Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

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Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by RuleBritannia » Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:23 pm

Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens to face off over religion
Writer and former prime minister to debate role of religion in Toronto.

Despite his recent diagnosis with oesophageal cancer, Christopher Hitchens (who I interviewed earlier this year) has continued to debate religious figures, most recently Tariq Ramadan, across the United States.

Now he's due to face the Vicar of Albion himself, Tony Blair. Blair has agreed to debate Hitchens in Toronto on 26 November (the event will be streamed live online) on the motion: "Is religion a force for peace or conflict in the modern world?"

Hitchens was an ardent supporter of Blair's wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, but he has long opposed what he describes as the former prime minister's "sickly piety".

On Blair, he said: "He couldn't do it while he was prime minister, but he went 'over to Rome' as soon as he could. Very bizarrely he did this at one of the most conservative times for the Catholic Church, under one of the most conservative Popes".

"I've never had the chance to sit down and talk it through with him ... It's not like I'm going to be arguing with Pat Robertson. Mr. Blair's a much more complex person than that," he added.

Whether Blair, who hasn't done much jousting since his Commons days, is battle-ready remains to be seen. But either way, one suspects that the encounter will be more respectful than the famous duel between Hitchens ("a drink-soaked former Trotskyite popinjay") and George Galloway ("a sub-Leninist, East End carpetbagger").
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-s ... n-hitchens
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Rum » Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:48 pm

Strange bedfellows indeed! Arriving at many of the same conclusions via very different paths. I hope Hitchens is up to it - health-wise that is.

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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Animavore » Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:28 pm

Libertarianism: The belief that out of all the terrible things governments can do, helping people is the absolute worst.

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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:08 pm

Is there any audio of this?
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by maiforpeace » Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:31 pm

Rum wrote:Strange bedfellows indeed! Arriving at many of the same conclusions via very different paths. I hope Hitchens is up to it - health-wise that is.
Based on what I read in the transcripts, he was very much up to it! CH pawned Tony. :tup:
Atheists have always argued that this world is all that we have, and that our duty is to one another to make the very most and best of it. ~Christopher Hitchens~
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Xamonas Chegwé » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:55 am

Will there be a video? :ab:
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by HomerJay » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:50 am

Xamonas Chegwé wrote:Will there be a video? :ab:
was transmitted via BBC somehow.

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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by PsychoSerenity » Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:39 am

Just found it on youtube from http://www.youtube.com/user/DailyHitchens22

[Disclaimer - if this is comes across like I think I know what I'm talking about, I want to make it clear that I don't. I'm just trying to get my thoughts down]

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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:25 pm

Psychoserenity wrote:Just found it on youtube from http://www.youtube.com/user/DailyHitchens22



Watching now. :tup:
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:34 pm

I've lost 14 minutes of my life watching the intro! :lay:
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Ronja » Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:40 pm

Deep Sea Isopod wrote:I've lost 14 minutes of my life watching the intro! :lay:
Did you find any sensible playlist? We have muddled through the first 45 minutes or so with M, but it is hard to figure out which video is the next one in the chronology. As Hitch is excellent, this is doubly irritating. :lay:
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:50 pm

Ronja wrote:
Deep Sea Isopod wrote:I've lost 14 minutes of my life watching the intro! :lay:
Did you find any sensible playlist? We have muddled through the first 45 minutes or so with M, but it is hard to figure out which video is the next one in the chronology. As Hitch is excellent, this is doubly irritating. :lay:
Here's the second vid.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKlXqDI ... re=related[/youtube]
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:05 pm

It's all over the bloody place....

Part 3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBHMFiZ ... re=related[/youtube]
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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Deep Sea Isopod » Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:48 pm

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Re: Tony Blair vs Christopher Hitchens

Post by Ronja » Sun Nov 28, 2010 5:09 pm

Deep Sea Isopod wrote:It's all over the bloody place....
It sure is! Thanks for figuring out the order & posting - we owe you one. :td:

I had a fit of exasperated giggles already at Tony Blair's opening remarks towards the end of part 2 "...I do not consider the leader of North Korea a religious icon..." Already there he went kind of wrong, 'cause trying to make a clear distinction between "religious" dogma and "other" dogma is, IMO, utterly pointless. Dogma is dogmatic, and all the other stupidity and craziness flows from that.

Edit: more exact wording (I hope)
"The internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people—talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free." - Maureen J

"...anyone who says it’s “just the Internet” can :pawiz: . And then when they come back, they can :pawiz: again." - Tigger

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