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Christopher Hitchens has died

I'm a Muslim and I didn't agree with much of what he said, but I can't deny that he was a fantastic orator.



In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011


Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir, Hitch-22, and began chemotherapy soon after. His matchless prose has appeared in Vanity Fair since 1992, when he was named contributing editor.

“Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic,” Hitchens wrote nearly a year ago in Vanity Fair, but his own final labors were anything but: in the last 12 months, he produced for this magazine a piece on U.S.-Pakistani relations in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, a portrait of Joan Didion, an essay on the Private Eye retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a prediction about the future of democracy in Egypt, a meditation on the legacy of progressivism in Wisconsin, and a series of frank, graceful, and exquisitely written essays in which he chronicled the physical and spiritual effects of his disease. At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else—just as he had been for the last four decades.

“My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends,” he wrote in the June 2011 issue. He died in their presence, too, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011

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Reply 1
Original post by sharklasers92
The world is a better place with one less bigot in it. Good riddance.


I have never liked Christopher Hitchens at all, but to actually take pleasure in his death is vitriolic and horrible.
was reading his interview in the new statesman earlier. this is incredibly sad news to me :frown:
Reply 3
Original post by Cesar Lecat
I'm a Muslim and I didn't agree with much of what he said, but I can't deny that he was a fantastic orator.


Your signature provides such a contrast to the sad news.
I guess he now knows whether he was right or wrong.
aw man! RIP Christopher Hitchens :adore:
Reply 6
Original post by sharklasers92
The world is a better place with one less bigot in it. Good riddance.


Says a lot more about you than it does about him.
Original post by sharklasers92
The world is a better place with one less bigot in it. Good riddance.


How can any human being say something like this? It makes me sick! Even if you didn't like him....
Genuinely really upset to hear this I wonder what his brother who writes in the daily mail will say. Great intellectual and public speaker.
Whether you agree with his views or not, you have to respect the man's incredible intellect and sharp wit.

I happen to agree with his views on religion and so I must thank him for teaching me an incredble amount of factual knowledge but more importantly, the ability to think critically.

I don't have any Johnnie Walker so I hope a glass of this JD will suffice. Thank you for everything Hitch. You are truly my inspiration.
Reply 10
Original post by HSG1992

I don't have any Johnnie Walker so I hope a glass of this JD will suffice. Thank you for everything Hitch. You are truly my inspiration.


Christ, a bit early for that isn't it? :p:
Reply 11
I read his most recent piece for Vanity Fair, and it felt so 'final'. Damn. R.I.P. to a great man.
Original post by foxo
Christ, a bit early for that isn't it? :p:


I wouldn't do this for many people, but for someone like Hitch who has genuinely had a profound effect on my life, no time is too early or too late.
It was only a couple of days ago that I was watching his 'Hitchslaps' on Youtube.
Genuinely feel saddened by this :frown: but he has left a wonderful legacy.
Original post by sharklasers92
The world is a better place with one less bigot in it. Good riddance.


Is it bigotry to challenge religious injustice? To suppose that we are not born sick and in need of saving, but are in fact all complete human beings who can get along just fine without dusty tomes "written" by illiterate shepherds? To suggest that the universe is a more wonderful place when interpreted by science than by priests, and that our insignificance in the grand scheme of things is actually one of the wonderful things about it?

Humanity has lost a great thinker. Now we're down a Sagan and a Hitchens.
Reply 15
I was a Hitchens fanboi for a year or so and the fact this is actually really quite upsetting is a testament to just how good his writing is, that he can have such an incredible impact on peoples lives. Even the guy above who is a glad he is dead has been seduced by the Hitch's writing in that you either devote yourself to him or hate him above all else.

RIP

(That guy is obviously far too stupid to comprehend this though guys so best to just ignore him)
Reply 16
Original post by ThePropheticNomad
I guess he now knows whether he was right or wrong.


Well no, he either knows he was wrong, or he doesn't know he was right...
Reply 17
RIP, what a guy
Reply 18
I genuinely have no idea who he was or what he stood for. The name sounds familiar, though.
Well he's burning in hell right now that's for sure. Massive **** if ever there was one.
Of course RIP and all that.

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