Hitchens worries about aging fan base

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Mar 29 07:34:56 PST 2002


[CH is Christopher Hitchens; RB is Robert Birnbaum]

<http://www.identitytheory.com/people/birnbaum36.html>

RB: Amongst the gems in this book, I liked: "Innocence only takes you so far. You have to be sophisticated by experience before you are old enough to argue that, say, it might be wrong to launch a thermonuclear war but not wrong, indeed only prudent, to prepare the weaponry of extermination. Or that an act that would be a loathsome crime if committed by an individual is pardonable when committed by a state. But these are the rewards of maturity, to be enjoyed only as we decline." [p.50] That's upbeat. Would your younger students grasp that?

CH: I haven't heard from a single young person since this

RB: How much are you going out and talking this book up?

CH: Quite a bit. The people who come and see me ... it looks like a geriatric ward. These are people who probably looked on me fondly when I was young myself. I wouldn't say I had much feedback from the "young." I guess it will take time. I do hope it will come in the form of letters



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