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Christopher Hitchens and the Necessity of Universalism

yafetn 2y ago
Speaking of Hitchens, I highly recommend his “Letters to a Young Contrarian”. Or any writing of his, to be honest.
- jebarker 2y ago
  I highly recommend watching him speak and debate too.
- DrillShopper 2y ago
  The wrong Hitchens brother died
  - castlefreak 2y ago
    Peter was more sober thinker (probably literally and figuratively). Christopher was a better speaker, probably a better author but as I get older I realise how much more correct Peter was and still is.
xutopia 2y ago
If you enjoy that article I recommend reading "How Hitchens Can Save the Left" by the same author. I just finished reading it (audiobook actually) and it was a refreshing take, amongst other things discussed in the article, on how the left is actually eating itself from the insides through identity politics. If you are at all concerned about the way politics are going right now this might give you a foundation on which to build your arguments for change.
- castlefreak 2y ago
  I hopped out of being a good Marxist when I realised that there was absolutely no room for dissent. You basically are just a empty vessel for activist praxis. In other words, you do as you are told. Also, there aren't really compelling alternatives to Capitalism that havent been extremely tested, with horrible results. IF they come up with a NEW system, that doesn't involve literally euthanising its dissenters, I would be into it.
  - swed420 2y ago
    Capitalism is a joke, and its present late stage was predicted by Marx. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-have-upended-how-modern-capitalism-works.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-h...
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
castlefreak 2y ago
The problem of our time is simply that the fruits of the global economy are distributed extremely poorly (jet set global urban intelligentsia isn't big enough) and there is no room for any nativistic or religious culture (call it spirituality, or whatever, it's important…). The folks left behind will simply replace the primacy of Corporate Memphis-style global capitalism with something cooler, economics and politics will be downstream from that culture. There isn't a world where an living, breathing Christopher Hitchens wouldn't shed a tear at how internationalist, "steel-and-glass" culture has become in say, Paris, France. He also criticised the thinly-veiled American Imperialism ("democracy" or we shoot you) constantly.
- cholantesh 2y ago
  By the end of his life, he was one of the most effusive cheerleaders for American Imperialism and had nothing but a posh accent to back it up.
throw4847285 2y ago
I think the notion of tribalism has run its course. Everybody forms identities and then makes political alliances with people with whom they believe they share goals in common. To argue that Hitchens was above tribes, and this explains both his international socialism and his support for the invasion of Iraq doesn't pass muster. There was other people who shared similar commitments and with whom he made common cause. Nobody is going to label their own group a tribe, but everybody who opposes you is doing so because of base tribalism. It has no explanatory power. Also, ironically, this article reads like an apologia for a saint, trying to square the circle of all his inconsistent opinions. Maybe Hitchens was a very clever writer and was particularly well-equipped to speak about his age, but he far from a great thinker.
- castlefreak 2y ago
  How do you prevent post-tribalism from becoming yet another tribe?
  - throw4847285 2y ago
    That's the neat thing, you don't! The very idea of post-tribalism relies on a false narrative. There is an appeal to a mythical past when the Enlightenment was one wonderful big tent and everybody was pursuing the shared project of advancing the knowledge of the human race together. Then those mean and wily post-modernists came and upended the notion of truth. This is all blatantly false. Nobody has ever agreed on anything. As soon as you find a group of people who do agree with you, and there is another group of people who don't, then baby, you've got a tribalism going. It's a rhetorical move to claim as your heritage some kind of truth that once went unchallenged and is now questioned by people with nefarious purposes. Nothing more.
    - castlefreak 2y ago
      Rhetorical moves are the primary vehicle of politics. You say something and people resonate with your message. You believe frivious "claims around heritage" are not deeply meaningful to people. Do you truly believe that should artificially overcome family ties, traditions, cultures, and, customs? (…Why would you even want to?) Seems like it's all just a ploy for corporations trying to remake the world as suits them, helpful to have interchangable workers with no meaningful culture.

Speaking of Hitchens, I highly recommend his “Letters to a Young Contrarian”. Or any writing of his, to be honest.

jebarker 2y ago
I highly recommend watching him speak and debate too.
DrillShopper 2y ago
The wrong Hitchens brother died
- castlefreak 2y ago
  Peter was more sober thinker (probably literally and figuratively). Christopher was a better speaker, probably a better author but as I get older I realise how much more correct Peter was and still is.

If you enjoy that article I recommend reading "How Hitchens Can Save the Left" by the same author. I just finished reading it (audiobook actually) and it was a refreshing take, amongst other things discussed in the article, on how the left is actually eating itself from the insides through identity politics. If you are at all concerned about the way politics are going right now this might give you a foundation on which to build your arguments for change.

castlefreak 2y ago
I hopped out of being a good Marxist when I realised that there was absolutely no room for dissent. You basically are just a empty vessel for activist praxis. In other words, you do as you are told. Also, there aren't really compelling alternatives to Capitalism that havent been extremely tested, with horrible results. IF they come up with a NEW system, that doesn't involve literally euthanising its dissenters, I would be into it.
- swed420 2y ago
  Capitalism is a joke, and its present late stage was predicted by Marx. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-have-upended-how-modern-capitalism-works.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-h...
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]

castlefreak 2y ago

The problem of our time is simply that the fruits of the global economy are distributed extremely poorly (jet set global urban intelligentsia isn't big enough) and there is no room for any nativistic or religious culture (call it spirituality, or whatever, it's important…). The folks left behind will simply replace the primacy of Corporate Memphis-style global capitalism with something cooler, economics and politics will be downstream from that culture. There isn't a world where an living, breathing Christopher Hitchens wouldn't shed a tear at how internationalist, "steel-and-glass" culture has become in say, Paris, France. He also criticised the thinly-veiled American Imperialism ("democracy" or we shoot you) constantly.

cholantesh 2y ago
By the end of his life, he was one of the most effusive cheerleaders for American Imperialism and had nothing but a posh accent to back it up.

throw4847285 2y ago

I think the notion of tribalism has run its course. Everybody forms identities and then makes political alliances with people with whom they believe they share goals in common. To argue that Hitchens was above tribes, and this explains both his international socialism and his support for the invasion of Iraq doesn't pass muster. There was other people who shared similar commitments and with whom he made common cause. Nobody is going to label their own group a tribe, but everybody who opposes you is doing so because of base tribalism. It has no explanatory power. Also, ironically, this article reads like an apologia for a saint, trying to square the circle of all his inconsistent opinions. Maybe Hitchens was a very clever writer and was particularly well-equipped to speak about his age, but he far from a great thinker.

castlefreak 2y ago
How do you prevent post-tribalism from becoming yet another tribe?
- throw4847285 2y ago
  That's the neat thing, you don't! The very idea of post-tribalism relies on a false narrative. There is an appeal to a mythical past when the Enlightenment was one wonderful big tent and everybody was pursuing the shared project of advancing the knowledge of the human race together. Then those mean and wily post-modernists came and upended the notion of truth. This is all blatantly false. Nobody has ever agreed on anything. As soon as you find a group of people who do agree with you, and there is another group of people who don't, then baby, you've got a tribalism going. It's a rhetorical move to claim as your heritage some kind of truth that once went unchallenged and is now questioned by people with nefarious purposes. Nothing more.
  - castlefreak 2y ago
    Rhetorical moves are the primary vehicle of politics. You say something and people resonate with your message. You believe frivious "claims around heritage" are not deeply meaningful to people. Do you truly believe that should artificially overcome family ties, traditions, cultures, and, customs? (…Why would you even want to?) Seems like it's all just a ploy for corporations trying to remake the world as suits them, helpful to have interchangable workers with no meaningful culture.