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Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/16/143595854/writer-christopher-hitchens...

So ends an era... Thanks for you help Chris. You will be missed.

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on December 16, 2011 at 11:51am

Damned straight!

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Permalink Reply by greyfoot on December 16, 2011 at 8:10am

Mourning.

Hitch was more than just an eloquent secularist, he was an unabashed truth-seeker. He viewed blind ideology as a religion, and lambasted extreme leftists just as much as extreme rightists, something (and let's be honest about this) that most atheists just don't do. A TRUE individual, to call him courageous is a terrible understatement. No, Loren, we'll probably not see his like again.

Mourning.

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Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on December 16, 2011 at 1:50pm

"...he was an unabashed truth-seeker."

YES! Exactly! He was the first person that I know of who personally dug up the shocking facts about the money-grubbing Fraud of Calcutta, and published them in plain English. If I had the money, I would buy thousands of copies of The Missionary Position, and send them to every public high school in the country. Or just leave stacks of them in public places for people to pick up and read.

She was a prime example of how the media can be manipulated, and most people still believe that she actually helped the poor with all the money that was donated to her organization. I think most of it is still sitting in bank accounts around the world, doing nothing for anybody. Well, collecting interest for the Vatican. BFD

I think her Nobel Peace Prize should have been rescinded decades ago.

I have other books by Hitch, but I will always love him for The Missionary Position.

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on December 16, 2011 at 9:12am

He changed the world for many, many people. I am so grateful that he was here. And now, very sad.

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Permalink Reply by United Under One on December 16, 2011 at 9:47am

Chris- You've taught me the best things in life. I could never repay you. Thanks for all that you stood for.

United Under One

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Permalink Reply by matthew greenberg on December 16, 2011 at 9:49am

when i told my wife that he passed this morning she said "good". Hitch came to represent, to her, my Atheism, which she finds regrettable. not that she's a true theist herself, but she just doesn't like to think or talk about these things and i obviously do.

when i told her that i was sobbing upon hearing the news, she said "seriously?"

once i stubled upon Hitch, i devoured everything i could find on him. he was so remarkable, and his loss should be felt by everyone (it won't) because he is one of the few who truly made this world a more interesting place.

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Permalink Reply by It's just Matt on December 16, 2011 at 11:25am

With silver tongue that shot daggers of truth into his detractors

With passion for booze to make their fallacies less boring

With light-years of rhetoric supplied by many factors

I learned of his death late this morning

And while I have yet to shed a tear for the corpse formally know as Hitch

You can bet every cent that tonight I’m drinking at least a fifth.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Hilli on December 16, 2011 at 1:45pm

It was just yesterday when I spoke with a friend about Hitchens and said "Too bad he's sick with cancer.". When I laid down in my bed I pictured a scenario in the distant future were I refered to Hitchens as "the late Christopher Hitchens", I don't know exactly why I did it, but I was aware that he would lose the fight against cancer someday, but not so sudden.

Hitchens was and still is one of the greatest inspirations of my life, his knowledge, writing style, rhetorics and wit has given me the inspiration to evolve myself into an anti theist and a great supporter for free inquiry, independent thinking, open mindedness and rationality.

To quote the late Christopher Hitchens:

"My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my ass."- The Hitch!

"Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely solely upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, open mindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake. We do not hold our convictions dogmatically: the disagreement between Professor Stephen Jay Gould and Professor Richard Dawkins, concerning "punctuated evolution" and the unfilled gaps in post-Darwinian theory, is quite wide as well as quite deep, but we shall resolve it by evidence and reasoning and not by mutual excommunication."- Christopher Hitchens, The Hitch from "god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Farväl, Farewell, Christopher "The Hitch" Hitchens. You will be missed as long as the world has rational people.