|
|
olddrone
New member
Posts: 44
|
 |
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2011, 10:48:18 AM » |
|
Sorry, Moderator. Please delete my first post. Thank you.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
zuzu_
|
|
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2011, 11:20:27 AM » |
|
When I first read the headline this morning, my first thought was, "I just can't wait to see what The Onion does with this story."
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
mountainguy
|
|
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2011, 01:40:19 PM » |
|
Although I found Hitchens to be bizarre and self-aggrandizing at times, I'm nevertheless saddened by news of his death. It's increasingly rare for people in public life to believe in so many divergent causes so strongly. I hope that students (and members of the public at large) will remember his life as proof that you don't have to march in ideological lockstep with just the left or the right.
RIP.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
ideagirl
|
|
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2011, 11:24:02 AM » |
|
Although I found Hitchens to be bizarre and self-aggrandizing at times, I'm nevertheless saddened by news of his death. It's increasingly rare for people in public life to believe in so many divergent causes so strongly. I hope that students (and members of the public at large) will remember his life as proof that you don't have to march in ideological lockstep with just the left or the right.
RIP.
Well said, Mountainguy. It's sad to know we'll see no more columns or books by him. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
pooksocket
New member
Posts: 47
|
|
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2011, 12:13:39 PM » |
|
Well ... he's in heaven now*.
(It's odd to call him "relatively unknown." Is this true?)
*This is a joke that was told about Isaac Asimov years ago. It tickled Kurt Vonnegut.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
tinyzombie
She of the Ass-Kicking Socks, and a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,446
elevate from this point on - chuck d
|
|
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2011, 12:37:25 PM » |
|
(It's odd to call him "relatively unknown." Is this true?)
Not in the slightest. I made an incredulous post on OP's other thread on this topic, and added that I do not think those words mean what s/he thinks they mean. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Correct, as usual, TZ. That's because you are not Dude. TZ, however, is Dude. TZ is my favorite. I wish YOU began with A. |
|
|
|
eulerian_ta
|
|
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2011, 12:46:06 PM » |
|
What I learned from Christopher Hitchens...
1. Sports is a stupid, pointless activity that brings out the jingoistic tribalism in people. The olympics are especially stupid and they exacerbate strained relations between nations.
2. Women are not funny because they aren't evolved to be so. Evolutionary Psychology is a totally legitimate science because it has the word "evolutionary" in it. Also, the few women who are funny are usually butches and jews (his words, not mine).
3. Overthrowing Saddam Husseine's secular dictatorship and replacing it with a heterogenous democracy full of Islamo-crazies is a great way to fight fundamentalism.
4. A few wacky things Mother Theresa allegedly believed completely negates all of the great humanitarian work that she did.
Honestly, the guy wouldn't get a pass if he wasn't a militant atheist.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: December 17, 2011, 12:47:10 PM by eulerian_ta »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
fiona
|
|
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2011, 12:51:47 PM » |
|
It's not his atheism. It's that he was a brilliant writer.
If you want to see another great and witty writer who had some bad political ideas, read H. L. Mencken.
Both of them are far more entertaining and thought-provoking than the measured, nice "On the one hand this, on the one hand that" writing of most columnists.
If Hitchens made you angry, that's good.
The Fiona
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
|
|
|
|
history_grrrl
|
|
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2011, 01:21:32 PM » |
|
What I learned from Christopher Hitchens...
1. Sports is a stupid, pointless activity that brings out the jingoistic tribalism in people. The olympics are especially stupid and they exacerbate strained relations between nations.
2. Women are not funny because they aren't evolved to be so. Evolutionary Psychology is a totally legitimate science because it has the word "evolutionary" in it. Also, the few women who are funny are usually butches and jews (his words, not mine).
3. Overthrowing Saddam Husseine's secular dictatorship and replacing it with a heterogenous democracy full of Islamo-crazies is a great way to fight fundamentalism.
4. A few wacky things Mother Theresa allegedly believed completely negates all of the great humanitarian work that she did.
Honestly, the guy wouldn't get a pass if he wasn't a militant atheist.
At the risk of getting flamed, I'm totally on board with #1 if you put "competitive" in front of "sports." |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
[R]eality sometimes has a left-wing bias.
|
|
|
|
fiona
|
|
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2011, 04:39:13 PM » |
|
I think it's funny that almost everyone who posts about Hitchens says some variety of, "I disagreed with him about . . ., but." It's almost like "I'm not a feminist, but . . ."
He was a contentious character, and if you/we/I didn't disagree with him on some things, we wouldn't be reading him correctly.
His greatness was that he clearly expressed his opinions, and we could love or hate the opinions. But we need to honor him for being blunt, as well as witty.
He'd be delighted that we disagree with him. I wish I could write 1/10 as well as he could.
The Fiona
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
|
|
|
larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
|
|
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2011, 06:02:07 PM » |
|
I was a huge fan, though I have read only a fraction of his vast literary output. Hitchen's book reviews in the Atlantic were breathtaking for their erudition and the quality of his prose. And I think he was consistent--he was consistently against totalitarianism, right or left, east or west. He considered Orwell his great hero but Fiona's mention of Mencken might actually be a better match. There are a bunch of "favorite Hitchen's quotes" out there right now. My own concerns Princess Diana: "She was in Angola on her landmine campaign, and there was a hushed, reverent BBC commentator. And he said, 'The thing about mine fields is that they're very easy to lay, but they're very difficult and dangerous, and even expensive to get rid of' - the perfect description of Prince Charles's first wife." 4. A few wacky things Mother Theresa allegedly believed completely negates all of the great humanitarian work that she did. His critique of Mother Teresa was more substantial: "MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?" http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
fiona
|
|
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2011, 06:55:55 PM » |
|
LarryC--Thanks for quoting Hitchens about Mother Theresa. She was such a fraud, and he unmasked her.
Good for him, you, and all of us.
The Fiona
P. S. I also agree with you in being stunned by his erudition--the way he could pull things out of left field that were hilarious, totally unexpected but perfectly right connections. What a wonder he was as a writer.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
|
|
|
drmau
Junior member
Posts: 77
|
|
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2011, 08:58:39 PM » |
|
I use his essays in my class. I did not agree with him, either left or right, but he wrote well, he argued well, and he had style.
I almost forgive him for his remark that women were not funny unless they were Jewish or Butch. I'd say more on the subject, but the guys are coming over to watch Manchester United, cause I rigged up a Satellite Dish that gets TV from other planets. For which I do not pay.
I hate football. I want to say the Khaddish for family today, and that includes Hitch. I can, and so I will. Everybody will watching ManU, got their crisps, peeing off the balcony, etc.
I can sneak away for a private moment.
As Baba said, sometimes the nicest people you've ever met are people you've never met.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
