(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Thursday, September 26, 2002
Christopher Hitchens, new go-to guy for the war-mongering right, offers his war mandate in today's Mirror. There is some sense within, most notably when he decries the employ of "glib expression" as "a substitute for thought," a practice in abundant evidence these days. Hitchens himself is often guilty of the practice, substituting bluster of late for substantive analysis.
In addition to the above practice, Hitchens, in his last 10 years of guilt-driven journalism over not having supported the Gulf War, has gained a mastery of another disingenuous practice: the positing of false binaries. In today's piece Hitchens vows "WE MUST FIGHT IRAQ" before discussing what to his withering brain seems the sole alternative, also all-capped, "ISOLATIONISM." Hitchens mandate fails to say why we "must" attack the Iraqi people and why we "must" do so immediately.
The above omissions on Hitchens part are, I believe, honest. No doubt he's wanted a strike on Iraq from the beginning. His contempt for dictatorship is one of his admirable qualities, though his support of imperial violence in opposing those dictatorships - with the obvious implications for the people on the ground - is not. Even less supportable is the contention that anything at all desirable will succeed the deposed dictator. What is promised is seldom delivered.
Hitchens is always a good read, and had his departure from The Nation occurred at an earlier time, it would have saddened me greatly. With his descent into demagoguery and comprehensive bellicosity, that sadness is minimal. posted by Anonymous4:17 PM
The Watchers
WBW: Keeping track of the war exhortations of the warbloggers.