<HTML>Well, yeah, maybe this thread is gossipy. Still, if, as you say, the reasons for the change in Hitchens lie more in the realm of psychology that politics, given all the political reverberations, it's still worth talking about. Has Hitchens suffered any major life traumas like a serious medical problem death of a parent or a spouse (or a kid) in the last few years? I do not have the patience to go look in the Nation archives, but I thought I remembered either some condolences or Hitch himself writing about somethine like this in the last 2-3 years. It's probably not as if one can write "Hitchens' bogus idiotic opinions about X or Y all relate to his grief over thus and so," but if one can take into account circumstances like that, it might still be possible to hold some compassion for him as a person... DoreneC In a message dated 3/8/2003 8:02:27 AM Pacific Standard Time, dhenwood@panix.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj:Re: Hitch-Turk Date:3/8/2003 8:02:27 AM Pacific Standard Time From:<A HREF="mailto:dhenwood@panix.com">dhenwood@panix.com</A> Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk@lists.panix.com">lbo-talk@lists.panix.com</A> To:<A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk@lists.panix.com">lbo-talk@lists.panix.com</A> Sent from the Internet Reed Tryte wrote: >So, why is Hitchens so incredibly vituperative (and I >would say, intellectually dishonest) about people with >whom he used to agree about most things? I don't know. It's part of what's depressing about his whole turn. He can be - or could, at least in my past experience - very warm and generous. The dishonesty and vituperativeness suggest that the explanation lies more in the realm of psychology than ideology (or that portion of ideology that can be separated from psychology). Lots of people find this gossipy, tedious, and politically irrelevant. And I suppose it is in some respects. But he was also a pretty important figure on the English-speaking intellectual left who, in pretty short time, became an apologist for the most brutal wing of American imperial interests. Our bench isn't so deep that we can afford to lose even one. Doug </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>