I wish more interviewers conducted themselves like John Anderson. He allows his guest to reply to a question without constantly interrupting. Many could learn from his approach.
" The generation now coming out of Western schools is unable to distinguish good from bad. Even those words are unacceptable. This results in impaired thinking ability. " Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Died 2008
I just finished reading The Gulag Archipelago. I knew how bad the Soviets were, but, it's another thing to read the 1st hand accounts. And, looking at what's happening today (BKM/Antifa/Media protection/Cancer Culture), how much the cancer culture people say, is what the Soviets/Bolsheviks said. Startling.
Before you assume .. as it's hard to believe but would watch some of the shoal witness testemonials on here and you can hear first hand how this operated and panned out amongst people .. horrifying!
But he's also admitted to going against the crowd just for the sake of it, which is not laudable. It's fine to 'run with the crowd' if the crowd is right. The point is to be as unbiased as possible, to think things through and gather the most compelling evidence frok BOTH sides of the argument and then decide for yourself in an informed way. The problem is that a lot of people are incapable of doing this, because they lack the intellectual capacity or they don't have the time or energy or they can't be bothered.
@@lavienestpasunlongfleuvetr2559 What he's getting at is giving up your capacity for individual critical thought, surrendering it to a mob mentality. You can run with a crowd, but it's far harder to do that as your own man than just as a functionary of the crowd or movement.
For less intelligent folk like myself, it often requires a certain bloody-minded stubbornness in the face of people far wittier and more articulate than we are, a stubbornness much maligned as "Ludditism" or bone-headedness. It has it's place, like everything.
Yes, people are in general, quite dumb. Never thought I'd be saying this, but my patience with fellow Brits over covid scam was the last straw positively the last straw.
But what can be done on an individual level? It is so, the level of bullshit is insurmountable, and I don't wish to mingle with these baboons any longer, I can't stand it
Kevin Smith People are basically bad,,they just don’t always get the opportunity to exercise their badness. Hitler gave ordinary people the opportunity to be bad,,,,,,,,,I will say no more.
Well said, and I find that people will piggy back whatever the in trend of thought and action is for two reasons, 1: social climbing and acceptance 2: access to resources (money/ work opportunities). This explains why there were several million kkk members in the 50’s and 60’s as well as the mass acceptance of the genocide of the jews in Germany. Today its woke anti male/ anti white ideology.
Ignorant people can’t be good people? He in fact says “it’s extraordinary how gullible most people are”- because these things are not mutually exclusive
They're mostly temperamentally good and mostly do the right thing when directly interacting with someone else. The problem comes when they try to think about larger abstract issues at the group/society level.
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. "In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” - Michael Crichton
I didn't realize this was an identified sociologic phenomena. I had my epiphany on this about 10 years ago or so. I used to be a staunch Liberal, but then I started reading articles about areas I which I had attained relative expertise. I realized the articles were blatantly wrong. In short order I initially perceived the articles as journalistic incompetence but they were so consistently one sided, filled with such inherent bias, always favoring the left, I realize it wasn't incompetence, it was intent. It was malicious mendacity... it was by design! And the epiphany... if in these areas, what about other areas? And with a little digging on my own I soon realized everything the mainstream media was presenting was either misleading, manipulative, false, deceptive, or rank libel/slander. I was on to fake news before it was a meme and kaboom, I was instantly a conservative. Glad to see others are realizing it too.
@@pilroberts6185 Your post reeks of pride, ideology and one-sided thinking. You flipped from one extreme to the other. Now you perceive everything as propaganda. That's not what I would call a measured approach. Take each piece of information and test it for plausibility on it's individual merits, wherever it may issue from.
@@hal900x I guess you don't know what Conservatism is, it's anything but 'extreme'. Limited government - how is that extreme? Individual liberty - how is that extreme? Rule of law - what's extreme about that? National sovereignty - explain the extremism in that? Free markets - just not buying any extremism exists in this one.
@@pilroberts6185 You really are oblivious. I am commenting specifically on your previous post, how can you not see that? Read my reply carefully. I said nothing about general conservative beliefs. Come on dude. You are not helping to change my views on you, you are falling into the old paradigm of the loud, opinionated and oblivious Fox News fan.
@@hal900x Wow you are rather insufferable. My initial post simply described the epiphany which led to my evolution from a liberal to a conservative. Also I was expressing my views, not seeking to change yours. First you label me 'extreme', now you label me or at least insinuate I'm an old loud opinionated oblivious Fox News fan. Good grief; you interject yourself into my comment (which is fine) but make it about yourself, you misrepresent my statements, and you don't answer with fact or reasoned argument but mere ad hominem or pejorative. You attempt to reduce me to a stereotype. I don't know if you are or not but this comes across as narcissistic, close-minded, intolerant, and bigoted. Good grief, please be better than this.
It’s weird how the Hitchens brothers are sort-of benchmarks in my journey of both religion and politics. I began with Christopher, whom I still deeply respect, and became a fierce agnostic-atheist and dabbled in leftism. I viewed his brother as the typical lame, parochial conservative. Over the years, though, as the Left has revealed its true colors, I’m drawn more and more to Peter.
Wow. When Christopher was alive I thought this man was a pillock. Now, I can honestly say his critical thinking skills are incredible. Big ups Peter. More interviews like this.
@@tanseygreen291 About which religion? Religion as a phenomena will never really go away. What you are seeing today is proof of that. These movements today are deeply religious in nature. Hitch, Harris and the rest of the antitheist bunch are very wrong about religion. They don't really understand it. They use simplistic interpretations of it because it suits them. Is it too much Christianity that we are suffering from today? Really?
Raslip Mugfrud I disagree. It was smoking, drinking and contrarianism and I loved him for it. Peter is smart but toothless. He’s given up. Just a doom and gloom boomer. He also knows that this movement has been coming for generations so I don’t even know what you could do at this point to stop it.
Peter Hitchens helped me through the ‘lockdown’.Completely out the blue I started watching/listening to his views on it all & it resonated with me entirely.I thought I was going mad until that point.Total respect to Peter because when every other commentator was cheering the government on..he was standing defiantly telling the truth ✌🏾
Jolly good show, old bean. If you are searching for the truth, listen to those who have been banned, such as, David Icke and Vernon Coleman. They are worth listening to, as well as Peter Hitchens.
What has struck me lately in conversations with politically left leaning friends, family and acquaintances, is it is virtually impossible to get them to stay on topic with an issue they are uncomfortable about. Rather than attempt to expose the weaknesses or flaws in my point, fact or expose'. They always shift the discussion to another unrelated topic, person, or immaturely just insist I am wrong, without any context as to why. When I attempt to draw them back to the topic, person, etc. in question, they inevitably accuse me of being or supporting something I am not. If in their estimation I support this, person or position, they feel justified in ignoring what I am saying. This has happened numerous times lately. The most common accusation thrown at me is, "Well you are a Trump lover". I am Canadian, my friends, family and acquaintances are Canadians. Yet inevitably this accusation is thrown at me, when I begin proving the failings of socialism, the utter insanity of Black Lives Matter groups tearing down Canadian memorials of our historical figures, or the destruction left in the aftermath of their allegedly peaceful protests even here in Canada. This is becoming one of the darkest moments in history, because it is the most idiotic. Only one person has ever got back to me and said, "Calling you a Trump lover, was a real stupid thing for me to say. I thought about I conversation later, and it began to bother me, insomuch that I could not believe the only reply I could think of at the time was, you are a Trump lover. I am sorry". US media, is doing a great disservice to people everywhere, by laying all the problems occurring in North American at the feet of one person, to the point where their obsession for vilifying President Trump, is becoming infectious. So much so, that it seems to be influencing the ability of people everywhere to engage is civil discourse.
“The white liberals, who have been posing as our friends, have failed us. The white liberal is the worst enemy to America and the worst enemy to the black man.” “White liberals are those who have perfected the art of selling themselves to the black man as our ‘friend’ to get our sympathy, our allegiance and our minds. The white liberal attempts to use us politically against white conservatives, so that anything the black man does is never for his own good, never for his advancement, never for his own progress, he’s only a pawn in the hands of the white liberal.” “I only cite these things to show you that in America the history of white liberal has been nothing but a series of trickery designed to make us think that the white liberal was going to solve our problems. Our problems will never be solved by the white liberal. The only way that our problems will be solved is when the black man wakes up, cleans himself up, stands on his own two feet, stops begging the white liberal and takes immediate steps to do for ourselves the things that we have been waiting on the white liberal to do for us.” “The media’s the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent look guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the mind of the masses.” “The Democrats are playing you for a political chump and if you vote for them, not only are you a chump, you are a traitor to your race.” - Malcolm X
I don't know who they were but the Hitchens parents must have been amazing people. Peter and Christopher have both had a hugely beneficial impact on society as a whole.
@@domc2909 I didn't know that, I'm very sorry. The point I was making was that both he and his late brother are/were extremely articulate and measured in their discourse.
Dunno. Christopher was very smart, smarter than Peter but he was a neocon warmonger who cheered on US imperial undertakings in Iraq and Afghanistan, believed in forcibly regime changing societies from outside, that were not being able to have a functioning "western democracy" and these wars just caused unnecessary death and destruction.
Hugely beneficial? Just intellectuals talking to each other aren't they? I doubt 1% of the UK (or US) population have done something in their lives they wouldn't have done without them (aside from listen to them and read them).
@@CsImre That is a gross caricature of what he believed. He was in fact a critic of the botched US led attempts to turn tribal Arab and Afghan polities into Scandinavian style liberal democracies.
@@THOMASCOLTON1 The left is the "moralist" side now, they are virtually preaching a new religion of so called justice. Which wouldn't exists without judeo-christian morality ironically. Thinkers of antiquity wouldn't even understand it, it never occurred to them that for example slaves should be given equal opportunity.
Different point of view is the lefts biggest challenge, if you have ever found yourself in leftist discourse you would know of the endless in fighting.
When you realise that the individual is the smallest minority at the greatest of peril, it takes great courage to establish oneself as that principle embodied. Stand tall and defiant to the menace that is the mob of group thought.
I have been listening to Peter Hitchens and have concluded that he is one of the most remarkable human beings I have come across. I agreed with a lot of his points initially and resisted others, but over the years I am profoundly humbled that when I disagree with him he ends up proving to me that he is in fact right. And as he says the only joy he gets is “I told you so”. His time in the Soviet Union allows him a point of view that no one in Western culture can fully grasp. And it is sad that he is treated as the lowest of the low when in actuality he is a champion of personal liberty and civility.
The Tory party are running an experimental Behavioural psychology on the population of England. They've split the UK up and will, I believe, finally establish a true North South divide or a London England divide that'll be hard to break. I await the capitulation of Johnson to the muzzle brigade on indoor spaces and the devastation that'll wreak on retail and hospitality. An FT investigation found a South Remain Female in favour of masks and a North Remain Male opposing it, ftalphaville.ft.com/2020/07/09/1594305988000/Why-are-we-not-wearing-masks-in-the-UK-/, if you look to a graph about half way in. Johnson must have retail and the hospitality industry quaking at the thought of customers shunning premises as rather than seeming a safety issue it rapidly becomes evident that it's not safe to venture out. Stupidity formed through listening to London centric Metropolitan chatter isn't cogent policy. Neither is the Royal Society desperately delving into its historical research reservoir to validate such policy, making science a political football game. Politics has lost respect. Science has lost credibility. What now?
Friends and family have mocked me all my life for being "different just for the sake of it". They really just cannot understand that I'm just actually thinking about things and coming to my own conclusions. Its always frustrated me this failure of those close to me to understand. I always remember this quote as a comfort: The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. (Nietzsche)
I come from a similar background. He's exactly correct. Having been part of these movements in the past, I know personally why they have to be stopped. This is not a joke. This will consume our world if we don't stand up to it.
Two very different figures, both worth listening to. But I always find it distasteful when people bring up his brother as superior when they reply to him on Twitter etc.
@@y007p3 What kind of stupidly awful person would do that? That is shocking. They were very close and kindly towards each other despite their intellectual differences.
In answer to the interviewer, the reason academics are so often ignorant of reality is because they are academics. Their “knowledge” comes from books written by people who have read a lot of books. And seldom from actual experience. So, an academic might wonder at the stupidity of an ordinary working man who votes Tory and not for a party which pledges more help for people like himself. But the reason is often simple. He lives three doors down from a family on benefits. They have six children, no one works and the children are constantly causing trouble in the street and the parents are always drunk. Benefits don’t always work.
It was great challenging these academics when I went back to FT education 81-85 at 31 years old. I found out about them before challenging them. 1. They lived in big houses in the best areas 2. They sent their children to private school 3. They had holiday homes. When the few who were lecturering about abolition of private schools etc I was able to jump up and ask them why they sent their children to private school. Why they lived in wealthy areas etc. The gullible young students were shocked. The lecturers were not happy. It was do as I say not as I do. Fortunately there were very few of these types. Our site taught social sciences, teaching etc.. The other 4 sites taught business, accounting languages engineering design etc.
Always the same nonsense. Benefits are necessary because neo-con enabled business pays more to shareholders than it reinvests in its activities, and then delivers tax breaks from its lobbied stooges in govt. Facts are a bit inconvenient for your narrative!
Stuey apStuey. If it’s so simple, why don’t you do it? You don’t do it because it’s not so simple as you pretend. Then remember competition. It’s the difference that makes capitalism work for the benefit of everyone. Everyone is striving to increase sales and to do that they have to produce better goods at cheaper prices. Similarly companies have to compete for the best staff. It’s what Adam Smith called the “Invisible Hand”. People striving in competition with others for the best for themselves produces what is best for society. Leave it in the hands of bureaucrats and you get distortions of every kind. What’s the value of your house? No one really knows. You want the highest price, the purchaser the lowest. In the struggle, the correct price is found. As for tax, it’s pretty high. But it mustn’t be too high because then no one will bother to work and innovate. Building a business takes a lot of money. Imagine the situation we had from 1945 to Mrs Thatcher. Then if you failed you lost all of your money. If you succeeded the most of the profit went in tax. Up to 98 percent!!! It’s called “a hiding to nothing”. Britain ceased to risk or innovate and has declined as a consequence to where we hardly make anything now. (Much of what you might think we make, we don’t). Ships for instance. Aircraft carriers? Designed in France and built in Britain for political reasons but under a French supervision. We can hardly make a cup of tea now. Even our traffic lights are German!! Fortunately, Mrs Thatcher was able to persuade foreign companies to take over what little remained; and especially got the Americans to take over the City of London. Otherwise we would all be living off grass now. But we wouldn’t have any immigrants!!
Strength of will and courage are both things you can’t learn directly from a book. Conceptually yes, but not the agency of it. That is learned directly through standing against the crowd and taking the backlash that ensues. Courage is truly learned this way.
Hitchens is so correct here. I remember thinking I was streetwise enough, not to be involved in a scam, many years ago. That pride in my own wisdom and intelligence was what created my downfall. It's not that I am exactly unintelligent. It's that pride was stronger and it got the better of me. We have to be incredibly careful about pride and what we think we know.
True. Meanwhile Marxism is gaining traction in our universities, schools, media, politics, etc and we don't even see the warning signs. However people who survived brutal communist regimes are warning us that they see signs of totalitarianism taking root in the West, but their voices aren't being heard enough
Absolutely brilliant! Who was it, Koestler?, who said that it would be the ex-communists who took the fight to the communists... Peter Hitchens actually understands not only the left, but why it has been so remarkably successful in promoting of free-fall cultural collapse in the West. Congratulations, and much appreciated!
this is all measurable with the decline of satire. Even here in Australia, we used to love making fun of everything and everyone, and now there is practically no satire in mainstream entertainment.
Spot on, Scott. There is not any understanding of the liberating effect of humor on all who engage in it. The butt of the joke, and the joker, can have a good laugh together, and then the joke can be reversed onto the joker with another by the other's wit. It makes for a good natured, positive outlook in reality. Political correctness is the culprit. It puts peoples minds in chains. Why do the socialists have such an inability to enjoy life? Why do they want to trammel their minds, as well as the minds of others, with all these negative rules and restrictive legislation? They are chronically unable to enjoy life. I said to one of my socialists friends, well, apart from THAT, life is pretty good. She looked at me in disbelief, and said, Life: there's NOTHING good about it. What a disastrous attitude. Life is what you make it! Most of them are depressives, or have some sort of chip on their shoulder; nearly all. Nearly all my friends are socialists, so I know. Many of them admit to depression, but they are unable to see that their views are a good part of its origin. They seem unable to appreciate what they have in our civilized societies, how uniquely privileged they are to be living in our countries at this time in history. I travelled in many third world countries when I was young, and have no illusions about them. The socialists have transformed parts of some of our cities into unlivable squalor, something I only saw twice - in China in 1978, and Mexico in 1980 - in the third world, and now you can catch typhus in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
I find it funny that an ex-politician is interviewing and listening to his guests, and finding out what they really think, better than any journalist you'd care to mention these days. Meanwhile, it's the journalists that are playing games, interrupting, obfuscating and attempting to stop the truth from coming out. The world turned upside down...
Extremely interesting discussion! We certainly need more insight like this although the Persons in need would not deem it necessary or possibly incapable of understanding....Thank You...Superb Guest, I have read a book of his. Greeting from Deutschland.
Yeah. They are organised, their chaos is more organized, difficult to predict modus operandi, but you can predict agenda with 100% accuracy. It is a clever and patient cancer, that took 4 to 5 decades to build itself up and systematically and incrementally infected atleast 4-5 generations of workforce, and thinkers in society, and infecting every single public institution. They have a huge grip on the youth and their mad energy, as well as on areas of economy. They cannot be tackled if the other side does not wake and unite. They can be defeated, but not unless the Non Left is United.
He may not have the charm that his brother had..but peter is one of those people that effortlessly draw you in and you find yourself listening to what he has to say..good interview!👍
"It takes some nerve not to run with the crowd" and most people wouldn't stand up to a challenge because it is a more comfortable life. Dr. Peterson has a very interesting talk on "disagreeable" people and their benefit to society. Thank you for another intelligent conversation. Every interview done by Mr. Anderson is a gem.
I see my self in him, I can't run with crowds, I disagree with my friends even when I'd like to keep my mouth shut, worth it when you find the odd person that is also like me.
I think it is very telling when he talks about "choosing not to believe in God". The main motivating factor is fear of living in a world in which your own worship of self without purpose is not the ultimate end, so one "liberates" oneself by choosing atheism and instead puts their own desires and values as the ultimate good. I respect this man greatly for this bit if candor.
The notion of all the leftist mantras do sound appealing for the inexperienced and the young. Equality is a virtuous aspiration for anyone but the truth is much more complicated. Equality of opportunity is what really counts and that is an entirely different beast and doesn't come with socialism because the notion of self is discarded. Age brings the horrible reality of experience and a degree of cynicism that comes with it! We need to push the "equality of opportunity" message. We need to change the tendency of the "masses" to cling to their ignorance like a crucifix and therefore pass through free state education largely untouched by the hand of knowledge. Free education was intended to be the the great gift of the freedom to achieve your aspirations but is now often viewed as oppression by the state in certain circles today. When you give people something free, then sadly they eventually come to loose any sense of value for the gift. Twas ever thus.
Well, now - that is a fair objective. However, equality of opportunity has never been either a right-wing aim or, political project. Even social justice is now an aberration to any right-winger. Defunding social projects, pressuring university funding to change curricula to a more vocational bias are just a couple of ways in which equality of opportunity is prevented or, highly problematized for poorer people. If you look at access to legal representation for the non-wealthy - you will find the same story: defunding legal aid, making payment a condition of access to legal representation etc. etc. So, yeah - I agree with your aspiration but there is not a snowball's chance in hell for it even to make the neo-con agenda. Sorry!
Stuey apStuey doesn’t sound like you are very well placed to comment on right wing mantras! 😉 I would not wish to remove free education as a right but it would be nice to instil the idea that rights come with responsibilities. A state that gifts an education arguably has a right to expect a productive adult. Perhaps we should link the initial benefits payable to value added at school or tying benefits out to insurances in. The left is sooo good at rights but rather limp on responsibilities in my experience.
This is why the left always push for lowering the voting age. They take a leaf from religion. They know it's effective. Every now and again it's time to roll out a precocious sixteen year old who knows almost nothing. But is involved in politics. Like thats every sixteen year old!
I believe that the greatest threat for the human race is the complete loss of reason and consequently, the common good. The loss is usually the result of the loss of belief in Christ and His Holy Church. The belief in God in-itself does not necessarily provide a rational framework, but, a rational, devout, faith in Christ does. So much of our scientific endeavours are a result of enquiring minds who identified freedoms to question the nature of God's creation without fear; let's not get bogged down in a Galileo conversation; Even the ancient Greeks could not achieve investigating beyond Mount Olympus for fear of angering the Gods. When one witnesses the pure insanity that is infecting Western culture it is easy to imagine that the consequences will be dire and cruel and will eventually return to pure barbarism again. Modern history story demonstrates so many examples of such regression. Peter Hitchens, from the beginning of the SARS-COV 2, reaction by Government, realised the the entire farce did not appear rational or even for the common good. This is not because he is a contrarian, he is not, it is because he has a Christian, rational mind and the virus debacle did not pass the smell test. I would love to see an independent public enquiry with Peter Hitchens included as an expert from a journalistic perspective. I would also like to see the enquiry chaired by Lord Sumption.
Peter is quite interesting to listen to - not least because of what he says but also the way he says it. John is an amazing man. Never met him but would love to. He would b bored, I would be enthralled.
I love how Mr. Anderson respects his interviewees by asking pertinent, informed questions and letting them respond without interruption. This is less and less common in our modern time. Pray God Australia does not allow hate-filled leftism to take hold like other Western nations seem to be doing.
Well observed by Peter once again. Unfortunately this level of “self awareness” only comes with life experience i.e. age. That is a truism that holds universally throughout history.
Peter’s description of the self-righteous intolerant mindset of the modern left could equally describe the self-righteous mindset of many religious people too. i am not sure that dividing people up into block segments & then assigning them your idea of their beliefs really works at any nuanced level but is a technique employed by many
To question ones own beliefs and thoughts is the only healthy way to ensure that we are not taken over by extreme, polarised ideologies, whether the far left or right, both of which tend to be totalitarian.
I'm starting to listen to Peter in the same way i use to listen to his brother Christopher. I think his style has improved over the last few years to match his brother and its starting to become captivating.
@Ross Templeman Why does it matter what the person's credentials are when they all give contradictory responses on the subject? Most even contradict themselves.
I don't remember the name of the experiment that was conducted years ago, but regular everyday people were asked to take part in an intelligence test. Their role was to give electric shocks to another person every time the other answered a question incorrectly. They were separated and could not see each other, but could hear each other. It was all a set up, and the only person unaware of this was the everyday person. There were no electric shocks being given. With each incorrect question the voltage was increased and despite the screams getting louder, and the electrocuted person begging for the test to stop, they continued to press a button and administer a shock. Finally the other person fell silent as if they were dead. Yet, still the everyday person continued to press the button. It showed that average people were capable of doing the most inhumane things to other human beings. I wish I could remember the name of the experiment!!
"It takes some nerve to not to run with the crowd." Excellent statement. Akin to Mark Twain's quote below. I found it a bit unnerving, after digging for truth, watching the zombies around me follow some random edicts handed down from our public servants; to their own destruction. “In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.”
I would be very interested to know what Peter thought what his brother, Christopher would've thought of the current crisis. He probably would be the best to ask. I wish someone would ask him.
I agreed with some of his comments. Disagreed with others. But what I would never do - is try to silence an opinion just because I don't share it. Censorship has no places in a free society. Citizens of the world are not currently free. But we will be. The next step: Revolution.
Benson Walker. It was not compulsory to start with, but there came a point when all children had to join. My mum went from a place at a Swiss finishing school pre war to cleaning bricks in Berlin and eating rats.
It does "take some nerve not to run with crowds!" You are SO RIGHT about that and so many people want and need to be lead around by their noses although they do not know it!
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C.S. Lewis
Am I the only one who finds every interview with Peter Hitchens hard to hear and listen to? He often holds his head high, when his microphone is on his shirt. He has a low voice with not many overtones and he often actually whispers and makes no attempt to speak clearly. Often almost a mumble.
MrQwerty, He is a depressive, only so much you can listen to a depressive before you become depresse yourself. He doesn't have any fight in him for his country. 🔔🇬🇧🔔 Put Bolsheviks and Masonics in the 🚮 🤣
@@johnmacaroni7028 No, he's not depressive, he's just analytical and it's a tough subject. If you find his call to critical thinking depressive, then that's your problem to deal with, both in terms of having satisfied yourself with half-truths and outright lies, and being unwilling to look for or contemplate a hard truth. Of course, I hope I'm wrong about you. Disclaimer: The only reason I can call out this kind of self-inflicted depression is because I suffer from it myself and it's incidence appears to be not all that uncommon. To go beyond slogans and soundbites requires a bit of personal motivation.
"Its easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they've been fooled".
One of the best and truest statements ever about the human psyche.
good quote, also people love being told lies, if it makes them feel good
@@OrdinaryJoe12 and the conservative right are the most accomplished liers of any political party.
mark twain
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me
I wish more interviewers conducted themselves like John Anderson. He allows his guest to reply to a question without constantly interrupting. Many could learn from his approach.
" The generation now coming out of Western schools is unable to distinguish good from bad. Even those words are unacceptable. This results in impaired thinking ability.
" Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Died 2008
Sorry, Solzhenitsyn died in 2008? I feel like an idiot.
Good from evil actually.
They don't even know what sex they are!
That's the worrying thing. The new left no longer understand the difference between good and bad. Everyone else does.
I just finished reading The Gulag Archipelago. I knew how bad the Soviets were, but, it's another thing to read the 1st hand accounts.
And, looking at what's happening today (BKM/Antifa/Media protection/Cancer Culture), how much the cancer culture people say, is what the Soviets/Bolsheviks said. Startling.
Hitchens is a much valued perspective, thank you John Anderson for having him on.
Anderson is surely not suggesting that most people would follow Hitler because Hitchens says so. This is a bit like the blind following the blind.
Thanks Mick!
Most leftists would though.
@@jimbo43ohara51 why wouldn't they, most Germans did, are you morally and genetically superior to Germans?
Before you assume .. as it's hard to believe but would watch some of the shoal witness testemonials on here and you can hear first hand how this operated and panned out amongst people .. horrifying!
'It takes some nerve not to run with the crowd'. Indeed, and you have certainly not run with the crowd. I applaud you.
But he's also admitted to going against the crowd just for the sake of it, which is not laudable. It's fine to 'run with the crowd' if the crowd is right. The point is to be as unbiased as possible, to think things through and gather the most compelling evidence frok BOTH sides of the argument and then decide for yourself in an informed way. The problem is that a lot of people are incapable of doing this, because they lack the intellectual capacity or they don't have the time or energy or they can't be bothered.
I dunno. He ran with the revolutionary socialist crowd long enough. There's crowds and crowds.
@@lavienestpasunlongfleuvetr2559 What he's getting at is giving up your capacity for individual critical thought, surrendering it to a mob mentality. You can run with a crowd, but it's far harder to do that as your own man than just as a functionary of the crowd or movement.
For less intelligent folk like myself, it often requires a certain bloody-minded stubbornness in the face of people far wittier and more articulate than we are, a stubbornness much maligned as "Ludditism" or bone-headedness. It has it's place, like everything.
@@shaz7132 Don't let his looks fool you. Old school conservative is getting pretty out there these days.
The greatest lesson of all. Never run with the crowd.
Only dead fish go with the flow
Especially with scissors! The illiberal mob is forcing the rest of us to remain fearfully silent while rending our Western tradition into ribbons!
Running with the crowd is an evolutionary trait(Strength in numbers). Never run with the crowd BLINDLY. There's your mantra .
@@ukrandr Of course you are right. thank you very much, for your correction, to my rushed sentence.
And never be anyone's disciple.
Yes, people are in general, quite dumb. Never thought I'd be saying this, but my patience with fellow Brits over covid scam was the last straw positively the last straw.
But what can be done on an individual level? It is so, the level of bullshit is insurmountable, and I don't wish to mingle with these baboons any longer, I can't stand it
AND USA!!!
To many people live in their bubble they no nothing about anything.
Brilliant words by hitchens in first minute.
I've heard the saying "people are basically good." I beg to differ. People are basically ignorant, and look to have others do their thinking for them.
Kevin Smith People are basically bad,,they just don’t always get the opportunity to exercise their badness. Hitler gave ordinary people the opportunity to be bad,,,,,,,,,I will say no more.
Well said, and I find that people will piggy back whatever the in trend of thought and action is for two reasons, 1: social climbing and acceptance 2: access to resources (money/ work opportunities). This explains why there were several million kkk members in the 50’s and 60’s as well as the mass acceptance of the genocide of the jews in Germany. Today its woke anti male/ anti white ideology.
@@sratus Thank you.
Ignorant people can’t be good people? He in fact says “it’s extraordinary how gullible most people are”- because these things are not mutually exclusive
They're mostly temperamentally good and mostly do the right thing when directly interacting with someone else. The problem comes when they try to think about larger abstract issues at the group/society level.
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
"In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” - Michael Crichton
I didn't realize this was an identified sociologic phenomena. I had my epiphany on this about 10 years ago or so. I used to be a staunch Liberal, but then I started reading articles about areas I which I had attained relative expertise. I realized the articles were blatantly wrong. In short order I initially perceived the articles as journalistic incompetence but they were so consistently one sided, filled with such inherent bias, always favoring the left, I realize it wasn't incompetence, it was intent. It was malicious mendacity... it was by design! And the epiphany... if in these areas, what about other areas? And with a little digging on my own I soon realized everything the mainstream media was presenting was either misleading, manipulative, false, deceptive, or rank libel/slander. I was on to fake news before it was a meme and kaboom, I was instantly a conservative. Glad to see others are realizing it too.
@@pilroberts6185 Your post reeks of pride, ideology and one-sided thinking. You flipped from one extreme to the other. Now you perceive everything as propaganda. That's not what I would call a measured approach. Take each piece of information and test it for plausibility on it's individual merits, wherever it may issue from.
@@hal900x I guess you don't know what Conservatism is, it's anything but 'extreme'.
Limited government - how is that extreme?
Individual liberty - how is that extreme?
Rule of law - what's extreme about that?
National sovereignty - explain the extremism in that?
Free markets - just not buying any extremism exists in this one.
@@pilroberts6185 You really are oblivious. I am commenting specifically on your previous post, how can you not see that? Read my reply carefully. I said nothing about general conservative beliefs. Come on dude. You are not helping to change my views on you, you are falling into the old paradigm of the loud, opinionated and oblivious Fox News fan.
@@hal900x Wow you are rather insufferable. My initial post simply described the epiphany which led to my evolution from a liberal to a conservative. Also I was expressing my views, not seeking to change yours. First you label me 'extreme', now you label me or at least insinuate I'm an old loud opinionated oblivious Fox News fan. Good grief; you interject yourself into my comment (which is fine) but make it about yourself, you misrepresent my statements, and you don't answer with fact or reasoned argument but mere ad hominem or pejorative. You attempt to reduce me to a stereotype. I don't know if you are or not but this comes across as narcissistic, close-minded, intolerant, and bigoted. Good grief, please be better than this.
It’s weird how the Hitchens brothers are sort-of benchmarks in my journey of both religion and politics. I began with Christopher, whom I still deeply respect, and became a fierce agnostic-atheist and dabbled in leftism. I viewed his brother as the typical lame, parochial conservative. Over the years, though, as the Left has revealed its true colors, I’m drawn more and more to Peter.
Christian Orthodox Angclicanism with the goods and the bads has made Britain a great nation. Now, Jesus is indeed the answer.
Same here
Wow. When Christopher was alive I thought this man was a pillock. Now, I can honestly say his critical thinking skills are incredible. Big ups Peter. More interviews like this.
Yes but only one of them was right about religion and sadly he's no longer with us
@@tanseygreen291 About which religion? Religion as a phenomena will never really go away. What you are seeing today is proof of that. These movements today are deeply religious in nature. Hitch, Harris and the rest of the antitheist bunch are very wrong about religion. They don't really understand it. They use simplistic interpretations of it because it suits them.
Is it too much Christianity that we are suffering from today? Really?
@@tanseygreen291 Christopher was a religious man. His religion was Trotskyism
I think that now about George Galloway.
Raslip Mugfrud I disagree. It was smoking, drinking and contrarianism and I loved him for it. Peter is smart but toothless. He’s given up. Just a doom and gloom boomer. He also knows that this movement has been coming for generations so I don’t even know what you could do at this point to stop it.
Peter Hitchens helped me through the ‘lockdown’.Completely out the blue I started watching/listening to his views on it all & it resonated with me entirely.I thought I was going mad until that point.Total respect to Peter because when every other commentator was cheering the government on..he was standing defiantly telling the truth ✌🏾
I am just here first time will further research - though have known of PH but not JH
Jolly good show, old bean. If you are searching for the truth, listen to those who have been banned, such as, David Icke and Vernon Coleman. They are worth listening to, as well as Peter Hitchens.
What has struck me lately in conversations with politically left leaning friends, family and acquaintances, is it is virtually impossible to get them to stay on topic with an issue they are uncomfortable about. Rather than attempt to expose the weaknesses or flaws in my point, fact or expose'. They always shift the discussion to another unrelated topic, person, or immaturely just insist I am wrong, without any context as to why. When I attempt to draw them back to the topic, person, etc. in question, they inevitably accuse me of being or supporting something I am not. If in their estimation I support this, person or position, they feel justified in ignoring what I am saying. This has happened numerous times lately. The most common accusation thrown at me is, "Well you are a Trump lover". I am Canadian, my friends, family and acquaintances are Canadians. Yet inevitably this accusation is thrown at me, when I begin proving the failings of socialism, the utter insanity of Black Lives Matter groups tearing down Canadian memorials of our historical figures, or the destruction left in the aftermath of their allegedly peaceful protests even here in Canada. This is becoming one of the darkest moments in history, because it is the most idiotic. Only one person has ever got back to me and said, "Calling you a Trump lover, was a real stupid thing for me to say. I thought about I conversation later, and it began to bother me, insomuch that I could not believe the only reply I could think of at the time was, you are a Trump lover. I am sorry". US media, is doing a great disservice to people everywhere, by laying all the problems occurring in North American at the feet of one person, to the point where their obsession for vilifying President Trump, is becoming infectious. So much so, that it seems to be influencing the ability of people everywhere to engage is civil discourse.
Sorry to tell you, but you just described the behaviour of children.
How very relevant this has become in today's society ," I will not run with the crowd's ' . But most people do and they like it.'"
Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart, for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
James Baldwin
Great quote
“The white liberals, who have been posing as our friends, have failed us. The white liberal is the worst enemy to America and the worst enemy to the black man.”
“White liberals are those who have perfected the art of selling themselves to the black man as our ‘friend’ to get our sympathy, our allegiance and our minds. The white liberal attempts to use us politically against white conservatives, so that anything the black man does is never for his own good, never for his advancement, never for his own progress, he’s only a pawn in the hands of the white liberal.”
“I only cite these things to show you that in America the history of white liberal has been nothing but a series of trickery designed to make us think that the white liberal was going to solve our problems. Our problems will never be solved by the white liberal. The only way that our problems will be solved is when the black man wakes up, cleans himself up, stands on his own two feet, stops begging the white liberal and takes immediate steps to do for ourselves the things that we have been waiting on the white liberal to do for us.”
“The media’s the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent look guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the mind of the masses.”
“The Democrats are playing you for a political chump and if you vote for them, not only are you a chump, you are a traitor to your race.” - Malcolm X
@Charles R. Law you don't speak for James Baldwin. STFU
I never get tired of listening to Peter Hitchens.
It must run in the family, Christopher was allways fun to listen to.
Me neither...
I have always gone my own way too. Even as a teenager!
Me neither - I'm in stitches every time he opens his mouth!
I do, but he just can't STFU can he?
At 4:53, "I will not run with crowds, but most people are happy to" is the jewel of this interview.
I don't know who they were but the Hitchens parents must have been amazing people. Peter and Christopher have both had a hugely beneficial impact on society as a whole.
Peter's mother committed suicide when he was in his early twenties. No doubt that made a lasting impression on him.
@@domc2909 I didn't know that, I'm very sorry. The point I was making was that both he and his late brother are/were extremely articulate and measured in their discourse.
Dunno. Christopher was very smart, smarter than Peter but he was a neocon warmonger who cheered on US imperial undertakings in Iraq and Afghanistan, believed in forcibly regime changing societies from outside, that were not being able to have a functioning "western democracy" and these wars just caused unnecessary death and destruction.
Hugely beneficial? Just intellectuals talking to each other aren't they? I doubt 1% of the UK (or US) population have done something in their lives they wouldn't have done without them (aside from listen to them and read them).
@@CsImre That is a gross caricature of what he believed. He was in fact a critic of the botched US led attempts to turn tribal Arab and Afghan polities into Scandinavian style liberal democracies.
Peter Hitchens and Douglas Murray are the two political commentators I like listening to most.
That makes u a Nazi sympathiser.
One of the best Hitchens interviews. Wish it went on longer.
Thanks for the support Michael. Here is the full interview: ruclips.net/video/V7K1A8jgF1w/видео.html
An intelligent conversation without screaming and shouting.
Thanks Scott.
0:38. Peter describing a new form of blasphemy. Ie the left horrified that someone may have a different point of view.
The moralist diseased right is the problem
@@THOMASCOLTON1 The left is the "moralist" side now, they are virtually preaching a new religion of so called justice. Which wouldn't exists without judeo-christian morality ironically. Thinkers of antiquity wouldn't even understand it, it never occurred to them that for example slaves should be given equal opportunity.
@@THOMASCOLTON1 "The moralist diseased right is the problem"
explain how, idiot
Different point of view is the lefts biggest challenge, if you have ever found yourself in leftist discourse you would know of the endless in fighting.
Peter Hitchins is THE ONLY mainstream journalist with intelligence, integrity & insight.
And I thought satire was dead. Lol
Ok
When you realise that the individual is the smallest minority at the greatest of peril, it takes great courage to establish oneself as that principle embodied. Stand tall and defiant to the menace that is the mob of group thought.
I have been listening to Peter Hitchens and have concluded that he is one of the most remarkable human beings I have come across. I agreed with a lot of his points initially and resisted others, but over the years I am profoundly humbled that when I disagree with him he ends up proving to me that he is in fact right. And as he says the only joy he gets is “I told you so”. His time in the Soviet Union allows him a point of view that no one in Western culture can fully grasp. And it is sad that he is treated as the lowest of the low when in actuality he is a champion of personal liberty and civility.
Yeah - no. I think you'll find he is an apologist for little England Toryism. Great if you're in his club, not so much if you're not.
Stuey apStuey I am Not British, but I would ask you then why does he attack the Tories with such vigor and seeks to destroy their party?
I love Peter he's the only person these days to listen to. He's right on politics especially the Tory Party
Douglas Murray is very good, too.
The Tory party are running an experimental Behavioural psychology on the population of England. They've split the UK up and will, I believe, finally establish a true North South divide or a London England divide that'll be hard to break. I await the capitulation of Johnson to the muzzle brigade on indoor spaces and the devastation that'll wreak on retail and hospitality. An FT investigation found a South Remain Female in favour of masks and a North Remain Male opposing it, ftalphaville.ft.com/2020/07/09/1594305988000/Why-are-we-not-wearing-masks-in-the-UK-/, if you look to a graph about half way in. Johnson must have retail and the hospitality industry quaking at the thought of customers shunning premises as rather than seeming a safety issue it rapidly becomes evident that it's not safe to venture out. Stupidity formed through listening to London centric Metropolitan chatter isn't cogent policy. Neither is the Royal Society desperately delving into its historical research reservoir to validate such policy, making science a political football game. Politics has lost respect. Science has lost credibility. What now?
His brother Christopher held the same position
Friends and family have mocked me all my life for being "different just for the sake of it". They really just cannot understand that I'm just actually thinking about things and coming to my own conclusions. Its always frustrated me this failure of those close to me to understand. I always remember this quote as a comfort:
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. (Nietzsche)
I come from a similar background. He's exactly correct. Having been part of these movements in the past, I know personally why they have to be stopped. This is not a joke. This will consume our world if we don't stand up to it.
Thank you, now if only Christopher Hitchens was still with us.
Two very different figures, both worth listening to. But I always find it distasteful when people bring up his brother as superior when they reply to him on Twitter etc.
@@y007p3 What kind of stupidly awful person would do that? That is shocking. They were very close and kindly towards each other despite their intellectual differences.
@@y007p3 Lol they have it completely flipped.
yes. He was even better and a logical atheist.
@@y007p3 as an atheist I think Chris was a bit better but both are ok.
In answer to the interviewer, the reason academics are so often ignorant of reality is because they are academics. Their “knowledge” comes from books written by people who have read a lot of books. And seldom from actual experience.
So, an academic might wonder at the stupidity of an ordinary working man who votes Tory and not for a party which pledges more help for people like himself. But the reason is often simple. He lives three doors down from a family on benefits. They have six children, no one works and the children are constantly causing trouble in the street and the parents are always drunk. Benefits don’t always work.
It was great challenging these academics when I went back to FT education 81-85 at 31 years old. I found out about them before challenging them.
1. They lived in big houses in the best areas
2. They sent their children to private school
3. They had holiday homes.
When the few who were lecturering about abolition of private schools etc I was able to jump up and ask them why they sent their children to private school. Why they lived in wealthy areas etc. The gullible young students were shocked. The lecturers were not happy.
It was do as I say not as I do. Fortunately there were very few of these types. Our site taught social sciences, teaching etc.. The other 4 sites taught business, accounting languages engineering design etc.
Their knowledge is governed by their agenda.......
Always the same nonsense. Benefits are necessary because neo-con enabled business pays more to shareholders than it reinvests in its activities, and then delivers tax breaks from its lobbied stooges in govt. Facts are a bit inconvenient for your narrative!
Stuey apStuey. If it’s so simple, why don’t you do it?
You don’t do it because it’s not so simple as you pretend. Then remember competition. It’s the difference that makes capitalism work for the benefit of everyone.
Everyone is striving to increase sales and to do that they have to produce better goods at cheaper prices. Similarly companies have to compete for the best staff. It’s what Adam Smith called the “Invisible Hand”. People striving in competition with others for the best for themselves produces what is best for society. Leave it in the hands of bureaucrats and you get distortions of every kind.
What’s the value of your house? No one really knows. You want the highest price, the purchaser the lowest. In the struggle, the correct price is found.
As for tax, it’s pretty high. But it mustn’t be too high because then no one will bother to work and innovate. Building a business takes a lot of money. Imagine the situation we had from 1945 to Mrs Thatcher. Then if you failed you lost all of your money. If you succeeded the most of the profit went in tax. Up to 98 percent!!!
It’s called “a hiding to nothing”.
Britain ceased to risk or innovate and has declined as a consequence to where we hardly make anything now. (Much of what you might think we make, we don’t). Ships for instance. Aircraft carriers? Designed in France and built in Britain for political reasons but under a French supervision. We can hardly make a cup of tea now. Even our traffic lights are German!!
Fortunately, Mrs Thatcher was able to persuade foreign companies to take over what little remained; and especially got the Americans to take over the City of London.
Otherwise we would all be living off grass now. But we wouldn’t have any immigrants!!
What grows in a greenhouse has a completely different weather environment from that which grows outside. You can't even compare the two.
Strength of will and courage are both things you can’t learn directly from a book. Conceptually yes, but not the agency of it. That is learned directly through standing against the crowd and taking the backlash that ensues. Courage is truly learned this way.
thank you for your contribution mr anderson
Thank you
Hitchens is so correct here. I remember thinking I was streetwise enough, not to be involved in a scam, many years ago. That pride in my own wisdom and intelligence was what created my downfall. It's not that I am exactly unintelligent. It's that pride was stronger and it got the better of me. We have to be incredibly careful about pride and what we think we know.
Very nice interview. Peter Hitchens' voice needs to be out there as to why Marxism is the wrong tool for a society.
Thanks Richard.
True. Meanwhile Marxism is gaining traction in our universities, schools, media, politics, etc and we don't even see the warning signs. However people who survived brutal communist regimes are warning us that they see signs of totalitarianism taking root in the West, but their voices aren't being heard enough
Absolutely brilliant! Who was it, Koestler?, who said that it would be the ex-communists who took the fight to the communists... Peter Hitchens actually understands not only the left, but why it has been so remarkably successful in promoting of free-fall cultural collapse in the West. Congratulations, and much appreciated!
Wishing you a long life, Mr. Hitchens...we need intelligent, articulate men like you to help us stay on the path.
this is all measurable with the decline of satire. Even here in Australia, we used to love making fun of everything and everyone, and now there is practically no satire in mainstream entertainment.
Satire died the day Trump got elected President of the free world. There's a reason The Simpsons wrote it as an episode. It was farcical at the time.
So true
I remember the old days of chaser, it'd never happen now
Spot on, Scott. There is not any understanding of the liberating effect of humor on all who engage in it. The butt of the joke, and the joker, can have a good laugh together, and then the joke can be reversed onto the joker with another by the other's wit. It makes for a good natured, positive outlook in reality. Political correctness is the culprit. It puts peoples minds in chains. Why do the socialists have such an inability to enjoy life? Why do they want to trammel their minds, as well as the minds of others, with all these negative rules and restrictive legislation? They are chronically unable to enjoy life. I said to one of my socialists friends, well, apart from THAT, life is pretty good. She looked at me in disbelief, and said, Life: there's NOTHING good about it. What a disastrous attitude. Life is what you make it! Most of them are depressives, or have some sort of chip on their shoulder; nearly all. Nearly all my friends are socialists, so I know. Many of them admit to depression, but they are unable to see that their views are a good part of its origin. They seem unable to appreciate what they have in our civilized societies, how uniquely privileged they are to be living in our countries at this time in history. I travelled in many third world countries when I was young, and have no illusions about them. The socialists have transformed parts of some of our cities into unlivable squalor, something I only saw twice - in China in 1978, and Mexico in 1980 - in the third world, and now you can catch typhus in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
I find it funny that an ex-politician is interviewing and listening to his guests, and finding out what they really think, better than any journalist you'd care to mention these days. Meanwhile, it's the journalists that are playing games, interrupting, obfuscating and attempting to stop the truth from coming out.
The world turned upside down...
"I will not run with crowds, but most people do, and they're happier that way."
Extremely interesting discussion! We certainly need more insight like this although the Persons in need would not deem it necessary or possibly incapable of understanding....Thank You...Superb Guest, I have read a book of his. Greeting from Deutschland.
Thank you Silke.
Yeah. They are organised, their chaos is more organized, difficult to predict modus operandi, but you can predict agenda with 100% accuracy. It is a clever and patient cancer, that took 4 to 5 decades to build itself up and systematically and incrementally infected atleast 4-5 generations of workforce, and thinkers in society, and infecting every single public institution. They have a huge grip on the youth and their mad energy, as well as on areas of economy. They cannot be tackled if the other side does not wake and unite. They can be defeated, but not unless the Non Left is United.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
He may not have the charm that his brother had..but peter is one of those people that effortlessly draw you in and you find yourself listening to what he has to say..good interview!👍
“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Jonathan Swift
"It takes some nerve not to run with the crowd" and most people wouldn't stand up to a challenge because it is a more comfortable life. Dr. Peterson has a very interesting talk on "disagreeable" people and their benefit to society. Thank you for another intelligent conversation. Every interview done by Mr. Anderson is a gem.
Love Peter Hitchens. Both wise and courageous.
Peter is an incredible thinker. Wonderful interview, John. Thank you.
Peter certainly thinks so.
I see my self in him, I can't run with crowds, I disagree with my friends even when I'd like to keep my mouth shut, worth it when you find the odd person that is also like me.
..and me..
You're not alone.
Critical thinking is still alive and well in the spirit of Hitchens :)
Well spoken.. As usual Hitch.
I think it is very telling when he talks about "choosing not to believe in God". The main motivating factor is fear of living in a world in which your own worship of self without purpose is not the ultimate end, so one "liberates" oneself by choosing atheism and instead puts their own desires and values as the ultimate good.
I respect this man greatly for this bit if candor.
Peter, you are a fine man.
Indeed.
I have been missing Christopher Hitchens lately. He was the original, the one and only.
Nope. He was an alchoolic creep
Selfism. ''Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law'' I've heard that somewhere before!
@@petercooke1515 Crowley's encouragement of amorality/ moral relativism was and still is 100% wrong.
Somewhere else I have heard it was “Believe in God and do what you would.”
Great discussion. Thank you, both.
"I'm an ex-Bolshevik", nice intro, loved it.
Ah, here's the Hitchens I like.
You know, the one that actually smartened up.
I wish Mr. Hitchens would stop mumbling. I really want to understand him but the fumfering at the end of sentences make it so hard
It's infuriating.
Next time you comment delete it immediately after.
It’s occasional. If it were a persistent feature, I would agree with you. Remember it’s a conversation, not a prepared speech.
His mic is possibly not as loud as the interviewer’s.
He’s one of those narcissists who just mumble on and on and never listen to others. Still trying to tell people what to believe.
a brilliant man.
The notion of all the leftist mantras do sound appealing for the inexperienced and the young. Equality is a virtuous aspiration for anyone but the truth is much more complicated. Equality of opportunity is what really counts and that is an entirely different beast and doesn't come with socialism because the notion of self is discarded. Age brings the horrible reality of experience and a degree of cynicism that comes with it!
We need to push the "equality of opportunity" message. We need to change the tendency of the "masses" to cling to their ignorance like a crucifix and therefore pass through free state education largely untouched by the hand of knowledge. Free education was intended to be the the great gift of the freedom to achieve your aspirations but is now often viewed as oppression by the state in certain circles today. When you give people something free, then sadly they eventually come to loose any sense of value for the gift. Twas ever thus.
Well, now - that is a fair objective. However, equality of opportunity has never been either a right-wing aim or, political project. Even social justice is now an aberration to any right-winger. Defunding social projects, pressuring university funding to change curricula to a more vocational bias are just a couple of ways in which equality of opportunity is prevented or, highly problematized for poorer people. If you look at access to legal representation for the non-wealthy - you will find the same story: defunding legal aid, making payment a condition of access to legal representation etc. etc.
So, yeah - I agree with your aspiration but there is not a snowball's chance in hell for it even to make the neo-con agenda. Sorry!
@@stueyapstuey4235 you're pretty good at making your leftist blather sound reasonable, but not good enough so I can't see through it.
Stuey apStuey doesn’t sound like you are very well placed to comment on right wing mantras! 😉
I would not wish to remove free education as a right but it would be nice to instil the idea that rights come with responsibilities. A state that gifts an education arguably has a right to expect a productive adult. Perhaps we should link the initial benefits payable to value added at school or tying benefits out to insurances in. The left is sooo good at rights but rather limp on responsibilities in my experience.
@@robinwells8879 don't waste your time arguing with that SJW troll. Trust me. There's not one genuine thing about them.
This is why the left always push for lowering the voting age. They take a leaf from religion. They know it's effective.
Every now and again it's time to roll out a precocious sixteen year old who knows almost nothing. But is involved in politics.
Like thats every sixteen year old!
The chutzpah of the authoritarian right never ceases to amaze me!!!
I believe that the greatest threat for the human race is the complete loss of reason and consequently, the common good. The loss is usually the result of the loss of belief in Christ and His Holy Church. The belief in God in-itself does not necessarily provide a rational framework, but, a rational, devout, faith in Christ does. So much of our scientific endeavours are a result of enquiring minds who identified freedoms to question the nature of God's creation without fear; let's not get bogged down in a Galileo conversation; Even the ancient Greeks could not achieve investigating beyond Mount Olympus for fear of angering the Gods. When one witnesses the pure insanity that is infecting Western culture it is easy to imagine that the consequences will be dire and cruel and will eventually return to pure barbarism again. Modern history story demonstrates so many examples of such regression. Peter Hitchens, from the beginning of the SARS-COV 2, reaction by Government, realised the the entire farce did not appear rational or even for the common good. This is not because he is a contrarian, he is not, it is because he has a Christian, rational mind and the virus debacle did not pass the smell test. I would love to see an independent public enquiry with Peter Hitchens included as an expert from a journalistic perspective. I would also like to see the enquiry chaired by Lord Sumption.
One of the few benefits to old age is to experience your own gullibility.
You must not follow after the crowd to do evil , and you must not pervert justice by giving testimony to go along with the crowd. Exodus 23:2
I like him, but he sounds like a Bond villain, and also the way he holds his hands 😂😂
hilarious!
Peter's got Gramsci right on the long march.
And, he's right about current gullibility.
Peter is quite interesting to listen to - not least because of what he says but also the way he says it.
John is an amazing man. Never met him but would love to. He would b bored, I would be enthralled.
Magical mate. More please.
Thanks again Glenn.
One of the few great philosophic intellects of our time
I love how Mr. Anderson respects his interviewees by asking pertinent, informed questions and letting them respond without interruption. This is less and less common in our modern time. Pray God Australia does not allow hate-filled leftism to take hold like other Western nations seem to be doing.
There are many Aussies at the moment under house arrest who cannot see through the bull dust going on right now! Scary
Well observed by Peter once again. Unfortunately this level of “self awareness” only comes with life experience i.e. age. That is a truism that holds universally throughout history.
3:50 "fashionable nonsense" was a good description.
Peter’s description of the self-righteous intolerant mindset of the modern left could equally describe the self-righteous mindset of many religious people too. i am not sure that dividing people up into block segments & then assigning them your idea of their beliefs really works at any nuanced level but is a technique employed by many
@Ken MacDonald Ken Thank you for your kind words. i am only too aware of how little i know. i bow to your superior hubris
Peter Hitchens is always good value.
To question ones own beliefs and thoughts is the only healthy way to ensure that we are not taken over by extreme, polarised ideologies, whether the far left or right, both of which tend to be totalitarian.
I'm starting to listen to Peter in the same way i use to listen to his brother Christopher. I think his style has improved over the last few years to match his brother and its starting to become captivating.
Nothing about Peter 'matches his brother'. They were poles apart on all areas of debate!
@@droge192 I don't mean their option. I mean their style. They are poles apart but they are good speakers
Peter leads the way on this Covid crap!!!
@Ross Templeman Why does it matter what the person's credentials are when they all give contradictory responses on the subject? Most even contradict themselves.
I enjoy these discussions thx
The man who would drop the gas canister inside the shower, is probably living right next door to you
It could also be you (universal) under the right conditions.
100% correct.
I don't remember the name of the experiment that was conducted years ago, but regular everyday people were asked to take part in an intelligence test. Their role was to give electric shocks to another person every time the other answered a question incorrectly. They were separated and could not see each other, but could hear each other. It was all a set up, and the only person unaware of this was the everyday person. There were no electric shocks being given. With each incorrect question the voltage was increased and despite the screams getting louder, and the electrocuted person begging for the test to stop, they continued to press a button and administer a shock. Finally the other person fell silent as if they were dead. Yet, still the everyday person continued to press the button. It showed that average people were capable of doing the most inhumane things to other human beings. I wish I could remember the name of the experiment!!
@Daniel McGrath Thank You!!
@@CelticSaint I remember very well being absolutely horrified by this.
"It takes some nerve to not to run with the crowd."
Excellent statement. Akin to Mark Twain's quote below. I found it a bit unnerving, after digging for truth, watching the zombies around me follow some random edicts handed down from our public servants; to their own destruction.
“In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.”
I would be very interested to know what Peter thought what his brother, Christopher would've thought of the current crisis. He probably would be the best to ask. I wish someone would ask him.
Thank you for posting. Empowering.
Peter Hitchens is rather attractive! He also has a keen ethical centre, intelligence, courage and calm!
Humour also, although often too subtle and 'old fashioned' to be easily noticed.
Sorry - as non-upper-class English I’m allergic to chinlessness.
I find him attractive too.
no better example of the gullibility of the masses that what is happening in the US right now
"How to be wrong better."
- The Left
I agreed with some of his comments.
Disagreed with others.
But what I would never do - is try to silence an opinion just because I don't share it.
Censorship has no places in a free society.
Citizens of the world are not currently free.
But we will be.
The next step: Revolution.
My mum was in the Hitler Youth in 1944. Believe me, there was no choice at all.
Seymour Kuntz the bolscheviks?
That's wrong though.
There was no compulsion to join the Hitlerjugend or the Bund Deutscher Mädel.
So was my father! Hitler was an arsehole!!!
@Benson Walker Hitler tested his camps out on the disabled, which would have included short-sighted people at one stage. You know anyone with glasses?
Benson Walker. It was not compulsory to start with, but there came a point when all children had to join. My mum went from a place at a Swiss finishing school pre war to cleaning bricks in Berlin and eating rats.
realy enjoyed that and it was not too long and hello from the uk
Thanks Ric.
The World needs his Brother now more than ever.
RIP Christopher.
And why? His brother rejected a Godly world of high morals
It does "take some nerve not to run with crowds!" You are SO RIGHT about that and so many people want and need to be lead around by their noses although they do not know it!
Peter Hitches eloquently argues against religion.
I think you are mistaking him for his brother Christopher. I believe Peter is a practicing Christian.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
Am I the only one who finds every interview with Peter Hitchens hard to hear and listen to? He often holds his head high, when his microphone is on his shirt. He has a low voice with not many overtones and he often actually whispers and makes no attempt to speak clearly. Often almost a mumble.
... yep..ur correct...I noticed that too
@@universeofopulence Same here.
MrQwerty, He is a depressive, only so much you can listen to a depressive before you become depresse yourself. He doesn't have any fight in him for his country. 🔔🇬🇧🔔 Put Bolsheviks and Masonics in the 🚮 🤣
@@johnmacaroni7028 No, he's not depressive, he's just analytical and it's a tough subject. If you find his call to critical thinking depressive, then that's your problem to deal with, both in terms of having satisfied yourself with half-truths and outright lies, and being unwilling to look for or contemplate a hard truth. Of course, I hope I'm wrong about you. Disclaimer: The only reason I can call out this kind of self-inflicted depression is because I suffer from it myself and it's incidence appears to be not all that uncommon. To go beyond slogans and soundbites requires a bit of personal motivation.
There's this fabulous item of technology on almost all playback devices, called a gain or (more commonly volume) control.
Found John Anderson through Jordan Peterson. Keep the discussion alive! Thanks for the content
When ya sell out to the devil theres no coming back
Absolute truth . This guy is a genius
Interesting points and something I wanted to listen to but there's just way too much mumbling.
"You Are Not Immune to Propaganda."
No one is.