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The Spectacle Blog
The iconoclastic, contrarian journalist Christopher Hitchens died last night at that age of 62. He famously broke with The Nation in 2002 calling it (accurately) “the voice and the echo chamber of those who truly believe that John Ashcroft is a greater menace than Osama bin Laden”; it is perhaps less well-known that at least a year earlier he had stopped self-identifying as a socialist. His break from the left didn’t mean an embrace of the right, but it did win him fans across the political spectrum.
Since he loathed and regularly violated the taboo against speaking ill of the dead (scornful obituaries were something of a specialty of his), let’s not hesitate to add that his atheism sometimes led him down some really obnoxious rhetorical roads and that, though his anti-Zionism softened considerably over the years, he retained some fairly dumb ideas about Israeli-Palestinian affairs. Still, he was never boring, and was without question among the most talented writers of his generation. Our discourse will be poorer without him.
I met Christopher a handful of times, including one very enjoyable lunch with him and a few other luminaries (which, to my amazement, he remembered four or five years later); it was an honor to know him even slightly. Some tributes from people who were actually his friends: Peter Robinson, David Frum, and Christopher Buckley (if you’re going to read just one of those, go with Buckley).
A historical curiosity just for devoted TAS fans: In 1988, the orthodox-leftist incarnation of Hitchens appeared on C-SPAN with our own Wlady Pleszczynski to discuss the primary elections and other news of the day, and someone has put the entire episode online, split into eight YouTube videos. UPDATE: It turns out the same program is available in a much easier-to-watch format on C-SPAN’s video library site.
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More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/16/christopher-hitchens-rip
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Kelly Staples| 12.16.11 @ 7:35AM
Never boring. . . we should all be so lucky. R.I.P.
Mike| 12.16.11 @ 8:21AM
In related news, Christopher Hitchens is no longer an atheist...
c. j. acworth| 12.16.11 @ 8:44AM
Yes, one imagines him opening his eyes, looking around and saying, "Well I'll be damned!"
And no, that's not really funny.
Jack in Wi.| 12.16.11 @ 9:14AM
I can define Atheism in 3 sentences. We come from nothing. We are here for no reason. We are going nowhere. RIP, poor Chris, in nowhere. It is sad, a great talent wasted. He could of been somebody.
WJ| 12.16.11 @ 8:28AM
Good riddance.
Ricco| 12.16.11 @ 12:10PM
I'm sure his wife, brother and children are thrilled with your comment and attitude.
Grzmlyk| 12.16.11 @ 8:49AM
The guy was a legitimately great writer, and, even though he annoyed the crap out of me, I was saddened to hear the news.
And he was the living embodiment of human nature's mocking tendency to bind towering intellect and mind-boggling stupidity into a single brain.
axbucxdu| 12.16.11 @ 10:27AM
"...And he was the living embodiment of human nature's mocking tendency to bind towering intellect and mind-boggling stupidity into a single brain."
Grz,
That's my homemade definition of stupidity. If you think about it, it's only the intelligent that can be afflicted by the genuine disease. The ignorant and disabled are immune.
W| 12.16.11 @ 10:46AM
Mr G
I enjoyed his books and columns. He was especially entertaining in debates and always looked like he had a few single malt scotches. Can't be all bad. His brother Peter is just as smart and conservative. Maybe it was just a brother rivalry. RIP.
Hook| 12.16.11 @ 8:52AM
Hitch was, unlike most famous writers and journalists, totally independent in his views. I was puzzled at his intelligent recognition of the threat posed by Islamism and his odd lack of sympathy for Israel, but the fellow sure wrote beautifully and was never boring.
Claypoole| 12.16.11 @ 8:54AM
Hitchens once wrote an article saying, in essence, that, yes, an abortion is the killing of a baby. As I remember, it drove his fellow leftists wild.
For this one bit of honesty in the face of what he had to have known would be the condemnation of his peers, he might, last night, have found himself forgiven.
W| 12.16.11 @ 11:23AM
Claypoole,
His exact words were that abortion stops a beating heart.
JimH| 12.16.11 @ 9:20AM
He was an intellectually honest and intelligent man. We should value his like as it forces us to improve our own arguments. He will be missed.
The Comedian| 12.16.11 @ 9:21AM
Hitch: "Where am I?"
God: "Well my son, you still believe I don't exist?"
Hitch:
God:"That's OK. I forgive you."
SusyQue| 12.16.11 @ 9:38AM
This man chose to use his God-given gifts to malign and blastpheme Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord.
Woe, woe, woe......
Derek Leaberry| 12.16.11 @ 9:44AM
Sad to see Hitchens dead. He was a bad man, hated Christianity and it's offspring,Western Civilization, he was a strong supporter of abortion rights and world socialism, but he was interesting. He certainly is finding out right now whether it was wise to turn his back on God.
Kingofthenet| 12.16.11 @ 11:35AM
Yeah Western Civ had NOTHING to do with the formally Non Christian Romans and Greeks, nothing at all.
Val| 12.16.11 @ 9:56AM
So many haters. Isn't God (and the people who believe in God) supposed to be LOVING? Hypocrites all. He's not going to "open his eyes" or say "where am I" or do anything. He is dead. Why can't most people deal with death and it's finality? Enjoy the ride while it lasts and don't complicate it with trying to make others think and feel the way you do. Do the so called Christians on here think that if he were a Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Morman, etc. that he would still go to hell? After all, their God's aren't YOUR God. Why be so hateful to someone who didn't believe in ANY God? The home of the free, yeah, that's us as long as you do, think and say what someone else thinks is best.
albert constantine jr| 12.16.11 @ 11:27AM
Hitchens' many flaws notwithstanding, I am grateful that he ripped the veil of Mumia Abu Jamal's "innocence" away from the left.
Le Cracquere| 12.16.11 @ 11:39AM
My to-do list, this evening: "Pour a 40 for C.H."
As for Hitch's current activities, I like to think that God might agree with the minor Calormene poet who said: "a noble friend is the best gift, and a noble enemy the next best."