Ode to Christopher Hitchens

[99call]

I dearly hope when the times comes to face death, I can have the courage of this chap. I think this is a pretty moving last look, at the thoughts of Christopher Hitchens, to my mind a great man, and a great thinker.  I realise he's a bit like Marmite, and is not to everyones tastes. I strongly recommend everyone watch his debates, and read his books. 

What's the forums views? was he a true champion of shedding light on the actions of the corrupt?, or was he in it for the spotlight/thrill of the debate. I think it's the primary, but have a sneaking suspicion, he also got a great buzz out of it. 

 

[99call]

I'll also attach one of his lighter moments, One of my favourite jokes.

 

[Fuzz AI]

Personally, never heard of him before.

[Guest Nekhyludov]

I have long been deeply ambivalent about Mr. Hitchen's writings and statements, as I imagine anyone who has paid attention to him would be. But I will say, if it were possible to choose any single person to report back from the other side, I would want it to be him. His intelligence and wit would serve the task well.

[ebhead]

He is my god....

[JamesKPolkEsq]

This should end well 

[99call]

32 minutes ago, Nekhyludov said:

I have long been deeply ambivalent about Mr. Hitchen's writings and statements, as I imagine anyone who has paid attention to him would be. But I will say, if it were possible to choose any single person to report back from the other side, I would want it to be him. His intelligence and wit would serve the task well.

Ambivalence is a good word, I sums up my feelings quite well too. I find myself agreeing with him on a great deal of things, and then something pops up thats quite conflicting, and I have to re-access, but then again, thats true of all the great people. He'd be great to go on this piss with, but I've got a feeling I'd be left behind intellectually pretty rapidly.

[99call]

4 minutes ago, JamesKPolkEsq said:

This should end well 

I'm hoping not, challenging religion was only a part of his career. And his approach to religious people was often, 'enjoy having a religion, but don't force it on others' unfortunately I think membership numbers are pretty important to any religion, so his preferences were always going to be seen as contentious.

[PatrickEwing]

When people of his intellectual capacity speak, I believe it's worth an initial listen at the least. We have taken the road of marginalizing anything at odds with our own dogma, but people such as he get the world spinning again. Sure, he was arrogant and bombastic, but take it or leave it. Don't try to destroy or silence it. 

[Doctorossi]

4 minutes ago, PatrickEwing said:

When people of his intellectual capacity speak, I believe it's worth an initial listen at the least. We have taken the road of marginalizing anything at odds with our own dogma, but people such as he get the world spinning again. Sure, he was arrogant and bombastic, but take it or leave it. Don't try to destroy or silence it. 

Quite. I probably strongly agreed with him and strongly disagreed with him in just about equal measure, but whatever the topic, he at least got me thinking about it.

[Smokin Joe]

He was not shy when he put out an opinion but he didn't make it personal. That breed of public intellectual who could set out or rebuke challenging ideas without going feral are in short supply these days. Guys like William Buckley on the right and Noam Chomsky on the left. We could do with more of them now.

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[gweilgi]

6 hours ago, Nekhyludov said:

I have long been deeply ambivalent about Mr. Hitchen's writings and statements, as I imagine anyone who has paid attention to him would be. But I will say, if it were possible to choose any single person to report back from the other side, I would want it to be him. His intelligence and wit would serve the task well.

Ambivalence is a good word to describe his approach, and one I don't think he would have objected to.  IMO, he liked a good argument and was not at all shy in making a forceful case, but his main aim was to make us think, even in disagreement.  And that is a noble and worthy goal in itself.....