Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
Interpretation
Extraordinary claims need substantial backing through evidence, otherwise they can be disregarded.
In this quote, Christopher Hitchens emphasizes the importance of grounding extraordinary claims in solid evidence. He argues that without sufficient evidence to support a claim, it holds no value and can be easily dismissed, highlighting a fundamental principle of logical reasoning that insists on the necessity of evidence for the validation of assertions.
In practice
In a debate about science and pseudoscience, one might quote Hitchens to emphasize the need for evidence.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β because itβs had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But youβve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life.
Die happily and look forward to taking up a new and better form. Like the sun, only when you set in the west can you rise in the east.
The words kept coming back to him, statement of a mystical truth and a palpable absurdity.
My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," he said, for this is the "the most important activity.
Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up & happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that?
Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand.
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