The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.
Interpretation
Being a dissident requires more than just disagreement; it demands personal sacrifice and taking risks.
Christopher Hitchens emphasizes that the term 'dissident' carries a weight of responsibility that goes beyond simply having a differing opinion. To be a true dissident means to stand up against the status quo, often at significant personal cost, which distinguishes genuine dissenters from those who merely voice opposition without the courage to face the consequences.
In practice
During a speech about civil rights, you can use this quote to motivate activists.
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.
Our men and women in uniform make enough sacrifices for our country. Their credit rating should not be one of those sacrifices.
Freedom from fear and injustice and oppression will be ours only in the measure that men who value such freedom are ready to sustain its possession - to defend it against every thrust from within or without.
The worst possible thing ... was to lie dead in the water with any problem. Solve it, solve it quickly ... If you solved it wrong, it would come back and slap you in the face, and then you could solve it right.
If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.
The only thing I can't do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure.
Of course, with the increasing number of aeroplanes one gains increased opportunities for shooting down one's enemies, but at the same time, the possibility of being shot down one's self increases.
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