Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Waterboarding for Fun and Profit

Christopher Hitchens, who doesn't believe in God or waterboarding as torture, has just cut his list in half after undergoing an aquatic experience (it wasn't baptism) on assignment from Vanity Fair.

After airily dismissing the difference between "extreme interrogation" and "outright torture," Hitchens was challenged to see for himself and, writers being as they are, agreed to do so if the experience yielded a magazine article. He did, and it did, in the current issue under the title, "Believe Me, It's Torture."

For those who want to read about and see a video of how far a portly 59-year-old man with phobias about drowning will go for money and attention, it's all there on the magazine's web site.

Meanwhile, any editor with an idea of how to test the existence of the Deity can be in touch with Hitchens as soon as he catches his breath.

1 comment:

felix said...

This morning I stumbled across this question in my response to a post on an e-mail discussion group. I saw the video a few days ago and didn't make the connection right away. This morning, with the arrival of this question in my mind, I decided to Google it up to find out if anybody else had, and that's how I found your blog comments.

Is waterboarding and baptism the same thing?

Yes, it's exactly how I was converted to the Baptist religion when I was nine years old.