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Originally Posted by Glice
I think the problem I have is that, while he's a good critic of the left, I don't think he's a good critic from the left. Personally, while he may have been a firm critic of kneejerk leftisms, I think he fell into as many mindwrongs as the cosy (Graun) left does.
I quote the above to illustrate a point relating to yours - a lot of the anti-capitalist left (quietly) celebrated 9/11 as a deflation of vulgar capitalism; Hitchen celebrates it as a forbear to the dissolution of literalist cod-religion. Both positions are inadequate, to my mind (and of course, the problem with sublime acts is always their impossibility).
But he's a journo, a writer, not a philosopher - when he wrote provocative things, they're to be taken in that context. I don't think he's an amazing thinker but I think he was a necessary writer. And even so - that article Keep Poppin Pimples posted above is pretty vile, invidious and cheap. Not every writer shits gold, obvs.
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para 1: I dont really understand what youre trying to say about his critique, you appear to be saying he wasnt sincerely leftish enough, and that he made the same mistakes as the Graun et al. I particularly dont get the second part, seeing as the messups of the Guardian (love it though i always will) were down to its moral equivocations, something Hitchens didnt really suffer from in my estimation
para 2:
If im not mistaken that quote is from one of his pieces soon after 9/11? If not he did say other things to that effect in others ive read.
In a weird way, i dont mind people celebrating the destruction of two buildings as symbols, thats why tall buildings and their mythologies exist, its the use of human life so deliberately that makes it the horrific event it is. Hitchens however has said he regarded the Salman Rushdie incident from 12 years before as a galvanising event, and you have to admit that when you see everything that you find offensive and repugnant placed in front of you, in full pornographic detail as 9/11 was, it should kinda remind you that whilst there are Republicans/Democrats/Labour/Tories there is something of a difference between those of us who want to slag each other off and those who want to blow each other up.
para 3: I dont think of him as a philosopher really, and his life experience isnt that awe inspiring, but he had a knack of noticing whose experiences were most relevant to the discourse and putting them on the page using his own style.
all those points are with reference to his politics by the way, not so much the religion or literature pieces.