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Entry: Hitchens Unhinged Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/hitchens_unhinged_part_i#6666 Post contents: Hitchens is a common drunk. He is also a bully, one who in his past (when younger and less damaged by his addiction) used to mesmerize with his contrarian positions on sacred cows. Now he is just combative and obviously intellectually slovenly. A club has to have rules. Banning the speaker for his behavior rather than for his views is perfectly in order, after such a display of threat and vulgarity. The fact that Hitchens did not present the objective case when he wrote in Vanity Fair must mean that there was some sober reflection (however brief) that to present the facts would put him in a bad light. He therefore opted for bias. It cannot have escaped him, either, that the war he championed has become a debacle. His own country of origin is pulling out its troops. There is in his rant at the club a note of regret that he became an American citizen, when he says that he thought it would bring him the freedom to run wild as he did in the clubs of America, as his right of free speech. He knows damn well that in England he'd have to go into rehab if he hoped to appear in public just about anywhere but Hyde Park corner standing on a box. But I wonder if they have rules there too for drunks who want to pick fights. Sent at: 2008 05 16