Hitch: "Mass murder of people on aeroplanes is a leading cause of poverty"

[BurtWorm]

Writing about the "Great Foiled Terror Plot," Christopher "I, The Jury" Hitchens makes this connection:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17550835&method=full&siteid=94762-name_page.html

...

One of the great privileges of the ordinary citizen has been taken away, or at any rate curtailed - just like that.

Imagine how furious we would be if it was the state that had made it hard to leave and return to Britain.

But a tiny group of freaks has made this decision for us. The cost of even a failed attempt is felt immediately in cancelled flights and onerous inspections.

A fine day's work already for them. But what if their plan had succeeded? Not only would we be trying to separate mangled flesh from the wreckage of fuselages, but the world economy and the freedom of movement that underpins it, would dive. At the very least, poorer countries that depend on tourism would have seen a severe drop in wages. One sometimes hears weak people argue that terrorism is caused by poverty....

On the contrary, the mass murder of people on aeroplanes is a leading cause of poverty. And this is not by accident.

It is the aim of religious fundamentalists to create a state of misery and deprivation that might - in their disordered minds - help them to grab power.

[acmavm]

1. Stupidity on a scale such as his is a leading cause of

rage in adults with brain wave patterns.

[FormerDittoHead]

2. not only is his thinking slipping, but so is his vocabulary!

I'm used to having to reach for a dictionary while reading Hitch. The booze must have left him with two brain cells to bump together at random. He then starts writing, apparently.

In Hitch's defense, however, I should point out that he hates all religion, so he's not playing favorites...

[wtmusic]

6. "the wreckage of fuselages"

just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

He still fails to acknowledge any fault on the part of the West, but whatever. "They're just crazy".

[CollegeDUer]

3. I really don't think the suicide bombers are trying to grab power

These are acts of maligned desperation; they are not at all designed to sieze power. I don't like it anymore than Hitchens does, but his demonization is not the truth anymore than him saying Galloway spent his entire life looking for "a tyrannical fatherland."

[bryant69]

4. That reads like a parody

Lord almighty.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Dhalgren]

9. It does sound as though his tongue is way over in his cheek.

I am going to take it as satire, it's easier that way...

[orwell]

5. Once again Hitch...

...don't write immediately after returning from Happy Hour.

Those $2 boilermakers can really add up...

[w4rma]

7. Well, Bush helped the fundies win the presidency in Iran in 2005 by

giving the fundies in Iran something to fight for (Iraq).

He destroyed the secular government in Iraq creating an opening for the fundies who have now essentially taken over Iraq and have now instituted Sharia law which keeps the women at home in robes and religious murders all over.

He goaded Israel into tearing down Lebanon which has the only other democracy in the middle east.

[WCGreen]

8. MAybe, just maybe a potential cause of poverty.....

But a leading cause as of now...

Come on Hitch, lay off the Scotch for a few days....

[BurtWorm]

11. Terrorism may be a proximate cause of some poverty

by stealing dollars from social programs to pay for security measures. But even then, only if the government ramps itself up into a Security State, thereby stealing **a whole lot** of dollars from social programs, is it likely to actually impoverish anyone.

It's a totally nonsensical, perversely wishful, sort of "thinking."

[ProfessorGAC]

10. The Fact That He Finds Any Causative Link Is Mind-Boggling

There is nothing in this article that provide a single reason to make the logical (and i use that word loosely) connection between the crashing of planes, the privation he discusses, and how that helps the terrorists.

It is all a connection in his mind, so he's saying he's right because he says so, and he says so because he thinks so, and he thinks so because he's right.

How convenient.
The Professor

[intaglio]

12. Please let me appologise

I'm sorry that Christopher Hitchens escaped our National Health service mental health program and was able to get to the US.

That said please keep him we don't want him back

[BurtWorm]

13. Ha ha!

:toast: <-- (drink responsibly)

Welcome to DU!

[AlCzervik]

14. How has he not choked on his own drunk induced vomited?

seriously?

[BurtWorm]

15. He can still type, even while choking on his own vomit.

:beer: :puke: :hangover:

[warrens]

16. Yeah, like most Arabs lead such swell lives

Hey, bonehead, go to Saudi Arabia and see how the average person lives, you moron.