How Hitchens Sees Himself ... And Us

Via Harry (the sensible one), Hitchens on Spitzer's Lust.

"You wouldn't be doing any of this if one of the objectives was not to increase the amount of pussy that was available to you. That is what you do," Hitch says. "You don't do it to be, ah, the most approval-rated governor of New York, for fuck's sake."

Actually you do, pretty much. Approval of others is enormously important for mammals and primates in particular. We're very big on stroking and attention. We'd have a very hard time making it on our own. Having group approval, having just friends, means you can share a meal with someone when you'd otherwise go without, and that alone means making it to next week, which in itself raises the chances of getting some more pussy. But Hitchen's amateur evolutionary psychology doesn't explain gay politicians or gay anyone or female ditto. Franklin D Roosevelt served more terms than any other President of the US. How much legover do you think he got from that? There was an article in today's Torygraph on Chelsea Clinton - apparently at 28 she earns $100,000 per annum. Assuming a working life of 40 years, she'd earn $4M or £2M. Paul McCartney offered Heather Mills more than 10 times that for four years of marriage. Mrs Merton's famous question to Debbie McGee "What first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels" seems inconsequential to Lady Mucca. How much pussy was available to Macca? I believe he enjoyed the 1960s and men can stay fertile until their 80s. Is amount the only calculation? Or is Paul McCartney (and John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) some kind of cloistered freak? According to 'the Dude', Macca should still spend his spare time impregnating groupies and have hundreds of kids. He hasn't; either the theory is wrong or the facts are.

I'm a really passionate supporter of Richard Dawkins, but as Einstein (may have) said "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." Hitchens oversimplifies.

See also sexual dimorphism.