Ghost of a flea

Orwell's Victory

Addressing the dining hall at Hogwarts*, Christopher Hitchens lectured on freedom of speech on November 15, 2006. The U of T audience reliably applauds his contention the greatest source of hatred in the world is religion. Worth a listen even if the sentiment rankles. While Hitchens takes a libertarian view and I do not, I could not agree more with his resistance to the application of "hate speech" laws to religion; the institutionalization of heresy by another name.

Hang in there, he really gets up to steam at the 16:39 minute mark and on: "Self hatred, self righteousness and self pity." Absolutely right. We are giving away what is most precious in our society. This is, as he says, really serious.

* Otherwise known as Hart House. It is a joke Hitchens recycles.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 17, 2007 07:17 AM