"Didn't Just See How Identity Politics Could Warp a Person's Ideas and Principles—He Understood That It Could Replace Them Altogether"

"Identity politics is a powerful tool for demagogues on the Left and the Right because, as Hitchens put it in a 2008 article, it acts as a 'fetter upon free thought.' It coaxes people into seeing themselves as representatives of a group rather than individuals, and it punishes them for deviating from the group’s orthodoxies. In Letters to a Young Contrarian, Hitchens explains what this looks like in practice: 'People began to stand up at meetings and orate about how they felt, not about what or how they thought, and about who they were rather than what (if anything) they had done or stood for.'"

Matt Johnson at Quillette imagines Christopher Hitchens in 2020.

"A Fanatic, a Fundamentalist, and a Fraud"

"MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?"

In light of Pope Francis canonizing Mother Teresa as a saint, Slate re-runs a 2003 article by Christopher Hitchens.

"The Death-Struggle Atmosphere They Brought to Politics"

"This is the tone of fanaticism—or, perhaps, 'the fanatical style,' a variation on what Richard Hofstadter called 'the paranoid style.' Hofstadter was careful to say he was describing not a clinical condition, but a constructed outlook. Its conspiratorial themes grew out of a particular 'way of seeing the world and of expressing oneself.' So, too, with the current style of conservative discourse. It assumes the presence of concealed enemies, but also stresses, even more than the 'paranoiacs' did, the bad faith of liberals who are unwilling and possibly unable to acknowledge how dire things really are—or to call evil by its true name."

Sam Tanenhaus in The Atlantic reviews Daniel Oppenheimer's Exit Right: The People Who Left and Left and Reshaped the American Century.

"Ingersoll Dies Smiling"

"While today’s GOP is associated with public displays of faith, the Republican party of Ingersoll’s day was more likely to be the home of freethinkers, such as the churchless Abraham Lincoln. The American public wasn’t ready for overt atheism in elected or appointed office, but Ingersoll’s talent on the stump made his endorsement valuable. Jacoby persuasively argues that Ingersoll fits into the classical liberal tradition, a thread that remains visible, if controversial, in the fabric of the modern Republican party."

Katherine Mangu-Ward in The Weekly Standard reviews Susan Jacoby's The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought.

"In the Tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell"

"He also professed to have no regrets for a lifetime of heavy smoking and drinking. 'Writing is what’s important to me, and anything that helps me do that—or enhances and prolongs and deepens and sometimes intensifies argument and conversation—is worth it to me,' he told Charlie Rose in a television interview in 2010, adding that it was 'impossible for me to imagine having my life without going to those parties, without having those late nights, without that second bottle.'"

William Grimes in The New York Times writes an obituary for Christopher Hitchens.

"The History of Possibility"

"Ever since the 1905 upheaval in Russia, Luxemburg had suspected Lenin’s faction of what she scornfully termed a 'barracks' mentality. A short while after the 1917 revolution, we find her writing a succession of letters, describing the situation in Russia as 'abysmal' and the Bolsheviks as deserving of 'a terrible tongue-lashing' for their repression of rival parties such as the Social Revolutionaries, and their unilateral decision to abolish the Constituent Assembly. She extends this condemnation to include the police mentality (concerning incessant foreign 'conspiracies') that underlay Soviet foreign policy. She singles out a certain 'Józef' as a particular exemplar of this attitude, and with yet another shock of premonition, one discovers that this was the 'party name' of her fellow Pole Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka and later considered the father of the KGB. It was during this time that Luxemburg made her imperishable defense of free speech, boldly stating that the concept was meaningless unless it meant the freedom of 'the one who thinks differently.'"

Christopher Hitchens in The Atlantic reviews The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg.

"Put the Tea Bags in First"?

"Now, imagine that tea, like coffee, came without a bag (as it used to do—and still does if you buy a proper tin of it). Would you consider, in either case, pouring the hot water, letting it sit for a bit, and then throwing the grounds or the leaves on top? I thought not. Try it once, and you will never repeat the experience, even if you have a good strainer to hand. In the case of coffee, it might just work if you are quick enough, though where would be the point? But ground beans are heavier and denser, and in any case many good coffees require water that is just fractionally off the boil. Whereas tea is a herb (or an herb if you insist) that has been thoroughly dried. In order for it to release its innate qualities, it requires to be infused. And an infusion, by definition, needs the water to be boiling when it hits the tea. Grasp only this, and you hold the root of the matter."

Christopher Hitchens in Slate recommends proper ways to make tea.

"Why Think When You Can Just Feel?"

"I notice that even the choice of the name Cordoba has offended some Christian opponents of the scheme. This wonderful city in Andalusia, after the Muslim conquest of southern Spain, was indeed one of the centers of the lost Islamic caliphate that today's jihadists have sworn in blood to restore. And after the Catholic reconquista, it was also one of the places purged of all Arab and Jewish influence by the founders of the Inquisition. But in the interval between these two imperialisms it was also the site of an astonishing cultural synthesis, best associated with the names of Averroes ibn-Rushd and Moses Maimonides. (The finest recent book on the subject is María Rosa Menocal's The Ornament of the World.) Here was a flourishing of philosophy and medicine and architecture that saw, among other things, the recovery of the works of Aristotle. We need not automatically assume the good faith of those who have borrowed this noble name for a project in lower Manhattan. One would want assurances, also, about the transparency of its funding and the content of its educational programs. But the way to respond to such overtures is by critical scrutiny and engagement, not cheap appeals to parochialism, victimology, and unreason."

In Slate, Christopher Hitchens weighs in on the "Ground Zero mosque" controversy.

Four Legs Good

"In Zimbabwe, as the rule of Robert Mugabe's kleptocratic clique became ever more exorbitant, an opposition newspaper took the opportunity to reprint Animal Farm in serial form. It did so without comment, except that one of the accompanying illustrations showed Napoleon the dictator wearing the trademark black horn-rimmed spectacles of Zimbabwe's own leader. The offices of the newspaper were soon afterwards blown up by a weapons-grade bomb, but before too long Zimbabwean children, also, will be able to appreciate the book in its own right."

In The Guardian, Christopher Hitchens revisits George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Destroying the Gateway

"The terrorists who reportedly heaved their weapon-laden bags up the steps of the wharf to begin their assault on the Taj, like their cohorts at a dozen other locations around the city, knew what they were doing. Theirs was an attack on India's financial nerve center and commercial capital, a city emblematic of the country's energetic thrust into the 21st century. By attacking Mumbai, the terrorists hit India's economy, its tourism and its internationalism, and they took advantage of the city's openness to the world. A grand slam."

In the Los Angeles Times, Shashi Tharoor considers this week's terror attacks in India.


"The terrorists’ message was clear: Stay away from Mumbai or you will get killed. Cricket matches with visiting English and Australian teams have been shelved. Japanese and Western companies have closed their Mumbai offices and prohibited their employees from visiting the city. Tour groups are canceling long-planned trips.
"But the best answer to the terrorists is to dream bigger, make even more money, and visit Mumbai more than ever."

As does Suketu Mehta in The New York Times.

And in Slate, Christopher Hitchens expresses solidarity with Indians, and Christopher Beam explains why Bombay changed its name to Mumbai.

"Xerox"

"I am curious to hear his take on Hillary Clinton–he has written far less about Hillary than about Bill. Does he feel that she also embodied the vices of the 1960s?
"'Not at all,' he replies enthusiastically. 'With her it’s too many of the virtues. She’s a perfect example of how the 1960s have mutated into–I hate the term political correctness but I suppose it’s unavoidable. In other words they have changed from people who said they wanted complete freedom of speech on campus, into people who now want to police the campus. She represents that mutation to mere perfection.'
"Hitchens is in the familiar, articulate form I recognise from his television appearances, and is being quite unreasonable. I have no intention of stopping him. So he goes on: 'And then going from sexual freedom to saying that any unwanted advance is a case for the dean or the rape crisis centre–all of this re-infantilising–"put that fag out, don’t drink, or wait for a drink until you’re 21"–all this is an absolute negation of it but with the same complete sense of rectitude. I find it utterly nauseating.'"

Edward Luce of the Financial Times has lunch with Christopher Hitchens.

Eight Is Enough

Liam at sententiae et clamores has tagged The Late Adopter with the "eight meme," so here goes: 

8 Passions in my life: Mrs. Late Adopter and Late Adopter, Jr.; friends; history; music; movies; books; art; ideas. 

8 Things to do before I die: Raise Late Adopter, Jr.; finish my degree; publish a book; get stable employment; pay off debts; learn to play guitar; travel the world; and take Mrs. Late Adopter back to Paris. 

8 Things I often say: "What's the matter, Baby C?" "That's a big yawn for a little girl"; "Should I check her diaper?"; "What do you want to eat?"; ''Do you want to get coffee?"; "Wake me up in half an hour"; "OK, let's pick up where we left off last time"; and "Any questions?" 

8 Books I read (or reread) recently: Alternadad by Neal Pollack; Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence; Hotel California: The True-life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends by Barney Hoskins; The Who's The Who Sell Out by John Dougan; The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico, by Joe Harvard; Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures by Chris Ott; The Ramones' Ramones by Nicholas Rombes; and 300 student bluebooks. 

8 Films that mean something to me: The Limey; The Filth and the Fury; The Royal Tenenbaums; Gangs of New York; Bad Santa; Mayor of the Sunset Strip; The Squid and the Whale; and Art School Confidential. 

8 Songs that mean something to me: "Hideaway" by The Olivia Tremor Control; "Swastika Eyes" by Primal Scream; "Digital Love" by Daft Punk; "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" by Super Furry Animals; "In da Club" by 50 Cent; "Yeah!" by Usher; "Come On/Let's Go" by Paul Weller; and "Country Girl" by Primal Scream. 

8 Living people I'd like to have as dinner guests: Tina Fey; Debbie Harry; Christopher Hitchens; Nick Hornby; Ralph Nader; Simon Reynolds; Chris Rock; and Martin Scorsese. 

8 People I'm passing this on to: The Late Adopter tags Rain seven times plus one.

High Infidelity

In Slate, Anne Applebaum and Christopher Hitchens defend Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Left Deviationists

"Just as one can never imagine Mr. Conquest raising his voice or losing his temper, so one can never picture him using an obscenity for its own sake. A few years ago he said to me that the old distinctions between left and right had become irrelevant to him, adding very mildly that fools and knaves of all kinds needed to be opposed and that what was really needed was 'a United Front against bulls--t.'"

In OpinionJournal, Christopher Hitchens checks in with Robert Conquest.

The Rights of Reason

"As the 19th century progressed, Paine's inspiration resurfaced, and his influence was felt in the movement for reform of parliament in England, and in the agitation against slavery in America. John Brown, ostensibly a Calvinist, had Paine's books in his camp. Abraham Lincoln was a close reader of his work, and used to deploy arguments from The Age of Reason in his disputes with religious sectarians, as well as more general Paineite themes in his campaign to turn a bloody civil war into what he called 'a second American revolution'. The rise of the labour movement and the agitation for women's suffrage saw Paine's example being revived and quoted. When Franklin Roosevelt made his great speech to rally the American people against fascism after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he quoted an entire paragraph from Paine's The Crisis beginning: 'These are the times that try men's souls ...'"

Christopher Hitchens in The Guardian assesses the world's greatest Englishman.

Finding the Founders

In The Weekly Standard, Brown University's Gordon S. Wood reviews two new biographies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, by Paul Johnson and Christopher Hitchens respectively.