Hitchens on Intelligence Squared

Hitchens was brilliant as usual on NPR's debate last night, Intelligence Squared. The topic of discussion was: Freedom of expression must include the right to offend. Hitchens and two others agreed, while another panell of three disagreed.

This topic was motivated, of course, by the uproar and the violence and the murder in the Muslim world following the publication of a handful of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a small Danish newspaper.

The stream is available here.

Hitchen's concluding remarks begin at minute 49 in the 53 minute version and at minute 140 in the 143 minute version.

I'm transcribing his comments here:

"The real question, or if you like the sub-text question, before us is this "Is nothing sacred?" What we've been discussing is the old question whether or not there is such an offense as blashphemy or profanity?" Now if I don't tell you exactly what I think about the simpering speeches that came from the other side, I'm not censoring myself, I'm just being polite, and civil and just saving some of your time.

What I will not prevent myself from saying, and will not let anyone else prevent me from saying is the following: It is wrong and it always has been for churches -- powerful, secular, human institutions -- to claim exemption from criticism, which is what really is being asked here. If there's going to be respect, it has to be mutual.

Does Islam respect my right to un-belief? Of course it does not.

Does it respect the right of a muslim to appostasize and change belief? Of course it does not.

I have had to have -- I can name now four or five friends, six or eight, maybe, if I had time, five or six of whom you would certainl have heard of, who have to live their lives under police protection for commenting on Islam, for having an opinion on it, and this is getting steadily worse all the time. And it's grotesque!

Here is an enormous religion with gigantic power that claims that an archangle spoke to an illiterate peseant and brought him a final revelation that supercedes all others. Its a plagarism by an epileptic of the worst bits of Judeaism and Christianity. That's obvious, it seems to me.

Do you think -- How long do you think I'm going to be able to say that anywhere I like? It would already be quite a risky thing to say in quite a lot of places. I did not come to the Uninted States of America 25 years ago to learn how to keep my mouth shut, and I'm going to reject all offers that I change that policy, however simperingly they are put."