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Quote by Christopher Hitchens

“It [Obama's Nobel peace prize] would be like giving someone an Oscar in the hope that it would encourage them to make a decent motion picture.”

Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Author

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was an English-American author, journalist, and social critic. He was known for his sharp wit and controversial views, particularly on religion and politics. Hitchens was a prominent figure in the public discourse of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. more

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“I can never quite decide whether the anti-Columbus movement is merely risible or faintly sinister. It is sinister, though, because it is an ignorant celebration of stasis and backwardness, with an unpleasant tinge of self-hatred.”

I Can Self Movement Hatred Ignorant Celebration Never Quit Sinister Columbus Self Hatred Stasis

Author:Christopher Hitchens

“It was an axiom of "containment" that no part of the known world could be considered neutral. "Neutralism" was among the Cold Warriors' gravest curse words, applied with caustic hostility to India and even France. Those who were not with were against, subjected to intense economic and ideological and sometimes military pressure to fall into line.”

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“There is a limit to the success of conservative populism and the exploitation of "little guy" or "silent majority" rhetoric, and it is very often reached because of the emaciated, corrupted personalities of the demagogues themselves.”

Littles Guy Personality Limits Majority Silent Conservative Exploitation Rhetoric Populism Silent Majority

Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“Every campaign, Garry Wills once wrote, "taught Nixon the same lesson: mobilize resentment against those in power." History taught the same to many conservative and reactionary populist movements, whose real attitude to those in power and authority was one of a servile, envious, vicarious adoration.”

Real Attitude Movement Taught Lessons Authority Conservative Campaigns Resentment Adoration Envious Reactionaries Populist Vicarious

Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“The reading public isn't born that doesn't think foreigners are either funny or faintly sinister.”

Thinking Reading Born Foreigners Sinister

Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“The United States has an isolationist and insular culture, combined with a global and interventionist posture. This highly dangerous and febrile mixture, which greatly facilitates the task of the fear-mongers and chauvinists, needs a very exact and nuanced diagnosis. I don't think that analogies from the totalitarian model, however suggestive, are sufficient.”

Thinking Needs States Culture United United States Dangerous Models Tasks Sufficient Mixtures Diagnosis Posture Analogies Facilitate

Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“The polls undoubtedly help to decide what people think, but their most important long-term influence may be on how people think. The interrogative process is very distinctly weighted against the asking of an intelligent question or the recording of a thoughtful answer.”

People Thinking May Long Important Helping Process Term Answers Influence Intelligent Asking Long Term Thoughtful Polls

Book:For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

Source: For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports

“Many of the points made by the antiwar movement have been consciously assimilated by the Pentagon and its lawyers and advisers. Precision weaponry is good in itself, but its ability to discriminate is improving and will continue to improve. Cluster bombs are perhaps not good in themselves, but when they are dropped on identifiable concentrations of Taliban troops, they do have a heartening effect.”

Has Beens Made Ability Effects Movement Lawyer Bombs Concentration Antiwar Troops Improving Precision Taliban Adviser Pentagon Clusters Weaponry

Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

Source: Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“Only a complete moral idiot can believe for an instant that we are fighting against the wretched of the earth. We are fighting, as I said before, against the scum of the earth”

Believe Said Earth Fighting Moral Idiot Instant Wretched Scum Scum Of The Earth

Book:Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

Source: Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

“It must be obvious to anyone who can think at all that the charges against the Hussein regime are, as concerns arsenals of genocidal weaponry, true.”

Thinking Concern Obvious Regimes Hussein Arsenal Weaponry

Author:Christopher Hitchens