RE: Atheist trashes Hitchens.
June 25, 2013 at 8:44 am
(This post was last modified: June 25, 2013 at 8:46 am by Ben Davis.)
(June 24, 2013 at 11:50 am)Psykhronic Wrote: ...I see no reason to boycott salon because an atheist doesn't like hitchens.Agreed. It seems like a knee-jerk, emotional reaction. I certainly think the discussion would be better served by people making reasoned rebuttals of the article rather than trying to shut salon.com up.
(June 24, 2013 at 1:38 pm)Faith No More Wrote: Hmmm...I think he makes valid points.I have to side against Curtis White, here.
Simply the title got my ears pricking as Hitchens' track record is one of shameless and brutal intellectual honesty & opposition to dishonesty; I've not come across a case where he's been intentionally dishonest but I have come across cases when he's been unintentionally dishonest (i.e. misinformed) and he's publicly retracted his statements and corrected his position. This track record gives me confidence in Hitchens' analyses although I recognise that he was as prone to error as any human being (well, maybe not any but you get my point).
So does the article provide evidence to the contrary? No.
- Appeals to emotion? Check.
- Bold assertions? Check.
- False Equivocation? Check.
- Misrepresentations of Hitchens arguments? Check.
- Misrepresentations of facts? Check.
- Appeals to authority? Check.
- Failiure to address the argument? Check.
- Evidence in support of the article's premise? No.
If the article is representative of the entire book, I don't think I'll buy it. Further, I'd suggest that it's a poor attempt at making money, at the expense of the reputation of someone who isn't around to defend themselves.
Sum ergo sum