Chesterton and Hitchens
Famed journalist and apologist for a vehemently anti-intellectual strain of atheism Christopher Hitchens, in an article posthumously published after he passed to his reward decided, not to his credit, to sharpen his pen in a last barb against the Great White Whale of journalism, the legendary and irrepressible G.K. Chesterton, a famed journalist and apologist for a vehemently intellectual strain of theism, Catholic Christianity.
The full tone-deaf absurdity and infantilism of Mr Hitchens’ final, or post-final, effort with ink is saved from loud public acclamation mostly because the loud public knows not who G.K. Chesterton is. This forms one of many reasons why the faithful should pray for the loud public: forgive them, Lord, they know not what they should be reading.
The crowning absurdity is Mr Hitchens’ accusation that Mr Chesterton’s frivolity and love of paradoxes, quips, and well rounded periods of sentence prevented him (Chesterton, not Hitchens) from being a sober moral voice condemning Hitlerism.
The absurdity issues from three fountains: first, the paradox, or, to use a more accurate and less kindly word, the hypocrisy, of a socialist of Mr Hitchens’ denomination criticizing a socialist of Mr Hitler’s denomination, both men being otherwise in the same communion; second, the historical illiteracy of criticizing Chesterton for not criticizing Hitler, a man who achieved the office of chancellor two years before Chesterton’s death and whose enormities were as yet unknown to the world; third, the stark ignorance of criticizing Chesterton without having read enough Chesterton to be aware of his writings before, during and after World War One taking Germany to task for Prussianism — or the stark dishonesty of having read those writings and pretending they are not the most sober challenge to the type of scientifically managed modern socialist centralized state that Prussia represents, a state dead to God and to notions of decency, expelled from Christendom and from civilization.
Instead of reprinting a list of such works (APPETITE OF TYRANNY comes to mind, not to mention THE CRIMES OF ENGLAND. A number of essays on the topic can be found in THE END OF ARMISTICE) which show both the sobriety and penetration of Mr Chesterton’s crusade against what he called Prussianism and we call Nazism, I will merely direct the curious reader to a rather more complete and charitable answer to and debunking of Mr Hitchens’ final essay than my own, which unfortunately consists of little more than the journalistic equivalent of holding Mr Hitchens’ efforts to my nose, clearing my nasal passage of mucus with a rude noise of indelicate enthusiasm, and flinging the crumpled yet sticky wad away to be trampled in the mire under the tread of honest men.
This is from the pen of Zac Alstin over at Mercator.net:
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/duel_of_the_deceased
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
