[lbo-talk] Poll of Top 5 Public Intellectuals! Vote For Chomsky!

[Michael Hirsch]

So Carl, we only trash Hitchens when he moves right? Our definition of public intellectual depends on what side of the angels he sits? In truth, Hitchens has either been a scumbag since the days we aligned with him, or he's no scumbag now. Take your pick, but don't create an ideological litmus test for quality writing. As for trashing him now, trash away. I do. But it's politics that are repugnant.

Mike H  

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Remick <carlremick at hotmail.com>
Sent: Oct 3, 2005 1:01 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Poll of Top 5 Public Intellectuals! Vote For Chomsky!


>From: Michael Hirsch <mmh at pipeline.com>
>
>Oh, did I offend the thought police? My bad. When did Hitchens become a 
>"jive-ass piece
>of shit," guys? When he crossed over to the dark side after 9-11?  I hate 
>his politics now, and his debate conduct with George Galloway was even 
>worse, a disgrace--this is the only person I can think of who could 
>actually lose a debate to scumbag Galloway. But he's a public intellectual, 
>not an obscurantist like so many others on that list. Wanna have a list of 
>big thinkers you like? Make one up. But don't call it a listing of public 
>intellectuals, who raise complex ideas in a broadly accessible way. Hitch, 
>no matter what a schmuck he's turned into or how much blood is on his 
>hands, is a public intellectual.

Gee, can I borrow your notes for the final exam?  I must have missed the 
class where Prof. Hitchens raised "complex ideas in a broadly accessible 
way."  Last time I looked Hitchens was 100% a rabble-rouser with a head 
entirely devoid of deep thought.

Actually I value your original post because it is an excellent example of 
what makes so many on the left such saps so much of the time.  You yourself 
don't really believe Hitchens is a thinker in terms of being a seeker of 
truth; like everyone else here, you recognize that Hitchens is a mere 
schemer, an opportunist, a toady to power.  Nevertheless, you're inclined to 
make a noble gesture and salute Hitchens as something he is not.

The left has got to get over this misguided magnanimity and be as savage to 
rightists as they have been to the left for so many years.  As Mr. Dooley 
noted, "Politics ain't beanbag."

Carl

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`And these words shall then become
Like oppression's thundered doom
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again -- again -- again--
`Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number--
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you--
Ye are many -- they are few.'
--------Shelley, "The Mask of Anarchy:
Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester" [1819]