1. I loved Hitchens but it's worth noting that the entire trajectory of his career goes against the narrative Brooks is constructing here. The more of a reactionary crank Hitchens became, the bigger platforms he gained.https://twitter.com/nytdavidbrooks/status/1286619122835619845 …
-
Show this thread
-
2. Some history: I first started reading Hitchens in the 1980s, when he was mainly found in the pages of very small literary magazines (Grand Street: his best essays) & mid-size political ones (In These Times, Nation). He was at that time solidly anti-imperialist.
4 replies 22 retweets 388 likesShow this thread -
3. By the 1990s Hitchens was appearing in bigger venues (Vanity Fair) & had also modified his anti-imperialism to supporting wars of liberal humanitarianism (in former Yugoslavia). Not directly connected but the two turns went hand in hand.
9 replies 26 retweets 327 likesShow this thread -
4. The really big shift in his career came after 9/11 when he was able to rebrand himself erstwhile leftist who supported Bush's foreign policy while also repurposing his atheism in a way that was ideologically useful to war on terror (as enemy of "Islamofascism").
7 replies 34 retweets 457 likesShow this thread -
5. The post-9/11 Hitchens -- supporter of Iraq War, un-PC contrarian who said women weren't funny & Dixie Chicks were "fucking fat slags"-- had immense mainstream success: Atlantic, Slate, best-sellers, White House access etc.
9 replies 62 retweets 530 likesShow this thread -
6. Hitchens entire career illustrates that the path to success to move away from radical politics that make people uncomfortable (is early critique of American imperialism) and market yourself as stylish pseudo-contrarian who upholds status quo.
8 replies 152 retweets 892 likesShow this thread -
7. Fittingly, the person who best explained what happened was Hitchens himself, prophetically in 1985: “To be able to bray that ‘as a liberal, I say bomb the shit out of them,’ is to have achieved that eye-catching, versatile marketability that is so beloved of editors"
3 replies 94 retweets 754 likesShow this thread -
8. Hitchens entire 1985 statement on the profitability of faux-contrarianism is instructive.pic.twitter.com/MPjkz5LUmy
10 replies 97 retweets 597 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @HeerJeet @LemieuxLGM
So why did he then turn it into a business model as he aged?
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
Everyone needs a retirement plan.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.