Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Jennifer Byrne Presents: Christopher Hitchens


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Journalist and publisher Jennifer Byrne interviewed Christopher Hitchens during his Australia trip in May 2010 on ABC 1.
(via Daily Hitchens)

Hitch-22: A Memoir God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

6 comments:

  1. Wait, how is it sexist to allow your wife to stay home and raise the children if she chooses to? Having a parent at home can't possibly be a bad thing for raising a child, and I believe Christopher is just saying that he doesn't want to do that, but will allow his wife to.

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  2. It's sexist because in Hitchens fantasy world women are entitled to avoid work if they don't want to and should expect their husbands to provide for them.  Which is both insulting to men who don't want to be mooched off of and women who want to be valued by their contributions to society, not their ability to attract wealthy men.

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  3. I think a better gauge of Christopher's supposed sexism would be to ask what he would think of a man who stays home to take care of the kids while his wife earns the family money.

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  4. Having a child is work Andrew, ask your mum! Looking after a tiny baby or little child is a huge and valuable contribution to a family and wider society. Sorry you fear "being mooched off of"! Raising a child is expensive in lots of ways, time, love, money and energy. Often the mother's career can suffer a bit or a lot of a setback, but if the man can afford to support his wife and child when  baby or children are preschool it is a great gift to the family. If the father chooses to stay at home and the mother work that too is great, but in reality not too many men are keen on this as it is such a hard job but so worth the effort. When I was a young mum I stayed home, we were relatively poor by today's standards, but managed. As for attracting wealthy men,  women are generally too sensible to marry just for money.
    Jennifer Byrne was just foolish to go on about sexism in this interview. Christopher Hitcins gave her several opportunities by repeating that if his wife wanted to work that was wonderful, but it was up to her.
    Work outside the home is not the only work in this work. Families suffer when work eats up all the best of the workers, long hours are a disease in Australia.

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  5. <span>Having a child is work Andrew, ask your mum! Looking after a tiny baby or little child is a huge and valuable contribution to a family and wider society. Sorry you fear "being mooched off of"! Raising a child is expensive in lots of ways, time, love, money and energy. Often the mother's career can suffer a bit or a lot of a setback, but if the man can afford to support his wife and child when  baby or children are preschool it is a great gift to the family. If the father chooses to stay at home and the mother work that too is great, but in reality not too many men are keen on this as it is such a hard job but so worth the effort. When I was a young mum I stayed home, we were relatively poor by today's standards, but managed. As for attracting wealthy men,  women are generally too sensible to marry just for money.  
    Jennifer Byrne was just foolish to go on about sexism in this interview. Christopher Hitchens gave her several opportunities by repeating that if his wife wanted to work that was wonderful, but it was up to her.  
    Work outside the home is not the only work in this work. Families suffer when work eats up all the best of the workers, long hours are a disease in Australia.</span>
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  6. the dude left his pregnant wife for another woman. that's pretty damn sexist to me, and tells me what kind of person he is.

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