Christopher Hitchens is one of the best intellectuals the Western World has. - Nubblies.net Forums

Mr. Blonde · 02-01-2011, 05:43 AM

For those of you who aren't aware, Christopher Hitchens is a renowned journalist, author, contrarian, activist and atheist. He's brilliant. A lot has been posted all around Nubblies by either Repug or myself, and I know that some of you have read at least one of his books.

Last summer, Hitch was diagnosed with esophageal cancer around the same time he released his personal memoir, Hitch-22.

In any case, this thread is in the name of consolidation and hoping he doesn't die anytime soon. His intellect is still razor sharp even though he has what seems to be terminal cancer and is undergoing regular chemotherapy. And sometimes I don't want to read because i'm slightly tired.

Here is his latest interview and article:

YouTube - Christopher Hitchens "All Of Life Is A Wager"

Egyptian protests: Shame drives people to the streets. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

Repugnant Abomination · 02-01-2011, 10:42 PM

Nice interview. I have such a man crush on him. <3

Mr. Blonde · 03-01-2011, 01:39 AM

Hey guys! It's me again, Mr. Blonde, with another long (but really swell!) video! It's of that Christopher Hitchens guy again, and here he is debating a proponent of Intelligent Design, he also has more degrees than god. Anyways, this debate happened back in November but I just recently found out about it because the Christian school that sponsored it has apparently been censoring it in the public forum, so watch it while you can. It's 10 Youtube videos long, and the link to the playlist is below, but if you want a short summary, watch the below video:

YouTube - Hitchens-Dembski Debate Nov 2010 (8 of 10)

Vid Playlist

SinisterKid · 03-03-2011, 03:03 AM

Not sure who on nubblies has heard of Robert Ingersoll, but he was what is now referred to as an "Ingersoll Republican"; he eschewed traditional conservatism, but was atheist and very outspoken about it as well as the importance and necessity of secularism.

Robert G. Ingersoll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dude was considered the best orator of his time by the likes of Walt Whitman, but virtually no one today has any formal educational knowledge of him, most likely because his history has been purposefully omitted from our high school text books.

If anyone is interested in reading his material, there's a short collection of his speeches and essays that can be purchased for a few dollars here:

Amazon.com: What's God Got to Do with It?: Robert Ingersoll on Free Thought, Honest Talk and the Separation of Church and State (9781586420963): Tim Page: Books

His clarity of thought and moderateness impress me so much.

There is also a series of free podcasts on iTunes titled "Librivox: Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll".

If anyone checks any of this out, let me know what you think.

THEINCREDIBLEdork · 03-04-2011, 12:06 AM

Blonde, would you rub your chin on Mr. Hitchens 70 year old cancerous balls?

Mr. Blonde · 03-07-2011, 01:56 AM

Christopher Hitchens, still outrageous - 60 Minutes - CBS News

Mr. Blonde · 03-08-2011, 09:51 AM

YouTube - Hitchens-Kushner Call-Out

Mr. Blonde · 03-08-2011, 09:54 AM

YouTube - Christopher Hitchens - The Best of the Hitchslap

Mr. Blonde · 03-25-2011, 12:52 PM

Godless in Tumourville: Christopher Hitchens interview - Telegraph

Mr. Blonde · 09-22-2011, 04:24 PM

Staking a Life - Lapham’s Quarterly

Beebs · 09-22-2011, 05:20 PM

He is an interesting, intelligent guy.

angry pancake · 09-22-2011, 06:10 PM

I'll go ahead and admit that I was pretty fucking disgusted by the Troy Davis case. I don't know many peers who weren't. While it's true most of us got our info at least second hand. What was shared as justification was technical procedural bullshit that works well and good in APs world. But not when you're trying to decide whether or not to execute someone. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common.

I don't think hitchens mention Davis in the blog. But it's clear that's what he's talking about. For those too lazy to google. Last night Georgia executed a guy who new evidence might have shown was innocent. But if not innocent, close enough not to execute. But Georgia did it anyway and justified their position by things not filed on time. Or not raised within certain parameters.

Tl; dr: Georgia killed a dude on technical grounds. Hitchens thinks the U.S. is a Christian version of Iran.

Mr. Blonde · 09-23-2011, 12:13 AM

Oh yeah he's definitely talking about the Troy Davis case but also Capital Punishment in general.

Ugly Bastard · 09-23-2011, 09:26 AM

Nauseating to think there are people in the world who view the U.S. like we view Iran, but it's not as if we've done nothing to deserve it. Stuff like Troy Davis and waterboarding illegally detained terror suspects = yea... we kind of are huge douchebags.

I blame the Republicans.

Beebs · 09-23-2011, 01:55 PM

"Extraordinary rendition" in a black-ops prison in Eastern Europe is where the info on Bin Laden's courier came from.

Just throwing that out there.

Mr. Blonde · 09-23-2011, 10:31 PM

I could honestly give two fucks about Bin Laden or not. Truth be told (and I am not much of a conspiracy theorist), from day fucking one I have been real skeptical whether or not they actually found him or did it to help heal hillbilly wounds.

Saint DH · 09-23-2011, 11:07 PM

What are hillbilly wounds?

Mr. Blonde · 09-23-2011, 11:27 PM

AMURKA!!!

Beebs · 09-23-2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

I could honestly give two fucks about Bin Laden or not. Truth be told (and I am not much of a conspiracy theorist), from day fucking one I have been real skeptical whether or not they actually found him or did it to help heal hillbilly wounds.

And they got notable members of Al-Qaeda to go along with it? Come on, don't be a truther part duex.

Mr. Blonde · 09-24-2011, 12:14 AM

I'm not creating slowmo assassin vids here claiming body doubles. But even you have to admit the whole ordeal was a bit dubious.

Yes yes, secret mission this, Islamic customs that. DUBIOUS I SAY.

Beebs · 09-24-2011, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

I'm not creating slowmo assassin vids here claiming body doubles. But even you have to admit the whole ordeal was a bit dubious.

Yes yes, secret mission this, Islamic customs that. DUBIOUS I SAY.

Dubious how? Sometimes things work, just like sometimes they don't. It's pretty hard to hide the ones that don't.

Mr. Blonde · 09-24-2011, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beebs

Sometimes things work, just like sometimes they don't. It's pretty hard to hide the ones that don't.

wat

So anyways, you are 100% confident without any shadow of a doubt whatsoever that the Osama hit mission went exactly as was reported? Is that what you are saying?

Beebs · 09-24-2011, 01:26 AM

I believe "they actually found him", which is what you were skeptical of. I think it's clear a team went in, killed him, gtfo. I don't see anything particularly out of order in what has been reported.

I was saying that when things like this fail, it's pretty hard to hide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw

Mr. Blonde · 09-24-2011, 01:44 AM

I am still very skeptical of the whole burial at sea thing. We practically invade the country, murder a man, but yes, let's follow the local customs otherwise. But then again, I give pretty much any cultural or religious ritual about as much fucking respect as the jizz I wipe off my chest when I'm finished jerking it.

It seems that you are making the assumption that just because we have heard of a few mission failures, we have heard of the majority of them. I am making the assumption that there is probably a metric shit-ton of shit that goes down that we don't hear about. Given the nature of our military, I would certainly say that is the safer bet.

Beebs · 09-24-2011, 02:02 AM

Well are you skeptical about finding him or about burying him at sea? Or just think it's not cool to say "yea, I think this is the truth"?

Burial at sea does make sense; no country wanted his body, and it is not inconsistent with policy: the same prisoners at Gitmo and Black sites around the world get halal meals, korans, and a marker of some sort pointing to Mecca, all before being waterboarded. Also as a PR move, most fence sitting Muslims would be more offended at breaking burial tradition than the actual killing.

It's not a "local custom" either, it is a religious custom, a religion of 1.5 billion people, a religion that is growing, a religion that is incredibly important in our foreign policy, and it's not a small custom, it's a very serious one.

The thing is, our nation is a very complex one, we can be incredibly self-centered, laser precise, compassionate, reasonable, bad, good, rude, polite, smart, dumb, and we can be all of these things at once.

03-03-2011, 03:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
SinisterKid Hide your nieces. Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 293 Internets: 7656	Another Great Western Intellectual Not sure who on nubblies has heard of Robert Ingersoll, but he was what is now referred to as an "Ingersoll Republican"; he eschewed traditional conservatism, but was atheist and very outspoken about it as well as the importance and necessity of secularism. Robert G. Ingersoll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dude was considered the best orator of his time by the likes of Walt Whitman, but virtually no one today has any formal educational knowledge of him, most likely because his history has been purposefully omitted from our high school text books. If anyone is interested in reading his material, there's a short collection of his speeches and essays that can be purchased for a few dollars here: Amazon.com: What's God Got to Do with It?: Robert Ingersoll on Free Thought, Honest Talk and the Separation of Church and State (9781586420963): Tim Page: Books His clarity of thought and moderateness impress me so much. There is also a series of free podcasts on iTunes titled "Librivox: Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll". If anyone checks any of this out, let me know what you think.

03-04-2011, 12:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
THEINCREDIBLEdork Emperor Meow Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 9,316 Internets: 284585	Blonde, would you rub your chin on Mr. Hitchens 70 year old cancerous balls?
	#YOLO

09-24-2011, 02:02 AM	#25 (permalink)
Beebs Poor Sport Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Indianapolis / Middlebury / Long Lake Posts: 5,306 Internets: 127341	Well are you skeptical about finding him or about burying him at sea? Or just think it's not cool to say "yea, I think this is the truth"? Burial at sea does make sense; no country wanted his body, and it is not inconsistent with policy: the same prisoners at Gitmo and Black sites around the world get halal meals, korans, and a marker of some sort pointing to Mecca, all before being waterboarded. Also as a PR move, most fence sitting Muslims would be more offended at breaking burial tradition than the actual killing. It's not a "local custom" either, it is a religious custom, a religion of 1.5 billion people, a religion that is growing, a religion that is incredibly important in our foreign policy, and it's not a small custom, it's a very serious one. The thing is, our nation is a very complex one, we can be incredibly self-centered, laser precise, compassionate, reasonable, bad, good, rude, polite, smart, dumb, and we can be all of these things at once.
	Last edited by Beebs; 09-24-2011 at 02:10 AM.

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02-01-2011, 10:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
Repugnant Abomination Almost there... Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 5,979 Internets: 161638	Nice interview. I have such a man crush on him. <3

03-07-2011, 01:56 AM	#6 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	Christopher Hitchens, still outrageous - 60 Minutes - CBS News

03-25-2011, 12:52 PM	#9 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	Godless in Tumourville: Christopher Hitchens interview - Telegraph

09-22-2011, 04:24 PM	#10 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	Staking a Life - Lapham’s Quarterly

09-22-2011, 05:20 PM	#11 (permalink)
Beebs Poor Sport Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Indianapolis / Middlebury / Long Lake Posts: 5,306 Internets: 127341	He is an interesting, intelligent guy.

09-23-2011, 12:13 AM	#13 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	Oh yeah he's definitely talking about the Troy Davis case but also Capital Punishment in general.

09-23-2011, 09:26 AM	#14 (permalink)
Ugly Bastard Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 13,643 Internets: 247330	Nauseating to think there are people in the world who view the U.S. like we view Iran, but it's not as if we've done nothing to deserve it. Stuff like Troy Davis and waterboarding illegally detained terror suspects = yea... we kind of are huge douchebags. I blame the Republicans.

09-23-2011, 01:55 PM	#15 (permalink)
Beebs Poor Sport Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Indianapolis / Middlebury / Long Lake Posts: 5,306 Internets: 127341	"Extraordinary rendition" in a black-ops prison in Eastern Europe is where the info on Bin Laden's courier came from. Just throwing that out there.

09-23-2011, 10:31 PM	#16 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	I could honestly give two fucks about Bin Laden or not. Truth be told (and I am not much of a conspiracy theorist), from day fucking one I have been real skeptical whether or not they actually found him or did it to help heal hillbilly wounds.

09-23-2011, 11:07 PM	#17 (permalink)
Saint DH Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 6,142 Internets: 284753	What are hillbilly wounds?

09-23-2011, 11:27 PM	#18 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	AMURKA!!!

09-24-2011, 12:14 AM	#20 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	I'm not creating slowmo assassin vids here claiming body doubles. But even you have to admit the whole ordeal was a bit dubious. Yes yes, secret mission this, Islamic customs that. DUBIOUS I SAY.

09-24-2011, 01:26 AM	#23 (permalink)
Beebs Poor Sport Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Indianapolis / Middlebury / Long Lake Posts: 5,306 Internets: 127341	I believe "they actually found him", which is what you were skeptical of. I think it's clear a team went in, killed him, gtfo. I don't see anything particularly out of order in what has been reported. I was saying that when things like this fail, it's pretty hard to hide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw

09-24-2011, 01:44 AM	#24 (permalink)
Mr. Blonde Spice Master Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 17,969 Internets: 278288	I am still very skeptical of the whole burial at sea thing. We practically invade the country, murder a man, but yes, let's follow the local customs otherwise. But then again, I give pretty much any cultural or religious ritual about as much fucking respect as the jizz I wipe off my chest when I'm finished jerking it. It seems that you are making the assumption that just because we have heard of a few mission failures, we have heard of the majority of them. I am making the assumption that there is probably a metric shit-ton of shit that goes down that we don't hear about. Given the nature of our military, I would certainly say that is the safer bet.