rigorousintuition.ca

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

[source disputed]

Revolution is in the air.

...

You have to wonder why there hasn't been a louder outcry sooner...

...people... are paralyzed, rubbing their eyes as if they've just stirred from a dream. They are dazed, and see the drama unfolding inexorably and inevitably before them. They are looking around for someone to blame, so watch now and see how the pot starts boiling... in mid-April around tax time.

But this is only the beginning.

People are funny. Just before the catastrophic explosion, they get lethargic, apathetic and goofy, almost catatonic, crippled by shock into denial. They look to a higher authority (government) to intervene. They look to their champion. They welcome stricter controls against the greedy individuals (corporations and banks) they feel have violated them. They seek protection from all the forces they pretend they were unaware of. Eventually, they are disillusioned with their champion. Their protector becomes their oppressor. They revolt.

There is going to be a big battle in this country. But not quite yet. It's as if the people have been stung by a tropical insect or a snake whose venom leaves the victim powerless to observe itself being devoured.

The story will change dramatically... during the second half of 2010 and 2011. Some people will get violent for sure. Some will jump out of windows believing the end is near and all is lost. Others will get drunk and stay drunk. Some will close their eyes and hope it isn't happening. Many, however, will have faith in the future, move ahead with wisdom and compassion and decide to take the high road and meet the challenge.

If you've ever gone white-water rafting, that's how it is right now. You drift lazily down a river in the sunlight, watching the trees and the wildlife, and then, suddenly, you're confronted with wild rapids. It's nothing to be scared of, but you have to stay frosty, keep your head and be ready to act spontaneously and adapt to enormous, unexpected change. It can actually be an invigorating, refreshing, enlivening and liberating experience to be alive and participate actively in the rebirth and reconstruction that follows.

So don't pretend we're not headed toward those rapids. We're not there yet, though. We're still on the raft, enjoying the scenery. But it's coming. Be sure of that.

They got small minds but they carry big guns...

Among his greatest hits are his observation that women aren't funny, his pooh-poohing of the Haditha massacre, and his defense of the jailed Holocaust denier David Irving, who he hailed as a "great historian." More recently, Hitchens has volunteered himself as the licker of Wolfowitz's comb, claiming that the corrupt World Bank president "did nothing wrong."

Hitchens has cast these seemingly untenable positions as "contrarian," lending himself not only an air of intellectual bravado, but a veneer of integrity as well. ... He poses as a maverick, an intellectually macho literary gun-slinger who loves nothing more than provoking the indignant howls of the madding crowd.

Max Blumenthal