Christopher Hitchens diagnosed with cancer

[sheridan]

vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/an-update-from-christopher-hitchens.html

Whether you agree or not with his religious or political stances, a sad day to learn that Mr Hitchens has developed throat cancer. Though not entirely unexpected given many years of heavy smoking and drinking. For people who admire his fight against the religious nutcases, I really hope he can defeat this, though prognosis for this cancer is pretty dire.

[Shuvo]

Oh god, that really sucks. I have a tonne of respect for the guy, seeing him rip the shit out of everyone he debates against was always so enlightening/amusing. I actually met him a few weeks ago when he came down to Sydney. Guess it'll be the only time. =(

I do hope he recovers, but if he doesn't.... Well at least he came out with his memoire on time...

[Rhinox]

see you talk shit about god and he fucking give you cancer or that that other disease Steven hawking has.


Richard Dawkins better watch out. nigga don't know who he be fucking wit

[Drako]

he can get a throat transplant created with his own steam cells.

isnt there a person that did something like this?

[kuronosan]

This guy should take advice from William Hurt. He'll know what to do.

[joft]

whatever you do, just don't pray for him

i agree with him a lot of the time but find his stance on "islamo-fascism" and the "war on terror" indefensibly stupid

[Mizango]

My God fearing grandmother died of cancer 10 years ago. Magicians don't help you one way or the other.

Sad to hear this though, reminds me of when Carl Sagan was diagnosed as well.

[Lucavi]

Throat cancer is no laughing matter.

Definitely nothing to sneeze about.

[Quixon]

Throat cancer is no laughing matter.

Definitely nothing to sneeze about.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YZX6WR5gaW...00/ANNOYED.jpg

[sheridan]

I don't think you could argue he isn't an amazing debater, with encyclopedic knowledge of literature. Has also travelled to and written from Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Like I implied, regardless whether you agree with all his points, the world would surely be a poorer place without him voicing the debates. His debate with Stephen Fry over the catholic church is a masterclass in making a compelling arguement with wit and a fine command of language. If he does lose this fight, I guarentee there will be false claims of a death bed conversion, as with darwin and many others. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.

[Lucavi]

Mwahahahaa...

[Jefe]

Didn't know who he was, but I'll pray for his recovery.

[archibaldcrane]

Mr Hitchens has developed throat cancer. Though not entirely unexpected given many years of heavy smoking and drinking.

Naw, you know he caught that HPV 16 from going down on heathen bitches all the time.

[Kuya]

What is this about hitchens and islamofascism?

[sheridan]

Naw, you know he .. from going down on heathen bitches all the time.

That's probably more prevalent amongst catholic choir boys.

On Islamofascism... youtube.com/watch?v=bEDimxCPEAQ I think it's a sound arguement, seems to me there's alot of simularities between al qaeda and fascism.

[Kuya]

The characteristics he seems to use to compare al qaida's islamic fundamentalism and fascism sounds highly arbitrary.

edit: very terrible argument on his part, horrible

[wagon]

Hitchen's been abusing alcohol and cigarettes, especially hard liquor, for a long time now. 90% of all the interviews that I have seen him on he's always having a glass. With that said, I hope he fully recovers soon and change his lifestyle so that more people can be influenced by his rationale.

[sheridan]

The characteristics he seems to use to compare al qaida's islamic fundamentalism and fascism sounds highly arbitrary.

edit: very terrible argument on his part, horrible

I don't see the counter-argument? Or discrediting of what he said? Al qeada's mission is to reestablish a totalitarian islamic empire, the caliphate. They hold anti semetic conspiracy views. They seek an abandonment of liberal democracy. They wish to ethnically cleanse their empire from non-muslims. That isn't even half his points. What part of this is arbitrary? These are the central tenets of thier philosophy.

[Kuya]

I don't see the counter-argument? Or discrediting of what he said? Al qeada's mission is to reestablish a totalitarian islamic empire, the caliphate. They hold anti semetic conspiracy views. They seek an abandonment of liberal democracy. They wish to ethnically cleanse their empire from non-muslims. That isn't even half his points. What part of this is arbitrary? These are the central tenets of thier philosophy.

What does an anti-semitic conspiricist view have to do with fascism, which is his central point for the term islamo-fascism? That islamic fundamentalism is somehow amenable to fascism. I don't really care about calling al qaida fascist, but the term fascism itself is usually nothing but a knee jerk derisive and dismissive comment. I'm concerned that his arguments obfuscate what al qaida is and where it comes from, and that's exactly what he does:

1- The conspiricist world view that Al qaida subscribes too is not specifically anti-semitic. This conpiricist world view holds that the West is out to destroy Islam. They see Israel as part of that conspiracy, but it's not mainly nor limited to Israel or the Jews. This point is false. (maybe his point with this is 'hurr hurr look, those islamos just like nazis, and nazis bad, baaaaaaad')

2- I've never heard anything about Al Qaida seeking to "ethnically cleanse non Muslims" (what kind of nonsense is that?), much less the islamic fundamentalist movement as a whole. For starters, what empire? There is no Muslim empire from which to ethnically cleanse anyone. The Caliphate didn't eliminate all non-Muslims, so i don't see why any islamic fundamentalist group would want that now. A fact is that they (islamic fundamentalist groups, but not all of them) want the return of the Muslim Caliphate. Ethnic cleansing? That's not a fact.

3- He mentions that both "proyect their resentment and hatred unto vunerable or imagined targets, exclusively civilian". What? Fascism is characterized for creating scape goats unto which to proyect hatred and resentment, it makes the targets out to be enemies of the Nation. Islamic fundamentalism is not characterized for creating scape goats and proyecting its resentment towards victim groups. If Al Qaida attacks civilians it doesn't do so because it sees those civlians as the source of corruption and degenaracy that it seeks to combat, but rather because it seeks to get at the US government, which it sees as the principle perpretator of a war against Islam. Islamic fundamentalism has as a religious principle that the Muslim world has strayed far from the teachings of the prophet and the Rightly Guided, so it proposes a literal interpreation of holy scripture and a return to a society more properly based on the Koran and the prophet's teachings. As a political goal, Islamic fundamentalism holds that the West has perpetrated a war on the Middle East and it seeks to wipe out Islam, so in order to do this they must fight off Western influence and establish governments guided by Islamic teachings. In this process there is no designated victim class unto which to project the failings of Muslim piety, it specifically points out goverments as its targets, but it often also aims at civilians to achieve its goals. (although, in a democracy, a government is also run by civilians)

4- He mentions elite death squads. I have no idea what he's getting at here. Presumably the squads that a Fascist State might send after political dissidents is the same as terrorist bombings on civilians to de-stabilize a State. I'm not sure what to do with this argument since it's so bizzare. On on hand you have a State acting on non-State actors, and on the other you have non-State actors indirectly attacking a State.

5-"It is for sale to high bidders". What? No other elaboration on that. I don't see how that's a tenant of fascism or islamic fundamentalism. Neither are characterized for that and i don't know why he brings it up.

6-"It declares war on all art, all culture, and all literature". Fascism and Islamic fundamentalism declare war on all art, all culture, and all literature that isn't their art, their culture, and their literature.

7- "Mixes State power and cult power, and religious power to annihilate knowledge and science, and beauty". Am i supposed to take him seriously at this point? Islamic fundamentalism isn't characterized by State, though it is characterized by cult and religious power. Fascism is not anti-science, Islamic fundamentalism is, i don't know what the fuck he means by beauty.

Just seems like he's reaching for similarities, like how some right wingers say that communist and vanilla liberals like state involvement in the market, therefore liberals are just like communists.

I don't understand what his point with comparing fascism with islamic fundamentalism is, as i'm pretty sure there isn't a lot of people defending the latter.

[Shuvo]

What does an anti-semitic conspiricist view have to do with fascism, which is his central point for the term islamo-fascism? That islamic fundamentalism is somehow amenable to fascism. I don't really care about calling al qaida fascist, but the term fascism itself is usually nothing but a knee jerk derisive and dismissive comment. I'm concerned that his arguments obfuscate what al qaida is and where it comes from, and that's exactly what he does:

1- The conspiricist world view that Al qaida subscribes too is not specifically anti-semitic. This conpiricist world view holds that the West is out to destroy Islam. They see Israel as part of that conspiracy, but it's not mainly nor limited to Israel or the Jews. This point is false. (maybe his point with this is 'hurr hurr look, those islamos just like nazis, and nazis bad, baaaaaaad')

2- I've never heard anything about Al Qaida seeking to "ethnically cleanse non Muslims" (what kind of nonsense is that?), much less the islamic fundamentalist movement as a whole. For starters, what empire? There is no Muslim empire from which to ethnically cleanse anyone. The Caliphate didn't eliminate all non-Muslims, so i don't see why any islamic fundamentalist group would want that now. A fact is that they (islamic fundamentalist groups, but not all of them) want the return of the Muslim Caliphate. Ethnic cleansing? That's not a fact.

3- He mentions that both "proyect their resentment and hatred unto vunerable or imagined targets, exclusively civilian". What? Fascism is characterized for creating scape goats unto which to proyect hatred and resentment, it makes the targets out to be enemies of the Nation. Islamic fundamentalism is not characterized for creating scape goats and proyecting its resentment towards victim groups. If Al Qaida attacks civilians it doesn't do so because it sees those civlians as the source of corruption and degenaracy that it seeks to combat, but rather because it seeks to get at the US government, which it sees as the principle perpretator of a war against Islam. Islamic fundamentalism has as a religious principle that the Muslim world has strayed far from the teachings of the prophet and the Rightly Guided, so it proposes a literal interpreation of holy scripture and a return to a society more properly based on the Koran and the prophet's teachings. As a political goal, Islamic fundamentalism holds that the West has perpetrated a war on the Middle East and it seeks to wipe out Islam, so in order to do this they must fight off Western influence and establish governments guided by Islamic teachings. In this process there is no designated victim class unto which to project the failings of Muslim piety, it specifically points out goverments as its targets, but it often also aims at civilians to achieve its goals. (although, in a democracy, a government is also run by civilians)

4- He mentions elite death squads. I have no idea what he's getting at here. Presumably the squads that a Fascist State might send after political dissidents is the same as terrorist bombings on civilians to de-stabilize a State. I'm not sure what to do with this argument since it's so bizzare. On on hand you have a State acting on non-State actors, and on the other you have non-State actors indirectly attacking a State.

5-"It is for sale to high bidders". What? No other elaboration on that. I don't see how that's a tenant of fascism or islamic fundamentalism. Neither are characterized for that and i don't know why he brings it up.

6-"It declares war on all art, all culture, and all literature". Fascism and Islamic fundamentalism declare war on all art, all culture, and all literature that isn't their art, their culture, and their literature.

7- "Mixes State power and cult power, and religious power to annihilate knowledge and science, and beauty". Am i supposed to take him seriously at this point? Islamic fundamentalism isn't characterized by State, though it is characterized by cult and religious power. Fascism is not anti-science, Islamic fundamentalism is, i don't know what the fuck he means by beauty.

Just seems like he's reaching for similarities, like how some right wingers say that communist and vanilla liberals like state involvement in the market, therefore liberals are just like communists.

I don't understand what his point with comparing fascism with islamic fundamentalism is, as i'm pretty sure there isn't a lot of people defending the latter.

Just skimming what you said as i'm at work, but this article he wrote defends the term islamofacism.

http://www.slate.com/id/2176389