Circus Lupus said:I wonder how Hitchens' second hand exculpations play with Iraq's numerous secular educated thinkers. Does having six satellite tv channels of political discourse make up for having all your relatives vaporised by US empire 'SMART' weapons?
Paul Hotflush said:What the mutual embrace of Hitchens and the neocons tells us is that Hitchens’s assessment of neoconservatism is essentially correct: the regnant force in American conservatism today is warmed-over Trotskyism, which views America merely as the embodiment of the ideology of global revolution.
I do think that the European left's anti-neocon dogma is more to do with xenophobia than anything else.
I do think that the European left's anti-neocon dogma is more to do with xenophobia than anything else.?
k-punk said:Whereas bombing a country which most Americans couldn't even find on a map indicates a healthy and positive attitude towards other nations and cultures, I suppose?
matt b said:mr hotflush, i know your positions are taken after extensive reading- could you provide evidence of this?
k-punk said:Whereas bombing a country which most Americans couldn't even find on a map indicates a healthy and positive attitude towards other nations and cultures, I suppose?
Paul Hotflush said:Nice one K-Punk, succinctly illustrated my point there.
Most lefty critiques of the neocons centre on the over-arching American dominance bit, rather than the actual detail. If they paid a bit more attention, they'd more than likley find themselves agreeing to more of it than they'd care to admit.
Paul Hotflush said:Matthew, surely you realise that this isn't the kind of thing you can just whip out a nice neat piece of evidence for?! .
Paul Hotflush said:However, the fact that neocon ideas are in fact much closer to traditional leftwing thought than tradidtional conservatism should point you in the right direction.
k-punk said:How's that? Being anti US foreign policy isn't the same as being xenophobic.
matt b said:what are you on about?? i can see how people like hitchens move easily from trotskyism to neo-con (they both believe that elites should govern 'the masses'), but your sentence makes no sense.
Paul Hotflush said:You obviously don't know much about neocon thought (it's not just about bombing a-rabs, you know!). Alternatively, you don't know much about traditional left/right ideology.
Paul Hotflush said:I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of self-education, old chap.