And you're not the only one watching the masterpiece of a speech at the beginning of 2024. Let's hope there are still those of us listening to the great man in 2124. RIP Mr Hitchins.
@@alecsmith8050 you're certainly not alone, I revisit his debates and TV appearances and programmes now and then, just to remind myself what a genius sounds like.
how convenient that this line is so often used to defend fascists and holocaust deniers but not leftists or union reps. Then again, when a supposedly "marxist" like hitchens supports the iraq war, you have to wonder if his words are genuine or if it's all bollocks
@@sarcasmenul it is used to defend marxist and communist free speech, don't try that that. Now down to hitchens, he was a trotskyist. And he was entirely consistent with iraq war, you're being deliberately flippant. He took the side of the victim and supported the struggle of the iraqi people and of the secular democratic leftist kurds to free themselves from saddam and from hafez al assad and in Turkey and in Iran.
This is probably my favorite speech ever. I listen to it whenever I'm feeling a little blue. It doesn't always cheer me up completely, but it never completely fails either.
It's hard to say. This is one of the best speeches made by him and also made by anyone so I would posit it like this: Video > Speech > by Hitchens / By someone else > about X
@@euphegenia Douglas Murray comes awfully close. Equally fearless, comparably eloquent, another erudite, and a personal protege and friend of the late great Hitchens.
“Where are your priorities? You’re giving away what’s most precious in your society and your giving it away without a fight, and you’re even praising the people who want to deny your right to resist it. Shame on you while you do this. Make the best use of the time you’ve got left. This is really serious.”
If I had to fit a Hitch quote from this video on my forehead, it'd be "Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus." There are so many other great ones in here though. It's just ridiculous.
I just sat through this speech for - I think - the 12th or 13th time. I still think it's one of the most important (and possibly desperate) expressions of REAL morality within my lifetime, and I'm almost 80.
How right he was. Islamophobia is now used without conscience. A charge of racism when it is nothing more than a criticism of the most powerful religion in the world.
Heard a lot of Hitch speeches and this one is definitely one of my favorites now. Not sure how I missed it previously. I so admire his eloquence and fearlessness. What a great individual. His life should be openly celebrated.
"Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus." I fucking love him. Something that should be so easy to do, taken for granted by so many and so eloquently yet simply stated.
An excellent speech and one of my favorites as a Hitchens fan. One quibble: he's a bit confused on the court cases in the first few minutes. The "crowded theater" phrase and the original "clear and present danger" test were developed by Holmes in Schenck v. U.S. (1918). That case did not involve the Yiddish-speaking socialists that Hitchens references, but rather the Philadelphia Socialist Party that had distributed 15k flyers encouraging men not to comply with the WWI draft. Holmes delivered the opinion for a unanimous court upholding the convictions with the CPD test. The decision is a mess, and Hitchens is right to point out its pathetic reasoning. The case of Yiddish-speaking socialists is a subsequent one, Abrams v. U.S. (1919). That case upheld the convictions of Russian immigrants who opposed Wilson's meddling with the Russian Revolution on the side of the Russian government. Hitchens is definitely correct that they were the ones identifying a "fire" in a "crowded theater" (i.e., speaking about Wilson's authoritarian foreign policy), especially as insular minorities who had already lived under a draconian regime. But it should be noted that Holmes dissented in that case, arguing that the CPD test had not been met - the speech was too tenuous with any probable harm. So, Hitchens might be overshooting a little. That said, his overarching point that Holmes' test was on the wrong footing is absolutely correct. And the upshot is the same: who decides on "harmful" speech is the right question to ask in all of these cases.
This is an extraordinary speech… one of Hitch’s finest… and THAT is saying something because he was/is a legend. Everyone needs to not only hear this, they need to LISTEN to it and not shrink away from the task of fighting for these principles. Every time I need a reminder of that, this speech is where I’ll come for it. ❤ rip Christopher . You are still loved
“Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.” What a line... Like so many others, seemingly tripped off this man’s tongue with panache and intellectual gravitas. I wish Christopher Hitchens was alive today to bring back both thought, and respect for thought, to the public discourse.
I actually always wondered about that. It sounded like an inside joke, or perhaps the equivalent of a half serious rivalry between different universities. Care to provide any insight into the comment to an ignorant yank across the pond?
@@TheJeremyKentBGross It's not really a British reference so much as a Hitchens one. There's a much older clip of him being asked about the late Billy Graham and he mentions the antisemitic views that the evangelist had (or used to have in the early '70s when he was recorded expressing them). Comparing this, Hitchens admits to having an aversion and/or phobia towards people from Yorkshire for reasons he can't explain. He then goes on to explain that this and antisemitism aren't really the same sort of prejudices. In this video, in referencing Yorkshire again, he's basically playing on an old in-joke.
@@Extra_050 Tbh I have trouble understanding antisemitism in general, especially in the modern world. My best guess is it being caused by envy as their mythology is the sort that engenders success. Although I can understand pretty easily that people did not appreciate the tactics of loan sharks in the middle ages, a role they often filled being unable to take stewardship or ownership of land. Although how they ended up in the situation to need that occupation in the first place is not entirely clear to me. I also gather that the nobility, who's siblings tended to control the church, used it as a platform to blame their own failures in leadership that caused general hardship for the public on them, in the same way that leaders today blame the middle class and incite riots (or pogroms). (I mean, what was the Saint Fentanyl riots if not modern pogroms incited by our overlords against the minor merchant class based on deliberate misinformation?) One Hispanic dude I sorta knew who seemed to be a bit on the antisemitic spectrum once asked how they were able to keep their own religion in the European middle ages when all the natives were more or less forcibly converted to Christianity at some point, which did seem like an interesting question that had never occurred to me. I think there's some animosity from the Islamic world based on the existence of Israel, but tbh I can't tell if that's real the cause, or just an excuse, and an excuse that perpetuates problems. I do think there must be a small but powerful mafia or two of that particular ethnicity that people object to, which would explain folks like Mel Gibson and Ye, but even accepting that probably exists, it doesn't even remotely imply that anything like a majority of the enthic group could be involved in it. Although it does seem like both people attacking and defending anything that probable mafia does, frame it in such a way as to imply it's all of them, instead of just a particular small cabal, which doesn't help matters. I wonder if Hitchens would be as amazing today, or if he would have gone full Sam Harris. I'd definitely like to see the timeline where Hitch, Bill Hicks, and George Carlin were still around. And also where Firefly was never canceled. Alas.
@@TheJeremyKentBGross Well, I can answer some of that: in Mediaeval and Renaissance Europe, Christians did not believe that usury (the practice of lending money and charging with interest) was compatible with the teachings of the New Testament. The Jews were obviously not subject to the same laws and they were also, as you say, barred from most guilds, so many of them turned to moneylending as a profession. This is likely why Shakespeare chose Venice as his setting of choice when he introduced his Jewish character Shylock in "Merchant of Venice". Venice was a place in Europe that had relative religious freedom and Jews were allowed to have their own businesses and kosher butchers. That more or less answers your Hispanic friend's question as to how Judaism remained in Europe: some countries tried to coerce Jews into conversion and even those who didn't sometimes held them with a level of suspicion due to their status as non-Christians, but on the other hand they were useful and so relations between some of them were relatively cordial. Much of our modern animus towards bankers probably stems from that era when you think about it: there's no meaningful reason to dislike banks, as they're just places where you put your money, but of course if ever the economy goes wrong they serve as a convenient distraction from the politicians who regulate them and who pass laws on where our taxes should go. On the question of Islamic/Islamist antisemitism, the answer is mixed. Part of it is obviously religious, because Jews, together with Christians, do not acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet, but it's also racial: Israel serves as a convenient geographic personification of all things they see as Jewish much as "the West" is looked at by them as the main driving force behind Christianity (and hence, Crusaders). Some Islamists propagate or translate into Arabic antisemitic and/or Holocaust-denying works to their less religious brethren to try to justify their hatred. As you rightly speculate, it is likely a means by which to distract from their leaders' own failings. Finally, it is of course true that the world's culture and tastes are shaped somewhat by various lobbyists and pundits, etc., but I don't think they're of any particular race or religion. Mel Gibson was raised by a Holocaust denier, which explains a few things there and Ye, bless him, is away with the fairies and surrounded by people who never say "no" in his presence.
"Now I am absolutely convinced that the main source of hatred in the world is religion, and organized religion. Absolutely convinced of it."(12:20) Brilliant, as so many other commenters on here have pointed out, totally agree...perhaps the best statement in the best video on UA-cam, as has already been pointed out
@@chrispywilliams1992 The power structure of religion (People not the principles) are full of hatred or destruction. Religions power is political not spiritual
Does anyone else consider it ironic that this excellent lecture on the value of free speech and the iniquity of censorship is to be found here on a platform that censors free speech every single day in 2021?
You have no understanding of irony. This website has never professed to be ‘free speech’, therefore youtube censoring shit on their site isn’t ironic in any fashion.
@@WhamBang You really are an idiot. You clearly don't have even the slightest clue what free speech is or why it is so important. For UA-cam to censor anything is iniquitous because it assumes that only tech geeks know what is right and what is wrong and that the rest of us are morons who need to be spoon fed the information that they decide is good and safe for us to receive. In your case of course they are probably correct.
I could listen to this man read a Chinese fone book. He's absolutely mesmerizing. Sharp as a razor, whip-crack smart, facts at his fingertips, brutally, unshakably, forthright, honest and direct. He is sorely missed. As is George Carlin.
And not only that, he had a panache and éclat that's usually reserved for career entertainers not public intellectuals. Fuck I wish eh were still around. In any case I try to exude his values and continue the fight in my own less brilliant way
I never knew of him when he was alive to be able to miss him, but what a loss he was, even to those he locked horns with, Hitch is the missing piece of order in the sea of chaos we find ourselves in.
i've always viewed freedom of speech to be just that, i never thought about the right of the listener to HEAR the speech of others as well. that's a decent thought there. "take a number , get in line, and KISS MY ASS!" i LOVE THIS MAN. he took no prisoners :)
9:23 "Who's going to decide--to whom do you award the right to decide which speech is harmful? or who is the harmful speaker? Or to determine in advance what are the harmful consequences going to be that we know enough about in advance to prevent? To whom would you give this job? To whom are you going to award the task of being the censor?" " Did you hear any speaker in the opposition to this motion, eloquent as one of them was, to whom you would delegate the task of *deciding for you* what you could read? To Whom would you give the job of deciding for you, relieve you of the responsibility of hearing what you might have to hear? "Do you know anyone? Hands up... Do you know anyone to whom you would give this job? Does anyone have a nominee?! ... You mean there's no one in Canada good enough to decide what I can read? Or hear? I had no idea...!!!!" "But there's a law that says there must be such a person, or there's a subsection of some piddling law that says it. Well, to hell with that law then! "It's inviting you to be liars and hypocrites, and to deny what you evidently know already. About the censorious instinct, we basically know all that we need to know and we've known it for a long time."
"ONE HAS TO SUSPECT THE MOTIVES OF THOSE WHO DO SO... IN PARTICULAR THE MOTIVES OF THOSE WHO ARE D E T E R M I N E D TO BE OFFENDED." Enough said, exactly what is happening in the world right now.
Wonderful! A moving speech that I have forwarded and treasure. But just one little thing:At about 5 minutes: "...because what he has to say must have taken some effort to come up with..." That I call into question. Bullshit is frequently the result of minimal effort, maybe even a default response. So we must consider Brandolini's Law of Misinformation Asymmetry.
This masterpiece of a speech should have been pensum in all academia all over the world. And all politicans, religious leaders everywhere should have this on their desks. Then the world might have a chance.
Initially I never thought about it in terms of first principles (How do I know what I do) and how would you combat any given claim about something, but that is a good point.
“Anybody who wants to say anything abusive about or to me is quite free to do so, Welcome in fact, At there own risk” my god do we need this attitude today.
Wow! Not seen this before. A masterclass on the dangers of censorship and religious bigotry. He would be apoplectic today with the increasing Islamist threat and the Woke mentality of today's youngsters who never question anything.
I like Hitchens bc he is supremely educated on every single topic he defends. He's read like 50 stacks of books, each piled to his height, on religion alone.
“Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.” MASSIVELY important to test how you “know” what you know, and to defend not only your right to speak, but your right to HEAR other opinions and facts that might contradict “common wisdom.” If you lose these rights, you’ve made a rod for your own back. EVERYONE needs to recognize that. I do not delegate to ANYONE control over my capacity to READ, WRITE, and THINK.
@@KriticalThinking looks like it's been removed. Definitely worked a few weeks back. I've had a search and can't find anything longer than 40 minutes now.
*for you* History will not be changed by allowing freedom of speech and a flow of information exchange and a plethora of views (that merely gives you many viewpoints to choose from) however when strict narrative control is imposed and there is a lack of information exchanges allowed or only allowed under strict scrutiny or sometimes not allowed at all, this is what changes history (a lack of transparency) something I will never stand for, even though I may disagree with whomever I'm engaging with I still stand for your right to say it that's what makes for a free and open society where objective and often controversial points of view and discussions can actually happen no matter how uncomfortable they make you feel *remember feelings do not matter in a mature society all feelings of being offended lead to overtly and often tyrannical weaponized narrative control* . In truth freedom of speech really truly only matters when it's the opposing viewpoints, the hard ones you don't want to hear when you refuse to go out of comfortable zone you *stifle* your wisdom. *If discussion and "truth" has to be rigidly controlled then it's not truth* . - *for their can, be no true freedom in thought in a regime of propagandized and weaponized narrative control* -Maggie Morgan 2023
What would Christopher think if he were alive today. This type of wit and intelligence is a once in a generation gift. I take solace in knowing I existed at a time in history where i got to listen to Hitchens.
I know I'm not going to live forever, and neither are you. But until my furlough here on Earth is revoked, I should like to elbow aside the established pieties and raise my tumbler of JWB in honour of this special giant of reason and thought provoking ideas, this one’s for you Christopher! 🥃 I sorely miss your wisdom.
The essential parts of this speech should be transcribed and mailed directly to the home Secretary, the CPS, and the prime minister. They apparently believe that they do have the ability to decide for you what you may read or hear. At the same time they are doing so, they are the exact hypocrites that Hitchens describes in this speech: they are censoring some speech while ignoring the hate promulgated under the guise of religion. The Facebook posts for which people are getting arrested are mild compared to things spoken during Friday sermons throughout Britain.
I do remember when "this guy" was a public intellectual, yes. I don't agree that Jordan Peterson needs to be brought up, nor that hes "delirious" nor a "crank". They are very different people and one does not take the place of the other.
Don't worry. You're not the only one watching the masterpiece of a speech in 2024.
Rest in peace, Mr. Hitchens!
And you're not the only one watching the masterpiece of a speech at the beginning of 2024. Let's hope there are still those of us listening to the great man in 2124. RIP Mr Hitchins.
Very pleased to know I’m not the only person who keeps coming back to this debate. His memory is kept alive by the sheer force of his arguments
@@alecsmith8050 you're certainly not alone, I revisit his debates and TV appearances and programmes now and then, just to remind myself what a genius sounds like.
"Painfully relevant" is how I feel about a lot of 00s-era Hitchens speeches these days.
I watch this several times a year, someone always needs this stuff explained to them - myself included.
"Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus" just a sensational message
"Come to think of it, how _can_ I prove the Earth is round?"
So articulate
how convenient that this line is so often used to defend fascists and holocaust deniers but not leftists or union reps. Then again, when a supposedly "marxist" like hitchens supports the iraq war, you have to wonder if his words are genuine or if it's all bollocks
My favorite quote.
@@sarcasmenul it is used to defend marxist and communist free speech, don't try that that. Now down to hitchens, he was a trotskyist. And he was entirely consistent with iraq war, you're being deliberately flippant. He took the side of the victim and supported the struggle of the iraqi people and of the secular democratic leftist kurds to free themselves from saddam and from hafez al assad and in Turkey and in Iran.
This is probably my favorite speech ever. I listen to it whenever I'm feeling a little blue. It doesn't always cheer me up completely, but it never completely fails either.
@Arkd Dee I think Hitch got that from Wodehouse's “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled."
same
Same here. Nice to see someone else feeling the same
M K: Very likely. Hitchens (like all sensible people) loved Wodehouse.
He’s just so concise and eloquent
This may sound crazy but I think that this may be the most important video on youtube.
2024, and I'll still be watching these old hitchslaps well into 2034... ❤❤❤
Same here, this is timeless and could have been spoken at any point in the last 10 years
@@alecsmith8050 Even better than timeless, this speech, and subject matter in general, become more prescient with each passing day.
It's hard to say. This is one of the best speeches made by him and also made by anyone so I would posit it like this: Video > Speech > by Hitchens / By someone else > about X
It is,
Hitch died 10 years ago today. The world is worse off because of it. This speech is a masterpiece.
Time to raise a Jhonny walker in his memory
He is needed today more then ever , there will unlikely be someone else like him again.
U mean james walker
@@AndyDeSantisRD unfortunately you’re right I think. No living person comes close
@@euphegenia Douglas Murray comes awfully close. Equally fearless, comparably eloquent, another erudite, and a personal protege and friend of the late great Hitchens.
“Where are your priorities? You’re giving away what’s most precious in your society and your giving it away without a fight, and you’re even praising the people who want to deny your right to resist it. Shame on you while you do this. Make the best use of the time you’ve got left. This is really serious.”
If it were possible, I'd have this entire video tattooed on my forehead.
Wonderful lol
If I had to fit a Hitch quote from this video on my forehead, it'd be "Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus."
There are so many other great ones in here though. It's just ridiculous.
I love this thought, not as the text of the video tattooed on your forehead, but the actual video as a concept, tattooed on 🤣🤣🤣
You don’t have enough forehead.
Ouch
This is one of the most important speeches ever spoken. Especially with the way the cancel culture and society is today. Thank u, Hitch. RIP 🙏
Absolutely.
I just sat through this speech for - I think - the 12th or 13th time.
I still think it's one of the most important (and possibly desperate) expressions of REAL morality within my lifetime, and I'm almost 80.
How right he was. Islamophobia is now used without conscience. A charge of racism when it is nothing more than a criticism of the most powerful religion in the world.
Heard a lot of Hitch speeches and this one is definitely one of my favorites now. Not sure how I missed it previously. I so admire his eloquence and fearlessness.
What a great individual. His life should be openly celebrated.
Amen 🙏
This speech should be at the first page of school and university books
One of the most brilliant speeches on Free Speech and one everyone should hear. He is SO missed.
This is my favorite speech. There’s no sense in trying to express it more eloquently, so I just share this vid all the time.
"Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus."
I fucking love him. Something that should be so easy to do, taken for granted by so many and so eloquently yet simply stated.
One of the great speeches and greatest defenses of free speech.
An excellent speech and one of my favorites as a Hitchens fan. One quibble: he's a bit confused on the court cases in the first few minutes.
The "crowded theater" phrase and the original "clear and present danger" test were developed by Holmes in Schenck v. U.S. (1918). That case did not involve the Yiddish-speaking socialists that Hitchens references, but rather the Philadelphia Socialist Party that had distributed 15k flyers encouraging men not to comply with the WWI draft. Holmes delivered the opinion for a unanimous court upholding the convictions with the CPD test. The decision is a mess, and Hitchens is right to point out its pathetic reasoning.
The case of Yiddish-speaking socialists is a subsequent one, Abrams v. U.S. (1919). That case upheld the convictions of Russian immigrants who opposed Wilson's meddling with the Russian Revolution on the side of the Russian government. Hitchens is definitely correct that they were the ones identifying a "fire" in a "crowded theater" (i.e., speaking about Wilson's authoritarian foreign policy), especially as insular minorities who had already lived under a draconian regime. But it should be noted that Holmes dissented in that case, arguing that the CPD test had not been met - the speech was too tenuous with any probable harm. So, Hitchens might be overshooting a little.
That said, his overarching point that Holmes' test was on the wrong footing is absolutely correct. And the upshot is the same: who decides on "harmful" speech is the right question to ask in all of these cases.
Thank you for sharing this.
Yes thanks for that info. Even the great Hitch can make a mistake.
I wish I read this, before memorising hitch's speech.😅😖
Really well done. Thanks.
Jesus did we need this guy the last 3 years.
Ive never felt as intellectually alone in holding liberty oriented principles in ny life!
This is an extraordinary speech… one of Hitch’s finest… and THAT is saying something because he was/is a legend.
Everyone needs to not only hear this, they need to LISTEN to it and not shrink away from the task of fighting for these principles.
Every time I need a reminder of that, this speech is where I’ll come for it. ❤ rip Christopher . You are still loved
“Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.”
What a line...
Like so many others, seemingly tripped off this man’s tongue with panache and intellectual gravitas.
I wish Christopher Hitchens was alive today to bring back both thought, and respect for thought, to the public discourse.
He must be turning in his grave now . A giant of a man , sorely missed .
He was turning when he was still alive.
@@abrahamlincoln9758 a dervish of diction and erudition his whole life long
As a Yorkshire man I am honoured to be insulted by Hitch.
I actually always wondered about that. It sounded like an inside joke, or perhaps the equivalent of a half serious rivalry between different universities. Care to provide any insight into the comment to an ignorant yank across the pond?
I love this comment hahahaha
@@TheJeremyKentBGross It's not really a British reference so much as a Hitchens one. There's a much older clip of him being asked about the late Billy Graham and he mentions the antisemitic views that the evangelist had (or used to have in the early '70s when he was recorded expressing them). Comparing this, Hitchens admits to having an aversion and/or phobia towards people from Yorkshire for reasons he can't explain. He then goes on to explain that this and antisemitism aren't really the same sort of prejudices. In this video, in referencing Yorkshire again, he's basically playing on an old in-joke.
@@Extra_050 Tbh I have trouble understanding antisemitism in general, especially in the modern world.
My best guess is it being caused by envy as their mythology is the sort that engenders success. Although I can understand pretty easily that people did not appreciate the tactics of loan sharks in the middle ages, a role they often filled being unable to take stewardship or ownership of land. Although how they ended up in the situation to need that occupation in the first place is not entirely clear to me.
I also gather that the nobility, who's siblings tended to control the church, used it as a platform to blame their own failures in leadership that caused general hardship for the public on them, in the same way that leaders today blame the middle class and incite riots (or pogroms). (I mean, what was the Saint Fentanyl riots if not modern pogroms incited by our overlords against the minor merchant class based on deliberate misinformation?)
One Hispanic dude I sorta knew who seemed to be a bit on the antisemitic spectrum once asked how they were able to keep their own religion in the European middle ages when all the natives were more or less forcibly converted to Christianity at some point, which did seem like an interesting question that had never occurred to me.
I think there's some animosity from the Islamic world based on the existence of Israel, but tbh I can't tell if that's real the cause, or just an excuse, and an excuse that perpetuates problems.
I do think there must be a small but powerful mafia or two of that particular ethnicity that people object to, which would explain folks like Mel Gibson and Ye, but even accepting that probably exists, it doesn't even remotely imply that anything like a majority of the enthic group could be involved in it. Although it does seem like both people attacking and defending anything that probable mafia does, frame it in such a way as to imply it's all of them, instead of just a particular small cabal, which doesn't help matters.
I wonder if Hitchens would be as amazing today, or if he would have gone full Sam Harris. I'd definitely like to see the timeline where Hitch, Bill Hicks, and George Carlin were still around. And also where Firefly was never canceled. Alas.
@@TheJeremyKentBGross Well, I can answer some of that: in Mediaeval and Renaissance Europe, Christians did not believe that usury (the practice of lending money and charging with interest) was compatible with the teachings of the New Testament. The Jews were obviously not subject to the same laws and they were also, as you say, barred from most guilds, so many of them turned to moneylending as a profession. This is likely why Shakespeare chose Venice as his setting of choice when he introduced his Jewish character Shylock in "Merchant of Venice". Venice was a place in Europe that had relative religious freedom and Jews were allowed to have their own businesses and kosher butchers. That more or less answers your Hispanic friend's question as to how Judaism remained in Europe: some countries tried to coerce Jews into conversion and even those who didn't sometimes held them with a level of suspicion due to their status as non-Christians, but on the other hand they were useful and so relations between some of them were relatively cordial. Much of our modern animus towards bankers probably stems from that era when you think about it: there's no meaningful reason to dislike banks, as they're just places where you put your money, but of course if ever the economy goes wrong they serve as a convenient distraction from the politicians who regulate them and who pass laws on where our taxes should go.
On the question of Islamic/Islamist antisemitism, the answer is mixed. Part of it is obviously religious, because Jews, together with Christians, do not acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet, but it's also racial: Israel serves as a convenient geographic personification of all things they see as Jewish much as "the West" is looked at by them as the main driving force behind Christianity (and hence, Crusaders). Some Islamists propagate or translate into Arabic antisemitic and/or Holocaust-denying works to their less religious brethren to try to justify their hatred. As you rightly speculate, it is likely a means by which to distract from their leaders' own failings.
Finally, it is of course true that the world's culture and tastes are shaped somewhat by various lobbyists and pundits, etc., but I don't think they're of any particular race or religion. Mel Gibson was raised by a Holocaust denier, which explains a few things there and Ye, bless him, is away with the fairies and surrounded by people who never say "no" in his presence.
Dear Christopher, we need you more in Canada now than ever...how you are missed sir.
From time to time I come here to listen and clear my mind with this masterpiece
Likewise
One of his finest if not the finest covering all angles of the subject in all its glory...
"It is always worth interrogating the first principles one thinks they know. Don't take comfort in the false security of consensus." Here here
Freedom loving people should watch this once a month.
"Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus"
“Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.”
- Christopher Hitchens
We need him so badly today .. it’s scary how accurate this warning was..
Hitchens is truly missed, especially where we are today.
"Now I am absolutely convinced that the main source of hatred in the world is religion, and organized religion. Absolutely convinced of it."(12:20) Brilliant, as so many other commenters on here have pointed out, totally agree...perhaps the best statement in the best video on UA-cam, as has already been pointed out
I'm a theist but absolutely adore and respect Hitchens to the highest of degrees. An amazing man indeed 👏
do you adore him while said 12:29
@@chrispywilliams1992 The power structure of religion (People not the principles) are full of hatred or destruction. Religions power is political not spiritual
repent of your sin...of being a theist.
@@Harry-hyl I’d rather be free. I can hear your chains from over here
@@chrispywilliams1992 did you misread my comment?
Does anyone else consider it ironic that this excellent lecture on the value of free speech and the iniquity of censorship is to be found here on a platform that censors free speech every single day in 2021?
Indeed I do!
Same here.
@@RichieRichMD Oh stop. It's a platform not a country.
You have no understanding of irony. This website has never professed to be ‘free speech’, therefore youtube censoring shit on their site isn’t ironic in any fashion.
@@WhamBang You really are an idiot.
You clearly don't have even the slightest clue what free speech is or why it is so important.
For UA-cam to censor anything is iniquitous because it assumes that only tech geeks know what is right and what is wrong and that the rest of us are morons who need to be spoon fed the information that they decide is good and safe for us to receive.
In your case of course they are probably correct.
21 mins that everyone needs to hear.
One of my favorite and insightful speeches I've heard ever. I learned a lot and had vast changes in my thinking due to this man.
"don't take refuge in the false security of consensus". Christopher you are an absolute brilliant human and wordsmith, we need you now more than ever.
I could listen to this man read a Chinese fone book. He's absolutely mesmerizing. Sharp as a razor, whip-crack smart, facts at his fingertips, brutally, unshakably, forthright, honest and direct. He is sorely missed. As is George Carlin.
And not only that, he had a panache and éclat that's usually reserved for career entertainers not public intellectuals. Fuck I wish eh were still around. In any case I try to exude his values and continue the fight in my own less brilliant way
And Bill Hicks.
*standing ovation* 👏🏽
This has to be Hitch’s best speeches. Utterly brilliant.
I have a list of people with great minds that I study and this man is at the top of my list.
This speech is my comfort blanket
Hitch is so needed today to stand against the UK government. Where have you gone Christopher Hitchens?
UK????? Imagine his thoughts on trump?
Society got progressively stupider the day this great man died. I weep.
immediately stupider* or after the day* ...idiot hehe
I weep with u man but on the side. Lets be stoic after all
If I had any influece in the world, I would have this vidio played to every university freshman during frosh week.
And you would get handwaved away as a bigot so they can go back to scrolling Facebook on their phones without feeling guilty about it.
I never knew of him when he was alive to be able to miss him, but what a loss he was, even to those he locked horns with, Hitch is the missing piece of order in the sea of chaos we find ourselves in.
Many of those with whom he locked horns now carry the mantle of free speech. Not sure how he'd feel about it, but somebody needs to do it.
2006? Jeez, this man truly saw the writing on the wall even way back then.
So amazing!
The wisdom, the WISDOM!
If anybody asked me who ist my hero I would, with no doubt in my heart and mind answer *"The Hitch!"* and I am absolutly sure, that I am not alone.
He is one of mine for sure
Badly needed and dearly missed.
Everyone must keep uploading this speech!! Freedom of speech is critical in order to undergird basic human freedom and integrity.
Christopher gave a lot of speeches, but I include this as one of his very best.
I listen to this at least twice a month.
If I could pick one person to bring back to life… Absolutely love the man.
I miss him :( I often wonder what he would have to say in 2021...
RIP hitch. How we need you now
i've always viewed freedom of speech to be just that, i never thought about the right of the listener to HEAR the speech of others as well. that's a decent thought there. "take a number , get in line, and KISS MY ASS!" i LOVE THIS MAN. he took no prisoners :)
15 years later: misgender me in your speech and your life is ruined
Don't live in fear, lots of people get away with it.
This speech is legendary
9:23 "Who's going to decide--to whom do you award the right to decide which speech is harmful? or who is the harmful speaker? Or to determine in advance what are the harmful consequences going to be that we know enough about in advance to prevent?
To whom would you give this job? To whom are you going to award the task of being the censor?"
" Did you hear any speaker in the opposition to this motion, eloquent as one of them was, to whom you would delegate the task of *deciding for you* what you could read? To Whom would you give the job of deciding for you, relieve you of the responsibility of hearing what you might have to hear?
"Do you know anyone? Hands up... Do you know anyone to whom you would give this job? Does anyone have a nominee?! ... You mean there's no one in Canada good enough to decide what I can read? Or hear? I had no idea...!!!!"
"But there's a law that says there must be such a person, or there's a subsection of some piddling law that says it. Well, to hell with that law then!
"It's inviting you to be liars and hypocrites, and to deny what you evidently know already. About the censorious instinct, we basically know all that we need to know and we've known it for a long time."
This speech gets more and more relevant every day.
"ONE HAS TO SUSPECT THE MOTIVES OF THOSE WHO DO SO... IN PARTICULAR THE MOTIVES OF THOSE WHO ARE D E T E R M I N E D TO BE OFFENDED." Enough said, exactly what is happening in the world right now.
To the guy who shouted “Bravo!” In the middle of that genius speech- I see you brother
Love the Hitch... Truth unadulterated. He played his part 🔥🔥🔥🔥 we miss you comrade n good sir..
Thank you for being a brave champion of free speech.^
What would this great man think of what is happening in Britain today?
And years later , Canada fell into fascism. RIP Hitch
Wonderful! A moving speech that I have forwarded and treasure. But just one little thing:At about 5 minutes: "...because what he has to say must have taken some effort to come up with..." That I call into question. Bullshit is frequently the result of minimal effort, maybe even a default response. So we must consider Brandolini's Law of Misinformation Asymmetry.
This speech I go back to very often
It’s absolutely brilliant. Christopher was brilliant and sorely missed in the world
This masterpiece of a speech should have been pensum in all academia all over the world. And all politicans, religious leaders everywhere should have this on their desks. Then the world might have a chance.
This might be the greatest 21 minutes orated in the 200 thousand years of homo sapiens
in a competitive category, his finest speech
Extremely competitive
Initially I never thought about it in terms of first principles (How do I know what I do) and how would you combat any given claim about something, but that is a good point.
Trying my best to stay cool, Hitch.
I can no longer find the full debate. That's a shame.
ua-cam.com/video/H_ohvc_ZqzA/v-deo.html
This really does matter now, given todays events.
“Anybody who wants to say anything abusive about or to me is quite free to do so, Welcome in fact, At there own risk” my god do we need this attitude today.
What a devilishly handsome chap
The last intelligent and articulate man stands up.
I hate to say this....but Hitchens is clearly a genius. And, his command of the English language is to be admired and create envy in most.
Wow! Not seen this before. A masterclass on the dangers of censorship and religious bigotry. He would be apoplectic today with the increasing Islamist threat and the Woke mentality of today's youngsters who never question anything.
I like Hitchens bc he is supremely educated on every single topic he defends. He's read like 50 stacks of books, each piled to his height, on religion alone.
Incredible speech. Incredible man.
I want the entire transcript of this video tattooed on my body
“Don’t take refuge in the false security of consensus.” MASSIVELY important to test how you “know” what you know, and to defend not only your right to speak, but your right to HEAR other opinions and facts that might contradict “common wisdom.” If you lose these rights, you’ve made a rod for your own back.
EVERYONE needs to recognize that. I do not delegate to ANYONE control over my capacity to READ, WRITE, and THINK.
I second this point very strongly. Going along with whatever the majority says is lazy and thoughtless...it robs you of your own ability to think.
@@ScandinavianHeretic Then again, mindlessly going along with things that are not conscensus is equally bad.
Does anybody know where i can see the full debate?
It's in the description
@@FlyingSpaghettiMonster2000 the link 404's is it anywhere else?
@@KriticalThinking looks like it's been removed. Definitely worked a few weeks back.
I've had a search and can't find anything longer than 40 minutes now.
@@FlyingSpaghettiMonster2000 Thanks for looking, if you see it anywhere in the future let me know, I'll do likewise :)
would love to see all speeches from the other side,,,especially the guy that had to follow this legend
*for you* History will not be changed by allowing freedom of speech and a flow of information exchange and a plethora of views (that merely gives you many viewpoints to choose from) however when strict narrative control is imposed and there is a lack of information exchanges allowed or only allowed under strict scrutiny or sometimes not allowed at all, this is what changes history (a lack of transparency) something I will never stand for, even though I may disagree with whomever I'm engaging with I still stand for your right to say it that's what makes for a free and open society where objective and often controversial points of view and discussions can actually happen no matter how uncomfortable they make you feel *remember feelings do not matter in a mature society all feelings of being offended lead to overtly and often tyrannical weaponized narrative control* . In truth freedom of speech really truly only matters when it's the opposing viewpoints, the hard ones you don't want to hear when you refuse to go out of comfortable zone you *stifle* your wisdom. *If discussion and "truth" has to be rigidly controlled then it's not truth* . - *for their can, be no true freedom in thought in a regime of propagandized and weaponized narrative control* -Maggie Morgan 2023
Missed. Needed.
What would Christopher think if he were alive today. This type of wit and intelligence is a once in a generation gift. I take solace in knowing I existed at a time in history where i got to listen to Hitchens.
That has to be one of the best speeches ever written, surely?
Need this voice back
First saw Hitch on CSPAN in the 90s. I miss him too whether I agreed or not. A voice much needed.
I know I'm not going to live forever, and neither are you. But until my furlough here on Earth is revoked, I should like to elbow aside the established pieties and raise my tumbler of JWB in honour of this special giant of reason and thought provoking ideas, this one’s for you Christopher! 🥃 I sorely miss your wisdom.
A hero of modern times. His early death was a tragedy.
Imagine he was alive today and was watching what is happening in the UK today. Rolling in his grave I'm certain. RIP Hitch
The essential parts of this speech should be transcribed and mailed directly to the home Secretary, the CPS, and the prime minister. They apparently believe that they do have the ability to decide for you what you may read or hear. At the same time they are doing so, they are the exact hypocrites that Hitchens describes in this speech: they are censoring some speech while ignoring the hate promulgated under the guise of religion. The Facebook posts for which people are getting arrested are mild compared to things spoken during Friday sermons throughout Britain.
I wonder if Hitchens would have the same position today, now that social media has changed the rules of the game.
I mean, all the social media realm has done is prove him righter than he even knew.
Remember when this guy was a public intellectual, and not that delirious crank Jordan Peterson?
I never got the appeal of Jordan Peterson.
I do remember when "this guy" was a public intellectual, yes. I don't agree that Jordan Peterson needs to be brought up, nor that hes "delirious" nor a "crank". They are very different people and one does not take the place of the other.
Not a false word spoken.