I won't go into all of the man's accomplishments. Nor will I belabor the multitude of differences I had with his political leanings during his later years. But I will say this: if you've never read Hitchens', get thee to a library.
The first exposure I had to Christopher Hitchens' work was when I first subscribed to The Nation in the 80's. I thought I had finally found the one, singular voice of reason, capable of dissecting not only the political right, but the religious base upon which it lords over America's dysfunctional sense of morality. He was brilliant, he was relentlessly cruel to those he considered beneath his intellectual prowess, and he was almost always right on the money with his opinions, with countless references proving his points.
Somewhere along the way, Hitchens' political philosophy swung from socialist to hard-line defender of the American right. His appearances on Bill Maher's Real Time were legendary, as he staunchly defended the policies of the Bush administration (much to the chagrin of the show's host and most of us in the audience...).
I purchased Hitchens' book God is Not Great when it hit the shelves in 2007, and immediately found myself nodding in agreement to his defense of atheism, as well as his attacks on the harm done to mankind by our continued adherence to organized religion. He said what I wanted to say, but couldn't put into words.
He was a contrarian, an absolute pain in the ass. And I'm going to miss the bastard.
RIP, Hitch...
4 comments:
Hitchen's demise is the loss of a voice of sanity in a world of chaos. We all have to go, but he has gone to soon.
the Ol'Buzzard
Hitch was a contraire to the end too .... "“In whatever kind of a ‘race’ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist,” Mr. Hitchens wrote in Vanity Fair, for which he was a contributing editor." I gotta admit I lost MOST of my respect for his viewpoints when he supported the Iraqi invasion ... and defended ALL the Bushies .... seemed on the downhill slide by that time to me. But then .... heavy drinking, smoking, drugging and partying has that effect on a lotta us ... don't it?
I meant to add .... 6ty-fucking-2 .... is way too few years of living ... to test the atheist theory, though.
BJ, I'm pretty sure Hitchens feared not at the end. If anyone was waiting around for a deathbed conversion, I'm sure they were disappointed.
I'm always amazed when rational, incredibly intelligent people arrive at polar opposite opinions on matters of war, torture, religion, and all the rest. Especially when they make 180 degree course changes politically, like Hitchens did. Ariana Huffington did the same thing, only she went from conservative to progressive, the natural evolution of thought (rimshot!)
I believe Hitchens just wanted to swim upstream because it irritated more people that way.
If you haven't read "God is Not Great" you ought to borrow the book. Other than Richard Dawkins' books, I can't think of a more articulate dissection of organized religion.
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