And I strongly suspect he would have been a trumpkin for the last five years. Given his support for Bu**sh** Jr. and the illegal wars, that’s not a farfetched statement.
He supported the wars specifically for ideological reasons, namely his desire to purge “Islamofascism” as he called it, from the world. Post-Bush his support returned to the Democrats, and Trump represented almost everything he hated politically, intellectually, and personally.
middle option – hitchens was posh wit and trump a witless boor he’d despise, but he would absolutely have soft-pedaled any negativity about dude and avoid commenting on him most of the time. all his friends would be extreme conservative asshats and he wouldn’t want to piss them off. he always cared more about appearances than he’d let on with his enfant terrible pose. that’s the essence of poshness.
he was the numero uno that led me into my own islamophobia, making it seem like a principled and compassionate way to be. prejudices like that are a rejection of compassion and reason both. i don’t buy his antifascist stance at fucking all anymore.
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Didn’t Hitchens at least kinda-sorta regret or walk back from his support of Bush Jr’s wars?
GerrardOfTitanServersays
Hitchens might have supported the wars for dubious reasons, but there’s absolutely no way that he would be on Team Trump. He might give an offhand remark or two in praise of Trump because he was a professional contrarian, but he would be first in line to tear Trump a new asshole.
rblackadarsays
@#2
Hitchens regret his support for the war? That doesn’t ring true. I’d be interested if you can find any support for that.
Hitchens did famously change his opinion on waterboarding.
garnetstarsays
I rather think he’d be a Never-Trumper, but a conservative autocrat, gunning for the downfall of democracy, all the same.
His days of making valuable intellectual contributions were past, even by the time of his death.
garnetstarsays
Hitchens would be raving against wokeness, were he with us today.
He was fairly homophobic and misogynistic, he’d be pretty TERFy as well. Contemptuous and dismissive of the idea of trans people and trans rights.
Why is it a quick offhand comment gets the most replies and the lengthy posts none? Maybe I should start writing short posts.
moarscienceplzsays
Rhiannon @10,
Nah, it’s not the (lack of) length of the post, it’s the subject. Any time one of the “Four Horsemen” is mentioned, atheists are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Even though all four are well past their sell-by dates, they catalyzed the “Atheism+” wars and seemed to draw the line in the sand that we all chose our side of. They are sort of the statues of Robert E. Lee of the atheist world.
Oh, I think you are quite correct.
I don’t.
He supported the wars specifically for ideological reasons, namely his desire to purge “Islamofascism” as he called it, from the world. Post-Bush his support returned to the Democrats, and Trump represented almost everything he hated politically, intellectually, and personally.
middle option – hitchens was posh wit and trump a witless boor he’d despise, but he would absolutely have soft-pedaled any negativity about dude and avoid commenting on him most of the time. all his friends would be extreme conservative asshats and he wouldn’t want to piss them off. he always cared more about appearances than he’d let on with his enfant terrible pose. that’s the essence of poshness.
he was the numero uno that led me into my own islamophobia, making it seem like a principled and compassionate way to be. prejudices like that are a rejection of compassion and reason both. i don’t buy his antifascist stance at fucking all anymore.
–
Didn’t Hitchens at least kinda-sorta regret or walk back from his support of Bush Jr’s wars?
Hitchens might have supported the wars for dubious reasons, but there’s absolutely no way that he would be on Team Trump. He might give an offhand remark or two in praise of Trump because he was a professional contrarian, but he would be first in line to tear Trump a new asshole.
@#2
Hitchens regret his support for the war? That doesn’t ring true. I’d be interested if you can find any support for that.
Hitchens did famously change his opinion on waterboarding.
I rather think he’d be a Never-Trumper, but a conservative autocrat, gunning for the downfall of democracy, all the same.
His days of making valuable intellectual contributions were past, even by the time of his death.
Hitchens would be raving against wokeness, were he with us today.
He was fairly homophobic and misogynistic, he’d be pretty TERFy as well. Contemptuous and dismissive of the idea of trans people and trans rights.
Since Hitch’s metier was to be contrarian, he’d have been against whoever was in power.
Why is it a quick offhand comment gets the most replies and the lengthy posts none? Maybe I should start writing short posts.
Rhiannon @10,
Nah, it’s not the (lack of) length of the post, it’s the subject. Any time one of the “Four Horsemen” is mentioned, atheists are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Even though all four are well past their sell-by dates, they catalyzed the “Atheism+” wars and seemed to draw the line in the sand that we all chose our side of. They are sort of the statues of Robert E. Lee of the atheist world.
@11: I dunno, has anyone got a swarm of comments just by mentioning Dennett?