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2011-12-16 Home Front: Culture Wars

Celebrated journalist, writer and unshakeable secularist has died from complications of oesophageal cancer
The writer, journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after crossing the border into the "land of malady" on being diagnosed with an oesophageal cancer in June 2010. Vanity Fair, for which he had written since 1992 and was made contributing editor, marked his death in a memorial article posted late on Thursday night.

The reactions to Hitchens's illness from his intellectual opponents which ranged from undisguised glee to offers of prayers testified to his stature as one of the leading voices of secularism since the publication in 2007 of his anti-religious polemic God is Not Great. The reaction from the author himself, who after a lifetime of "burning the candle of both ends" described his illness as "something so predictable and banal that it bores even me", testified to the sharpness of his wit and the clarity of his thinking under fire, as he dissected the discourse of "struggle" that surrounds cancer, paid tribute to the medical staff who looked after him and resolved to "resist bodily as best I can, even if only passively, and to seek the most advanced advice".

Posted by tipper 2011-12-16 06:33|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ] Top

#1 Smart guy but he seemed to have a massive blind spot when it came to the Israel/Palestinian issue. A spot so big and wrong it put a lot of his other positions into doubt in my mind.

Still he saw most of the islamofascists for what they were when most of his liberal friends would not. Rest in Peace Christopher.

Posted by Rjschwarz 2011-12-16 07:49|| 2011-12-16 07:49|| Front Page Top

#2 "The reactions to Hitchens's illness from his intellectual opponents -- which ranged from undisguised glee to offers of prayers..."

Importantly, the glee was from his fellow atheists who hated him for his sometimes non-leftist viewpoints; as well, he was rather moved, before he died, by the extraordinarily large number of well-wishes and prayers he received from (Christian) religious people.

His big split with the doctrinaire left happened when Khomeini issued his death fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and the left on the whole did not speak up against it.

From that point forward, he understood Islam as a repugnant and barbaric thing, and the overthrow of Muslim tyrants as a positive good in the world; which put him at loggerheads with many on the left.

This is why he fully supported the Iraq war, and he described war with Iran as inevitable.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-12-16 09:08|| 2011-12-16 09:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Always enjoyed his writing even when I didn't agree with him, which was often. Best compliment I can pay to a writer: he made me think. Rest in peace, sir.

Posted by Steve White 2011-12-16 12:17|| 2011-12-16 12:17|| Front Page Top

#4 Our generation's Ambrose Bierce. One of a kind - if he was an actor he would have been Richard Burton...imo

Posted by borgboy 2011-12-16 12:59|| 2011-12-16 12:59|| Front Page Top

#5 Richard ere we knew yee, good work on the threat of islam, God have mercy on his soil.

Posted by Bill Clinton 2011-12-16 15:56|| 2011-12-16 15:56|| Front Page Top

#6 always enjoyed reading him and watching him debate, even when I disagreed with him. As Dr. Steve said: he made you think. For a lasting memory - watch him deal with Bill Maher and his dumb audience

Posted by Frank G 2011-12-16 16:17|| 2011-12-16 16:17|| Front Page Top

#7 will remember him for his book on the Clintons

"No one left to lie to"

Posted by Lord Garth 2011-12-16 16:22|| 2011-12-16 16:22|| Front Page Top

#8 He was always looking for a fight. No problem with that except that Hitch appeared to take majority positions that would enable him to lead a bully attack. Hence his moronic support for the Ground Zero mosque.

Posted by Chesney Gluter6645 2011-12-16 19:15|| 2011-12-16 19:15|| Front Page Top

09:43 Mullah Richard
09:27 Warthog
09:11 Mercutio
09:07 AlmostAnonymous5839
08:52 Matt
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
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07:36 Procopius2k
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07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker
07:03 NN2N1
06:58 NN2N1
06:58 Besoeker