"He Told Me He Dislikes Me Then Stormed Out" - Alex O'Connor On Famous Journalist

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Chris and Alex O'Connor discuss Alex's reaction to Peter Hitchens leaving Alex's show mid-interview. Why did Peter Hitches walk out of Alex O'Connor's interview? Why did Alex O'Connor have mixed feelings about posting the Peter Hitchens clip to his channel? What was the public's reaction to Peter Hitchens walking out of Alex O'Connor's interview?
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[@ChrisWillx]

Hello you legends. Watch the full episode with Alex here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIStmZSKjL-rh9U Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom

[@aaronz1326]

Big fan, but I have to say, I was extremely disappointed in you for not challenging Destiny when he said there's no evidence that our phones are spying on us.

[@christopher9727]

.... Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@tagus100]

It's just as Alex said: it is unfathomable to Hitchens that someone would read is book; hear his argument; listen to his speech, and still disagree with him.

[@stephenmurray8559]

You can disagree with him. Just not ask him why 350 times in a row. He answered the question and then repeatedly was asked the same question again. It wasn't an interview, it was an interrogation.

[@davidgraham8058]

I think Alex did labour the point a little bit. There were other topics Hitchens wanted to discuss and he is bored of the drugs issue now. He knows he has lost the war to the progressive society so he accepts his defeat.

[@IAmTheRealHim]

@@davidgraham8058yet not a single time was the phrase “next topic” uttered in any form or essence…

[@Joe-mz6dc]

How dare his brainwashing not work?

[@James_36]

he was banging on about drugs to the point I went onto something else. Anyone with that kind of constant bore of drugs topic would have walked out in my view

[@wabi_sabi52]

Hitchens is accustomed to people interviewing him and allowing him to explain his views, not expecting him to justify them in any way. He was clearly unaware of Alex’s format where he breaks apart and debates ideas. He took Alex’s reasonable inquiry as an attack. He made a fool of himself.

[@Rich7714]

@@SM-mz2hz Agree mate, exactly

[@JenOween]

That's Peter Hitchens in a nutshell.

[@goldenboy06]

Hitchens asked this guy not to air the interview but he did so anyway even though he had no moral right to do so.

[@TheNheg66]

​@@goldenboy06 he might have not had a moral right to run it before Peter started bitching about it on twitter first (and even then it's debatable). At that point Peter did that Alex not only had the moral right, but the moral responsibility to run it and let people decide for themselves.

[@Rich7714]

@@TheNheg66 The problem with "letting people decide for themselves" though is that of course everyone of HIS FANS on HIS CHANNEL are going to agree with him regardless, which Alex obviously knew. Regardless of who was right, it's these underhanded pretences of Alex that is wrong.

[@PaulWallis]

Alex, you were incredibly patient with a guest whose state of mind we would now have to question. By constantly interrupting you Peter Hitchen's was not allowing you to put points or complete questions. This was why it "went in circles." This was simply you trying to put your intended question and get an answer. Your calm and attention to detail and ipatience with Peter Hitchens' bizarre attitude were exemplary. Peter has embarassed and disgraced himself. Having listened to this I have to wonder about his state of mind and/or mental health. It is not easy for a young man to sit and take a lambasting like that from an older man and you handled yourself with integrity and grace. Good on you, Sir. having watched this, I will be watching more of your shows. (And less of Peter Hitchens')

[@Freethinkingtheist77]

As a Christian, and someone with conservative leanings, I was flabbergasted by Hitchen's outburst. It seems to me he had two alternative options: either politely move the conversation on to the next topic or end the interview and leave. But his near 15 minute outburst was a disgrace. His comment "I actively dislike you" was childish and his own personal feelings towards Alex were irrelevant. It was an emotionally driven tantrum which I had thought was beneath a man who seeks for objective and reasoned argument and, the more I listened, the less respect I had for the man. Alex O' Connor on the other hand grew in my estimation immensely.

[@thedarknessthatcomesbefore4279]

I concur.

[@phillipmiddleton9335]

Peter Hitchens could simply have said that he wished to change the subject. The conversation is tedious and repetitive but his behaviour was shameful.

[@arthurfleck629]

Peter Hitchens doesn’t even have half the neurons that would be required to do that, along with Jordan Peterson, the guy’s pretty much the perfect example of a pseudo-intellectual.

[@JamieZero7]

It was a hour of subject that he didn't care about. And the speaker was clueless about. To try paint it any other way is dumb.

[@christopher9727]

...... Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@ln5747]

​@@arthurfleck629 Nah Hitchens is a very clever man

[@arielpagliero9619]

​​@@JamieZero7it was exactly 40 minutes, on a subject he's written a book about, had previously agreed to discuss and clearly cares about. I think Alex is partially at fault, but what you said is factually incorrect.

[@januarysson5633]

A possible rebuttal to Alex’s point about young people smoking is that they may not be smoking cigarettes as much anymore because they’re vaping more.

[@jful]

From my memory smoking fell out of popularity quite a while before vapes become a big thing but maybe it depends where you are.

[@luisdetomaso867]

Kids stopped smoking when cigarettes became priced like luxury items. $16 a pack (New York) is quite prohibitive for a middle school kid

[@ravecrab]

That's the point Hitchens made, actually.

[@fiddlecastro1453]

@@ravecrab Exactly & Alex tried pretending he didn't get a rebuttal in this video. I was kinda on the fence about who was wrong in the interview, but considering Alex is still being disingenuous long after the interview has finished kinda makes me side with Hitchens which I don't usually do lol.

[@Animalistic9]

​@@fiddlecastro1453I just watched the interview and Hitchens was right that they spent 42mins of going round in circles of Alex not listening to the points Hitchens was making! 4 or 5 mins into it was clear he was getting frustrated with the discussion and that should have been picked up on and the topic changed. If he considered an hour long interview, of what became 2 topics, with an extra half hour if the conversation was flowing, which it definitely was not, then why at the end did Alex say "the plan was to spend an hour on drugs". My gf agreed it was a terrible interview and despite Hitchens not handling it well, he was right to be frustrated by it.

[@nathanwood6707]

The irony of Peter Hitchens calling Alex “rude” and “unprofessional” is astounding; talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Blatant projection. Alex was perfectly civil.

[@proudatheist2042]

You are correct.

[@bemeek]

This reminds me of Ben Shapiro walking out of the interview with Andrew Neil. Shapiro is smart enough to rebut but wasn’t aware in the moment that that was an option. Rough…

[@TheNheg66]

​@@patrinohe was trying to get answers, period. Peter refused to give them. Going around in circles was on Peter, not Alex. If Peter expected no pushback then that's his failure...

[@Rich7714]

@@TheNheg66 To be fair, Alex was trying to catch Peter out the whole time with the same questions because he's clearly biased towards the pro-drug front. I think Peter just sensed that.

[@sananton2821]

oh no, better storm out!@@patrino

[@kevinb2208]

Alex was a perfect gent in that interview. Hitchens couldn't cope with a very intelligent young man gently pointing out the flaws in his argument. Reverse ageism is exactly what it was. It is a terrible trait to think you can't learn something from people younger than yourself. I'm 51 and Alex has a new fan.

[@77jamess]

Peter Hitchens was unbelievably rude to Alex during that podcast. I couldn’t believe it to be honest. Such a rude man.

[@mikeallan7740]

He's always been rude and arrogant, he's also no where near as smart as people think he is.

[@gracefitzgerald2227]

I know I alaways remember things completely wrong and make them into a comedy sketch in my head. The way I remember it is a cartoon of an old man walking off the set waiving his hands in the air saying “ you’re a rude young man, and you can go crying back to all your druggy friends.”😂 That sums it up in my head.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

You forgot that he had his trousers half way to his armpits, strapped in place by a belt and braces. And hus nurse was on hand with a bedpan if needed.

[@AfroGaz71]

​@@StillAliveAndKicking_true, but then he was dealing with someone who doesn't look like they've finished going through puberty. So maybe it's a matter of perspective.😂

[@sean_miller]

Peter Hitchens was 100% correct when he said that the conversation didn't flow. Unfortunately, he was the one responsible for that. Alex should have pickup up on his attitude and moved the conversation forward sooner, but I understand that he was trying salvage that first topic given that he only had one more to move on to. Ultimately, Hitchens made a damn fool of himself.

[@philip851]

Or just refrain from making silly points attempting to undermine his position.

[@ragnardanneskjold7259]

It's the interviewer's job to direct the flow of the conversation.

[@philip851]

Well said@@ragnardanneskjold7259 too many sycophants here.

[@thelastemperor3704]

@@philip851 Without a doubt Hitchens made a bit of a tit of himself but the line of questioning was repetitive and I was getting frsutrated watching it so I can just imagine a cantankerous fella like Hitchens would have been stewing. No excuse for his behaviour though.

[@philip851]

That's a reasonable take on it. @@thelastemperor3704

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

Hitchens has a history of participating in televised debates, and then when guests try to express views he does not like, he uses his loud booming voice to talk over them, and effectively shut them up. He routinely interrupts them, but when they interrupt him, he has a tantrum. My view is that he is an arrogant and rude bully, who is against open debate, and whose beliefs are held for emotional reasons. If someone disagrees with him, then they are stupid, and don’t listen to his ‘truth’. I remember him stating that is views on the Ukraine conflict were correct because he had once lived there. He writes columns for the Daily Mail, which says enough.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

@@SM-mz2hz Fair enough, I think of the DM and MoS as the same genre i.e. populist right wing. Yes he expects adoration or at least agreement, and when someone argues he feigns exasperation and boredom, claiming that he’s explained it all before, and suggesting others should read his book(s) to gain enlightenment. I do think he’s a bully, even though you don’t, going by the panel discussions he has been on which I have witnessed. Look at the way he behaved when he flounced out of the interview in question. I wouldn’t call it stormed out, it was a hissy fit.

[@juzi68]

@@SM-mz2hz The young man got stuck on repeat and Peter got exasperated. Alex wasn't processing the answer, which suggests he wasn't really listening. It doesn't help that Alex is also wrong, but hopefully years from now and with added life experience he'll realize that.

[@maj.peppers3332]

@@juzi68 After about the 15 minute mark, Alex would start a question and Hitchens immediately would pounce, shut him down, talk over him, and not actually hear the question at hand. If anything, Hitchens wasn't listening to Alex's questions. I've seen plenty of interviews where there really was false pretenses, and droning topics, and the only appropriate response is to CLEARLY state that you are tired of the topic, or that you don't expect to be talking about the topic, and ask to move on. You can even do so grumpily. And if the interviewer doesn't want to move on, you give one last warning before walking out. You can sit there and send signals all day and night but people aren't mind readers. They can't be expected to separate a clear public persona of a boisterous, angry old man from genuine frustration. He's an adult, he can speak clearly instead of just angrily. Also, if you're going to walk out of an interview, then walk out. Don't dance around for over 15 minutes hurling insults and acting like some kind of authority parent figure over your interviewer, complaining that your time has been wasted (while continuing to waste time).

[@dawnkeyy]

Classic so-called crybully

[@adamcole4623]

@@juzi68 You're sounding as inflexible and as certain of your opinions as facts as Hitchens. I watched a markedly different interview, where the interviewee constantly interrupted the interviewer's attempts to frame and reframe questions, leading to a frustrating experience all round. Hitchens' habit of overtalking and ignoring any challenge to his views was in full effect.

[@barrycohen311]

At one point in the interview, Peter said to Alex- "I actively dislike you." Is that indeed worse than passively disliking Alex? lol

[@the_antivirus]

Haha He's not passive aggressive. He's active aggressive.

[@shortscenes9338]

It's better because it shows commitment.

[@GeorgeGeorgecp]

Peters comment as quoted was childish , extreme and bemusingly antagonistic .

[@abcdefzhij]

Is your pfp kyle rittenhouse?

[@barrycohen311]

@@abcdefzhij Yes. Crying in court at his trial. Bwahahahah

[@HandiasTobil]

go easy on peter. he's been living under his brother's shadow too long and has nothing but bitterness and resentment. he knows he'll never be as loved as chris.

[@lochieod]

Christopher, please. Only because that is his name lol

[@phat_dike]

"Chris" 😂 Imagine thinking you're chummy with someone who never knew that you existed

[@oatdilemma6395]

lol imagine being pathetic enough to get upset over someone else's name

[@wowomah6194]

I mean, Christopher Hitchens ROUTINELY corrected people as he did not like to be referred to as Chris, he never used that nickname @@oatdilemma6395

[@berserkerscientist]

Cannabis has been completely legal in Canada for years, and guess what happened... nothing.

[@lucasportasio]

so many people use it already all around the world, i kinda feel like it wouldnt change shit if we legalized it

[@AM_o2000]

Sales of Pringles went up.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

@@AM_o2000🤣🤣🤣 Mmm, Pringles are unhealthy …

[@sadwingsraging3044]

You have Communist and thugs running your government.

[@SatSingh-mm4gg]

Justin Trudope

[@anand0212]

When Alex said he thought he might have done something wrong I cringed. That's what good-hearted, well-meaning people do when confronted with that kind of emotional immaturity, we wonder whether it was really our fault after all.

[@SemiPerfectDark]

Exactly! I don't think for one second Peter would have went back and asked himself "maybe I had something to do with how poorly the interview went"

[@davidjarnot8548]

Are these shorter videos on the channel snippets of a longer episode? Because if they are I don't need to watch them as I plan on watching most full length interviews.

[@bc9485]

Yes. In the "Pinned Comment" at the top, that you had to scroll past to comment!

[@davidjarnot8548]

@@bc9485 thank you

[@garybeharrie]

6:49 you missed the Hitchens "well, we'll see how we do" reference - 😆😆 nice 1 Alex!

[@torstenheling3830]

I think ageism was at work here. Even after the first question, Thank you for being here‘, Hitchens says „ So far so good?“ He hated Alex from the get go. Like, „I’m 3 times the age of this little punk. Who is HE thinking he knows more about anything I do? Hell, I’m 3x his age, this little punk.“ That was the psychology of what really happened.

[@jenniferjoyner112]

That was another impression of mine too. That was too much for PH to handle and resulted in that very bad ending of that whole recorded interview.

[@torstenheling3830]

@@jenniferjoyner112 True, but PH is a horrible person in any interview with anyone. Take a look at recent Piers Morgan interview of him. PH just as obnoxious and argumentative. He’s a bitter old man and very much like his deceased brother was, Christopher Hitchens.

[@torstenheling3830]

@@jenniferjoyner112 Yes. PH was a miserable bitter old man. But, he’s like that with every interviewer. Just watch him on a recent Piers Morgan clip. He’s just as rude and obnoxious to Piers Morgan as he was to Alex. But, the difference is, Piers Morgan stood up to him and didn’t let him get away with it. PH was just as nasty and mean a person as was his deceased brother, Christopher Hitchens.

[@gillespaling7039]

He always says that at the beginning of interviews, it's not that deep.

[@torstenheling3830]

@@gillespaling7039 Maybe so, but just watch a recent Piers Morgan of his. Piers doesn’t put up with his bitterness and nonsense. I think PH even reminds Piers „I don’t have to be here you know“, to which Piers replies „Of course not, but it’s my program and I get to ask the questions.“ PH just has some major problems with everyone.

[@_boracic_atreus_23]

I disagree with Alex on a few things, but he is just such an excellent orator that I often find myself finding the validity of his points and questioning my own. And THAT should be the level of political and social discourse in the UK. Respectful, intelligent, well-informed with the aim of converting someone's way of thinking through well reasoned points. Not just slinging insults around and telling people they are stupid, or racist, or privileged just because they hold different beliefs.

[@christianmeyer9560]

Alex was kinda dull and stiff in the interview with Hitchens. That doesn't make it cool to be pompous, self-righteous and not even liste to Alex's questions. Having said that, the last 17 minutes became quite facinating, for all the wrong reasons, but still.

[@Eyrie007]

I'm always annoyed when people can't have their views challenged. Hitchens was a child in this interview, but this seems to be par for the course for him.

[@christopher9727]

.... Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@Birdieupon]

It goes to show even more how emotionally stunted Peter Hitchens is - that he couldn’t even bring himself to outright ask Alex “please, I’d rather you didn’t run this”, which Alex would have respected!

[@philip851]

He said it on multiple occasions during the interview...of course, you may have wanted the C-A-T for cat, but intelligent people tend not to communicate via tins of alphabet spaghetti.

[@sananton2821]

Ah yes, far too intelligent to say the words he wanted to communicate. So deep!@@philip851

[@maj.peppers3332]

@@philip851You mean when he went on for 15 minutes saying "you have no moral right to publish the interview. Go ahead, publish it. You came in with false pretenses, and it doesn't matter what I say. Don't publish the interview. I can't stop you. Do it. But don't do it. But do it." All while immediately yelling the moment Alex opened his mouth to defend himself from these genuinely hurtful accusations. Or are you referring to when Alex offered to cut the entire interview, and do a completely different interview with a different topic, before having insults hurled at him? Yeah, I guess Alex should have just let him rant on X for 3+ days without ever defending himself or showing people what really happened.

[@malgrosskreuz01]

Exactly. And I have a godbrother who has more emotional intelligence than Peter Hitchens. And my godbrother is 7

[@philip851]

@@malgrosskreuz01 How would a person with an IQ at room temperature be able to judge another persons immaturity?

[@JamesVytas]

Very strange behaviour by Peter. Alex did nothing wrong. Whether you were going in circles or pushing too hard, he could have still been cordial and glossed over things or just quietly declined to comment.

[@sunnyla2835]

Where can i watch this interview? What is the name of Alexs podcast? Thx

[@bernardobila4336]

Within Reason Podcast

[@bernardobila4336]

His channel on YT is Alex O'Connor

[@CS79N]

You hear this all the time though. Someone will say "you're not listening to me", to which I often respond: "I am listening to you, I'm just not agreeing with you."

[@AUniqueHandleName444]

Arguing with a woman in a nutshell lol. "You don't understand me!" "No, I understand you, I just think you're wrong."

[@miti8523]

Peter Hitchens has never said anything of value, and lives in his brother’s shadow both in terms of popularity and intellectualism.

[@fonzo747]

Someone stated Peter Hitchens’ reacted may be linked to dementia. If this is the case it should be met with compassion instead.

[@user-dw9ly4ij7i]

Alex thinks everybody must have infinite patience with him. Not a fan of most P.Hitchens opinions or the guy, but the conversation got boring and circural and he was right to end it. But than he embarassed himself by shouting on camera and twitter meltdown, so most people are on Alex's side.

[@gos4343]

For a little balance. AO’C “wave it in front of the camera” and his chuckle at the criticisms of PH book may have not helped.

[@willpeony5534]

In part I think Peter Hitchens is worn down a bit by modernity, as am I. Most people are just repeating the stuff that others have said or written, it does get tiresome.

[@Slarti]

I have been suspicious of Peter Hitchens being somewhat strongly narcissistic for a while. I agree with a lot of what he says but I notice that he appears to be incapable of understanding the emotions of other people while himself portraying himself as being highly rational but actually being highly emotional.

[@simonengland6448]

I sense an age divide here. Hitchens, whilst being obtuse on many topics, particularly history and religion, does have a wealth of experience to draw on. Alex, in his pre-brainwashing Uni days, was a flexible and humble thinker. As an older man I quite see how Alex would have irritated him in his current iteration. Alex is in the mate attracting zone, Hitchens long past. Once Alex gets to about forty, he will be formidable indeed, much more than Hitchens. Hitchens deliberately leaves out important historical facts that are not part of the mainstream narrative that would, with his backing, change the way we see our present. I know because we read the same books. I can never forgive him for this as we are all suffering badly from the official post-war narrative. On religion he is disingenuous about his motives. Alex has absorbed a swathe of Marxist narratives without realising it and frankly is often quite obnoxious in his opinions, which often are just low-hanging fruit such as the monarchy. He goes after the monarchy from a republican perspective, whilst ignoring all the more valid reasons such as their non-European codex. Boring. This nicey nicey interview in which he poses as the reasonable and hard done by victim of a misunderstanding is tedious. He is ruthless and bloody minded, as he should be. Just get on with it!

[@PlayzBlanston]

when 3:55 was brought up to Hitchens he said that kids were using Elf Bars. Alex then tried to double down on his point and the rest is history

[@cromagnon201]

Conner kept looping back to try to sell his point of view. (Portuguese drugs) It lasted for ages and drove me crazy as well. The fun part was Hitches going nuts at the end.

[@ragnardanneskjold7259]

Yes.

[@EricusXIV]

Whether that is true or not (I think not) is not the core issue. You don't behave like Peter did, full stop. If he thought Alex should move on or whatever, he could've simply asked politely. Instead he behaved like an evil crybaby.

[@Beattie755]

​@@EricusXIVnot just a cry baby. But an evil one 👀

[@sananton2821]

Who are you people? A 40-minute discussion and dozens of you are pulling your hair out in boredom? Is this a crackhead convention? Sounds like a made-up opinion that post-hoc validates a psycho meltdown from a guest.

[@cromagnon201]

@EricusXIV lets slip in the word Evil, because Hitchens disliked his shitty interview. Evil because he wrote a book to educate people on drugs and getting dissed, by people who never read his book?

[@stebz586]

Poor guy, he got triggered: it happens to everyone. His blood pressure rose. He needed space to cool off. But you were very good, Alex. The ad hominem attacks showed he was giving up.

[@gracefitzgerald2227]

That was great!! Someone should’ve done a remix of that whole silly situation. So funny!😂

[@jenniferjoyner112]

Thats the humourous side ...😂😂😂😂

[@Joe-mz6dc]

Great 👍🏻 😃

[@joshnlevinson]

I agree the reason it was going in circles a bit was because he wasn't giving good answers to your questions. But I think the thing you did that catalyzed the meltdown was not take the cues that he was getting irritated with the line of questioning. If your intention was to push it even if that meant pissing him off, then fair enough. But if you wanted to avoid that, you could have dropped the topic sooner. All that said, I am totally on your side and think he acted like an insane bully.

[@baltzarbonbeck3559]

He got angry because he is afraid of looking stupid, he felt that he wasn't abl.e to do his arguments justice and maybe couldn't remember the counterarguments to your points. Instead of admitting this or frankly any one of many different reactions he opted to anger and made himself look stupid that way instead.

[@kenrunciman8706]

This is either dis-ingenuity, or a spectacular absence of any self-awareness on the part of Mr O'Connor. Hitchens was an obvious target, and potentially a big scalp. He was not interested in interviewing him to elicit his views, he was setting him up to shoot him down, based on an article by the Washington Post, which he must have known would inflame him, and which would on the surface ,appear to undermine his arguments-which essentially seemed to be the entire point of his line of questioning. Why don't you come clean on this, Mr O'Connor? You actively dislike what Christopher Hitchens stands for, and presumably wanted to gain some kind of personal glory by publicly taking him down, Now you are trying to cover your tracks by playing the part of the injured party.

[@talastra]

"You actively dislike what Christopher Hitchens stands for ..." Pardon? Did you actually pay attention to this video or the interview? Or are you just trolling.

[@literalghost929]

Where's the original Peter Hitchens interview?

[@RandomAussieGuy87]

On his channel.

[@literalghost929]

@@RandomAussieGuy87 Would have been nice to have it linked in the description, instead of a bunch of unrelated links to supplements and whatnot, that way people didn't have to waste their time having to find it.

[@jackmorgan2747]

Finding the video would take you less than five seconds if you typed ''alex peter hitchens'' or any variety of them words, plus any other related words. Do you understand how easy it is to find specific content on here? Genuinely it is so easy @@literalghost929

[@tomgarb6302]

Tbh im not a fan of peter hitchens but there exchange was really tiresome, the interviewer just kept going on and on and on raming the same point and i just thought please move on.

[@christianmeyer9560]

and boy did it move on

[@James_36]

he bored me to fckin tears... I mean imagine thinking these type of drugs are going to be a net good.. it is thick

[@AfroGaz71]

That's a fair point. Alex is a pedantic bore, but on the other hand, Hitchens should have just told him to move on from an exhausted topic.

[@havealongwaytogo_dh_]

One of my friend told me your podcast. He is fluent speaker. Thanks to him ❤

[@conanmcclanahan1069]

This podcast has done more for my wit and intellect that ~20 years of modern education.

[@havealongwaytogo_dh_]

@@conanmcclanahan1069 really !

[@petem4271]

Chris’s point about reverse age discrimination is well put. I’m well into middle age and notice how some of my peers will often dismiss younger perspectives just because of the age of the person saying them, rather than hearing the point being made. I work with too many smart and interesting people under 35 to feel that youth = ill-informed. It’s reductive and counterproductive - you’ll stay close minded to a wider perspective and end up obsolete, in my view.

[@brianmeen2158]

30-35 they can be intelligent and starting to gain wisdom. 20-30 not so much in my experience . Plus you have the hordes of 20 year olds that think they are geniuses because they have google at their fingertips

[@petem4271]

@@brianmeen2158 agreed but it’s the automatic dismissal of a view because of age that I have a problem with. Hear them out. Listen to understand not just the react. Help them don’t shut them down. Entitlement in some of the younger generation is a thing though, so tread carefully. But I was the same. We forget that sometimes as we get older.

[@johnmitchell2269]

​@@brianmeen2158 Some 35 year olds may have learnt very little and experienced very little. Some 20 year olds may have experienced a lot and learnt a lot.

[@IAmTheRealHim]

@@brianmeen2158you are unironically doing exactly what the original comment advised against immediately. Genuinely can’t make this shit up

[@coolcat23]

Bewildering behaviour by Peter Hitchens.

[@sweetie4915]

Something I noticed about Peter Hitchens is that he is becoming increasingly more doom pilled, as the normies call it. In other words he is getting more cynical and bitter. He believes there is no hope and gets angry with anyone for believing that there is hope, that things will be alright and we can make it so. He then will demonstrate a complete lack of accountability, unprofessionalism, and utter arrogance, not to mention a complete lack of self control when he loses his temper. I liked a lot of what he has said but now I think he is letting things overwhelm him and he is just lost on a sea of darkness. I genuinely hope that a better understanding will bless him with the wisdom he lacks, because that is a very dark place to be in, mentally and spiritually. SIDE NOTE: So if you can convince ChatGPT of anything, any lie, any absurdity, that means it is literally like a liberal; not that smart. Interesting...I learn something new each day!

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

​@frankbrennan1619 Honestly, pretty sobering.

[@shortscenes9338]

Why does Hitchens have to be nice? In particular, why does he have to be nice to the latest funded snark puppet?

[@sweetie4915]

@@shortscenes9338 This is not about being 'nice,' this is about the utter downfall of a man's optimism and his overall well being. Hitchens has fallen victim to two deadly sins: the first being his complete and utter hopelessness that borders on giving up. The second being that he is so narcissistic and conceited that he is no longer even patient with people for daring to suggest there is hope, and he is rude to people when they even ask him his views. I hope he will be alright, truly, because I think he is a decent man, he's just fallen victim to the madness of the times. But there is always hope, which of course Hitchens would disagree with.

[@shortscenes9338]

@@sweetie4915 You're actively answering a question I did not actively ask.

[@sweetie4915]

@@shortscenes9338 No, I understand why you might think that is what I was doing, but I was just describing the way I see Hitchens in his present state of mind.

[@shortscenes9338]

Rent Boy is well rehearsed.

[@philward5513]

Hitchens lost his rag, whilst you kept your cool. Admirable. Just a suggestion from a regular customer - put a rough time limit e.g 30 mins on your agenda and proceed beyond that if the interviewer agrees to carry on; or agree to curtail the interview prior to the time if you have covered most of the salient points.

[@Grrrr3FKAGrrrrGrrrrGrrrr]

If Peter wanted the conversation to stop going around in circles, he should've stopped steering it around in circles. Whenever he sensed that Alex was about to raise a question that might dent his position, Peter would interrupt with waffling deflection. It was Peter that was making the conversation slow and repetitive, because he couldn't concede the slightest doubt about his conclusions.

[@SuperNictastic]

Peter sits in his brothers much mightier shadow. He just doesn't have a tenth of his brothers intellect, personality or charisma.

[@eyemallears2647]

There are memes to be had in that 17 minutes

[@fiddlecastro1453]

I think Peter got rather tired of listening to a non-responsive ''what about alcohol'' retort over & over again. Alex obviously wasn't expecting Hitchens to correctly point out that the existence of 1 poison doesn't make another safe. He didn't like this fact so kept repeating the same a ''whatabout'' line and Hitchens clearly thought his time could be best spent elsewhere. I think he was right tbh.

[@MrMjp58]

Agreed.

[@christianmeyer9560]

He spent 17 minutes staying and being rude and pompous, after he said he was gonna leave. Talk about time spending.

[@TheRobinL]

The reason Hitchens got frustrated is because he know he's argument are flawed and inconsistent. They are not based in rationality but in emotions. Hitchens argument is: "cannabis is bad for your health and especially when childrend get a hold of them" (paraphrasing). Alex points out in that case, for Hitchens to be logical consistent. He SHOULD be against alcohol and tobacco too. But for some ode reason the same argument about the negative health risk and the risk of children geting there hands on alcohol and tobacco does not apply?! Why is that? Why can't Hitchens just explain why there is different standards for cannabis then tobacco. Or give another argument why he is against Cannabis. If he does not have one. Maybe he should reevaluate he's position on it or just admit he is arguing form feelings and not reason.

[@fiddlecastro1453]

@@TheRobinL Nope. The existence of a poison doesn't make another poison safe. If Tobacco was illegal today literally no one would be advocating making it legal. Obviously Alex and his fanboys don't like their pro-drug nut agenda being challenged but that's really a 'them' problem. Which is ultimately why he couldn't think of an argument other than ''whatabout''... once it was pointed out to him that ''whatabout'' doesn't make cannabis safe, he then had a bit of a mare and just repeated himself endlessly because he realised the inconsistency and sheer ignorance of his position, rather than acknowledge this he decided to make the argument circular. Not the brightest.

[@Glasstable2011]

Although it is well used, I don’t think the “what about alcohol?” response is fallacious or uninteresting. At its core, cannabis being legalised is a question of human liberty and mental capacity. It’s about adult humans making choices for themselves that may or may not hurt them or help them. And the same applies for alcohol, which is almost universally accepted and engrained in cultures across the planet.

[@adampezzuolo5618]

Alex did a TERRIBLE job in that interview. I disagree with Hitchens on almost everything, but in 45 minutes the conversation didn't move. Alex kept asking the same questions in slightly different ways... which led to Hitchens losing his patience I bet so many people here in the comments like to think themselves as "free thinkers" but you are defending Alex just because (probably) you agree with him and disagree with Hitchens. Some comments are basically calling for the cancellation of Hitchens. To those people i say: you are pathetic.

[@Rave.-]

Perhaps a bad strategy for entertainment value from Alex, but he asked the same question several times because Hitchens *never answered it* and he wasn't letting him off the hook. I'll take that level of scrutiny from an interviewer and have a boring podcast over placating terrible arguments any day. Best example of what I'm talking about is Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson. That podcast was mind numbing, but I understand so much more about those two people for having listened to it.

[@adampezzuolo5618]

@@Rave.- it's not true that Hitchens didn't answer. He even repeated the same answers twice. We might not be satisfied with those answers but that's not his fault

[@serious12100]

​@@adampezzuolo5618 First words of the interview from Hitchens "So far. So good'. He couldn't wait to make it known he didn't like this. And then kept giving off weird vibes. Interrupting. Every. Word. To. Stop. You. From. Speaking. He is clearly way too emotional and not in control of himself to be able to debate his points clearly. He made a fool of himself and then tried to play the victim card after verbaly abusing the host. That's just the cherry on top.

[@christianmeyer9560]

Didn't seem like he listened to the actual question regarding alcohol. Alex was very boring, but Peter was an arrogant self-righteous old man.

[@philip851]

"What about smoking, what about alcohol" that's exactly what Alex did, repeatedly. Here we have two young men sitting together believing they're very clever "Yeah, especially the guys who are a little bit older, there is kind of reverse ageism going on". No, that isn't what is going on. We were all young once and a bit daft, believing we knew it all. "Kid's aren't smoking now, and that says a lot about education". Totally wrong...we've known smoking is bad for you for several decades and were subjected to far more education on the matter than present day children, and we still smoked. Kids are now vaping nicotine instead, and it's endemic. Ban or over regulate vaping and guess what they'll do?...smoke! Where's you evidence? asks the numpty . Well, smoking is primarily a manifestation of nicotine addiction. And nicotine causes pleasant feelings and distracts one from unpleasant feelings. Either via a vape or a cigarette...people are going to smoke. And banning it all together is the biggest advert ever for smoking..so that won't work either. If you really want people to stop smoking and have them live healthier lives....you have to provide them a life worth living! ... privation & impoverishment may save the planet but it is not the way you stop people from smoking.

[@EricusXIV]

If one dismisses Alex's views due to his age, it reflects ageism. Hitchens' conduct in the interview seemed objectionable, marked by arrogance, dishonesty, and rudeness. Notably, he struggled to substantiate his own thesis, suggesting a misplaced sense of intellectual superiority on his part. He seemed to get frustrated that Alex kept asking questions that he couldn't answer. Pathetic behaviour.

[@philip851]

No, @@EricusXIV it is simply a matter of knowing what your talking about and having a little life experience. Alex believes cannabis should be legal and employs whataboutery, which is ignorant on the many issues Hitchens made him aware of. Take the point on testing...how naive and utterly stupid is Alex's position here "We'll have to do random testing" when it's bloody obvious you'll have to test everyone doing important jobs before they're allowed to do them. And isn't it interesting that you are as guilty as that young man of not listening to what Hitchens was saying! Hitchens doesn't have to substantiate his 'thesis'...he isn't offering a solution to a problem. If you want to smoke cannabis and wreck your brain, do it. He's just telling you that it wrecks your brain.

[@EricusXIV]

@@philip851 He is not just saying that, he wants it to be a severe criminal offence. I thought you at least knew something about his work? But since you don't know what a thesis is, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised... I can't be bothered explaining this to you. Read a book or ask a grownup (you seem to put a lot of weight on age) and they'll explain it for you. Lesson one: don't have strong opinions on stuff you know next to nothing about.

[@philip851]

No@@EricusXIV it is already an offence. He believes the law should be upheld, don't you? Your attempt to belittle my input says a lot about you ...and tbh you should really heed your own advice here. It did make me chuckle though. If I were to say to you that smoking cannabis in your teen years it increases the risk of psychosis and that there is a bunch of literature available proving this happens and we you should be dissuaded by being punished. That is my line of argument, my thesis...to think a good counter (or that there should be a counter at all) is saying "but what about alcohol ( repeatedly) that is dangerous too but it's perfectly legal?" ...is puerile!. He hasn't a clue what he's talking about and that was obvious when asked what managing that would look like."Well we'll randomly test people" He believes that a credible solution but doesn't even begin to address the problems that arise from legalizing cannabis.Clearly, he hasn't thought about it. If you invite Mr Hitchens on a podcast to have a conversation. You may disagree with him, he doesn't really care...but if all you have is naive BS and you use that to debate his pov...obviously, you've wasted his time.

[@EricusXIV]

@@philip851 I am not belittling you, it's simply a matter of knowing what you're talking about and having a little life experience.

[@ryan7775]

its not that you challenged his views. Its that you kept banging on about the same thing over and over again. You had said he was there to talk about a few things, and you talked about the same thing over and over again when he had made his views known.

[@Behaving_Golem]

Hitchens isn't going to sleep with you dude

[@clivemountain1165]

I have watched quite a few interviews by Alex and although probing and challenging, he is always respectful. I saw the Hitchens interview some time ago and thought how pompous and superior Hitchens was but was till quite shocked when he got up and walked out- totally disrespectful.

[@surrealistidealist]

3:50 I doubt that. I think most smokers are still starting as minors. It's either already in their home because parents or older siblings smoke, or they get it from their peers.

[@jean-pascalheynemand3271]

Often, when people react like this, it is a sign that they are realising that they are wrong..

[@bodhisattva99]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HOLD MY HAND!!! I'm a good person! He was mean! (Chris: dries tears tenderly)

[@bodhisattva99]

The man was well in over his head. HE invited Hitchens. HE was the interviewer. Everything that went wrong was O'Connor's responsibility. The interviewer is meant to DIRECT the conversation and CONDUCT the conversation, and O'Connor was incapable as an interviewer. He just got bulldozed. He has a very overinflated sense of self-worth, and it became obvious in that particular interview, which is why he is now seeking validation from a 'friend'.

[@harrykane_]

​@@bodhisattva99 And what were your idol Hitchens "POINT" about why alex had run it poorly? Hitchens was saying "Drugs" topic is Boring even tho they agreed upon it for a 1 hour Drug discussion and 1 Hour God discussion. Like he's calling the subject boring when he's written a book about it and what kind of a stuck up old man basically says "Read my book about it i don't have to answer you" 😂.Hitchens also called him a propagandist, because he didn't agree with Hitchens? Hitchens isn't even capable of being a public interviewee if he's going to make it personal. He proved the biggest cry baby in the whole interview for 20 mins ranting about how alex is a terrible person. So adult of him and definitely not childish eh?

[@durere]

Mdf, WHAT? Children are smoking cigarettes like crazy.

[@renewed6250]

It wasn't that bad...it was the first time Petey was interesting since his brother trounced him in a debate on religion. Had this interview simply been cordial and normal...no one would be talking about Peter Hitchens and this podcast would not have brought up the interview.

[@michaelfern4079]

As soon as he snapped first time round, should have moved on.

[@bontfaen]

Methinks Alex doth protest too much.

[@ggez5890]

Peter Hitchens is the definition of a crybaby narcissist. He has the nerve to call himself a journalist?! Hahaha

[@JackTadoussac]

Peter Hitchens and the late Christopher Hitchens share the same last name. They are brothers. Where they differ, at least for me, is that I can listen to Christopher engage in a debate or deliver a lecture, and by God, I will listen to the entire tape. With Peter, it is different, when is this thing going to end? That's enough for one little comment, 1 out of 609 at the time I posted this thing.

[@serious12100]

For someone who is so opposed to drugs, Hitchins sure seemed like he had a little too much.

[@juju2B]

He’s uptight and should try what he’s so against, cause then he knows from experience!

[@jenniferjoyner112]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@allenwixted1992]

He stormed out for him making it all about drugs yet signed every single one of his emails to Kate Andrew’s with “PS you’re still wrong about drugs” 😂

[@esar71]

Alex needs to reassess what happened, Peter Hitchens may have been dramatic, but it was an awful interview that belabored a boring argument

[@Beattie755]

It is true. He ought to have changed the subject before the 30 minute mark when it was clear it was going nowhere.

[@talastra]

You need to reassess your comment; it may have been dramatic, but it was awful and belabored a boring point. ;)

[@chyerchr1850]

100% Peter was just fine here. Alex seems hopelessly stubborn, he is protecting the validity of his previous points to his viewers. It feels like Alex is underachieving the entire interview, and the implication might be that he is defending his own drug use which is just intolerable. Alex was very smug, and even gave Peter a "mmmyees" at one point in order to make fun of Peter's logic for a topic Alex knew about. You just don't do that in debate if you want to be taken seriously and the logic followed was not difficult to inquire about. The behaviour is actually propaganda, it tells the unknowing "oh this old fuddy >would< say such a thing." It's a display of popularism, it's entrepenurial, and because it plays with the very spirit of man and their ability to live, I think it is also a bit evil.

[@talastra]

​@@chyerchr1850 I admire the passion of your commitment here, but also, all you are saying is: I don't like Alex. Hitchens is long manifestly more guilty of the crimes you impute.

[@chyerchr1850]

@@talastra at this point your comment is so baseless I think this is a russian psyop to destroy western society.

[@cameronblack7984]

0:50 "I'd only spoken about drug decriminalisation ONCE before" and then, 1:10 "Mr. Hitchens, there are three topics we both speak about: drug decriminalisation,...." .....reaaaaaally?

[@stormhawk3319]

Peter may have lost it but I was frustrated with Alex’s interviewing. I found him dragging the cannabis argument too much realising it was needling Peter but also, his rather dull, monotonous interviewing style.

[@TheHighlander-jn4cj]

I think Hitchens is a very intelligent man to the degree of being prophetic. He was making current right-wing talking points about immigration, modernity and the fundamentally containment nature of the Conservative party years before anyone else. But he's just such a miserable man. He's advised young British people to flee the country, as though we should just bail on it. He always came off as a bit arrogant but that did it for me in terms of thinking his head was in the right place.

[@Henning102]

I agree. I value his insights greatly, but he seems so bitter and defeatist now that he's become quite hard to listen to. He also sorely lacks his late brother's sense of humour.

[@tomzablee]

Strange behaviour by Peter but Alex always comes across as incredibly arrogant.

[@Dr.Metalblood]

Thinking people should be thrown in a cage for what they choose to put in their own body is a despicable view.

[@danielreed5199]

I think Universities should show the interview to Psychology students, as a prime example of Cognitive Dissonance. It seemed to me that Peter was having a hard time reconciling with himself during it, that is who he was angry at.

[@Camazotzer]

Well, I do side with Alex here more, however I think the whole situation was brought about mutually. First, Hitchens really didn't seem interested in even entertaining arguments against his beliefs, yet Alex was also really pushing against him. Hitchens was also constantly cutting in Alex's questions. In the end neither party understood the other.

[@jjjonny2720]

I just watched the first half an hour of the Alex O’Connor Peter, Hitchins interview. I’m pro legalisation subject to huge constraints. I will watch Peter Hitchens again, but I will never watch Alex O’Connor interviewing anyone again. He made it incredibly boring, labouring over the same points again, and again, not really understanding the responses because they didn’t seem to fit in neatly to what he was prepared for. It was probably unnecessary for Hitchens to storm out rather than just politely ending the interview, but I was so bored that I didn’t even get that far.

[@James_36]

yep, the arrogance of him to come here and feel vindicated is fckin pathetic also

[@paul4543]

Peter Hitchens literally said kids aren't smoking cigarettes as much because they're vaping at an epidemic level, and I think he said so a second time when Alex was continually going round in circles with the repetitive "what about alcohol" response. I see 10 and 11 year olds frequently walking or biking sucking on vapes now and you never used to see that with cigarettes. The cheap price and nice flavour undoubtedly the two biggest factors. Not stinking of ciggies is also a +1. Alex needs to accept his part in being a terrible interviewer on this occasion. 45+ minutes trying to beat a dead topic after several hints from Peter it was time to change the subject. I was tired of it after 20, about 10 minutes longer than Peters first hint it was time to move on or talk about something more interesting. The lead up to our current failed nation, the path towards destruction he briefly mentioned, and what it may look like in 50 years could have been a good tangent.

[@bodhisattva99]

What's the point of this video exactly? Two millennials, who naturally agree with one another, commiserating because one of them was put in his place and had his feelings hurt. He may as well be looking in a mirror.

[@manoftrent71]

Or rather what was the point in interviewing Hitchens in the first place? Just another Fleet Street hack with delusions of grandeur.

[@ronneighbour1378]

Peter Hitchens certainly went down in my estimation. He behaved like a petulant child.

[@test5093]

It's clear that in peter's mind he solved this entire discussion in his book. And now he is just exhausted by all the uninformed people that haven't bothered to read it.

[@randeepwalia1507]

Let's face it- we only bother listening to Peter because we are hoping to glean a sliver of the brilliance his brother had. It isn't there.

[@alexanderhayward8505]

Peter is way beyond Christopher.

[@LucyLocketful]

I'd always admired Peter Hitchens, but cannot do so now. Alex O'Connor was being reasonable, polite and rational. I think it's likely that PH is on some medication that affects his judgment. He behaved extremely badly, rudely, irrationally and arrogantly (which usually denotes ignorance or feeling loss of control) and it was embarrassing to watch.

[@davidgraham8058]

I think some of these issues have become very emotional for Hitchens. He grew up in a very different (and in many ways much better) society. He has accepted his defeat on all of these social issues to the progressive left and I think he feels beaten and a stranger in his own country. He gave up the fight for liberty years ago and I’m sure it affects him more than he shows.

[@LucyLocketful]

@@davidgraham8058 I agree, all you say is probable - and I fully sympathise with him as I feel that too. However, he was extraordinarily rude to Alex, which for someone who's been in the public eye and debate for a long time is extraordinary. (I might be wrong, but I believe after the interview he posted some nasty tweets about Alex, which more or less forced Alex to broadcast the interview so people could judge for themselves.)

[@TheBerliner]

Why did Chris Williams feel the need to carry Alex Oconnor's water? AOC's interview was tedious and boring, a waste of time. It's clear that he had no interest in learning anything from this interview but was frantically searching for yet another worn angle to 'get' Hitchens to submit to his demand that drug legalization be celebrated

[@user-vn7hu6np9t]

Peter just can’t get over the fact he was never as smart as his brother. The late great Christopher Hitchens.

[@kenrunciman8706]

Christopher was a slave to his Marxist 'ideals'. I wonder if it wasn't a result of sibling rivalry that he should so entrench himself in opposition to Peter's more moralistic outlook on life, and thereby limit his own life of thought?

[@SemiPerfectDark]

And also not as smart as Alex. 😉

[@AfroGaz71]

Agreed. You'd never see Christopher throw a hissy fit and storm out to reasonable questions.

[@ShuggieEdvaldson]

Good to see Chris had a deathbed conversion, course, it was inevitable, wasn't it, since the truth always prevails in the end. ;) How many people onboard The Titanic, post iceberg-collision, still considered themselves to be Atheist, d'you think?

[@user-vn7hu6np9t]

@@ShuggieEdvaldson What a fatuous comment. I’ve read some of your previous comments and this is your entire raison d’etre. This is a public forum and you are entitled to such zealotry opinions however ill informed, false and meaningless they are. Now tootle off and look up raison d’etre it may serve you well.

[@marscruz]

You can't compare tobacco smoking to smoking cannabis. One is highly psychoactive and tobacco is quite mild in comparison. If you smoke a very potent strain of weed it can even be hallucinogenic or even psychedelic in high doses. Cannabis is much more mind altering than the depressive/euphoric effects of alcohol. I haven't watched the interview but I don't see how you can compare these drugs. They have very different effects on the user.

[@thomasfevre9515]

Arguably, tobacco/nicotine is less mibd altering but more addictive.

[@marscruz]

@@thomasfevre9515 I agree. I smoked cigarettes for 20 years. Two packs a day. It took me about 4 attempts to finally quit. Thought I had it under control after quitting for a year. Bummed one. Then another. Was buying smokes again the next day. Toughest thing ever to quit. Cold turkey on my 40th finally did it. Knew I could never smoke one again if I wanted to succeed. Still free of it over 25 years later. Pot was easy to quit by comparison.

[@IAmTheRealHim]

@@thomasfevre9515I’m pretty sure that’s just factual. As a chronic pot head and nicotine user lol

[@soleknight3212]

@thomasfevre9515 -- Agreed. But cannabis is definitely addictive too. I heard for years it was "not addictive". Smoked it for over 20 years and loved it. But it was definitely addictive and had to eventually stop and just now have the odd toke or drink instead. All these things that produce pleasure and stimulate the limbic system are addictive. Everything in moderation

[@thomasfevre9515]

@@soleknight3212 true. It depends on the individual also, everyone reacts differently to each substance. Any deug can destroy lives and shouldn't be downplayed.

[@HikingFeral]

This just shows how boring and childish people can get when faced with the fact someone disagrees with their work. This man had a tantrum and is an arse.

[@apimpnamedslickback5936]

Quarter the intellect and double the ego of his brother.

[@bobjames1992]

I think Alex is quite a brilliant thinker. My problem his whole approach to all his interviews is to try and get his subject to make uncomfortable statements about their own positions. I submit that the whole point of Alex's interviews is to make him look smarter than other people. Beyond that I don't understand the point to much of what he says.

[@benxojylol6537]

Here’s the thing. If everyone only made statements which they are completely comfortable in, what would be the point? The uncomfortableness, the grey areas, the pushing boundaries, getting people out of their comfort zone, that’s what makes people think of new things and form an opinion. I just think that Hitchens was not prepared for that, and Alex did really double down, which Alex absolutely disliked. I think that Alex isn’t trying to keep the interview going for the sake of the interview, he keeps it going for the sake of debating. And if it gets a little stale, that’s ok one of the people. So I would agree that Alex isn’t the best interviewer or that he is good at navigating problems while talking to his guests. He just goes all in, and for a debate, that is radically important. If one person doesn’t want to debate (ageism, frustration), he doesn’t realise that, which, as a debater, he doesn’t have to, as no debater should just burst out like that. Hitchens didn’t wanna debate, he just wanted to state is opinion. Alex was constantly questioning that opinion, Hitchens wasn’t prepared for that, Hitchens dislikes Alex because he questioned his opinion. That’s a bad debater. Alex wasn’t prepared for that. Hitchens is a pompous man, he is arrogant and full of ageism. Alex is a debating man, not really aware of the emotional baggage he sets aside by interviewing someone (he shouldn’t have to be, just stating facts).

[@bobjames1992]

@@benxojylol6537 thanks for that answer. I can see a point to what he is doing. I guess getting straight to the decisive point can make people uncomfortable. It can expose something not quite right about someone. Soon though, he'll get a reputation and subjects will avoid the interviews.

[@darz_k.]

Peter hitchslapped himself.

[@billthecat666]

Peter's ego swallowed him whole. He has no business going on any interview show.

[@TheLeonhamm]

Poor old soul .. no, not Alex. I'm not sure if Mr O'Connor has seen a mangle at work, but it is relentless, fairly efficient, and .. crushing. Perhaps in fifty years, after Peter Hitchens is barely a memory - for few of us of his age group will be left to be dragged through this merrily whirling material roller of on-line interviewage by then - Alex O'Connor may yet look back as some considerate young whippersnapper puts him to the question on .. erm .. 1) drug intake (borrrrring!), 2) God, religion and belief in unbelief in 'God' or < G > (.. 'Oh! .. God! if I must' ..), or 3) a disturbing increase in the illegal use of plastic straws among the young (.. 'Here .. we .. go .. just as I thought' ..) he might look back, vindicated as he certainly is, and sigh an understanding sigh for Mr Hitchens (and perhaps, take the privilege of old age himself, to go off on a pointless irate huff; one of the few privileges left to old age today, so what another half a century of look-out-in-anger Youf-ery may leave is somebody or other's guess). Keep the Faith; tell the truth, shame the devil, and let the demons shriek. God bless. ;o)

[@fredcraven1699]

Vindicated, I am selfish I am wrong

[@kimwangai1383]

Alex is being dishonest and Chris ignorant. Alex refused to concede or challenge Hitchens point about legalization and childrens accessibility as if Hitchen’s anti drug advovacy was therefore pro alc and tobacco. Alex was just trying to make his guest look stupid, blindly zealous or hypocritical. And for Chris to pile on that is a disappointment.

[@Animalistic9]

Agreed, Alex came off like an idiot

[@James_36]

@@Animalistic9 yep, it was so fckin boring and Alex views are more cultist than JPs I have noticed - I doubt Chris would even have PH on because PH would destroy him if Chris actually had a viewpoint of his own

[@northcountryfisher2121]

I thought Peter handled the interview very badly, especially at the end. However, the interviewer was truly awful, he clearly came with his own set of answers and constantly tried to put them across rather than listening to what peter had to say. There's only so many times you can listen to the the same arguments about smoking, alcohol and children - i counted four times on both subjects .. Peter was wrong to act the way he did, but i can understand his frustration.

[@baishihua]

But that's the thing, I think Alex had his own answers and was waiting for Peter to challenge them.

[@MrMicronano]

I’m finding Alex to be an incredible bore. He’s somehow become the “it guy” because you can pretend to be smart by listening to him.

[@Chris-kz7us]

Alex seems like not a honest person. At best someone who enjoys trolling.

[@thedarknessthatcomesbefore4279]

Watch his channel. He is respectful and honest.

[@Rich7714]

In Peter's defence though, it's utterly moronic of Alex to say "Let's see what the people have to say" when he knows full-well that nearly everyone ON HIS CHANNEL will obviously agree with him because they're followers of his.

[@georgedoyle2487]

Yep!!

[@Neon_Daze]

Utterly moronic seems a little harsh. I'm sure Alex is smart enough to know that most of his fans would take his side, but there are other places he'd look for feedback like X where there are a lot of Hitchens fans. You just have to analyse the reasons that people give for Alex or Peter being in the right, and it's up to each person to decide which argument is more compelling, which I'm sure is what Alex did.