What more could possibly be said about the late Christopher Hitchens that has not already been said?
We all know who he was; the passionate, articulate, and always self-assured political, social, and literary critic with a penchant for hammering out the objective truth about a seemingly endless myriad of subjects. During his long and varied career, he took on heavyweights ranging from the hyper-politically correct British government to the U.S. Republican Party to the modern left. None of these, however, could rival the contempt he held for the undisputed bane of his existence, the Roman Catholic Church, whose numerous scandals he not only highlighted, but to which brought a new dimension of journalistic integrity.
Despite attempting to make a plethora of different points in his various commentaries, delivering cold, hard, refreshing doses of reason was always Hitchens's ultimate goal. Agree or disagree with his views, one could not help but respect the avowed socialist turned awkward capitalist's steely, yet smug determination and work ethic. An outspoken evangelical fundamentalist atheist, he wore his beliefs on not only one, but both sleeves. At times, he had a tendency to become incredibly annoying, but in the end, sound minds of any given religion could value the finer points of his opinions.
It is men such as Christopher Hitchens, of whom each generation has produced far too few, and successive ones seem to be generating a smaller number still. A man whose words will undoubtedly live on for centuries, he set the gold standard for all sociopolitical writers, as did personalities like H.L. Mencken and Upton Sinclair before him. While Hitchens' succumbing to cancer just before the holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas began is indeed a bitter pill to swallow for thinking Americans, it must be remembered that, by his own accounts, he lived his life to its very fullest, and seemed content with this in the end.
Such an existence filled with remarkable milestones is what makes the Hitch, as far as I am concerned, the undisputed man of 2011.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - roger nowosielski
Here's another article in your vein, Joseph, from Truthdig:
"Reason in Revolt."
And now, in the interest of "fair and balanced," also from the same website:
Hedges on Hitchens."
2 - Dan(Miller)
And here's another, noting the response to Mr. Hitchen's death from the conservative blogs I frequent.
3 - roger nowosielski
Thanks for posting, Dam. One thing's for certain, he was a helluva writer. And we all should be able to question ourselves and others with the same vigor and dogged determination as he had.
A reference to late Sidney Hook, ha? And Johnny Walker, too, my favorite drink. Can't afford Blue, of course, never tasted it. Black is more in my price range, on Holidays at least.
Happy New Year to you and family.
4 - Irene Athena
Peter Hitchens had a famously strained relationship with his brother Christopher. One of the few opportunities afforded by the suckiness of dying a slow death is the one it gives families to heal before the end. That's how Peter's article (in the Mail, where he has a weekly column) ends up being a sincere tribute to his brother's courage, not just in the face of death, but in the face of injustice throughout his life.
So here I am, critic of the Iraq war, admirer of Mother Theresa, huge fan of God, thinking of something nice to remember about Christopher Hitchens, and here comes one now: he had the guts to actually EXPERIENCE water-boarding, and then pronounced it torture.
PS Howdy Dan(Miller)! Here's to smooth sailing in 2012
5 - El Bicho
Good choice, Joseph. Guess, I'll have to break the trend of offering links to send readers away to other tributes. I assume they know how Goggle works
6 - Dan(Miller)
Thanks, Roger and Irene.
I've become a bit too long in the tooth (at least in those I still have) for sailing. Now, I live up in a rural mountain area of Panama and write instead; I enjoy it no less.
Happy New Year and many more to you and to all others at BC!
7 - Irene Athena
#5 I know what Goggles are for.
8 - roger nowosielski
I just thought that Chris Hedges' article, including the video, would be of interest.
Am I sabotaging BC for having posted the link?
9 - roger nowosielski
That's pretty, Irene.
Not like the recent movie version about werewolves and exorcists.
10 - trey mon bien
I liked Hitchens and admired his courage but never understood his support of the Iraq war as anything but a knee-jerk reaction to his hatred of Islam.
Hitchens, if you didn't believe in religion - why believe in war? Doesn't make any sense to me - a proud atheist.
In any event, I feel confident that Hitchens has achieved everlasting life. Christopher Hitchens and his writings will be discussed for many many decades and centuries.
And those remarking on his drinking prowess - Good god! He was British and a writer. What else could you possibly expect?
11 - Baritone
I loved that Hitch didn't mince words. No matter who might be his opponent, he went immediately for the jugular, and with great skill.
There were, of course, 2 aspects of Hitch that I didn't get. First, as 'trey' mentioned above, was Hitch's enthusiasm for the Iraq war. I know he recognized the hideousness of the Hussein regime, as we all did, but why he backed our incursion into Iraq, given the circumstances, remains a mystery to me.
Also puzzling to me was his utter hatred of the Clintons, especially Bill. I certainly still have issues with Bill Clinton considering how he pissed away much of his presidency because he couldn't keep it in his pants. I know Hitch had a # of issues he held against both of the Clintons, but I don't believe that on balance they were/are any worse than most politicians. Hillary has, IMO, done a stellar job as Sec'y of State, and Bill's work with the Clinton Global Initiative is impressive.
Otherwise, though, I loved Hitchens' stance against religion and belief in any god. He could wax quite eloguent on the subject.
I must admit that many of his more literary efforts usually left me agape. I often didn't have a clue what he was talking about. But that was my problem, not his.
It's sad that we lost such a brilliant mind long before his time.
12 - S.T.M
The best thing about Hitchens was that he became quite bipartisan ... every form of political stupidity was a target, whether the foolishness of the hardcore loony left, the chardonnay liberals, wet (centre-leaning) conservatives, or the conservatives leaning towards the rabid right and the baggage of anger and hatred and "we know better than you and you don't count" attitude that come with many of those ideological viewpoints.
The politically correct left and their rusted on grants-seeking victim industry/"arts" crowd too must have wondered what hit 'em on occasion. The religious authorities didn't agree with him, as has been pointed out the Catholic Church especially (but not only), but many admired his passionate but generally polite and articulate presentation. Plus, he had me wondering a few times about my entire existence. I think I'm still winging it.
Best of all, Hitchens did not allow his views on genuine social justice to cloud his thinking on such questions as: is brutal, murderous islamofacism a good thing or bad (= BAD), is unbending religious fundamentalism of any creed a stain on the human race (= without doubt), or whether the world would be a better place without the likes of scum like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden and his tea-towel wearing, cave-dwelling chorts (yes, it would be better). Courage sometimes means going against the flow, either way, and often taking the least popular view.
His views certainly could not be pigeonholed. You have to love a man who won't be dictated to one way or the other ... who can see things for what they are - or at least, what he thinks and truly believes they are.
However, Hitchens also was a great admirer of an articulate, cogent and well-presented argument, whether he agree with it or not.
In my view he is the classic poster-boy for the very best traditions of modern liberal democracy, p[articularly in the British tradition, or the idea that a view of whatever persuasion is a great contributor to that way of life - up to the point where it starts to destroy it. A very fine line ...
Man of the year, indeed. Pity he's not here to argue the toss with us.
13 - S.T.M
Also fantastic to see the BC debate raging ... on Coldplay, the last samurai, astrology, pap smears, the near-defunct and totally ineffectual OWS movement that fails to spot the nexus between its iphones and laptops and global corporatism, House, Michael Jackson, etc etc. Nothing like focussing on the the important issues.
Yet a piece by Joe on one of the most important liberal-democratic thinkers and polemicists of the modern era, a man who defies pigenonholing through any kind of identity politics, is vitually ignored.
I wonder if that says anything about modern America. Or modern anywhere for that matter ...
14 - zingzing
maybe there isn't much to argue about here...
15 - roger nowosielski
Or maybe Hitch wasn't as important as you imagine him to be, not like Gandhi or Martin Luther King or Jesus Christ.
And just maybe because he was only a "liberal-democratic thinker," he was limited after his own way.
16 - zingzing
or maybe roger would rather compare corpses to other corpses, all undoubtedly good people (if they all exist). i don't know if "liberal-democrat" is a good category for hitchens (he pissed those who would place themselves in that category as often as not), but i guess roger will piss on him if another puts him in that category.
roger's dismissal of hitchens based upon a random categorization shows [edited]... ah, fuck it.
17 - Glenn Contrarian
So Hitchens was a contrarian - I like that!
18 - roger nowosielski
Wasn't my categorization, zing. it was Stan's, so put on your reading glasses or you're liable to put your foot in your mouth as you're prone to do more often than you should.
And since Hitch is dead, they're all corpses by now, so it's a valid comparison as far as it goes.
So thus far, your retort may be contrarian in spirit, but that's all it is. As to the content, it's completely devoid of substance.
19 - roger nowosielski
And yes, Kurtz had pegged you just right, a registered vulgarian.
20 - Baritone
Well, anyone who does not, in Roger's mind, measure up to Ghandi or King aren't worthy of notice - especially if they happen to be primarily progressive, and if they happen to be heathens to boot. Sets the bar pretty high, I must say. That Hitchens did not lead a major social/political movement hardly diminishes his accomplishments.
21 - zingzing
"Wasn't my categorization, zing. it was Stan's, so put on your reading glasses..."
read what i wrote again. didn't say it was your categorization by any stretch of reading comprehension. "if another puts him in that category" should have been a clue. dunno why you'd think i thought it was yours. although it doesn't surprise me at this point.
"And since Hitch is dead, they're all corpses by now, so it's a valid comparison as far as it goes."
oi. come on, man. how can you miss the point that completely? if that's a valid comparison, let's compare mlk to my dead granny... to say someone doesn't quite compare equally to mlk or gandhi or jesus fucking christ isn't such a harsh criticism. you don't compare to jesus. do you think you do, as you aren't limited by "liberal-democrat" thinking? roger is jesus now! good to know you, jesus.
"As to the content, it's completely devoid of substance."
says you, but i don't think you understand things too well. can't read, for one.
22 - zingzing
"And yes, Kurtz had pegged you just right, a registered vulgarian."
i'm not registered.
23 - roger nowosielski
You're building a straw man, B-man, but do forgive me if I reserve my right to worship anyone to those who I think deserve to be worshiped.
But don't let me stop you in your tracks, just don't make pray at the altar of your choice. That should be fair enough.
24 - roger nowosielski
Perhaps "unofficial" would be a better term. Even Kurtz is capable of misspeaking.
Actually, troll is my term of choice. And that's all she wrote.
25 - roger nowosielski
I apologize, zing, and I mean it. I never realized he was such an important person to you. Had I known that, I would have kept my mouth shut.
I see not that by not expressing my adoration for Hitch, you felt I diminished you in some way. This was not my intention, and I'm not being sarcastic.