Hitchens vs. Hitchens Press Conference (1 of 5)

Brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens debate the Iraq War and religion at an event organized by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies with the support of the Center for Inquiry and the Interfaith Dialogue Association.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• christopher
• vs.
• peter
• hitchens
• debate
• god
• religion
• atheism
• atheist
• politics
• iraq
• war
• hauenstein
• center
• grand
• rapids
• michigan
• for
• inquiry

[angryafghan]

3:00 - 3:20 Peter basically explains why he has cultivated these ridiculous "beliefs" it's all an attempt to escape from his brother's shadow, to be defined by his own principles. Unfortunately Christopher had already come to be associated with the more logical school of thought leaving poor Peter confined to the wilderness of Anglican Christianity.

[HecklerBoy7]

I hate it when people tend to be pretentious and hifalutin when commenting on one of Hitchens's videos. It's like they want to sound as eloquent as hitchens. Case in point : 'alwaysright100000'

[alwaysright10000]

E-III ...with the change of phrase you suggest. For example "'the confirmatory, or dis-confirmatory, perceptions of others" is not implied merely in "criticism". This was an allusion to the psychological literature on grandiose delusion and narcissism, and the confirmation bias of narcissists in failing to heed others "disconfirmatory" perceptions. But even without this there is at the very least a case to be made for emphasis, irony, and rhetorical flow (none the which are vacuous).

[alwaysright10000]

E-II ...that the strict literal meaning would remain unaltered in their absence. I will now tear this to shreds on two grounds:

First, the implicit assumption that the meaning of language reduces entirely to semantics. This is just empirically false, but if true would render much poetry, and many idiomatic expressions and figures of speech, nonsensical word salad (it would also make language very dry and prosaic).

Second, my literal meaning would NOT in fact remain unaltered...

[alwaysright10000]

@r0bbie8arc0de E-I Forgive me; I see now that you did reply to my challenge. As sometimes happens, your comment was not visible when first "posted" (Youtube's fault not mine.)

Anyway, you've done exactly what I thought you'd do, exactly what every other person who's tried to critique my prose on the internet has done (I can link you to a dozen examples to give you some sense of just how tediously predictable you are). You've simply suggested that I elide a few words on the alleged grounds...

[alwaysright10000]

D-IV

...held anywhere at any time -not merely because I command a fund of rhetorical and intellectual resources at least as rich as his, but because I'd also have enjoyed the insuperable advantage of having nearly all the facts aligned in a veritable epistemic phalanx on my side.