11-14-2012, 09:55 AM
|
#1 |
|
x'; DROP TABLE *; --
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Glasgow.
|
Christopher Hitchens
Recently I've been spending too much time watching Hitchens interviews and debates and was wondering what your views on the guy are?
In his later life he was known to switch his opinion on the 'war on terror' and support it on many levels and argued his point very well. As someone who spends too much time on liberal internet forums I'm obviously against the war - but after hearing him debate it, my views have been changed a lot and I understand a lot of the importance for it. He was also known to debate heavily the idea that God is not real. Here is one debate between him and his brother, Peter Hitchens, about the above two topics: tl:dr - what do you think of Christopher Hitchens? |
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 09:59 AM
|
#2 | |||
|
Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan!
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Manchester, England
|
I prefer Chistopher Biggins
__________________
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:05 AM
|
#3 |
|
Registered User
Join Date: May 2012
|
Although I can't say I agreed with everything he's said, he always said it well and held his opinions with sincerity.
The guy tested whether water-boarding constituted torture on himself, and confirmed that it did, and does, despite his support for an* invasion of Iraq and other eccentricities. To my mind, that is a standard of integrity and commitment to truth-seeking that others in his field should aspire to. *He supported an invasion of Iraq, not 'the' invasion of Iraq that transpired. Last edited by TooktheAtrain : 11-14-2012 at 10:30 AM. |
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:22 AM
|
#4 | ||
|
Pulling straws at random
Join Date: May 2008
|
He was an interesting and very smart bloke, his thinking was uniquely pragmatic yet somehow humanist as well.
Only problem I could see was that he spent most of his time as a contrarian, which seemed a bit odd to me, even if the other side had some equally decent views.
__________________
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:28 AM
|
#5 |
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
|
I'm a skeptic/atheist type; on a lot of forums like the James Randi forum. Hitchens was well-thought-of in this crowd, a rational fellow and one who made his points well.
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:34 AM
|
#6 |
|
x'; DROP TABLE *; --
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Glasgow.
|
Has anybody read his book 'Morality'? I haven't yet an it's apparently brilliant.
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:36 AM
|
#7 |
|
Not caring no more
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: On a Small Ugly Rock In Space, Surrounded By Over 7,000,000,000 Ignorant Cunts And Retąrds....... Status: If I Just Posted This Then I Probably Have Too Much Spare Time.....
|
Although i don't agree with him on everything, he was a good man and extremely intelligent.
And it's fun sometimes to watch him bitch slap creationists and religious nutbags. I never read any of his books, but that's because i don't like reading...
__________________
I put my sig in a spoiler because i view UG sigless anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 10:38 AM
|
#8 |
|
A Man A Plan
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leicestershire
|
What the ****, they're actually brothers?!?!
__________________
Spin round carousel
When your horse isn't screwed in I II III VI:1 VI:2 |
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 11:16 AM
|
#9 | |
|
Used Register
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Finland
|
Interesting dude I think, I'm not sure of the war thing because I've not studied it really but he was great at religion debates
__________________
Quote:
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 11:22 AM
|
#10 | |
|
GT's Iron Fisted Leader
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Black Mage Village
|
Great man. Wonderful debater. Very articulate and well spoken.
__________________
Quote:
GT Awards 2012 - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru...postcount=32548 |
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 11:55 AM
|
#11 | |
|
Finding the Pattern
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
Did you watch the video? What a punk-ass bitch...16 seconds.... I've got to go with this quote... "Torture is any experience so horrible that no-one would consider trying it out simply for the purpose of writing a Vanity Fair article about what it’s like." Hitchens was a well-spoken (written) journalist, a drunk and a seriously flawed human being. In short he wasn't really any different than the rest of us...
__________________
The man who holds to a belief because of tradition, or hides it because he fears he may be shown to be wrong, does not love the truth but manifests a coward’s faithfulness to his prejudices. |
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 11:57 AM
|
#12 | |
|
GT's Iron Fisted Leader
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Black Mage Village
|
Are you implying he wasn't capable in speech? His greatest strength IMO.
Nobody is saying he was some sort of superhuman, just a highly intellectual man with a razor sharp logic and rhetoric.
__________________
Quote:
GT Awards 2012 - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru...postcount=32548 |
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 11:59 AM
|
#13 | |
|
Finding the Pattern
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
If this was to me, no, I was openly complimenting his abilities in regard to both the spoken and written word. Still a candy-ass though...
__________________
The man who holds to a belief because of tradition, or hides it because he fears he may be shown to be wrong, does not love the truth but manifests a coward’s faithfulness to his prejudices. |
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 12:10 PM
|
#14 | |||
|
GT's Iron Fisted Leader
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Black Mage Village
|
Quote:
Ah, misunderstood you then: Quote:
I took the added "written" as you saying he was well-spoken only in text.. which is a bit of a contradiction.  my bad
__________________
Quote:
GT Awards 2012 - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru...postcount=32548 |
|||
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 01:33 PM
|
#15 |
|
Kid A.Lo
Join Date: May 2003
|
The world is a darker place without Christopher Hitchens. No man could more eloquently tell a person to **** themselves better than the Hitch.
HITCHSLAP!
__________________
2005 PRS McCarty (20th Anniversary Edition) Custom 67' Tele w/Bigsby Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Standard Larivee Acoustic Fractal Audio Axe Fx II Apogee Ensemble Yamaha HS80s |
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 01:40 PM
|
#16 |
|
Earth of the Butt
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: florida
|
He's an asshole and nobody should respect him.
Next question.
__________________
*-) Rest in Peace, Troy Davis and Trayvon Martin |
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 01:43 PM
|
#17 |
|
UG's Luna
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: The Moon
|
His style of argument never really hit it for me like it did for a lot of people apparently. He just struck me as a very angry man with a very keen vocabulary. 
__________________
Download my albums! They're free and hip! Baltimore Orioles: 21-14
York Capitals: 3-2 Baltimore Ravens: Mofugging world champs |
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 02:00 PM
|
#18 | |
|
#StandWithRand
Join Date: Jul 2011
|
I think he was kind of pompous and overrated.
But he did go after Henry Kissinger hard. He's alright.
__________________
Quote:
Last edited by ErikLensherr : 11-14-2012 at 02:02 PM. |
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 02:14 PM
|
#19 |
|
Do Sadists go to Hell?
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: United Kingdom
|
The man was a credit to Cicero.
__________________
...Stapling helium to penguins since 1949.
|
|
|
|
|
11-14-2012, 02:20 PM
|
#20 |
|
Bob Loblaw
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Dover
|
He was an eloquent arsehole, but he was more intelligent and amiable than his brother.
__________________
CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE LITE™ - 2013
PROJECT PASS TO VICTORY - WIGAN - 16th PLACE |
|
|
|
 |
«
Previous Thread
|
Next Thread
»
| Thread Tools | Rate This Thread | |
|
|
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:47 PM.