The Missionary Position
In honour of the joy I will have reading and rereading sentences in Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens, I have posted below a short excerpt from an interview he did with Free Inquiry about his book on Mother Theresa's overlooked shortcomings.
The whole interview is available here.
FI: Hence the title of your book: The Missionary Position.
The whole interview is available here.
FI: Hence the title of your book: The Missionary Position.
HITCHENS: That has got some people worked up. Of the very, very few people who have reviewed this book in the United States, one or two have objected to that title on the grounds that it's "sophomoric." Well, I think that a triple entendre requires a bit of sophistication.
FI: And your television program in the United Kingdom was called "Hell's Angel."
HITCHENS: Yes, very much over my objection, because I thought that that name had not even a single entendre to it. I wanted to call it "Sacred Cow."
posted by iain.e.marlow at 8:07 AM
6 Comments:
This dude is tellement amusing. I am interested in reading the book.
HOWEVER, I think he gets more than a little carried away sometimes:
"One of Mother Teresa's biographers - almost all the books written about her are by completely uncritical devotees - says, with a sense of absolute wonderment, that when Mother Teresa first met the pope in the Vatican, she arrived by bus dressed only in a sari that cost one rupee. Now that would be my definition of behaving ostentatiously. A normal person would put on at least her best scarf and take a taxi. To do it in the way that she did is the reverse of the simple path. It's obviously theatrical and calculated. And yet it is immediately written down as a sign of her utter holiness and devotion. Well, one doesn't have to be too cynical to see through that."
Haha. Oh come on, you have to be cynical about seemingly benevolent things like that. I, for example, spoke to a guy the other day who ran "adventure" trips to India for tourists. These trips involved treating blindness, but when I told him I was going in May, he said are you crazy?! it's so HOT!!
People are much less altruistic than they would have us believe; question everything, everyone, in every way possible.
Right, but Mama T always wore the same thing so it's not like she was making a huge spectacle of herself that day in particular by showing up in her everyday attire.
Though I didn't read the entire interview, the dude brings up some really fascinating stuff about her that I'd like to delve into more. And yeah, he's right about it all--people never seem to ask questions about these figures.
Speaking of "altruistic" projects in India, czech this out:
http://www.dalitnetwork.org/who.html
I love spreading freedom to choose...to choose Christianity.
Mr. Marlow,
I came by your place on Sunday to wish you a dieux, but alas you were not home and your hot roomate did not invite me into her bedroom so I had no choice but to leave your porch and stumble off into the ploping rain.
God Speed to you Mr. Marlow and your adventures on the Asian continent. Never forget where you came from and who you are. And remember that although monkeys may have the same physique as a furry-disfigured child, they are not human and should not be used for mating purposes.
Remember also to write me with great freequency comencing emidiately with the story assignments I gave you last week. As you know, your stories are already late and will not be payed for.
Do also make an effort to update your blog so that us unadventurous souls who remain in this arctic waste land know of your safety.
Bests,
Your friend.
Betsy Von Poopersmell.
As the certified editor of www.feathertale.com, I'm afraid I must express how appalled I am at the gross grammatical violations found in writings all over this site. Take for example the misspelling of the word "paid" in Mr. Poopersmell's previous comment. How could someone misspell such a simple term? This reminds me, Marlow, of the time you misspelt your by-line while interning with the Kingston Whig-Standard. How, Marlow, on earth do you intend to lead a successful life as a paedophilic vagabond if you cannot even spell your own name?
You are a disgrace to your kin. I leave you now to eat at MacDonald's.
- Your Editor.
If whilst there I discover a hung canine, I shall send him your way Brettso.
Like I suggested, hook CP into allowing you Delhi correspondent status for the May duration of your internship.
I'll see you there, we'll dine on wine and pakoras under a walnut tree.
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