Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring (Paperback))

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Go too far outside "the box", of course, and you will encounter a vernacular that is much less "tolerant". Indeed, he's particularly good (if, of course brief) at championing those caught in the teeth of a political vicegrip, those inhabitants of partition, in Belfast, Cyprus, Palestine, Kashmir, or cold war Berlin, say. This book would be useful to anyone who wants to get involved in some field that requires strong debate or anyone who wants to get involved in almost any cause, particularly more controversial ones. Sinister phrases of coercion, such as "stabbing in the back" or "giving ammunition to the enemy" have their origin in this dilemma and are always available to help compel unanimity.

It's one of the things the Hitch never, ever, ever was, and I will join with Martin Amis in celebrating him for his tenacity, his honesty, his willingness to sacrifice everything for his friends. In this short work the author takes up the subject of what it means to devote oneself to a life of opposition to the status quo by responding to many of the questions he has received on the subject throughout the years.The epistolary style is wonderful as it inspires and links to the reader's own desire for individual thought. How happy I am that these letters were not exclusive to his students (but how sad am I that I was not among them). I don't know if it's pure snobbery or a simple disregard for his audience, but Hitchens seems to very much enjoy talking over people. You may well be confronted with some species of bullying or bigotry, or some ill-phrased appeal to the general will, or some petty abuse of authority.

Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. When told of the death of the late Jerry Falwell, a bigoted charlatan if ever there was one, Hitchens exclaimed "Give him an enema and you could bury him in a matchbox. He therefore proposed living "as if" he were a citizen of a free society, "as if" lying and cowardice were not mandatory patriotic duties, "as if" his government had signed (which it actually had) the various treaties and agreements that enshrine universal human rights. But… to make up for that rather horrible indictment, you can be reassured that the entire cosmos is designed with you in mind. It may be that you, my dear X, recognise something of yourself in these instances; a disposition to resistance, however slight, against arbitrary authority or witless mass opinion, or a thrill of recognition when you encounter some well-wrought phrase from a free intelligence.Hitchens touches on his own ideological development, the nature of debate and humour, the ways in which language is slyly manipulated in apology for offensive and ridiculous positions, and how to see through this and recognise it whenever it arises in oneself. This book explores the entire range of "contrary positions"-from noble dissident to gratuitous pain in the butt.