Christopher Hitchens - Freedom of Expression

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ต.ค. 2024
  • full debate: vimeo.com/8754563
    intelligencesqu...
    "Who will you appoint?" Hitchens asked the three speakers opposing the motion. "Who will be the one who says, 'I know exactly where the limits should be, I know how far you can go and I know when you've gone too far, and I'll decide that?' Who do you think, who do you know, who have you heard of, who have you read about in history to whom you'd give that job?" Clearly, he said, not anyone here.
    There was a sense among the opponents of the motion that the freedom that underlies the Constitution and American culture is no longer so easy to embrace in a globalized world.
    Daisy Khan, the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, emphasized that nations are so much closer to one another, and information is disseminated so rapidly that "the notion of space, of sharing space with our neighbors, needs to be negotiated and re-examined."
    While no one stated it directly, the implication was that the United States, with its open space and political power, can afford a certain kind of freedom that comes less easily to the powerless and marginalized.
    "When you publish something that is an immensely popular form of entertainment or when a powerful figure gives a speech, like the pope, you are using discourse to malign the way an already marginalized community is perceived," Khan said.
    In these instances, she argued, "free speech" is used to oppress others - something that is un-American and goes against the foundational values of free speech.
    The point isn't whether such things can or cannot be published, she said. The real issue is, "does it elevate the public discourse? Or is it simply racist, xenophobic drivel that isn't half as clever as it purports to be?"
    The audience clearly was in the camp of the proponents of the motion, and most agreed with Gourevitch when he said it was presumptuous to think that anyone could regulate speech. "I think that we are at less risk taking the great risk of freedom," he said.
    The audience at the debate voted once before the debate started and once during closing statements. At the beginning, a large majority favored the motion, "Freedom of expression must include the license to offend": 177 favored the motion, 25 opposed it and 24 were unsure. At the end of the debate, support of the motion increased to 201; only 39 opposed.

ความคิดเห็น • 83

  • @fizzyfoster
    @fizzyfoster 8 ปีที่แล้ว +143

    "I did not come to the United States of America 25 years ago to learn how to keep my mouth shut and I'm going to reject all offers that I change that poise however simperingly they are put."

    • @Artecus
      @Artecus 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      fizzyfoster policy for “poise”

    • @FreeJulianAssange23
      @FreeJulianAssange23 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Democrats will just censor you but by all means.

  • @pinball1970
    @pinball1970 9 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    we miss you Hitch.

  • @BushcraftingBogan
    @BushcraftingBogan 6 ปีที่แล้ว +80

    Hitch would be appalled at today’s “progressives”.

    • @aceharris1463
      @aceharris1463 5 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Steve Curtis If you go deep on some of the more obscure articles, or on some of the less viewed interviews, he saw them coming in many respects.

    • @rationalmuscle
      @rationalmuscle 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@aceharris1463 Indeed he did.

  • @AFMMD-q8
    @AFMMD-q8 6 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    I know I'm not going to live forever and neither are you, but until my furlough here on Earth is revoked, I should like to elbow aside the established pieties and raise my tumbler of Johnnie Walker Black in salute to Christopher Hitchens and his fierce intellect and courage.
    His legacy ensures his immortality, and I sorely, sorely miss him.

    • @cnault3244
      @cnault3244 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      How do you know I am not going to live forever? Based on all the available evidence ( I haven't died yet) I am immortal.

  • @rlhead35
    @rlhead35 4 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    I love that man! Has there ever been anyone as eloquent as Hitchens ... will there ever be again? I miss him dearly and didn't even discover him until he was already gone! Thanks Hitch!

    • @seanjosephhayes
      @seanjosephhayes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Exact same here. Discovered him much too late. Gutted.

    • @markwilliams974
      @markwilliams974 ปีที่แล้ว

      Same here. But …we should find another who can carry his torch.

    • @AFMMD-q8
      @AFMMD-q8 21 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      @@markwilliams974Unfortunately, no one comes close to the mighty Christopher Hitchens, he was indeed unique and incomparable.

  • @euphegenia
    @euphegenia ปีที่แล้ว +9

    7:35 “The first amendment doesn’t just provide me with a living. The first amendment is my life.” I can’t even put into words how much I miss this man.

  • @theocean1973
    @theocean1973 7 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    "SHE'S IN THE ATTIC!"
    Oh my god that's horrible hilarious 😭😂

  • @votemonty1815
    @votemonty1815 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    Hitch would have taken today's #CancelCulture to the woodshed.

    • @1984isnotamanual
      @1984isnotamanual ปีที่แล้ว +2

      He sometimes warned about what was going on in universities

  • @WildPhotoShooter
    @WildPhotoShooter 10 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    Ameriman2012........I share your emotions , I "discovered" Christopher Hitchens in 2013 and have watched nearly all of his debates on TH-cam many times. I find myself with all the human emotions and many times with a tear in the eyes for his eloquent delivery of his vast knowledge and the loss of probably the greatest debater on the planet.

    • @jakeseymour2484
      @jakeseymour2484 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Spot on brother .. Same happens to me

    • @jakeseymour2484
      @jakeseymour2484 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Spot on brother .. Same happens to me

    • @embisonmichalis8694
      @embisonmichalis8694 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Beautifully put brother. I couldn't have put it better myself.

    • @thusspakeaaron
      @thusspakeaaron 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Read his books. They’re very good too.

  • @nirv
    @nirv 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thanks for putting a link to the full version in the description. I went there and there was an ACTUAL download button -- something I prefer than to stream. Playing videos from my hard drive feels way better than any floaty, unreliable stream.

  • @rsoulburnz
    @rsoulburnz 7 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    i guess i liked this vid awhile ago, but it's refreshing to hear a condensed version of his freedom of speech....speech he gave in canada. and with better audio too! thanks for posting. viva la hitch!

  • @xxxchrist1
    @xxxchrist1 12 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Absolutely brilliant. Sadly missed.

  • @RolfHartmann
    @RolfHartmann 8 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    He just hitchslapped the shit out of them.

  • @HotaruZoku
    @HotaruZoku 8 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    That man has a vocabulary on par with V.

  • @algebra5766
    @algebra5766 9 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Hitchens is soooo right. How long will we be allowed to criticize militant islam? Lots of forces in the western world already try to make our mouths shut. 'I am offended by this and offended by that, therefore you have to shut up about this or that subject' 

    • @Ryan98063
      @Ryan98063 9 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      How right he is, look at Paris a few scant days ago. It's time not just intellectuals and people of clairvoyance like ourselves took up a shield to clerical and religious bullying, but that all people who appreciate any semblance of democracy or free speech or right to an opinion took one up too.

  • @tylertyler82
    @tylertyler82 12 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    "She's in the attic!" So that's where that phrase from Golden Girls comes from

  • @okiepita50t-town28
    @okiepita50t-town28 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    If Christofer had lived to see the cancel culture of today I believe he would’ve been appalled.

  • @jakeyw11
    @jakeyw11 12 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    The guy next to Hitch took nearly a minute to compose himself after the Anne Frank story!

  • @r.i.p.volodya
    @r.i.p.volodya 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    If I could embody anyone, it would be Christopher Hitchens - wit and wisdom made manifest.

  • @toddydarkko
    @toddydarkko 6 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    i discovered him in the 1980's as a wee teen

  • @aesutton
    @aesutton 12 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Ah, never heard this version of his renowned speech on this subject. It is less eloquent than the other, but a pleasure to hear. Thanks for sharing.

    • @sybo59
      @sybo59 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      More of a time crunch, I think. The Q&A portion here was a gem though.

  • @drnishantkathale5122
    @drnishantkathale5122 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Forget about Muslim countries, you cannot say that in India and several other countries. What a tragedy. Christopher should've been alive, for his voice was articulate and heard globally like no one else's has been, ever.

  • @SleepyPenguin-8og
    @SleepyPenguin-8og 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Heroic man.

  • @EmperorsNewWardrobe
    @EmperorsNewWardrobe 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    12:33 “Here is an enormous religion with gigantic power that claims that an archeangel spoke to an illiterate peasant and brought him a final revelation that supersedes all others. It’s a plagiarism by an epileptic of the worst bits of Judaism and Christianity. That’s obvious. How long do think I’m going to be able to say that anywhere I like?”

  • @mroane4087
    @mroane4087 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    5:15 Literally makes an entire speaker’s point obsolete in 10 seconds.

  • @Pines_Druid
    @Pines_Druid 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I miss that man :'[

  • @SumriseHD
    @SumriseHD ปีที่แล้ว

    Great that the audience is louder than him...

  • @fl333r
    @fl333r 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Your rights end where the rights of another begins.
    The right to not be offended is not one of them. The right to be safe from threats of violence is. And the case of the Nazis walking down the Jewish community is definitely an implied threat of violence.

  • @666or999
    @666or999 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What is the name of the book he mentioned? I can't quite make it out.

    • @greendragonreprised6885
      @greendragonreprised6885 9 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Areopagitica by Milton ---- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagitica

    • @666or999
      @666or999 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      George Forsyth
      Thanks a lot.

  • @dhruvnz
    @dhruvnz 12 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    thanks for the vid.

  • @MrTomte09
    @MrTomte09 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    When was this?

  • @fani5000
    @fani5000 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    great vid, thanks :D

  • @mistag3860
    @mistag3860 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Sinister piffle - what a prophet!

  • @ZerqTM
    @ZerqTM 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    she is in the attic! Horrible but funny!

  • @ufoLogisT78
    @ufoLogisT78 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    пора запретить всякую религию !религия та иная разделитель нации! это глупые и фанатичные и верующие в сказки

    • @fozzz-vb5oj
      @fozzz-vb5oj ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm praying for you... and kidding ✌️

  • @williampatrickwoods
    @williampatrickwoods 8 ปีที่แล้ว

    Much of this is taken from another speech he gave on free will.

    • @Leitilumo
      @Leitilumo 8 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      They are highly related subjects.

    • @sybo59
      @sybo59 7 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I think you mean free speech.

    • @williampatrickwoods
      @williampatrickwoods 7 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      sybo59 Yes I do, thank you for the correction.