The Inevitable Christopher Hitchens has Died Thread

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't really wanna be like him, or spend time around people who are. I might vehemently suggest that Babs die in a fire, but I would not be happy if he literally did. I also wouldn't post "he's dead and I don't care", although I might post "he's dead and I have mixed feelings, because no one deserves to die a horrible lingering painful death but I also feel a sense of relief because I think he was doing a lot of harm with his life".

Basically all I'm saying is, it's kind of repulsive when people start these "A CELEBRITY DIED AND I'M FIRST!" threads unless they are expressing some kind of sincere and/or rational analysis. I'm not telling anyone what's OK to post, but especially given the last three fairly recent discussions about it, I nonetheless feel quite free to express my criticism.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I still don't understand why Hitchens deserves even the minimal amount of respect needed to not be gleeful that he's no longer spewing his racist wanna-be tough-guy crap. My only regret is that his condition wasn't contagious, since in a just world he would have taken Megan McArdle with him.

It's hard to drum up the effort to cheer a guy into his grave, when that guy was basically mainstream America.

Don't know if I'm saying that right.

That's pretty much how I feel about it.

I might come off as a monster sometimes but I don't actually want to see my enemies dead. I don't want to become what I despise them for being.

[Cain]

I still don't understand why Hitchens deserves even the minimal amount of respect needed to not be gleeful that he's no longer spewing his racist wanna-be tough-guy crap. My only regret is that his condition wasn't contagious, since in a just world he would have taken Megan McArdle with him.

How she even got a job at The Atlantic is something I struggle to understand.  Well, her, Yglesias and Ezra Klein, all three of them are godawful human beings and all went to the same schools and got the same blogging/media jobs.

The only people at The Atlantic still worth a damn are James Fallows and some of the guest writers.  Ta-Neshi Coates is painfully mainstream liberal and Andrew Sullivan is just painfully stupid.  Jeffrey Goldberg is another Iraq War/Israel nut who has been proven to be repeatedly wrong about anything he ever writes and Marc Ambinder's only "talent" is transcribing what anonymous White House sources tell the wire agencies.

[East Coast Hustle]

I still don't understand why Hitchens deserves even the minimal amount of respect needed to not be gleeful that he's no longer spewing his racist wanna-be tough-guy crap. My only regret is that his condition wasn't contagious, since in a just world he would have taken Megan McArdle with him.

It's hard to drum up the effort to cheer a guy into his grave, when that guy was basically mainstream America.

Don't know if I'm saying that right.

Au contraire. I would happily cheer mainstream America into its grave, and see nothing wrong with doing so one douchenozzle at a time.

[East Coast Hustle]

no one deserves to die a horrible lingering painful death

I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point.

I still don't understand why Hitchens deserves even the minimal amount of respect needed to not be gleeful that he's no longer spewing his racist wanna-be tough-guy crap. My only regret is that his condition wasn't contagious, since in a just world he would have taken Megan McArdle with him.

How she even got a job at The Atlantic is something I struggle to understand.  Well, her, Yglesias and Ezra Klein, all three of them are godawful human beings and all went to the same schools and got the same blogging/media jobs.

The only people at The Atlantic still worth a damn are James Fallows and some of the guest writers.  Ta-Neshi Coates is painfully mainstream liberal and Andrew Sullivan is just painfully stupid.  Jeffrey Goldberg is another Iraq War/Israel nut who has been proven to be repeatedly wrong about anything he ever writes and Marc Ambinder's only "talent" is transcribing what anonymous White House sources tell the wire agencies.

Yeah, Fallows is the only reason I read that rag anymore. Well, that and the fact that they've somehow slipped me through the cracks of their system and keep sending it to me in spite of the fact that I haven't renewed my subscription in 4 years.

I really dug his series of articles on China.

[Cain]

His China stuff is always top notch, and seems to match what former Western journalists living in China tend to say about what is going on over there (there is a sizeable English-speaking Chinese blogosphere, especially in Hong Kong, and being freed from editorial concerns, barring the CCCP, they tend to be a bit more forthcoming than Official China Correspondents are).

[Triple Zero]

Hm. I forgot he died of cancer. That always sucks. But I still don't mind if others say they don't give a shit.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Whn, if i catch you caroling outside my place i am going to have to hurt you. Christmas songs have a funny effect on me. They make me want to do violent things to whoever is responsible for me hearing them. Warm beverages are acceptable.

[Kai]

I heard about this first from ND Tyson on Twitter. And I sort of have a mix of feelings between "sad" and "indifferent". I'm not interested in gloating over the deceased, no matter who they are, and I do feel sad for family and close friends who feel that loss. But I really didn't know him at all, and I certainly didn't know him in person. I read one of his books, God is Not Great, in summer of 2007, and I mostly agreed with it. Most of the rest of what I "know" of him is hearsay or propaganda of some sort. I read in I Don't Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges that Hitchens advocated bombing the middle east out of existence, but I don't know if this is true or not.

In short, I don't care enough to feel strongly about it, but I do feel something. That Tyson would mention his death makes me think that I should investigate further before passing judgment.

[East Coast Hustle]

Not only did he advocate bombing the middle east out of existence, but her personally went over there for no other reason than to go around talking shit to people in order to prove what a tough guy he was and how he was willing to walk the walk that his talk implied.

Needless to say, he mostly just ended up getting his ass kicked.

[Lord Cataplanga]

Just in case you all forgot:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808

He wasn't an irredeemable asshole.

[East Coast Hustle]

Did you even read that article?

Because it most certainly does not support your point.

[hooplala]

Not only did he advocate bombing the middle east out of existence, but her personally went over there for no other reason than to go around talking shit to people in order to prove what a tough guy he was and how he was willing to walk the walk that his talk implied.

Needless to say, he mostly just ended up getting his ass kicked.

So, his advocating the bombing of the middle east, but:

Au contraire. I would happily cheer mainstream America into its grave, and see nothing wrong with doing so one douchenozzle at a time.

...is totally different somehow?  Just asking, for clarification.  Because it seems sort of the same from here.

[East Coast Hustle]

first of all "advocate" =/= "cheer". That should be obvious.

Second of all, I would think "the death of mainstream America" would be interpreted by most people as a reference to a shift in cultural values rather than a literal killing off of a population group and even if you DO decide to interpret it that way (and frankly I'd be fine with either interpretation as long as it would just fucking HAPPEN already) it's still not equivalent to calling for an entire region of the world to be wiped off of the map for reasons that can only be described as a heady mix of religious intolerance and racism.

Third of all, nobody is publishing my more unsavory opinions in huge mainstream publications like Vanity Fair and The Atlantic.

(edited to remove pointless assholishness that I only put in originally because I'm tired and cranky)

[Pæs]

Third of all, nobody is publishing my more unsavory opinions in huge mainstream publications like Vanity Fair and The Atlantic.

This is a real problem.