Christopher Hitchens on the Satanic Verses Affair - Part 1 (1989)

[mysunnybird]

It is so sad that we lost Christopher Hitchens......... He was a very inteligent man, very knowledgeable and very honest......... It is hard to find people like him. He will be missed.

[mjsipos13]

god damn i miss hitchens

[HubbaBubba768]

Religion is awesome.

This is the truth,do not question it or we'll kill you.

[Wildernezz1776]

I am glad he died

[TheZenEffect]

@Wildernezz1776 I am glad that one day you'll die

[Wildernezz1776]

@TheZenEffect lol how zen

[ajgolfer1]

I wish I had better hearng

[JusBlazeDR]

this was filmed on my 1st birthday

[dave474c]

why not?

[milind006]

the audio is too low

[eleutheromaniac]

lol, this drunkard looks like he's about fall over XD

[KinnArchimedes]

sound is tiny.

[loly1969]

wow looks like an actor , people pl dont abuse alcohol n smoking

[huwrj]

@loly1969 This was 23 years ago. Hitch didn't look bad for 62. Let's see how you look in 23 years.

[LobsterPotsticker]

looks quite dashing

[TimLeahy2]

Christopher Hutchins???!

[7373walker]

@TimLeahy2 Haha. As soon as I heard that at the end I looked to see whether anyone else had noticed.

[SOS763]

Hitchens owned that stupid Arab. Their excuse, that you shouldn't offend their religion. Fuck me...I'm very bored of that crap. Get a grip and learn the enlightenment - you child fucking retards.

[SOS763]

Well done to Hitch and Rushdie for lifting two fingers up to the ISLAMIC FASCISTS for so many years. Muslim's are an evil parasitic community who's intention is to destroy us. Stand up and fight.

[p0llenp0ny]

@SOS763 Blah blah blah.. MI6 and the CIA have propped up islamofascist dictators for decades.. all with your tax money.

[RakeeshJ4]

Revolt,

Yes, because the universe cares *so much* about what us adult evolved primates do with the genitalia of other adult evolved primates.

You're clearly a homophobe, and a fool. Together those two amount to coward as well-you cannot even muster the nerve to attempt an argument against the ideas the man presented, instead relying on a feeble, frightened distraction about bisexuality. The only benefit of this is when you and people like you say such things, it makes your cowardice and stupi

[FecklessCretin]

@RevoltBeginsNow *phallus. You actual fucking moron...

[HannesFury]

Back in the day when interviewers let the interviewed speak.

[rcarass1]

@HannesFury Nah, there's always been jerk interviewers. That's just C-Span and Brian Lamb being total bosses. =P

[dizzythegreat]

I can't hear a FUCKING thing mumbling Hitchens is saying.

[HamIsDie]

@dizzythegreat yeah lol hitchens does have a mumble sound

[philosophicaljock]

Brilliant.

We will miss you.

[scepticVseptic]

Hitchens was right when he called youtube metube... Ive been watching yt hitch stuff for 3 days. Anyway, Merry Hitchmas and thanks for posting this. Its great!

[AristotlEYE]

Love you Hitch. Will miss you dearly.

[spaceawesome22]

May he rest in peace.

[mikelheron20]

@spaceawesome22 I'm sure your comment is well intentioned but it would irritate the hell out of Christopher who believed that once you were dead you ceased to exist i.e. you're not resting in peace or otherwise - you're just dead.

[TheSobek]

Does anyone know if Arthur Miller later changed his position? I agree with Hitchens, I though Miller placed more value on his integrity.

[pyropakman]

HITCHENS WAS A STUD!!!!! 

[Norwayflex89]

L O L he really look like a buddy of mine WTF

[lummus21]

@Norwayflex89 Your buddy must be charming! :)

[GunthersMullet]

a tidy hitchslap

[EmmittBrownBTTF1]

Later the South Park guys put Muhammad is a bear suit, and comedy central went all peculiar - Americans can still be pussies who will abandon enlightenment values the moment some foreigners might get pissy. We need the days when South Park would would play silly buggers with the Pope and Mary. Iran has still got a lot growing to do socially.

[jumrose]

salman rushdie is a pig.anyone who try to spread hatred and like to offend people is a pig.Who ever like this rushdie is no doubt directly or indirectly is faithful to satan.

[Callirgos1]

@jumrose

Then you are a pig

[bl91978]

@jumrose Have you even read his book? Or know anything about it past what your ignorant circle told you to think? More proof that religion is poison.

[stevolution666]

@jumrose do you think being offended makes you special. grow up, with my blessing

[attenbergdvd]

@jumrose so he should be killed then?



[rossini55]

@jumrose "anyone who try to spread hatred and like to offend people is a pig"

Does that include a god that wants to burn me forever in a lake of fire? I think that is very hate-filled and offensive.

[jjoneil73]

@jumrose Hate to break it to you...but seriously...there's no such entity as satan so get a life and stop believing in man made stories ;-)

[IsleFreeThinker1]

@jjoneil73 It wasn't till the invention of Jesus that created the disgusting dogma of an eternal Hell that one's 'soul' could never escape

[jjoneil73]

@IsleFreeThinker1 A hitchens says, a dictatorship!!

[Verbivour]

he look so young here

[Aeschylus]

Mmm, I sure do love me some Christopher Hutchins!

[stevolution666]

@Aeschylus hehehe

[daymyth]

OMG he looks so young and handsome

[D5932]

I like the older, meaner Christopher Hitchens

[kirked007]

Islam is a totalitarian ideology - it should be recognised as such. Cat Stevens made appalling comments subborning murder of Salman Rushdie. He should have been arrested.

[MetrazolElectricity]

Salman Rushdie's a total fuckin' rockstar and Hitch is a good friend

[hamzah938]

@MetrazolElectricity Really? When he had tired of being hidden away from the world, he made a public announcement he wanted to take his Shihada (declaration of faith) to become Muslim. About a year later he reneged when he saw the majority of the Muslims weren't going to be swayed by his conversion. Rockstar? More like a rock-head!

[MetrazolElectricity]

@hamzah938 islam sucks and muslims are subhumans

[notsuretho]

@MetrazolElectricity No no no. surely thats an unhelpful statement. No humans are subhuman (we all share the human genome), their religion is obsolete and outdated but so are all judeo-christian books. At the risk of sounding sentimental, I have met a few muslims who are clearly good people. Their (transparent) problem is that they have not sought knowledge outside their own religion and suffer from ignorance. Ignorance is not a crime, it is NON awareness.

[Bot23]

@hamzah938 Maybe he was fed up with being hiding just for writing a novel.

[hamzah938]

@Bot23 Yea right! - "just writing a novel" - Besmirch our Prophet (saw), you will suffer loss in this world, or the next one.

[Bot23]

@hamzah938 So a real living and breathing person deserves a death sentence because he made vague references to a non-existent made up person in a novel? Which some people happened to find offensive, has the right of free speech completely slipped you by? And I already have suffered loss in this world thanks, but find it unlikely to do so in the next as it doesn't actually exist.

[LadyScorpio39]

christopher was so cute when he was younger!

[xxxMarzikinnsxxx]

@LadyScorpio39

yep..

[gextvedde]

@LadyScorpio39 I'd still have shagged him when he was older.

[getupjumpy]

Too quiet, can barely hear anything

[nogodsexist1]

The Ayatollah issued the death threat cuz he was/is insecure about his own belief. As Hitchens explained to the first caller, America is great BECAUSE it gives every1 the right to voice their POV on matters dealing with religion (among others). What is even funnier is when Muslims say they are FOR the first amendment BUT EVERY1 should respect their religion to the point that NO1should criticize it...In this context, how is 'free speech' 'FREE'? xD

[westsidejatt]

@TheBengalHannibal. You rant on about

Hitchen's views but take them out if them equation for a moment From this video back from 1989 where an Arab was the first to call in, he asked the HOST why there was not more representation from the muslim community in the media. Since then Muslims leaders and individuals have had ample media appearances in print an on tv on current affair programs and talk shows but never openly

Condemned 9/11 or London or Madrid or Bali all you say is that all these ac

[leusch13]

@Pooternackle5 If that's justification to you then you are a disgusting human being and sound like a fascist. You obviously know very little of what Saddam Hussein did and are very misinformed, or just delusional.

[leusch13]

@Pooternackle5 Did you seriously try to justify Saddam Hussein's mass murder? He was killing thousands upon thousands of his own people and the Kurdish people. He was a genocidal maniac, and in no way did he restrict his killing to religious extremists. I'm all for secularism, the separation of church and state is important. But if you're using genocide as a means to an end, you're no better than the religious idiots who've killed so many.

[tastybrain]

Thank for this upload. 

[maghra]

Christopher Hitchens thought the Iranian revolution would crumble, he didn't anticipate there would be 22 years contradicting his lousy opinion. Hitchens should protect his present and future reputation by stop speaking about the Middle East. He always gets it wrong. His two favourite Arab leaders, Saddam (at one time) and Ben Ali (at a later time) were both the first two Arab leaders to be toppled. What does that say about his insight.

[maghra]

@maghra If he must say anything about the Middle East, he should opine that it will forever be a primitive backwater at the fringe of civilisation. Only because this probably is the magic spell that will make the region flourish. That is more believable than anything he says.

[leusch13]

@maghra you do realize he fought very hard to convince the usa to go in after Saddam as well? Or did you just leave that out because it makes your comment look like complete shit?

[maghra]

@leusch YOUR comment would NOT look like complete shit had I said Hitchens is incapable of reconsidering his position in light of new information. I never made that assertion; what I said was entirely different. Don't try to roast me child, or you will catch on fire yourself.

[leusch13]

@maghra Thanks for correcting what clearly looked like an assertion. I wasn't trying to "roast" you, and I'm not a child or on fire.

[maghra]

@leusch13 Besides, he once again (and anyone else who supported the illegal invasion of Iraq) is completely wrong! Nothing up till now has improved from the point of view of the Iraqis--they don't feel liberated and secure today. A collosal amount of lives has just been thrown away under the banner of this illegal war. The war has been a complete failure. The Arab world revolutions are a rebuttle to the Iraq invasion. Plus Hitchens is a hypocrite for demoting the UN on Iraqi but not Iran.

[leusch13]

@maghra I'm not a fan of the war, but what's happening now is nothing like the horrors of Saddam Hussein. It was a lose lose situation, and this is the slightly better of 2 evils.

[KayBeeEee1983]

What's the point of wearing a shirt, coat, and tie if you're just going to let it hang loose like that? He looks like an 8 year old whose mom is making him look nice

[TheBENGALHANNIBAL]

@hexcane

COWARD.

[preemptivestrike20]

@TheBENGALHANNIBAL You are the coward. You're also an asshole.

[drfoxcourt]

There is a lesson from Tunisia, Egypt, and even Libya to be learned here. The protestors are using one of the most powerful phrases mankind can ever utter, "We are not afraid."

We should have stood up and said that about the Salman Rushdie fatwah from the beginning, and we need to keep saying it. We need to say it about Mexican drug gangs, anti-abortion murderers, islamic terrorists and school-yard bullies.

[laudrup90]

@drfoxcourt .lol!! school yard bullies with islamic terorists nice

[TheBENGALHANNIBAL]

Hitchins is nothing but a tool for globalists , if you listen to his speeches there is nothing but deep seeded bigotry & prejudices.

EASILY DEBUNKED!!

Satanic verses was used to invoke such resentment, as the book is poorly written, but had potential!!

[ThePyramis]

I'm on a laptop, can't hear a thing.

[givinitsome]

Great interview! Really captures the first warning and how the assault on the West started, and just how apathetic and cowardly the response was.

After this we had another two terms of Clinton with much the same allowing the rise of al Qaeda to take place virtually unmolested.

[Puresomalilander]

the bible it self is Satanic Verses.....because it was fabricated by the biggest judeochristian pops/preists....they lied agains Allah and his Prophet Jesus......

[pwntatochip123]

@Puresomalilander pffft go eat 7 dates then drink a bottle of drain-o, if you believe hadith then you should be fine. also let me know how come genies don't steal my candle sticks, i dont cover them with cloth. (gotta love jisslam)

[BoredAussieGamer]

@Puresomalilander you should realize that man created god it has always been like that

not the other way around it explains why there are so many gods so many religions all contradicting each other

and why humans argue and fight and kill each other over false beliefs all believing that they are right and all others are wrong it's ignorance at its best there is no right religion they are all wrong period

[Puppy666andonemore6]

@Puresomalilander I see what you did there

[NCIcaucus]

Last I heard this was dying of cancer. Of course he maintained the "no fear" of death despited being terminal...a true alcoholic to the end, always in denial of reality

[Noscetum]

@NCIcaucus

What an ethical and worthwhile view you have.

[genxtargetmarket]

@NCIcaucus

It doesn't seem like you know much of the man.

[matthewjhaywood]

@NCIcaucus

Having no fear of death is being in denial?

[theripper715]

Christopher HUtchens? wow, what an idiot

[MaskedMarvyl]

Whenever Freedom of Speech confronts threats of violence, Freedom of Speech ALWAYS crumbles. The idiotic cartoon protests, the threat by a psychotic nutcase shutting down Western literature, the instant capitulation of the government and the Churtch; Freedom of Speech was the hardest freedom to fight for, and it seems to be the easiest to lose.

[razieldumas]

Any mythology that leads to people trying to kill other people for exercising their freedom of speech should be mocked. Mocked constantly, thoroughly and never-endingly.

[JackBlair2]

Hitch rightfully dumped the Left after this.

[faustus999]

i echo rothery......thanks so much for making the hitchens stuff available.

hitchens is a great intellect and always interesting.

[eamonnca1]

Can't hear. Didn't bother listening to the whole thing.

[turbozed]

I'm about to read the 'Salman' chapter in Hitch-22 and randomly ran into this. Nice...

[tabber87]

"I can say what I like about your religion and you can say what you like about my humanism."

[hjumah]

love your video uploads, thank you very much.

Wish Hitch a fast recovery.

[johnnyd101]

if hitchens was right the weakness of people cased the horribleness of iran to continue to this day instead of ending such a horrible regime.... thats a terrible inditement of weakness of the left in america and a reason for the strength of the right tut tut

[anandamide199]

damn Hitchens is young and goddamn elegant

[pigment777]

All Salman Rushdie's did was telling the truth. Mohammed was not shore if it was Demon or an Angel that talked in his head....

[pastuso1bc]

Allah is a pig.

[patrickledford420]

fuck religion!!!!!!

[thescorpionking2020]

@patrickledford420 ya fuck religion death to all religions but specifically death to islam

[JeanLouie1106]

Definitely a thumbs up! :)

[aussieguy2109]

The first caller is such a hypocrite.

[hexag1]

better to watch it on C-SPAN.org

[hexag1]

good post. sound is too low.

[bauhaus1017]

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

[david552]

WHY IS IT SO FUCKING QUIET?

[rothery86]

@david552 Trying connecting some headphones.

[rothery86]

I love your uploads, but would it be possible for you to boost the volume some how before uploading it? I have my computer and youtube up to the maximum level and still have a hard time hearing it.

[thefilmarchive]

@rothery86 I tried my best given the source material; I boosted the volume to 200%, the maximum allowed in the software I use.

[rothery86]

@thefilmarchive Okay. Thank you again for all the Hitchens but. It is the best thing about getting home from work! Also, I just realised wearing headphones improves the volume dramatically too- at least for my laptop. Cheers!

[karmicide]

@thefilmarchive then subtitle it

[jimmybrite]

@thefilmarchive In many softwares you can load either a vst or a DX plugin, load up a Limiter/Compressor, that will help greatly.

[psyrover]

@thefilmarchive it doesnt help that hitchens likes muttering so much.

[wubbadubdub]

he was about 40 here. i guess that's young compared to 60.

[DharmRakshak2]

He used to be young?? I thought he was born middleaged with a drink in one hand and a cig in the other.

[jazzyazz]

It's cool to hear Hitch talk about the poet Havel being on trial in Poland that week. He would soon be their president!

[danmanjones]

I wonder if Hitchens is anxious about Noam Chomsky being barred by the Israelis from giving his presentations in Palestine...freedom of speech is so important when it's convenient.

[blueleadpot]

@danmanjones he's an absolutist on free speech, and has spoken out against Israel countless times, so I'm sure there's an easy answer to your question!