It's impossible, I think, however much I'd become disillusioned politically or evolve into a post-political person, I don't think I'd ever change my view that socialism is the best political moment humans have ever come up with.
Interpretation
Christopher Hitchens expresses his unwavering belief in socialism as the best political system despite possible disillusionment.
In this quote, Christopher Hitchens conveys the idea that, regardless of his evolving political views or disillusionment, he firmly believes that socialism represents the pinnacle of political thought created by humanity. This conviction highlights his admiration for socialist principles as a framework for achieving social equality and justice, emphasizing that such beliefs can endure even amidst changing perspectives.
In practice
In a discussion on political ideologies during a university seminar, this quote can illustrate the steadfast belief in socialism.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
I'm concerned when certain movements or countries have been isolated from the international dialogue because then you have no way of influencing them.
The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.
U.S. Government propaganda tries to give the impression that aerial bombardment achieves near-surgical accuracy, so that military targets can be destroyed with minimal effect on civilians. Technical documents give a different picture.
The foremost or indeed sole condition required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community is to love equality or to get men to believe you love it. Thus, the science of despotism, which was once so complex, has been simplified and reduced, as it were, to a single principle.
Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.
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