Fascism was not simply a conspiracy—although it was that—but it was something that came to life in the course of a powerful social development. Language provides it with a refuge. Within this refuge a smoldering evil expresses itself as though it were salvation. Theodor Adorno. 1964
The day after he died there were all these clips of him floating around on Facebook, etc. I even got into a facebook “argument” concerning a book he wrote about Mother Teresa. Part of the resistance to my point was this: how could anyone say terrible things about Mother Teresa? She is a saint! And also, the things he said may not even be true. Then again they may have been true.
Hitchens would sit unblinking on a talk show and defend his right to say whatever the hell he wanted about whoever the hell he wanted to say it. And the truth, he seemed to suggest, was almost always up for grabs. Isn’t it good to be grabby?
This photo of Christopher Hitchens is the cover of his collection of essays, Arguably, published by Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing in September of this year. The cover photo is by Alpha/Landov. The quote is from Theodor Adorno, but I did not read through any Adorno to find it. I tried to read Adorno on my honeymoon fifteen years ago, did not get very far and haven’t tried again since. It is a quote that appears in Thought Through My Eyes by Klaus Ottmann. It is published by Spring Publications. The quote is on page 122. I picked it up at SITE Santa Fe.
Argue in peace, CH.