Oldy But Goody From Hitch
I just came across this, and, well, Hitchens is such a pompous, gin-drenched ass, I thought I would put it up for fun:
"We know very well what the 'grievances' of the jihadists are. The grievance of seeing unveiled women. The grievance of the existence, not of the State of Israel, but of the Jewish people. The grievance of the heresy of democracy, which impedes the imposition of sharia law. The grievance of a work of fiction written by an Indian living in London. The grievance of the existence of black African Muslim farmers, who won't abandon lands in Darfur. The grievance of the existence of homosexuals. The grievance of music, and of most representational art. The grievance of the existence of Hinduism. The grievance of East Timor's liberation from Indonesian rule. All of these have been proclaimed as a licence to kill infidels or apostates, or anyone who just gets in the way." Christopher Hitchens (07/08/2005)And how are the grievances of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson any different? Ever read their views on why 9/11 happened, Hitch?
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."Ever hear of Timothy McVeigh? Yeah the terrorists on 9/11 were pure evil and should burn in hell. But religious extremism is not limited to one religion. The extreme elements of the Christian Right "hate us for our freedoms" Hitch.
Oh, and good move attacking Iraq. That's really helped the problem you referred to.
Arrogant twit.
posted by Cliff Schecter @ 10:43 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
While I have no love for Chrisopher Hitchens, I don't think this is a fair criticism. Did Hitchens ever claim that extremism is limited to only one religion? From what I can gather, Hitchens detests Christian fundamentalists as well as Islamic fundamentalists.
Your post would make much more sense if Hitch was supporting the actions of McVeigh. Or even if McVeigh had done his deed in the name of Christianity and toward the enemies of Christianity.
Since he doesn't I can only assume that you equate the ramblings of Falwell and Robertson (while wrong on most issue has never called for a violent overthrow of anyone or anything non-Christian) with Islamic terrorism.
If you make this connection then you are simply wrong.
He detest christian fundamentalism so much he endorced George Bush, the candidate that is most disliked by Christian fundamentalist since he does nothing for them, and he so obviously not one of them.
PS
The thing that galls me is that he is still writing this stuff, along with the other neocon pundits. None of their careers have suffered and Juan Cole still has no column in a major publication.
"From what I can gather, Hitchens detests Christian fundamentalists as well as Islamic fundamentalists."
I have to agree with this. While Hitchens' foreign policy ideas I think are, well, crazy, in some respects, his general points are fair. He's an anti-religious person, not simply anti-Islamic. But he also views Islam as the greater threat than fundamentalist Christians. To a point, I agree with him in that there are more fundamentalist Islamic terrorists than Christian ones effecting the world and pragmatically that does seem to make them the greater threat. But fundamentalism (and religion in general) is a very bad thing and I don't know of anything Hitchens has said to the contrary.
As for voting for Bush, from what I remember of some of his comments, it's because of his Iraq policy (so clearly not that good a reason). But I do know several such comments where he's disgusted with Bush.
If this comes off as apologist, well, sorry, I'm not trying to be. I just don't think it's quite fair to try to frame this as it's Hitchens' saying only Islamic fundamentalism is bad. On Iraq, you're spot on Cliff.
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