Young Hitchens DESTROYS Pro-Gulf War Charlton Heston ft. Ben Burgis

[@invanorm]

I'm glad you guys give Hitchens the respect he deserves despite his turn later in life. He really was a force to be reckoned with.

[@TanvirKaykobad]

Galloway puts it aptly that Hitchens was a butterfly that turned into a slug.

[@guydutoit61]

Sammy N it wasn’t bigotry against Muslims it was against religion in general - he hated all of it and he always stuck by his guns.

[@ZackyDaley]

Calling his opinions on iraq and Afghanistan "despicable" is hardly what I would call respect

[@ZackyDaley]

@Sammy N theocratic governments are immoral . Hard to be pro Islamic government when your an athiest

[@jonathanj2666]

@Oners82 Holy shit. I don't think i've read something so vile in my entire life. What these rimjobs fail to realize is that the only point of contention they have with Hitch is that he supported the liberation of minorities in Iraq via the Iraq war. He was never right wing or "moving to the right" (unless you mean from a Marxist to a socialist, sure). What these talking heads are doing is merely character assassination by way of a feigned high ground. On the Hitchens question they fail to provide any substantial argument. Ever. As for you, Oners82, you're merely a product of the groupthink portrayed in the video above. For shame.

[@smead7]

Matt needs a bookshelf.

[@deadviny]

PDF bookshelf

[@fordhouse8b]

He’s the only one who owns a Kindle.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

BlanketStatement :he has Art !!

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

fulani fulani :it’s not a contest.

[@AQGOAT24]

It really sucks that Heston went from an ardent supporter of Civil Rights to become a reactionary later in life

[@ShaithMaster]

When these guys get old and their testosterone starts to plummet, they freak out and cling to tough guy narratives and conservative principles, feeling that this somehow will make them feel manly again. My brother is a textbook case of this. 15 years ago he would absolutely laugh at his current self.

[@kamrecoful]

You guys left out the part where he tells Heston to “keep his hairpiece on” hilarious debate

[@x1PMac1x]

Hitchens clip at 7:20.

[@haafayn6075]

The real MVP

[@robertnicholls9917]

I watched a high powered flashlight commercial for you guys. You're welcome.

[@melissah8415]

I say, how British. Heston always stayed so calm, he didn't know how to react to someone who would remain more calm and composed and actually had...what are they called? Oh yeah, facts!

[@laughingman3777]

Hitchens supported the Iraq war wholeheartedly

[@lookbovine]

Iraq II, but not Iraq I…because of Afghanistan, I guess. You’d think U.S. and Soviet history in each area would have factored in more for him.

[@ciamciaramcia99]

The most ironic thing about Hitchens is how he was posing as this sexy, free thinking, independent intelectualist, yet he was just another trotskyite who went neo-con, only he did it 20 years after it was in vogue.

[@thatindiandude4602]

I am a newb. But what was this Trotskyite trend of going Neo-con?

[@ciamciaramcia99]

@@thatindiandude4602 Many of the founding fathers of neo-con movement in 70s were former trotskyites who adopted hawkish foreign policy, especially in regards to soviet union and their potential allies. In beginning they retained leftist economic policies, some even called them "socialists for nixon", but later they moved to typical center right retoric of spreading liberal democracy, free markets and human rights to the world with warships and attack helicopters.

[@3ou1man]

@@ciamciaramcia99 wow really? Never heard anything about that?

[@scintillam_dei]

I crushed Bitchens' arguments.

[@toby9364]

Everyone needs to read hitchens “Mortality” I laughed and cried throughout

[@MrDyl666]

How did hitchens change so much

[@grant9636]

Boredhuman99 I don’t think he did he merely wanted to help those people’s in Iraq that he was supportive of for years and was acting in accord with his values even if he had to stand with people he disagreed with to do so. I think he can be criticised for that and his argument of the Iraq war being a just war is not sound yet he is criticised in a way that is cheep and dose not pay attention to the fine details of his argument or motives by people such as brooks who I think simply don’t understand Hitchens and so mislabel him.

[@toby9364]

More hitchens gems please!

[@Last555555555]

The problem with criticizing the Gulf War is that the war was started by Iraq invading Kuwait. The coalition that the US joined was created to protect Kuwait from an illegal invasion by Iraq. Now you could argue that the US should have been clearer to Saddam Hussein that they would not tolerate an invasion of Kuwait since the murkiness of the US's position on the matter is what led to the war in the first place, but as a member of the international community, the US had a responsibility to protect Kuwait's sovereignty and to not protect Kuwait would put at risk the relatively peaceful times we have lived in.

[@Last555555555]

@Sammy N true but doing the right thing matters more than the intentions behind the action and defending Kuwait was the right thing to do.

[@Last555555555]

@G L.C Hussein was the one who invaded. He didn't have to act on bad information but he did. Civilian infrastructure always gets destroyed during war

[@Amaterasu_Rivers]

How is ‘God Is Not Great’ a high school defense of atheism?

[@CephalicMiasma4]

@@xamphibiax Pretty much this. When it comes to these kinds of topics (as well as ANYTHING that is science-related), Michael steps way outside of his bounds and starts saying silly things. Fortunately his political analyses and arguments are gold.

[@grisflyt]

@@xamphibiax I don't agree with Michael either. I can sort of understand this view, as the subject matter is stupid. What I mean by that is that there's really nothing to debate. We are debating a concept. An idea. An idea we are supposed to accept as valid and grounded argument. If there had been no concept of God and somebody would have sprung it on us today, it would have been discarded as nonsense. I look at it almost as a backward debate. There are debates on the truthfulness of Jesus' resurrection. As if the stories preceding it have been proven and this is the last piece in the puzzle. This is what I mean with backward. Everything is affirmed as true and it's the atheist's job to tear it down. What annoys me greatly, living in Sweden, is the assertion that society needs God to survive. When you ask, what about Europe and Japan? there's only silence and they return to their assertion. Jordan Peterson is one such example. Either Europe doesn't exist or they insist Europeans are closeted Christians. Yet you are forced to debate this because of argumentum ad populum.

[@lucapresents4790]

@@xamphibiax I have yet to hear Michael ever apologise for religion, but I do think calling 'God is not Great' high school stuff is stupid and a bit too dismissive, that book is the most air tight case against God and religion that I have read

[@oliverb1180]

God is not Great is a purely ideological critique, basically a manual of how not to fall for simplistic arguments based on fundamentalist readings of religion, it is not actually an important text intellectually outside of that strict remit (hence high school level). It would be a stretch to say that TMBS "apologizes" for religion, as a political show they are not interested in critiquing religion as a set of philosophical propositions.

[@lucapresents4790]

xamphibiax after reading his book, what I found that his annoyance with the atheism stuff to be more to do with the fact that while he agrees with atheist and anti theist broadly, the reality is that Islamic terrorism is not as a big a threat as inequality or global warming, which the likes of Sam Harris(who I used to kinda like) peddle a lot

[@ambassador8524]

You missed the best part when he told him to hold onto his toupee!

[@ZackyDaley]

This video and these people are completely disregarding the fact that Christopher hitchens was against theocratic governments, and that he was anti-iran as well. He believed that even without nuclear weapons Iran is a huge threat just because they are a theocratic government, and I tend to agree with Mr hitchens still to this day on many of his opinions even the Iraq war. I was against the Iraq war because of the stuff I was spoon fed as a child but once I grew up and actually started to explore the ideas and started listening to people like hitchens and reading his works I was actually convinced of my folly. So in middle and high school I was anti Iraq war and anti-bush, but once I got older and understood the realities on the ground it was easy to see that my sympathies were masking the realities

[@marksoquetjr4693]

I've never seen this before. Good job.

[@monkerud2108]

I’m gonna tell my kids y’all are Walter Cronkite. These are classics

[@ricmahurin7535]

Hitch on Washington Journal is always fascinating

[@Bmanritchie]

Hard to imagine CNN doing this type of aggressive journalism since... Ever.

[@lauramartin5579]

Gore Vidal saw through Hitchens and declared him a fake. Hitchens and his brother Peter also feuded. I actually prefer Peter who, though much more conservative, has more integrity than Christopher ever displayed. Imo.

[@Garrett1240]

He and Gore were long friends.

[@ProsecutorZekrom]

I wonder if you'd say Peter had more integrity today after the hissyfit he just recently did during an interview

[@Cream147player]

Hitchens should basically have been saying the same thing in 2003. Where did it all go wrong Hitch.

[@unitedfools3493]

And yet he supported the 2003 Iraq War. Womp womp.

[@darksydesamy]

Watch the video before commenting. They mention that.

[@mattyrose3931]

Perhaps watching the video might help you to avoid making such a redundant comment.

[@CephalicMiasma4]

I'm the son of an Iraqi immigrant and I still own Hitchens' books and read them. So where exactly does that put you on this weird scale of identity posturing?

[@sharadowasdr]

Tankie Mike going on a tirade against "trotskyites"

[@watsonroadster3707]

Stalinist/Maoists always refer to Trotskyists as "Trotskyites"...

[@watsonroadster3707]

@tiglath pileser Only Stalinist/Maoist hacks /apologists say imbecilic drivel like that...

[@watsonroadster3707]

@tiglath pileser Define "facts"???..Only Stalinists/Maoists call Trotsky a "fascist" or a "liberal"...Am I now going hear about "facts" from the likes of :Grover Furr, Ian Thatcher, Geoffrey Swain, and, Robert Service???

[@sandorski56]

When D Griscom is tired, he looks like Jack Torrance.

[@foryourlugsonly]

The irony is chris supported gulf war 2.0

[@cdog1990able]

Is the show ever gonna talk Galloway?

[@nickterlizzi]

Pedants For Peace

[@Genarii]

Most people regard Gulf War 1 as far more justifiable than 2003's invasion of Iraq, so this just feels ironic now. While I was against the 2003 Iraq War, Hitchens made a decent case for it when he spoke. The fact that the outcome was extremely poor does not necessarily mean that the removal of Saddam from power was a doomed idea from the start. Surely, more thought into who and what would replace Saddam and his regime should have occurred prior to invasion. Even if more thought had been applied to the situation, I have a hard time imagining a truly positive outcome of *any* invasion of Iraq. Despite this, I sometimes wonder how things might have gone if we had, at the very least, ditched the idea of de-Baathification. As for why Hitchens went from "Neither Washington nor Moscow, International Socialism" to "Washington after all," I can only offer the possibility that he grew up.

[@MikeL-7]

Hitch went off the rails to the great dismay of all his friends. They all stayed loyal to him though. I think his intellectual powers were distorted by the melanoma in his brain.

[@injunsun]

I normally detest Hitchens, mainly for his demeanour. His take on Atheism is juvenile, and gets up my nose. Meanwhile, Matt, when you look at the camera, and we see your ever so slightly crossed eyes, especiallywhen you smile, head slightly cocked to the side, you are melting many of us with your adorableness.

[@zooblestyx]

Hitch was an asshole, but he was OUR asshole.

[@charlotteruse8718]

Interesting, how Hitchens's became a full-fledged imperialist after 9/11.

[@toby9364]

Charlotte Ruse I think it was a mix of 9/11 hysteria, fiscal opportunism, and some mental deterioration from his cancer.

[@GoddyofWar]

9/11 was a watershed moment in his life. He had already been speaking out about his grievances with Islam and organized religion long before it, but the event itself was the point of no return for him. Before ANYTHING else, whether it be left, right, black, white or blue, Hitchens was anti-totalitarian and anti-fascist, and he saw plenty of both in radical Islam.

[@toby9364]

GoddyofWar the perfect storm it seemed. I don’t think his position on Iraq should rewrite our perception of him

[@invanorm]

@@toby9364 *mental deterioration from his alcoholism

[@JemLeavitt]

👍

[@amulyamishra5745]

I support everything he stood for...Even at the end of his life.

[@zgjfinance2796]

Hitch was the charlatan destroyer.

[@zgjfinance2796]

I wish Hitch were here to discuss 2020; ja rule ain’t helpin!

[@grant9636]

These people clearly don’t understand Hitchens but that isn’t surprising with the that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like that like all fucking day long.

[@bbegins10]

Lotta people don’t know hitch was pro life

[@incognitoergocoom7837]

Is Matt OK? He looks a bit unwell

[@ZackyDaley]

I feel like you guys failed to see the video where hitchens addresses every single counterpoint to his point and he destroys them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/maGXhmadlteMidU

[@monkerud2108]

I think he failed to value the fact that mostly life goes on on the ground, in a war to get rid of iraki authoritarianism the only thing that gets rid of the regime is walking into the palace and shooting the guy or something all the other effects of war are entangled with normal innocents on the ground who simply have no choice but to live there for the most part. If war was just about officials fighting each other than every war with a decent moral motivation like freedom is easily justified, but it is the collateral damage and loss of life and livelihood that makes war what it is in modern times. political idealism divorced from an analysis of the consequences broadly is a disaster, you have to first see or conceptualize the broad consequences to even know what matters to hold ideals about. I think he just got in over his head unfortunately, and ran away with one particularly soothing ideal in hand, the absolute good of destroying authoritarianism. and yeah if it can be done cleanly it a good ideal, but we shouldn’t become suicidal or cruel in service of any ideal, that itself is a sing if internal inconsistencies in the motivations for his view later in life.

[@anandgoyal]

Why does Michael keep calling him hitch

[@CephalicMiasma4]

That was his nickname. Most of his friends called him that and many people used it to refer to him. He wrote an autobiography called Hitch 22.

[@Stewiehleba]

MICAHEL. FINISH A FUCKING SENTENCE. DAFUQ?

[@haoli5986]

you guys should make a playlist with all the good marxist hitchens videos

[@ZackyDaley]

All the shitty hitchens videos when he was too young to know better

[@thomasblethyn9639]

You keep saying 'trotskyite' rather than 'trotskyist', and it gives the impression that you don't have a clue what you're talking about. 'Trotskyite' was the term coined by stalinists to describe traitors - whereas 'trotskyist' was used by some left opposition members to describe themselves, so for accuracy you should avoid using the term 'trotskyite' to refer to people altogether.

[@ZackyDaley]

There is literally a debate between Christopher hitchens and his brother, and his brother is a super religious right wing guy, and you guys claim to be on the left but you are actually taking the position of the right wing brother who is anti Iraq war. Lol

[@colmwade6644]

He lost in near the end in his support for the iraq war,sad epitath really.

[@cyrneco]

Hitchens was an authoritarian at heart. Any ideology he would follow didn't really matter as he, being an authoritarian at heart, would turn them to authoritarianism. That wasn't so obvious when he was siding with the losers that wasn't apparent, when he decided to side with the winners it became obvious. There are and have always been many like him in any 'cause'. They do the 'revolution' for 'freedom' then when in power they become precisely wht they had been fighting.

[@ZackyDaley]

"Hitchens was an authoritarian" This is what leftists are getting out of hitchens just because he didn't like islamist republics LOL maybe the creators of this video and the fans of this video should research the alliance between Islam and the left because that is all they are purporting in this video is that hitchens was wrong about Iraq and the America is a big bad imperialist power and that hitchens went to bat for imperialism? That is NOT why hitchens supported the Iraq war.

[@cyrneco]

@@ZackyDaley yes you're right. Go to bed now.