George Eaton concludes his review of the Richard Seymour hatchet job on Christopher Hitchens like this:
Any left that is worthy of the name will seek to learn from such a figure [Hitchens], not impugn him. But if one seeks evidence of why Hitchens so often felt the need to deny this association, Seymour’s embittered polemic provides ample proof.
I can certainly understand Hitch’s later temptation to deny the association (though if my memory is right he didn’t do so invariably). But it’s a temptation to be resisted. It concedes the label, the traditions and the values of the left to that lot – the dead-enders of the verkrappt left. Whereas it is necessary to insist that there is another left, with better values, and that these and it are still to be fought for. This old post of mine is relevant in one way. And this Youtube clip… isn’t.