(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
Monday, October 21, 2002
The fans of mass death are busy constructing ever-higher pedestals on which to place Christopher Hitchens, with G. Harlan Reynolds, as expected, registering his customary pithy approval. Reynolds seems to have erred, though, filing his take on Hitchens' latest on the main page of his warblog instead of his PsyWar page, as would have been appropriate.
The piece in question is another yawn-inducer in which Hitchens continues to mine the quarry of ex-leftism to great profit. This is done in strict adherence to the standard techniques: Mark Cooper-style statements about "the left," arguing by locating a few idiots in the crowd, and seizing on the most indefensible pronouncements of the fringe. It's tiresome stuff to read, and must have been tiresome to write, as Hitchens' steam is so reduced by the piece's conclusion that he descends into Chomsky-bashing. It's a shame he didn't bring up Chomsky earlier, when he was talking about "the left's" alleged indifference to the plight of the Kurds. But that wouldn't have advanced his argument any.
In the end it's another unremarkable Hitchens defense of imperialism. An appreciation of Kipling is sure to follow.
Remarkable that an apparently sentient, well-read man can fulminate against "those who thought the Taliban-al Qaeda base in Afghanistan was not worth fighting about" while assuring us that a military campaign against the people of Iraq will supply "the promise of a better life" for a portion of the same. Has he not followed the progress of The War Against Terrorism (TWAT) and the far more modest struggle to provide the Afghans with something better? The former has failed wholesale. In re: the latter, we have secured the services of a fine Mayor for Kabul and provided him a former ice cream man with whom to work. Outside Kabul, the misery seems undiminished, with some affirming they were better off under the Russians. Noted humanist Chuck Krauthammer recently noted America's "position to re-shape norms, alter expectations and create new realities" through an "unapologetic and implacable demonstrations of will," and Hitchens is ready and waiting to see those splendid "new realities" perpetrated against seemingly anybody. posted by Anonymous1:29 AM
The Watchers
WBW: Keeping track of the war exhortations of the warbloggers.