Hitch vs. Xlateralism
In "Fighting Words: A Wartime Lexicon", Hitchens argues against the semantics of unilateral vs multilateral action. A false antithesis indeed and explained very well. I do like how Hitchens argues against the parrots of multilateralism - how very hawkish of you! - even to his sarcastic ending notes:
Part of my intention in writing this has been to make the reader thoroughly sick of both terms and the empty usage to which they have been put. Are you sick yet? I predict that you soon will be.
But I'm not all for Hitch this time - each of us was given an intimate knowledge of the collective anxiety that accompanies unilateralism when our father made a decision for the entire family and then chose to describe it with the plural version of a pronoun:
"We have decided to visit relative (you hate) xxxx this Christmas..."
12:51:41 AM
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