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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hitchens v. Mamet


The book is called "The Secret Wisdom" and, well, it's provocative. Here are some of the claims made by its author, the enormously successful playwright and essayist, David Mamet...

“America is a Christian country. Its Constitution is the distillation of the wisdom and experience of Christian men, in a tradition whose codification is the Bible.”

“the Israelis would like to live in peace within their borders; the Arabs would like to kill them all…”

“The federal government is merely the zoning board writ large…”

Affirmative Action is “as injust as chattel slavery,” comparable to Japanese internment and the Dred Scot decision


And here are a few reactions from a New York Times review by Vanity Fair contributing editor Christopher Hitchens:
"This is an extraordinarily irritating book, written by one of those people who smugly believe that, having lost their faith, they must ipso facto have found their reason."

"…you will not be surprised to know that Mamet regards global warming as a false alarm, and demands to be told “by what magical process” bumper stickers can “save whales, and free Tibet.” This again is not uncharacteristic of his pointlessly aggressive style: who on earth maintains that they can? If I were as prone to sloganizing as Mamet, I’d keep clear of bumper-sticker comparisons altogether."

"Mr. Beck is among those thanked in Mamet’s acknowledgments for helping free him from “the bemused and sad paternalism” of the liberal airwaves. Would that this were the only sign of the deep confusion that is all that alleviates Mamet’s commitment to the one-dimensional or the flat-out partisan."

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