Christopher Hitchens on free speech, pt 2 of 3

[amatuerarabist]

The first 45 seconds of this video are unmitigated awesome. The quote about "my own opinion is enough for me..." is my favorite Hitchens quote. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, stand in line...and kiss my ass. LOVE IT.

[sqrtinfinite]

The joke about samuel johnson's dictionary and respectable ladies of london: those women had to already know what the indecent and "bad" words were before they were able to say the dictionary didn't include those words. In other words, they applauded him merely not bringing up something unpleasant which everyone already knew. Hypocrisy.

[austinrose99]

Does anyone have a reference for this Canadian Law?...what happened?...did it pass?...was it repealed? Thanks...and thank you Christopher!

[TempusFugit101]

Bravo Christopher!

[equallyeasilyfuqyou]

i don't get his joke. :(

[harmonysolo]

@equallyeasilyfuqyou which joke?

[JesusConvictScorpion]

@harmonysolo the joke starts about 4:10.

[jst1998]

Unfortunately his "brilliance" is only intellectual. He's consistantly failing to see the true nature of things, as his support for the Iraq war showed. Because he doesn't combine his intellect with true integrity, I don't put much stock in his intellect either.

[thegreatestbak]

@jst1998

I think the flaw in your argument is to assume that whether or not he is right or wrong about the Iraq War makes him wrong on all other issues he argues. I would say he is both brilliant intellectually and extremely charismatic. Not everyone agrees with him, but I don't think its right to say that because you disagree on one issue he argues that he doesn't have 'true integrity'. There are debates on the Iraq War on youtube by the way, not that I necessarily agree with the war.

[thegreatestbak]

@thegreatestbak

THe point about David Irving also makes this point abundantly clear.

[darwinkilledgod]

@thegreatestbak and @jst1998

If you haven't listened to the Galloway/Hitchens debate about the War in Iraq than you haven't heard it defended. The Bush administration was hideously bad at defending the war.  Hitchens is the only one I've seen do it well.

[thegreatestbak]

@jst1998

Ironically, your comment here conflicts radically with what Hitchens advocates for in this video. One of the points Hichens aptly and effectively makes is that you should beware of falling into the false consensus of majority. You seem to have fallen into a consensus that the Iraq War is wrong simply because it is a broad consensus. I consider myself a liberal who is against war in general, but I don't discount Hitchens opinion and I feel I need to hear his case.

[MamaMario13]

@jst1998 if u were an iraqi woman being beaten every day you might not agree