COMMENTARY ON THE GALLOWAY-HITCHENS DEBATE –
The Mason Hall, Baruch College Performing Arts Center, Manhattan on Sept 14, 2005

An audio of this debate can be found on the following site: http://tinyurl.com/czj5x

What clearly emerges from the Galloway-Hitchens debate is that neither of these men are either political virgins nor apt to eschew the advantages that a hefty income brings in favor of the poverty and obscurity that being pure ideologists demands. Perhaps we cannot expect them to, lest their words never be heard at all.

Neither Christopher Hitchens nor George Galloway is made of the ethereal stuff that constitutes the moral fiber of the genuine and absolutely devoted Leftists and anarchists of generations gone by and those who are imbued with their spirit today.

That being said, there are degrees of having "sold out" and compromised one's beliefs and, in my humble and correct opinion, Mr. George Galloway is by far the more reprehensible of the two.

I admire Christopher Hitchens for being able to say, "I erred" and "That is who I was then, this is who I am now"; for being strong enough to break ranks; for being able to take an eclectic stance and see various aspects of issues; for not following a unilateral political position down to the bitter, untenable and irrational end that any unilateral position inevitably leads to if followed religiously and unswervingly. Hitchens is intelligent and secure enough not to be caught up in the "consistency" mind game that all ideological cults demand their followers play, lest they begin to think independently and creatively and in a comprehensive manner.

Mr. Galloway is a whore. He is thoroughly morally repugnant. The description of him as a "carpetbagger" is evidently apt. He was a scrapper who came from nowhere and did whatever he had to do to get where he wanted to go. He put his admittedly impressive mouthpiece up for hire to those who need a mouthpiece most – those who have to be craftily misrepresented in order to give the appearance of even a modicum of respectability. No subterfuge is beneath his dignity. Mr. Hitchen's description of Galloway's techniques as "squalid maneuvers" is apt enough, but it does not begin to approximate the aptitude with which Galloway describes himself on his RESPECT site: "The mother of all one man shows."

See also: "Vanity Unfair" on this blog.


Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com