By Alex Olson, Sept 27, 2010.
Noted journalist Christopher Hitchens squared off against College of William and Mary government professor Lawrence Wilkerson on U.S. Middle East policy Monday night. The Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium was packed to full capacity with students and faculty, who gathered to hear the Vanity Fair columnist and author debate Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Continue reading (flathatnews.com)
Posts
Uncle Eric is back!
-
After bidding farewell to blogging, Eric MacDonald decided that it’s really
in his blood after all, and he’s restarted Choice in Dying, promising to
contri...
6 hours ago
4 comments:
Is there audio or video of this anywhere? I've long wanted Hitchens to grapple with academics, esp those that study International Relations and are familiar with the empirical and theoretical literatures. I'm not sure Wilkerson is the best guy to fill that role (I'm familiar with the subject and I've never heard of him), but at least it's a start. In the past Hitchens has dismissed social science almost as a matter of course, but I'm not sure why and no one ever presses him on the point.
I don't trust the reporter to understand the debate, much less represent it accurately, so I'd rather listen to it myself.
Oh look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxJj6xJ5v3Y
"In the past Hitchens has dismissed social science almost as a matter of course, but I'm not sure why and no one ever presses him on the point."
Though he hasn't endorsed "democratic peace theory" in terms IR academics would recognize (ie, tortured, unreadable prose), Hitchens is safely in that camp. As for "realists" like Wilkerson, Hitchens has been taking them on for a long time. It's also safe to say Hitchens dismisses as a matter of course realist theoreticians who bow to the great wisdom of Henry Kissinger.
The video on youtube was deleted, anyone knows where I can find it?
Post a Comment