Dear fellow-unbelievers,

Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.

That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit…) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson’s wall of separation. And don’t keep the faith.

Sincerely

Christopher Hitchens

His portfolio is vast and would keep those of us that are interested busy for a good while.  But it’s certainly sad knowing that this portfolio is now complete.

• David Frum on what he would do to fix unemployment [Frum Forum]
• Proud to be a Google Chrome user…or just not an IE user [Freakonomics]
• Kevin Drum suspects that public opinion leans right [Mother Jones]
• Eugene Robinson on the “Hold Your Nose Deal” [Washington Post]
• Maybe that Colonial African Art History degree is actually a good idea [Carpe Diem]

“Whereas, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Dirk Nowitzki chose to re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks in the summer of 2010, forgoing free agency and keeping his talents in Dallas, remaining loyal to the team, city and fans for whom he played his entire career…”

The Ohio resolution demonstrates how much of a circus this Lebron thing has become.  People have been asking me what my “position” is on Lebron James, as if somehow the Lebron issue is up there with the deficit, Afghanistan, etc.  I’ve heard some seriously vitriolic rhetoric directed toward both Lebron and his team, an anger that often seems strangely unique to professional sports.

But maybe some of this anger, particularly from Cleveland, is understandable.  The departure of mega stars from even major markets has a significant effect, as Chicago witnessed in 1998 when Michael Jordan retired for the second time, and Houston experienced when Hakeem Olajuwon left the Rockets.  Cleveland, on the other hand, isn’t exactly a major market.  And for a city like Cleveland to have, then lose, the biggest thing in basketball since Michael Jordan, it is not an easy pill to swallow.

Conservative estimates of the cost of Lebron’s departure in downtown Cleveland alone are in the $50 million dollar range.  That’s no small number for a city of three hundred something thousand.  Think about the lost revenue in bars, restaurants, and jersey sales —  not to mention ticket sales. Think about the psychological effect the presence of such a superstar provides to a city’s residents.  The excitement, pride, and hope associated with a Lebron James can’t be discounted.

Importantly, these effects would exist irrespective of how Lebron left.  Even if he somehow left on good terms, the city would still be feeling the heat.  But when you factor in the ego-binge that surrounded his decision-with-a-capital-D, that amounts to some major salt in the wound.

Lebron will win a championship in Miami, and most likely more than one.  He’ll certainly get the last laugh here.  And we can’t place the burden of a city’s economy on him.  But there’s a point where sports goes beyond simple entertainment, and starts significantly affecting lives.

Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.

That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit…) Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson’s wall of separation. And don’t keep the faith.

Sincerely

Christopher Hitchens

I appreciate Nafisi’s sentiments, and people who know me know how much I dig Bob Dylan.  But there’s a lot that can be said in response to this.  First of all, Dylan’s non-protest portfolio pretty much poops on any other artist’s entire repertoire in terms of sheer quantity.  It’s not like hearing songs like “Visions of Johanna,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” or “Simple Twist of Fate,” is any less a Dylan experience.

Second of all, what are the chances that people in the audience actually understood any of the words that came out of Dylan’s mouth?  I’ve seen him live, and have realized that he played some of my favorite songs only after going home and checking the set list online.  The guy’s delivery is almost incomprehensible these days.   I could only imagine how I’d feel if I were, um, Chinese.

Asifi laments that Bob Dylan wasn’t able to play songs like “Desolation Row”, which he did in Taiwan a few nights earlier.  I love that song, but I’ve already fully accepted that I will die having no clue what the hell it’s actually about.  Sometimes I think that Dylan just wrote it to prove to himself that any gibberish he speaks will be treated as gospel by those too insecure to say they don’t understand it.  Weird Al brilliantly parodied this point.

I realize that there is a larger point here about complying with state censorship, regardless of whether people understand the message, etc.  I guess I just don’t understand why the Chinese would even want to censor this stuff and thus am skeptical as to what kind of opportunity was missed by Dylan being complicit.  And considering that Dylan was much more than just a protest singer, which I think his post Civil Rights era work sought to prove, he just took it as an opportunity to play some of his other songs.  After all, the guy has written over 500 of them.