Death in the Family

Posted on October 10, 2007 by

My friend Macgregor points me to this extraordinarily moving article by Christopher Hitchens. If you’re as lachrymose as me, I don’t recommend reading it at work. 

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4 Responses to Death in the Family

  1. derrida derider says:
    October 10, 2007 at 8:50 pm

    No. No. no. Hitchens is mourning the death of a young man who volunteered to be commanded by known criminals. He should save his grief for the approximately million dead Iraqis, none of whom sought this war.

    Hitchens was an important enabler of those deaths. My contempt for him is increased, not reduced, by this article.

  2. Peter says:
    October 11, 2007 at 12:15 am

    Another tragic death in a family, but this one was not widely published by the Australian media(This incident occured about a month back).

    http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/10/1191695968357.html

    International students must be careful in choosing Australia as a study destination. Hate crimes are on the rise in Australia. Recently another student was attacked in Melbourne.

    Also Australia’s immigration minister Kevin Andrews is inciting hatred against immigrants from Asia, Middle East and Africa.

    http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22564133-5005961,00.html

    Canada,US,UK, New Zealand and Ireland may be a good alternative for International students, as governments in these countries do not incite hate crimes. For Asian(and other) students Japan, South Korea and Singapore could be an alternative study option as these countries are increasing looking for International students.

  3. tokyo requiem says:
    October 11, 2007 at 6:14 am

    I agree with DD.

    Hitchens, while appearing contrite, absolves himself of any responsibility for the death of this man, other troops, and the death of an unknown number of Iraqis. (Although it is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands according to estimates.) The media, of which Hitchens is a part, played an important role in making the public case for war in the US. I’d rather he’d written that his decision to support it was wrong, and that he accepts some responsibility for the death of this young man, and others.

  4. Patrick says:
    October 11, 2007 at 10:05 am

    I struggle to believe that Australia’s government is inciting hate crimes. I haven’t heard it.

    Also there is a certain cognitive dissonance in citing the US and UK (both of which are involved in Iraq) as places where the government does not do this given the first post.

    It is probably caused by not knowing much about those countries (even less than you apparently know about Australia).

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