tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post3956297039495571525..comments2023-10-21T11:46:32.529+01:00Comments on Madame Arcati: Jody Tresidder: Christopher Hitchens and a female boxerMadame Arcatihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04823823014493798116noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-27630532027997231392008-11-19T08:51:00.000+00:002008-11-19T08:51:00.000+00:00Certainly Hitchens' various turns of opinion leave...Certainly Hitchens' various turns of opinion leaven the serious business of celebrity arse-licking in VF. For myself, I should prefer to read the elegant prose of talents who actually hold an opinion because of a principle. Hitchens strikes poses for their contribution to his greater glory and income. Irony suffuses everything he writes: he actually doesn't believe in anything at all. Nothing. Still, there are worse things he could do. He is essentially talentedly trivial.Madame Arcatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04823823014493798116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-34013172161165115322008-11-18T19:46:00.000+00:002008-11-18T19:46:00.000+00:00And you make a serious response, Madame. But would...And you make a serious response, Madame. But wouldn't we rather that opinionated and outspoken writers like Hitchens continue to appear in Vanity Fair, rather than turning the magazine over completely to celebrity fawning? Even allowing for the occasional volte face, surely such journalism is rather more satisfying to read than yet another arse-licking profile of a Hollywood celeb?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-84454823924484641872008-11-17T17:28:00.000+00:002008-11-17T17:28:00.000+00:00You make a serious point but I'm afaid Mr H is not...You make a serious point but I'm afaid Mr H is notorious for his switches of opinion. He was once a champion of the left. I don't think anyone would argue that now; indeed at times he sounds like a seasoned neocon but for his clever caveats and diversions and frilly phrase fog banks. Do remember Mr Hitchens is a "contarian" so altering his view, even for visceral, irrational reasons, is crucial if he wishes to remain, er, relevant. One day he'll awake in an afterlife condition and shamelessly confess he made an error before writing for the Psychic Vanity Fair edited by a strange old man with funny hair. He's quite incorrigible.Madame Arcatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04823823014493798116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-76549184193522710092008-11-17T09:22:00.000+00:002008-11-17T09:22:00.000+00:00The important element in the Hitchens/waterboardin...The important element in the Hitchens/waterboarding episode is the way in which experience reversed his view. First, he argued that waterboarding was not "torture", simply a rather uncomfortable procedure. Then, challenged on this view, he volunteered to undergo the procedure - importantly, in order to prove his point. However, having undergone the procedure, he then reversed his opinion entirely, something which he is frankly not known for doing. Any publicity he gained as a result is amply justified by the fact that he reversed his initial opinion in the light of experience. If more journalists and politicians were willing to undergo procedures they either condemn or justify, and then to speak from experience rather than conjecture, surely "the world would be a bettr place"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-8750189578580453042008-11-15T12:47:00.000+00:002008-11-15T12:47:00.000+00:00I see Madame as a crystal ball.... and the ones th...I see Madame as a crystal ball.... and the ones that call others cynics are rather cynical themselves...s.Stephanie Mastinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09188784614376266075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30643113.post-67042742924107073242008-11-14T19:10:00.000+00:002008-11-14T19:10:00.000+00:00What a dreadful cynic Arcati is, full of bile. No ...What a dreadful cynic Arcati is, full of bile. No wonder she liked Baader-Meinhof.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com