Reed Tryte:
> I find all the venom both from Hitchens and from his
> detractors to be very distasteful, so I don't want to
> seem to add to it. But am I the only person who finds
> Hitchens' writing and thinking to be extremely
> muddled? I can barely understand what he's talking
> about half the time. Not that muddled writing isn't
> common across the political spectrum, but as a writer
> Hitchens can't play in the same league as Orwell, who
> was extraordinarily lucid and precise.
I find Hitchens's writing entertaining but I am unable to find more than a trace of theory behind it. By "theory" I mean coherent, sustained thinking of any sort, an ability to consciously order a set of facts or observations and derive patterns or conclusions from them -- in short, to know why you think what you think. For Hitchens, it appears that chance intuitions and emotions are the sole source of his desires and allegiances. Hence I'm not surprised that he's gone over to the other side, so to speak; as my local Baptist church has posted on its outdoor sign, "If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything."
-- Gordon