Speaking of which, this is first Hitchens column I've read in full since I don't know when. I'm sorry I did. The man's lack of shame is sickening, especially when he attempts to justify his warmongering on the corpse of a dead soldier. His "sadness" for this one kid is one of the crudest narcissistic displays I've ever seen. Read it and gag.
<http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/hitchens200711?currentP age=1>
[WS:] Yuck! It does make one want to puke. However, it is also illustrative of the notion that idealists can be very dangerous people, indeed. Their narcissistic belief in the power of their ideas (or delusions) makes them immune to reality checks. As a result, they commit or instigate atrocities with the naïveté of a child who thinks that he is saving the world and everyone who does not see thing the way he does is either stupid, vile or both (or have "false consciousness.") The danger these people pose is that they tend to be immune to facts and keep going on when a rational assessment of the situation would make them at least pose and reassess their own actions.
Wojtek