Christopher Hitchens on free speech, pt 1 of 3

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Excerpt from a Canadian symposium. Hitchens makes a brilliant historical case for the defense of free speech and open, honest discourse.
Hitchens was invited by the University of Toronto's Hart House Debating Club to voice his opinion on the subject of the evening's debate: "Be It Resolved: Freedom of Speech Includes the Freedom to Hate".
Following a formal debate among four students, Hitchens explains why it is an intellectual duty to defend the right of people we may disgree with. Even revisionists like David Irving has a right not be imprisoned for his views about the Holocaust.

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7 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 32

@abuliberalee 12 лет назад

This lecture alone makes his life a more valuable contribution to the world than 99% of people. RIP Hitchens and bravo on a life well lived and a world that's the better for it.

@Snoopz0087 12 лет назад

@5:51 "How do I know that I know this except that I've always been taught this and never heard anything else?" This is one of the most thoughtful and profound questions that has ever been asked by man. Try going for 1 day asking yourself this question everytime you recall a fact or answer a question instinctively - It will change your perspective on life and the human quest for knowledge and understanding (I am 100% serious here, please try doing this).

@sony1024 17 лет назад

Thank you for posting this speech.

@TheChristnumber1 11 лет назад

Absolutely spot on! Have a thumbs up!

@grimmwarden1903 10 лет назад

Amazing speech.

@RandomGuyyy 16 лет назад

Hitchens makes the point about free speech because he doesn't fear debate.

@instereovideos 15 лет назад

It's a bit silly to take a stab at Oliver Wendell Holmes here... Holmes's decision in the case he is referring to is bogus by today's free speech standards, but we hadn't gotten that far yet... it was HOLMES'S dissent in a case a couple of years later that GAVE us the broadened free speech idea that hitchens is trying to argue for here. Holmes is the reason that outspoken people like Hitchens have the freedom of speech that they do. Wrong man to call "over praised" on this issue.

@BrianAsh100 13 лет назад

Who is going to speak up so eloquently for freedom from the tyrrany of religion when he is gone?

@instereovideos 15 лет назад

yeah sure. you'll want to compare supreme court cases: Schenk vs. United States (holmes majority opinion) with Abrams vs. United States (holmes dissent), both are 1919. In Schenk, holmes agreed to condemn the socialists hitchens is talking about (under his "clear and present danger"). In Abrams, the court argued a similar circumstance but holmes dissented. Holmes had changed his mind, and realized that even in a time of war, freedom to criticize the government is necessary. (cont)

@instereovideos 15 лет назад

(cont) Holmes dissent in the case was used in a later case to change the precedent about free speech during war time. Its why people today can complain about the Iraq war and not go to jail under acts like the 1917 "sedition act." The truth is, freedom of speech the way it is today is a fairly recent idea, at least in the legal sense. Hitchens is on the right side of the issue, just on the wrong side of Holmes.

@boxer12350 7 лет назад

my God, that voice

@joelhowells1615 14 лет назад

@instereovideos Surely the First Amendment had the same wording when Justice Holmes sat on the bench?

@Wotuer 15 лет назад

Can i get this with subs somewhere?

@ErikBramsen 13 лет назад

Hitchens is on from 0:40

@johnjsal 13 лет назад

@TheDano1947 I rather think the blame lies with the Nazis themselves.

@MidnightRambler 9 лет назад

I use to find him interesting, but as the years went on he became another tedious close minded chaser of headlines and cash

@bobobandy9382 6 лет назад

Do you have any examples?

@CliffM85 13 лет назад

@TheBannedAtheist Denzel Washington.

@IulianusTabernarius 11 лет назад

There has to be a version of this without that grating buffoon in front of the light bulb ironically highlighting his dim outlook.

@instereovideos 14 лет назад

@joelhowells Yeah, you're not making a very clever statement here.... People are very apt to assume that the First Amendment meant then exactly what it means to us now... but that's because they don't have any concept of what it meant then. Common Law and precedent changes the interpretation of things over time. At Holmes's time, his verdict was in line with the common interpretation... and HE is the hero responsible for changing it to what we have today by dissenting two years later.

@jjobie 12 лет назад

Hitch looks just a tad lubricated in this video.

@darwinkilledgod 13 лет назад

@hitchwatch Didn't Iran invade Iraq a while back? I seem to recall selling arms to Iraq to fight them... yes, yes, I'm quite sure of it. Stop saying stupid things.