The Inevitable Christopher Hitchens has Died Thread

[Thurnez Isa]

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

Proof there is no justice in the world

[Iason Ouabache]

His stuff on religion was powerful. His politics was shit. And he said women aren't funny. WTF, man?

[Cain]

Hitchens arguments on atheism came down to "religious people are stupid".  Which they are, but so is everyone else, and isn't really much of argument so much as the kind of masturbatory ego-stroking Hitchens was infamous for.  Sure, he prettified it with some decent prose, but when you boil it down to its essentials...

Hitchens always had a too high opinion of his own intellectual abilities, which outside of literary criticism and biographical essays were modest at best.  He was also convinced he was a wit in the mold of Voltaire, though I don't recall Voltaire referring to the Dixie Chicks as "fat sluts" in his writings  (he could be hilariously vulgar and crude...but he never went for the cheap shot, he went over the top in disgusting you.  Voltaire I mean, not Hitchens, whose famed ability at taking down his opponents was nothing more than what the British educational elite would expect from an undergrad). 

And for someone who considered himself a wit, he was incredibly prudish about some things.  Jokes about child rape were fine (so long as he told them), but God forbid someone make a joke about (male) circumcision where he could hear about it!  Joke about a mentally ill man killing his wife in a psychotic breakdown, simply because he held a hostile political philosophy to Hitchens, but make fun of Bush's own sadistic snarlings and you were in for it.

Hitchens was just a high-rent version of Andrew Sullivan, John Debryshire and Niall Ferguson, someone of middling talent who nevertheless had a way with words and a British accent, two things that fly really well in the American press, even if they are considered jokes back home.  In fact, comparing him to Ferguson may be somewhat unfair, as Ferguson, for his many faults, at least has some genuine academic achievements and is not, as far as I am aware, virtually guilty of plaigarism (all his stupid and ill-thought out ideas are purely his own).

[Thurnez Isa]

Niall Ferguson,

sorry I have to scream everytime I hear that name else I'll punch my computer screen.
It all happened after reading (listening to the audio book) of War of the World (or title something like that) which was 50% interesting and 50% "What the fuck? Your a historian man! Didn't you go to school for this stuff?!?!"

[Iason Ouabache]

Hitchens arguments on atheism came down to "religious people are stupid".

He think he was more nuanced than that. For instance, he also said, "religious people do stupid shit". Those are two very different things.

[Kai]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

I never gave a shit about him and only understood him as sort of a Pepsi to Richard Dawkins Coca-Cola.

What exactly was his argument for the war in Iraq?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

I like the writing style, though. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hitchens was a disgusting human being. Dawkins is a disgusting human being. If either of them were standing in front of me, healthy and presenting their repugnant arguments, I would take pleasure in touching them on the face with a shitty stick.

But the thing about "I'm glad he's dead, I hope he rots in hell" is religious. It's like a dog rolling in shit.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

I like the writing style, though. 

I enjoy that blog, generally speaking. It's fun.

[Eater of Clowns]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

Today you encouraged BH to kill himself.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hitchens was a disgusting human being. Dawkins is a disgusting human being. If either of them were standing in front of me, healthy and presenting their repugnant arguments, I would take pleasure in touching them on the face with a shitty stick.

But the thing about "I'm glad he's dead, I hope he rots in hell" is religious. It's like a dog rolling in shit.

I don't know either one of them, so there's a limit to how much I care what happens to them.

But the writing style on that blog is fucking fantastic.  Not talking about content, here, talking about sheer bombastic hate-shitting prose of the first order.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

Today you encouraged BH to kill himself.

Yeah, but Christopher Hitchens never posted on the board while touching himself.

[Kai]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead for this take down by Mr. Destructo. After reading it, I'm disturbed a bit by scientists who looked upon him so favorably.

Was I supposed to take that seriously? It was funny as an example of over-the-top ad-hominem in the spirit of TGRR, but I would actually rather read a serious critical analysis.

I sincerely hate that this board will step up and come to consensus that it's just as gross and inhuman as the actions of the people we despise to celebrate the deaths of, say, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Muommar Khaddafi, but perfectly acceptable/admirable to celebrate the death from cancer of a political commentator we don't like.

I'm sorry, but you people disgust me.

I ignored those portions, just as I ignore any celebration of death on this forum. What interested me was the comprehensive timeline and illustration of his racist and sexist tendencies. I agree that the style and humor were not stylish or humorous; if you know of a critical analysis that doesn't come from a religious perspective I would like to read it. I was particularly interested because several scientists who I follow closely (PZ Myers, ND Tyson, etc) have stepped up after his death to praise his vision. If he was not the person that they present him as, this effects my opinion of these scientists and their ability to see through charisma to substance.