RIP Christopher Hitchens

rip. dude was a fucking gangsta

by which i mean with hitch basically goes the entire tradition of public intellectualism

how come DOOM or Ghostface never asked him to appear on a record

Perrin knew him quite well in the late '80s and '90s -- he was his "hero" at the time -- and the last 3/4 of this piece is pretty amusing:

http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2006/10/our-reflection-darkly.html

obv I loved his work for the Voice and the Nation before he lost his marbles. And I hope God is merciful to him.

And I hope God is merciful to him.

eh, fuck that. RIP, in the ground.

Perrin's Hitchens obit... from 2003:

http://www.citypages.com/2003-07-09/news/obit-for-a-former-contrarian/

The man was so prolific that you can, if you wish, ignore the polemics and concentrate on the essays on literature. Unacknowledged Legislation is his best collection.

Perrin knew him quite well in the late '80s and '90s -- he was his "hero" at the time -- and the last 3/4 of this piece is pretty amusing:

http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2006/10/our-reflection-darkly.html

don't think this piece answers the ¿Quien es mas Macho? question quite as Perrin intended

i think this is certainly a huge blow to the kind of foreign affairs intellectualism that Hitchens championed. he really made the most eloquent arguments for what could broadly be called a sort of post-neoconservatisim (lol), amid a larger group of polemicists who were neither as smart, ethical or interesting as him. thinking that i would never read another new piece by him again i felt so saddened and gripped by a great sense of loss.

I rather see what machismo is in Perrin (and he certainly cops to some, in a post-bullied Irish kid way) being rather more self-aware. xp

Hard to believe CH was so right-on as little as 12 years ago in analyzing what a horrible piece of shit Bill Clinton is.

he thought p much everyone was a horrible piece of shit tho

no, just most Important People

lol no

he thought p much everyone was a horrible piece of shit tho

― Cooper Chucklebutt, Friday, December 16, 2011 10:16 AM (9 minutes ago)

If you read any of the personal remininiscences posted and linked above, you'll see that isn't so.

I'd wager that we'll be reading Hitchens on Byron, Powell, Waugh, Kipling, Wilde, Daniel Deronda, to choose a few, long after the political essays have gone on the shelf.

RIP HITCHENS you weren't afraid to TELL THE TRUTH about ANYTHING. A true hero!

I only know of this guy as a nü-atheist with a penchant for annoying people even more than Dawkins does. Have never "read him" so I guess my conception is off.

xp kinda insane to tell an atheist to RIP also

lol billy

Jacob Weisberg:

Amazing about Hitchens: his generosity to young people. He sought them out and befriended them. He responded when they called with requests to speak at their college, contribute to a symposium, or stand with any oppressed minority. He hated to say no to anything worthwhile, and cared less about getting paid than anyone I've ever known. After doing unaccountable favors for unimportant people, he named them comrades, which meant welcoming them into his circle of solidarity and acting as if they belonged in his home, with cocktails.

His atheism, which he always seemed to think was very important, always seemed like the least interesting about him. I read 'God is Not Great' and enjoyed it (and it even gave me some of the language I needed at the time to sort through my own feelings about religion) but it was so much of a lesser work than his other writings. Just fundamentally shallow + sad.

dude was funny, but I didn't agree with him much. rhetorical skills were first-rate.

uncountable favors for the unimportant graduates of elite universities

he got college kids drunk--awesome!

"my first sanctimonious opinion" for kids to young to have lived through bill hicks

otm http://coreyrobin.com/2011/12/16/christopher-hitchens-the-most-provincial-spirit-of-all

RIP, Opinionator.

BigBossOgg : 12/16/11 11:10

Yes, he is certainly in for a surprise, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it glorious.

In fact, I am betting my immortal soul on the probability that he's begging for a chance for just one moment, to warn his brother, warn his friends back here in the realm of the living, of the horrors awaiting non-believers.

Spending eternity in heaven with someone called BigBossOgg sounds like hell to me, so.

c'mon, you could spend all of eternity chasing those goldurned Duke boys thru the swamp

till they crossed county lines

which is apparently some sort of force field

The glee among believers in eternal damnation was utterly predictable here. Now they get to let their imaginations run wild devising gory punishments for Hitchens, for daring to question what they imagine to be true.

foster the sheeple

lol

c'mon, you could spend all of eternity chasing those goldurned Duke boys thru the swamp

― OH NOES, Friday, December 16, 2011 12:45 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

i believe you mean the uke boys

hahah I did almost write that

Well I wondered what the other Hitchens was going to say:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2075133/Christopher-Hitchens-death-In-Memoriam-courageous-sibling-Peter-Hitchens.html

ding dong the hitch is dead

A letter from Sully's blog:

I've been reading and enjoying your work for years, but I've never felt compelled to write until now. I know you'll get a million of these, but here's my Hitch story:

I once went to hear Hitchens speak in San Francisco. Afterward, he was signing books. I was broke and didn't have enough money for a book, but I got in line just to thank him for his articles denouncing Kissinger, which meant a lot to me and my parents, who were both deeply affected by the Vietnam War. I told him all this. He listened - he seemed as good at listening as speaking - and he asked me all kinds of questions. We talked for a bit, and finally he asked if he could sign something. I told him I didn't have enough money for a book. Without hesitating, he pulled one off the pile, asked for my parents' names, and inscribed the book to them. One of the best moments of my life. I loved the man. He's left the world to a bunch of fucking lightweights, but we have to try our best.

Similar to my experience.

One of the best moments of my life.

:( :( :(

Yeah, why couldn't that person have had a better life.

seriously

must be all the fucking lightweights

Looking back, I realize now I should have fucked more lightweights.

Perrin has a new piece up:

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2011/12/letter-to-lost-friend.html

We then went to HBO Studios where you were to debate John Podhoretz on Comedy Central. It was a live show. You said "fuck" several times. Moderator Al Franken told you to stop. You replied, "I thought I was allowed to say whatever the fuck I wanted!" The segment ended early.

lol ned p sure perrin is just some guy morbs made up

okay "the MGD 64 of human beings" for McConaughey is pretty funny

yeah honestly I only disagreed with like 3 of them but Ron Jeremy is deserving of his status.

Oh man, I haven't thought about Neil Pollack in years!

neither have i!

I don't have a clue who he is!

he was a thing for a while!

The anthology of american literature is basically pieces like this about/in the style of most major macho literary figures of the 20th century. Since then, I guess he's written a bunch of other funny stuff too.

Yeah, Anthology is hilarious