The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.
Interpretation
Being a dissident requires more than just disagreement; it demands personal sacrifice and taking risks.
Christopher Hitchens emphasizes that the term 'dissident' carries a weight of responsibility that goes beyond simply having a differing opinion. To be a true dissident means to stand up against the status quo, often at significant personal cost, which distinguishes genuine dissenters from those who merely voice opposition without the courage to face the consequences.
In practice
During a speech about civil rights, you can use this quote to motivate activists.
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 β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve 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.
If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government.
If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies, choking in his own blood upon the ground.
It's one thing to be groped and harassed by passers-by, but when the state gropes you, it gives a green light that you are fair game.
Hollywood, as everyone knows, glamorizes physical courage. . . . if I had to define courage myself, I wouldn't say it's about shooting people. I'd say it's the quality that stimulates people, that enables them to move ahead and look beyond themselves.
Regardless of what barriers confront you, it is in your power to free yourselves; you have only to want to.
[Introverts,] the world needs you and it needs the things you carry. So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.
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