It was two years ago today that one of the greatest intellectual minds of our time has ceased to be among us. Loved and hated by many, this man was one of your humble servant’s greatest teachers on the concept of moral universalism.
I write however, dear reader, not in the wish to eulogize Hitchens beyond the great intellectuals and friends of his that did so far better than I. I’m using the occasion to answer a question. I was recently asked about my opinion on revolution, specifically in regards to what gauges my support for some over other violent movements for human emancipation.
Do I support Hizbullah, the Taliban and the IRA’s causes as passionately as I supported Mandela’s? Apparently I would be a hypocrite for not doing so.
Let me ask my kind questioner this: do you really think that the Hezbollah are fighting more so against Israeli apartheid or against the Jewish threat?
Do you think they give more of a damn about human emancipation or more about their wet dream to reinstate their precious f***ing lost Caliphate?
What do you think that a group such as that is going to do once they end the apartheid, lay down their arms? If so, your naïveté makes me blush.
The Taliban, on the other hand, did bring their wet dream to fruition, if nowhere else than at least to the great country of Afghanistan. I’m not sure where you see human emancipation in this example but I can assure you that every last Afghani would have just as much trouble.
In case I haven’t made myself clear: NO, I don’t think that choosing to support revolutionary movements who actually fight for human emancipation over those who use it as a pretense to enslave humanity under various forms of fascism shows hypocrisy on my end.
YES, I think that, at the very least, you do not understand the definition of hypocrisy, moral universalism, or emancipation if you’re willing to use such poor examples to question my my choices of which revolutions I support.
Much love,
Zen Politics
“Homework: Remember Hitchens” – Published December 15, 2013
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