The Inevitable Christopher Hitchens has Died Thread

[AFK]

Just as a reminder, this thread didn't actually start out with a celebration of Hitchens' death.  It was inevitable that a thread was going to be started given that he has been a frequen topic of discussion in this board and so the OP was simply stating some general apathy over the man's death.  Not glee, not sorrow, just :meh: 

I can find no fault in that. 

I personally don't give a fuck about him.  I also don't give a fuck about Kim Jong Il's death because I know that it doesn't actually result in any better fortunes for the North Koreans.  If it did, then yeah, I'd be very supportive of people dancing on his dead head.  That guy has lots of blood on his hands.  There are people who walk this planet that are beyond insipid and just plain evil.  If their deaths bring about peace or solace for those they oppressed, then strike up the mother-fucking band and start a parade.  I'll lead it!

[LMNO]

This about sums it up for me:


"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"
                                                         \

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Maybe you should quote and define what you think I am accusing who of.

No, I don't have a specific assumed target of that post, other than the one you've already dismissed.

Clearly. I meant people who posted before Kai.

Oh, okay.

Mostly I'm trying to pin down and understand what seems to be a new approach from you.

The phrasing of your comments to EoC do not appear, to me, to be an isolated thing. Do you find that this approach (the personal attack vs. attacking an idea sociological experiment or whatever) is bleeding over to other replies? If so, is this intentional?

This isn't going to be indisputable proof that you're being more confrontational than normal or anything like that, because I don't care to go digging for evidence (there are probably just a few posts that really gave me the impression) and I'm not really invested in making a point of that, so I'd appreciate it if this isn't responded to as an attack.

I'm just going ask if you're aware of approaching the board with a different attitude recently, and if so whether it's a defensiveness in response to the insults you felt levelled at you in the recent drama threads?

I'm just getting the feeling that you're in a bad mood and that's my primary suspect for a cause. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I'm trying to get a better understanding of it so I can post in threads that are turning into arguments without accidentally falling onto one side or another of them.

I thought I'd save this for the morning to see if I could make sense of it, but I still can't. It could just be me, but I have no idea what you're trying to say here, or get me to do.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Just as a reminder, this thread didn't actually start out with a celebration of Hitchens' death.  It was inevitable that a thread was going to be started given that he has been a frequen topic of discussion in this board and so the OP was simply stating some general apathy over the man's death.  Not glee, not sorrow, just :meh: 

I can find no fault in that. 

I personally don't give a fuck about him.  I also don't give a fuck about Kim Jong Il's death because I know that it doesn't actually result in any better fortunes for the North Koreans.  If it did, then yeah, I'd be very supportive of people dancing on his dead head.  That guy has lots of blood on his hands.  There are people who walk this planet that are beyond insipid and just plain evil.  If their deaths bring about peace or solace for those they oppressed, then strike up the mother-fucking band and start a parade.  I'll lead it!

Posting a thread about someone's death saying that you don't care is not really a statement of apathy. "Your grandpa died, and I couldn't give a single shit", for example, is not a neutral or apathetic statement. If you sent a letter to LMNO saying "I am not sorry your father died", it would not be a neutral statement. That is what I was responding to. It is disingenuous at best to claim that the motivation for starting a thread in which the opening statement is "Someone died and I don't really care" is apathy. 

[Triple Zero]

I did kinda wonder about that line, though. I understand it was intended as a "collective you [who are doing this]", but it felt like I could pick either I'm not "intellegentsia", or the statements did apply to me, which I know they don't cause I won't celebrate someone's death, but it felt like it implied I would.

Then, of course, I just let it pass because I knew it would just derail the discussion further, to bring it up. But I still didn't like reading it.

[LMNO]

Just as a reminder, this thread didn't actually start out with a celebration of Hitchens' death.  It was inevitable that a thread was going to be started given that he has been a frequen topic of discussion in this board and so the OP was simply stating some general apathy over the man's death.  Not glee, not sorrow, just :meh: 

I can find no fault in that. 

I personally don't give a fuck about him.  I also don't give a fuck about Kim Jong Il's death because I know that it doesn't actually result in any better fortunes for the North Koreans.  If it did, then yeah, I'd be very supportive of people dancing on his dead head.  That guy has lots of blood on his hands.  There are people who walk this planet that are beyond insipid and just plain evil.  If their deaths bring about peace or solace for those they oppressed, then strike up the mother-fucking band and start a parade.  I'll lead it!

Posting a thread about someone's death saying that you don't care is not really a statement of apathy. "Your grandpa died, and I couldn't give a single shit", for example, is not a neutral or apathetic statement. If you sent a letter to LMNO saying "I am not sorry your father died", it would not be a neutral statement. That is what I was responding to. It is disingenuous at best to claim that the motivation for starting a thread in which the opening statement is "Someone died and I don't really care" is apathy. 

Ok, I see your point.  However, I think that the complaint (or at least, the one I would have made) should be more along the lines of, "Your original post was disingenuous; the very act of starting a thread about Hitchens shows that you certainly do care about his death, in some way."

At the same time, because he was a public figure, I feel this allows a certain leeway with opinion.

To use your analogy, RWHN sending me a letter saying he wasn't sorry my dad died is a lot different than someone posting on a forum that they're not sorry that the Science Advisor to GWB died, becase of the fucked up science policy decisions the president made.  

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Just as a reminder, this thread didn't actually start out with a celebration of Hitchens' death.  It was inevitable that a thread was going to be started given that he has been a frequen topic of discussion in this board and so the OP was simply stating some general apathy over the man's death.  Not glee, not sorrow, just :meh: 

I can find no fault in that. 

I personally don't give a fuck about him.  I also don't give a fuck about Kim Jong Il's death because I know that it doesn't actually result in any better fortunes for the North Koreans.  If it did, then yeah, I'd be very supportive of people dancing on his dead head.  That guy has lots of blood on his hands.  There are people who walk this planet that are beyond insipid and just plain evil.  If their deaths bring about peace or solace for those they oppressed, then strike up the mother-fucking band and start a parade.  I'll lead it!

Posting a thread about someone's death saying that you don't care is not really a statement of apathy. "Your grandpa died, and I couldn't give a single shit", for example, is not a neutral or apathetic statement. If you sent a letter to LMNO saying "I am not sorry your father died", it would not be a neutral statement. That is what I was responding to. It is disingenuous at best to claim that the motivation for starting a thread in which the opening statement is "Someone died and I don't really care" is apathy. 

Ok, I see your point.  However, I think that the complaint (or at least, the one I would have made) should be more along the lines of, "Your original post was disingenuous; the very act of starting a thread about Hitchens shows that you certainly do care about his death, in some way."

At the same time, because he was a public figure, I feel this allows a certain leeway with opinion.

To use your analogy, RWHN sending me a letter saying he wasn't sorry my dad died is a lot different than someone posting on a forum that they're not sorry that the Science Advisor to GWB died, becase of the fucked up science policy decisions the president made.  

You're right, I could have put more effort into my criticism instead of being flippant about it.

Nonetheless, I don't think my sub-par phrasing totally negates the point I was trying to make.

You're also right; RWHN sending you a letter would be personal and meanspirited. My point was not that it would be the same as posting on a forum that a public figure died and you don't care, but that there could be no way to interpret it as neutral or an act of apathy.

[LMNO]

Agreed.  And now I will step back out of this thread.

[AFK]

Just for the record, despite people's impressions over the past few days, I wouldn't send a shitty letter like that.  When I heard the news I felt just awful for you buddy.  I still do. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Just for the record, despite people's impressions over the past few days, I wouldn't send a shitty letter like that.  When I heard the news I felt just awful for you buddy.  I still do. 

Of course you wouldn't. That would be monstrous. I certainly did not mean to imply that you would actually do anything like that, it was a blatantly ridiculous scenario used for illustrative purposes only.

[LMNO]

Which is exactly how I took it to be.

No worries, RWHN. I gots no beef wit ya.

[AFK]