The pugnacious British author, scholar and atheist finally succumbed to cancer Friday, dying at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Hitchens was a man who was not afraid to make his views known, and he fought tenaciously on behalf of his favored causes as well as against those he deplored. Despite (or perhaps due to) being an atheist, he was passionate in his beliefs, and supported them with a missionary zeal.
Although Hitchens had a tendency to ruffle feathers, his intellectual power and outspoken, engaging style won him many admirers. He tended to focus his most scathing attacks on fundamentalists of various religions, but no dogma was immune to his criticism, and nothing holy.
The following video is an amusing example of Hitchens at his irreverent best, arguing that women aren’t very funny:
I do not by any means agree with all Christopher Hitchens has said and written over the years, but that’s never stopped me from reading one of his articles or watching him argue his point on TV. There’s something about a man who takes on all comers and stands his ground that is worthy of respect and admiration — especially when he does so with such skill.
Additionally, and although it may be something of a cultural conceit, I like to think that Hitchens embodied the true spirit of our Anglo-American civilization. He was never afraid to speak his mind, he was a fierce defender of liberty, and he knelt before no man.
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Agreed. Although I disagreed with his more liberal tendencies, I always respected him. Especially when he destroyed Bill Maher, Mos Def, etc.
Christopher, you may not have believed in God, but he believed in you.
God rest his soul.
A rare catindeed!
Hitchens will be missed for the reasons you just cited.
It’s true women aren’t funny – I’ve seen that clip before and indeed read some of Hitchens’ writings.
What I have never understood is how or rather why, you Americans can take to your heart a somewhat pompous and frankly rather overweight chain-smoking English ex-Public [Privately educated] Schoolboy (the sort I would have happily tipped into the nettles or thumped after lights-out) a lot of whose thoughts were rather incoherent and unpleasant and contradictory. We have much better than him you know – and that is not a plug for his brother Peter whose views were diametrically opposed.
Now if your networks are now short of a good English debater, skilled in the forensic art of rhetoric and cross-examination… (:))
… and he too often mumbled.
He was a great fan and proponent of the work of P.G. Wodehouse, and it is for this that I will cherish his memory. I have a copy of The Mating Season to which he contributed the Introduction.
It is physically impossible to love the work of Wodehouse and dislike any human being who shares that trait.
@ Opus
To us Americans he still sounds fancy and profound….you have no idea how deep my accent is.
I applaud him and wish him to be considered by the big man upstairs to have done the world a service by publically opposing the political machine that is feminism by telling a simple truth.
Woman aren’t funny and men do alot of the great stuff they do like music, art and war to impress women.
Maybe this is why women will never invent anything, why bother.
@Rocco
You see Rocco, you just like his accent and deep voice, but to an English person like myself (with my BBC or Oxford accent) his accent is a bit put-on. Are Americans really so easily (duped) impressed?
The sort of American accent we like are those of Alistair Cooke or Cary Grant or Ray Milland – but then you know where they came from.
First he hates Reagan, then he loves Reagan…
…and did he ever have a go at Feminism? – without watching the above clip again, the last time I saw it he was, as it were, a bit apologetic, so I don’t think he is ready for Sainthood in the MRM.
I have to disagree with you one this one Will. Putting aside Hitchens’ political and social stances he led a life which centred upon myopic, short-termism in regards to his own health and well-being. He openly boasted about his smoking and alcohol habit, even refusing to give up even when his health seroiusly deteriorated. We can see the same affliction in men today. A general malaise which leads to neglecting one’s health.
It is not MGTOW for that would imply willingness, rather both old and young males are giving up on themselves and on there own happiness, just as the world gave up on them. Despite his more admirable traits, in the end he was part of the problem not the solution.
I count myself as one of them.
May he rest in peace.
Indirectly Mr Hitchens brought me to the manosphere. After discovering and watching some of his famous and entertaining debates with religious advocates I gained a real renewed curiousity of how and why we have reached where we are culturally which in turn led me to investigate the religion of ‘feminism’.
His style of debating really appealed and I really enjoyed the way he took apart religious dogma with cool rationality, humor and passion.
I too would have liked Hitch to have turned his laser guided intellect onto the similarities between religion and feminism and hoped he would have got to it eventually given more time.
Watching his debates there are some great disarming debating techniques to be learned and deployed for ourselves. I especially like ‘thanking’ my opponent when he inadvertently concedes ground or points.
“women aren’t very funny”
Women aren’t very tolerant.
Their tolerance level for jokes at their expense also leaves a lot to be desired.
Their tolerance level for jokes that do not use biological sex for humor is not much better.
Here’s hoping Steve Jobs hooked him up with an iPad by now.
I’d hate the thought of him no longer being able to write.
OT
Females can be funny in their lunacy
Schoolgirl threatens to kill Santa Claus if he doesn’t bring the right presents
A 13-year-old girl has shocked her mother by asking Father Christmas for a list of presents and threatening to kill him if he doesn’t comply.
Christmas letters to Santa asking for a new bike or toy are usually endearing notes penned by wide-eyed innocent children.
But Mekeeda Austin has warned Father Christmas that he will be ‘killed’ if he fails to deliver at least two of her long list of gifts – including a BlackBerry smartphone and ‘the real-life Justin Bieber’.
The 13-year-old goes even further and threatens to ‘hunt down’ Old Nick’s reindeer so she can ‘cook them and serve their meat to homeless people on Xmas day’.
Her mother, Tracey, from Brickhill, Bedford, found the note – which ends ‘Remember… two of these, or you die’ – in Mekeeda’s school bag but has vowed to try to meet her daughter’s demands rather than punish her.
‘When I first found the letter, I thought it was funny. Now I think I’d better get her what she wants. The last thing I want is for her to kill Santa,’ said Mrs Austin, 40.
And the demanding Mekeeda added: ‘I don’t really believe in Santa any more but I was angry because I thought I wasn’t going to get all the presents I wanted this year.
‘I want all of these things and I don’t see why I shouldn’t get them.’
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/884797-schoolgirl-threatens-to-kill-santa-claus-if-he-doesnt-bring-the-right-presents
– Opus, can’t speak for Americans concerning a reverence for Hitchens or his mannerisms. Can’t speak for Canadians as well, even though I’m one among them geographically.
Can only speak for myself regarding a hearkening unto a fellow but vastly more erudite English speaker. It’s not only the foreign, to us, accentuation that commands a little more attention but the manner in which the verbiage is delivered. Chah-ming, you see.
If there is anything to do with spoken English the English best know how to impart it. And to some of us here in the colonies listening to U.K. English, it is simply a pleasure to hear its expression as it was meant to be spoken from those who properly know how. (Yoo got dat, eh?).
Now, if there are any favoured linked examples of Christopher’s brother, Peter, and his more proper style please pass along one for some (one) of us (new world cretins ) who could be schooled more in how it is meant to be done. Especially if he takes deserved swipes at our more evolutionary hapless foes.
(Happy face icon was supposed to appear next to “new world cretins”)
His point being that not only do women not need to be funny to attract men, they don’t need to do anything else but simply be women; dress nicely, wear a little make up and perfume – – pleasant personality or the ability to engage in substantive conversation is completely optional.
Everything men strive for is to attract more women.
Everything women strive for is to be more like men.
See the conflict?
Re Mekeeda and her enabling, but also fucked-up mother,
Get those bitches to the psychiatric hospital, stat.
Vox Day has probably the most appropriate obituary:
“The conglomeration of atoms that were, for a very brief moment in history, collectively known by the name Christopher Hitchens, have begun to disperse.
The universe continues as before, uncaring and unaware.”
Really, Opus. Your oh-so-sophisticated disdain for the primitive yanks and their barbarous tongue would be humorous in its deep-seated insecurity in any normal context, but taking the opportunity to display it in a thread dedicated the departure from this mortal coil of the most brilliantly combative intellectual of the post cold-war era is just pathetic.
America may not be without its faults but it would certainly behoove a representative of a nation so magnificently lacking in collective moral fibre that it is voluntarily sponsoring its own suicide under the Mohammedan onslaught to practice a bit of restraint in his criticism. People in glass houses and all that.
OT: I agreed with Mr. Hitchens only occasionally, but I always found him immensely entertaining and enjoyable. Thanks for everything, Christopher.
@ Opus
To us Americans he still sounds fancy and profound….you have no idea how deep my accent is
Rocco-Hitchins has no accent. This is an accent-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0kwWeuTq5E&feature=related
Or this guy, although I’m not sure it’s even English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddqx_cWUN-g
@ Avenger
Yeah, I admit it, my family is just like that guy in number 2 and we know it’s funny and play it up like he does.
I”m in a profession so have tamed my accent abit but when my ex wife first met my family we went out to see Tina and Tony’s wedding. It was so like out family 40 years before and we knew what they were doing and how to react that they thought we were in the play.
The audience of NYer’s laughed with us.
My ex wife literally cried real tears.
She was a California girl from a good family.
Tears of disgust at that dude you linked up there….Uncle Vinny.
Women can be funny….. I promise.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9501014-teacher-disciplined-after-writing-stupid-on-students-forehead
Opus, you’re being pompous.
Hitch was a great writer and raconteur. The fact that he intentionally raised the hackles of many he debated was due to mischief not malevolence. The fact that he was superficially liberal was more of a nod to his heritage than an impassioned stance.
Hitch was a contrarian and (although he would have been embarrassed or perhaps amused to hear it) a natural conservative and unquestionably a libertarian. He took on all comers if he smelled bullsh*t and eviscerated all those that would diminish liberty. He would call out his greatest ally and friend in public if he thought he was being a hypocrite and lived life to it’s fullest despite it’s cost. A fact he always acknowledged and never sought pity for.
He was one of our eras greatest essayists and debaters and will be sadly missed. That he loved Plum Wodehouse was just the icing on the cake.
“Women can be funny….. I promise.” – Jim
Sadly, the “on purpose” part is the rarity.
This Cuntry has become so PC- that it couldn’t produce someone like Hitchens- as much as I may disagree with some of his views. He had a functioning mind- and an evidently rigorous education. Can anyone name anybody like him in the public arena? The fact he could throw words like “dyke” around with ease in the middle of his perorations shows a great deal of confidence (he wouldn’t let himself be bullied).
The guy’s not cold yet and you’re scoring points. I’m not too impressed by your bullying confession either.
Hitchens was a widely published author and columnist. What have you got?
Never liked him, sorry, even though he might of had some good insight on issues. He was too forceful and inconsiderate to others, that’s what I didn’t like. I suppose he just rubbed me the wrong way – wasn’t impressed.
… a somewhat pompous and frankly rather overweight chain-smoking English ex-Public [Privately educated] Schoolboy …
All true, but we’re still poorer without him. Hope he got a pleasant surprise.
His violent Atheism and fanatical Zionism were a tad much for me. His brother Peter was a fine, sensible chap by contrast.
An anti-intellectual attitude and a cockney accent maybe? The working-classes can be every bit as pretentious and predictable as they believe other classes to be. To some extent, they are projecting.
Lol @Jim ‘s first post. What a troll. But then again, a place like here needs controversy like that; too many up and down votes are one-sided.
OT: There’s only one school in France for those who want to become judges (The Ecole Nationale de Magistrature in Bordeaux).
The results of the entrance exam for 2011:
Males: 20 (13%)
Females 133 (87%)
Today there are already 58% female judges in France. In two decades, if the current trend keeps on, there won’t probably be more than 20% male judges.
Well, he was drunk in a lot of his interviews. Personally I thought he was great and one of the things that made him remarkable–he’d be drunk in an interview or debate and still soundly spank the other person with his wit.
He didn’t impress me one bit. His ability to shock and irritate seems to be what made people listen to him. Similar to the likes of Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Moore and the list goes on. As to why some people have apparently admired him, I have no clue.
OT again:
French athlete Teddy Tamgho, world record holder of triple jump (indoors) faces life ban after an argument with a woman whom he allegedly hit.
It would be a waste. He is so young and talented. But he already had a violent argument with another female athlete two years ago.
Tamgho will probably be pardoned. The French athletics federation can’t do without one of his rare world-class champions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qrhspGzEwY
A minor athlete would have been executed. It’s always the same: alphas survive tough anti-male rules/laws but betas are thrashed by them.
It’s quite impressive to read the flood of white-knight comments on sport website: “you shall never hit a woman bla bla bla…”
His case will be judged next Tuesday.
“Today there are already 58% female judges in France. In two decades, if the current trend keeps on, there won’t probably be more than 20% male judges.”
@Nico,
That is disturbing especially if you are a French male. There is no core social responsibility of behavior from women to men as there is from male judges socialized with chivalry to be decent and protective with females. As in most things gender, while women cheer misandry, there often will occur a counter-action such as a further and deeper marriage strike by French men. The EU appears to be collapsing and socialist big government losing its influence. Then there is also the massive growth in France of Islam to factor into the equation.
As the tentacles of feminism spread in France more men will MGTOW and Ghost. (big smile here)
“What has been the achievement of my essay?
It’s been to make sexier women try harder to amuse me.
Well that was my whole plan to start with.”
LOL & BRAVO Mr. Hitchens! I probably agreed with 10% of what you wrote, but I always enjoyed reading it. You will be missed.
I find it interesting that an unscrupulous parasite, who boasts about a long career as a family law solicitor (a/k/a shitbag divorce attorney for you yanks who like straight talk) would pretend the ability to look down his nose at anyone at all.
Opus: the average meth dealer and used car salesman are both so far beyond reach of your criticism that it would be funny to see you attempt to deconstruct. You have made your living destroying families, and have, by definition, reduced masculinity for your own gain. I usually don’t respond to you at all, only because it’s clear you’re a masochist who delights in being abused. Consider taking your pathetic act someplace else.
Regards, Boxer
I didn’t pay much attention to him. Even though I’m not religious I don’t see much point in attacking religions except the murderous ones. As technology improves (unless the Obamas of the world suceed in limiting it to the elite) people will become less religious because they will be increasingly safe and prosperous.
Now and then it is necessary to defend oneself or even attack, basically for that purpose, but it’s not an overall good policy. Which is why I think Dawkins is an excellent writer and crappy at dealing with people. Another guy I don’t much like.
These people are the Lohans and Kardashians of the intelligensia.
English accents don’t sound so much intellectual to me as sometimes difficult to understand. They are the products of an evolving dialect that in a couple of more centuries will probably be a foreign language. I’ve sometimes had less difficulty understanding the Spanish in Mexican movies than the alleged English in some English movies. They weren’t speaking Welsh or Gaelic, they were speaking a version of English. Such is the passing of time.
But people whose sole means of expression is to irritate people are irritating.
@Nico,
The white-knigts are wrong, just ask Sean Connery!
It dependsh on the shircumshanshesh; it’sh okay shometimesh to shlap a woman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FgMLROTqJ0
I think the drinking helped him with his work and he probably had some demons as well. If faced with the choice of living a few more years sober or dying as a drunk I think I’d rather pick the latter.
We here in the UK have something of a knack of producing smart-arsed drunks who appear to have something to say: Maybe they do, maybe they don’t…You decide! 22.35 on a saturday night, moi drunk; oui or non… Like or Dislike
DCM-none of those people you mentioned have an accent so I have no idea what language you’re speaking. I could understand if it was some Glaswegian or Yorkshire farmer speaking because most Englishmen can’t follow them and even the BBC has to put subtitles in when they’re on camera but Hitchins and Dawkins have no accent.
The people that you have a hard time understanding are the British equivalent of a US Negro speaking in a Gullah or some other accent.
“Avenger December 17, 2011 at 16:26
DCM-none of those people you mentioned have an accent so I have no idea what language you’re speaking. I could understand if it was some Glaswegian or Yorkshire farmer speaking because most Englishmen can’t follow them and even the BBC has to put subtitles in when they’re on camera but Hitchins and Dawkins have no accent.
The people that you have a hard time understanding are the British equivalent of a US Negro speaking in a Gullah or some other accent.”
I speak English. I live in south Texas; I probably sound like the general US accent on TV but I’m not sure. I have been accused of
“regionalisms” in writing as well as speech. The traditional speech here actually sounds better to me than standard US English.
I can usually hear a trace of it when someone from England is speaking. I am really commenting on the use of “the Queen’s English” as an affectation to seem smart and educated in general and went on a tangent because of the people from there I can’t understand.
I don’t know what the people in English movies I couldn’t understand were speaking but I know it wasn’t Celtic. I wouldn’t be able to tell you where English persons are from by their accent. I seem to recall a kind of parody of this in the movie “Time Bandits” where one character, a mindless tough guy, spoke some utter gibberish.
I do have trouble understanding some black Americans but that’s partly intentional on their part. I can’t read written black accents very well, as in the novel “The Color Purple” but I easily understood the same speech in the movie.
Many white Americans from the northeast are somewhat difficult to understand.
It’s an odd thing to understand Spanish more easily than some English, though.
More Hitch on feminism:
More Hitch on feminism:
It is curious that Hitchens did not lose or at least adapt his English accent, – I say that, as even in the short time that I was in the States, I found myself adjusting my accent to be comprehensible – and not just on words pronounced quite differently, such as Aluminium and Jersey (as in New Jersey) or Mary (as in Maryland) – and then I’d be mistaken for a German (!).
May I make another point and this may be a reflection on your Democracy.
In England, outside of the Courts and Parliament there is (apart from the occasional School and University Debating Societies) little debating, yet I had only been in the States a few weeks when I found myself at some debate at Georgetown University in D.C. Is the dearth of English as compared to American blogs, such as this one a further indication of this American ‘debating’ tendency?
Hitchens – beyond journalism – was a debater, and in debating one can get away with a lot of bad rhetoric, such as ‘I knew Jack Kennedy and you [addressing Clinton] are no JFK’.
I meant to add that your Presidential debates (from which I quoted above) – and previously unknown to us – are a further example of your love of debate.
Hitchens reminded me of Higgins, the character John Hillerman played in “Magnum PI.” I could almost hear Hitch say, “My god, Magnum, what have you done to Robin Masters’ Ferrari?”
Hitch was a sellout. His erudition and background he pimped out to whoever would ladle some candy between his flaccid lips…he was an intellectual prostitute.
Opus -
(Damn. Forgot the /blockquote command, I guess. The second paragraph was mine.)