Hitchens: Hawks in the dovecote

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Mon Aug 26 09:22:27 PDT 2002


Hitchens:
> > ... pacifist realpolitik."

I am mystified by this phrase. _Realpolitik_, according to dictionaries, is supposed to refer to power politics, devoid of ethical or aesthetic considerations. Pacifism is usually supposed to be ethical, even hopelessly idealistic; and it certainly carries little weight with either the folk or the elites. So can anyone explain it? I was thinking it might be some kind of deliberate oxymoron or paradox used for poetic purposes, but I still don't get it.

-- Gordon



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