifying bringing him to justice under the Genocide Convention.That Bush's casus belli was phoney is beside the point.

[lafontaine13]

a classic show...so thankful for youtube

[dnanalahcnap]

does the address still work?

[peacefrog1916]

Hitchens was hot!

[cott2696]

What's that about at 1.55?

[TheEthanwashere]

wow that guy who called in suggesting restricting freedom of the press is fucking retarded

[EgoNamahaNemoRex]

that was an awesome take-down. awesome.

[90talisten]

Hitchens was a hottie back in the 80s, and im not even a little bit gay. well not gay at all. Just had few beers.

[burgundypoint]

@90talisten That's how it starts ;-)

[thebuzdar]

see... you cant just light up on tv anymore lol

[AceofDlamonds]

he was in his early 30's here. like 33?

[leotheloser]

fucking shit

LIES

CAPITALIST LIES

there is no true freedom of speech

there never was

communism uses that to its fullest potential

thats why communists are not poisoned by capitalist propaganda

[sailcat9]

@leotheloser Communism lived up to its fullest potential during two historical periods: during Stalin's pre-WWII purges during which time as many as 25,000,000 Soviet citizens of various ethnicities were killed, and during Mao's Great Leap Forward which resulted in as many as 45,000,000 Chinese peasants dying due to incompetence, mismanagement, starvation, and abuse. For a communist, these were good times.

[bapyou]

@sailcat9 "during Mao's Great Leap Forward which resulted in as many as 45,000,000 Chinese peasants dying due to incompetence, mismanagement, starvation, and abuse"

This is complete nonsense. For a start, the population of China increased steadily after the revolution. BEFORE the revolution people starved because of an unstable agricultural sector. Mao told the Chinese people that the GLF would result in some deaths, but afterward China would feed itself effectively. And it has.

[sailcat9]

@bapyou Mao's savagely repressive programs resulted in nearly 100 million deaths and the country suffered from the results of his ill-considered plans. Furthermore, I wouldn't trust a state-sponsored census during this period because honesty and compassion weren't high on Mao's list of priorities.

[cesareque92]

FUCK workergirls

[hammertime419]

back when TV was worth a damn. I love Hitchens' smiles at the callers' remarks...

[thepigofhappiness]

02:18 fucking legend!

[1776Matthew]

So Hitchens is a confirmed commie. I always thought he was a slippery one. You know what is ironic? If you go back and research the McCarthy era, pretty much all of the "alleged" communists TURNED OUT TO ACTUALLY BE COMMUNISTS. Mostly jewish too. But I guess that is an "anti-semitic" comment, huh? History's greatest irony... The FACTS AND TRUTH always seem to be "anti-semitic".

[hugoegbert79]

@1776Matthew He actually said he opposed the Soviet union, clearly. He said he was a socialist, which is quite different. You obviously weren't watching the video. As for the McCarthy era, many of them turned out to be socialists, liberation theologians, trade unionists, etc, but that in no way means they had any alliance with the Soviet tyranny. Your failure to understand this distinction displays your ignorance. Also, Hitchens has never made a secret of his politics, it's common knowledge

[hugoegbert79]

@1776Matthew And yes, your comments are anti-semitic. To claim that the Jews are involved in a plot or conspiracy against the US, and your implication that Jewshave throughout history been involved in such plots, is nonsense, racist and something only a total imbecile could believe (look up the word "imbecile" if you don't understand what it means).

[1776Matthew]

@hugoegbert79 Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Kristol, Wurmser, Abrams, Abramoff, Madoff, Zoellick, Zelikow, Silverstein, Hellerstein, Greenspan, Bernanke, Volcker, Geithner, Emanuel, Kagan, Feinstein, Waxman, Grayson, Frank, Schumer, Levin, Redstone (Rothstein), Eisner, Bronfman, Brin & Page, Zuckerman, Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen, Mark Potok, Abe Foxman, Marx, Trotsky (Bronstein), Zinoviev, Bela Kun, Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, Freud, Bernays... Do you know these names? I cold go on...

[1776Matthew]

@hugoegbert79

/watch?v=uW3a1bw5XlE

Shulamit Aloni, former israeli minister - "It's a trick. We always use it."

Look up the word "discredited" if you don't understand what it means.

[timtba]

Weird seeing someone smoke on TV.

[johnnyd101]

love c span....wish ireland had this

[axl170]

@Erh4bi The new Hitch is simply a progression and advancement over the young Hitch. His political and philosophical allegiances to secularism, liberal democracy and skepticism, his resistance to herd thinking, all have remained the same even though the political fads of liberalism and other political movements have changed over time. I am simply impressed that even at such a "young age", Hitchens' articulate and comic faculties were just as developed as his political ones.

[axl170]

lol, there were a lot of idiots watching C-span back in the 80s. The young Hitchens had such impressively developed sardonic powers even back then, yet he is also so graceful and gentle at exposing the callers' idiocy.

[jimmbo13]

@axl170 The lady caller at end of part 4 was a concise and pretty informed caller, though he lambasted her after it

[braydenbeautiful]

Hitchens was quite good looking

I was heartbroken to hear that he had cancer. Really tragic.

[timm9]

@braydenbeautiful ewwwww

[revelwoodie]

Adorable.

[MinisterAilingTongue]

"What do you read?" 5:05

"What is your local newspaper?" 5:15

"Where is your city located, what's it close to?" 5:26

Lots of questions. Interesting.  None of that nonsense from CNN checking twitter, quoting the blogosphere.

[MinisterAilingTongue]

That look at 1:56 meant "Mind if I take a smoke?" Nobody would light up on television now. It's considered unhygienic and trashy, completely uncouth.

[belzondium]

that look of disgust at 6:15 was exquisite

[Hamandchees3]

the caller at 2:00 is John Malkovich