[I]n a place with absolutely no private or personal life, with the incessant worship of a mediocre career-sadist as the only culture, where all citizens are the permanent property of the state, the highest form of pointlessness has been achieved.
Interpretation
The quote critiques a society lacking individuality and personal freedom, emphasizing the absurdity of such existence.
Christopher Hitchens' quote illustrates the dangers of a society that prioritizes conformity and control over personal freedom and individuality. In a world where private lives are nonexistent and the state holds absolute power over its citizens, the essence of human experience and meaning is lost, leading to a life devoid of purpose and fulfillment. Hitchens warns against the perils of mediocrity and the worship of oppressive authority, suggesting that such a scenario represents the pinnacle of futility.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of maintaining individual freedoms in a democratic society.
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.
We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
We are all born idolaters, and idolatry is good, because it is in the nature of man. Who can get beyond it? Only the perfect man, the God-man. The rest are all idolaters. So long as we see this universe before us, with its forms and shapes, we are all idolaters. This is a gigantic symbol we are worshipping. He who says he is the body is a born idolater.
In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.
there are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it's too late and there's nothing worse than too late
The ductless glands secrete among other things our moods, our aspirations, our philosophy of life.
It made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense of wonder and awe in the face of the drama of human feeling which is hidden by the external drama of life.
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