Hi Jerry,
Re: <<Hitchens sure blistered his critics.>> Hell, those were his friends!
Hitchens was on the Charlie Rose Show on PBS for a fascinating half hour last night. He was quite impressive in his presentation of the contrarian's viewpoint. First of all, like me, he's supporting our war against what he stessed was "theocratic facsists". He says that terrorist is a word that has been so overused and widely applied as to be almost meaningless. But theocratic fascist very well describes the medievalist, malignant and maladaptive views held by the al Qaeda cult and their backers throughout the Islamic world. Hitchens insisted, I think rightly, that our propaganda effort really needs to stress this is an evil, lunatic crackpot fringe. Otherwise, we are at risk of losing the hearts and minds of millions of young Islamists who are vulnerable to the smooth PR spin of Bin Laden.
Hitchens continues to take umbrage with his ilk, the lamentably lost left. In particular, he spared no venom for Chomsky. Correctly so, in my opinion. He found Chomsky's comparison of 9/11 to the U.S. missile attack on the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant to be doctrinaire and deplorable. Again, I agree. There's no comparison in the level of inhumanity in these two acts.
Anahoo, I'm into taboo topic territory, but I did want to update and indicate that some of us on the left have a clue. Somedays.
Best, Ray |
