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Help me remember this Hitchens line

Quinn

Breathtakingly blasphemous.
Quinn
Joined
Jan 6, 2002
Messages
2,310
My favorite one-line quip from TAM4 was from Christopher Hitchens on the subject of teaching ID along with evolution. It was something like, "Sure, and while we're at it, let's teach astrology along with astronomy, and [something] along with [something else], and then we can all sink, giggling, into a sea of stupidity."

Can anyone with a better memory than mine fill in the blanks?
 
that would be "teach phlogiston alongside chemistry"

http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/stahl.htm

This was a chemical substance introduced by Georg Stahl in the 17th century to explain combustion. It was eventually abandoned when better explainations arrived.

(geek aside: In an issue of Alan Moore's "Tom Strong" taking place in an alternate Millennium City, Paul Saveen mentions he has perfected the phlogiston bomb)
 
Quinn said:
My favorite one-line quip from TAM4 was from Christopher Hitchens on the subject of teaching ID along with evolution. It was something like, "Sure, and while we're at it, let's teach astrology along with astronomy, and [something] along with [something else], and then we can all sink, giggling, into a sea of stupidity."

Can anyone with a better memory than mine fill in the blanks?
Click to expand...
That was a great line. I didn't understand that part of the quote either. Would've been that much funnier. Hitchens wasn't speaking very clearly at times. Maybe it's me.
Thanks Bignickel for filling in the blank.
 
Serenity said:
That was a great line. I didn't understand that part of the quote either. Would've been that much funnier. Hitchens wasn't speaking very clearly at times. Maybe it's me.
Thanks Bignickel for filling in the blank.
Click to expand...


Man I'm glad you said that! I was listening hard and could barely understand a word he said! I thought maybe it was just my ears still popping from the flight. If the guy wrote like he speaks he'd be about as well regarded as pillory. Sheesh...was he maybe hung over???

-z
 
rikzilla said:
Man I'm glad you said that! I was listening hard and could barely understand a word he said! I thought maybe it was just my ears still popping from the flight. If the guy wrote like he speaks he'd be about as well regarded as pillory. Sheesh...was he maybe hung over???

-z
Click to expand...

I've watched him on quite a few interviews and he does come across kinda sloshed half the time. Could be lack of sleep too.
 
Quinn said:
Thanks, Bignickel!
Click to expand...
Hitchens could have used one obvious example of "as long as we're allowing criticism of Evolution in the schools, why not allow the Institute of Historical Review to give textbooks that criticize the 'notion of the Holocaust' "

When are you going to use 'Quinn' from Sealab 2021 as your avatar? That would kick ass.
 
I was sitting in the third row left when Hitchens gave his talk. I enjoyed it, but I had to strain to understand him. Many times I missed words of a sentence.
 
bignickel said:
When are you going to use 'Quinn' from Sealab 2021 as your avatar? That would kick ass.
Click to expand...

This will probably answer your question: Who and what is that?

Quinn actually is my name. Any similarity or reference to anyone or anything else, living or dead, real or fictitious, is purely coincidental.
 
Listening to Christopher Hitchens was amazing -- seldom have I heard someone speak so well and eloquently. I almost have the feeling that to be publicly insulted by that voice would kind of be a compliment.

I also really liked the astrology and phlogiston line - classic!

Mattus
 
MattusMaximus said:
Listening to Christopher Hitchens was amazing -- seldom have I heard someone speak so well and eloquently. I almost have the feeling that to be publicly insulted by that voice would kind of be a compliment.

I also really liked the astrology and phlogiston line - classic!

Mattus
Click to expand...

Hi Matt, nice to see you've started posting!

I agree, he was a joy to listen to. My English ears had no problem with his accent, although I do wonder, as he's been in the US so long, whether he deliberately maintains the plummy articulation for effect.
 
I spent some time with him in the bar last year, and can report that he speaks that way all the time. I have no trouble with it, myself.

Sadly, he arrived dead tired and had to leave immediately after his speech this year. He's a very busy fellow. (At least the lighting was working for him this year.)
 
I was a cartoon in the past year. It proposed teaching
ID alongside Evolution
Alchemy alongside Chemistry
Astrology alongside Astronomy
Metaphysics alongside Physics
(or was that psychics with physics)
 
It would’ve been nice to see TAM mentioned on his website. Maybe there is a podcast in the works. The Hitchens vs. Ritter debate took awhile to be posted. http://www.hitchensweb.com/
I always enjoy hearing his debates even if they are a little difficult to understand. I hope he attends again next year.
 
I didn't have a problem understanding him either, but that could be from discovering Top Gear (the UK motoring show) and watching every episode available for the last few years.
As far as the 'plummy' accent, a friend of mine has lived here in the states for 20 years and still has a bit of Birmingham in his accent...

treble- nice avatar. Do you stay for the jiggy juggas?
 
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