Christopher Hitchens has died

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011

I don't even know what to say. The man was, in his own special way, a giant. For those unfamiliar with him, Christopher Hitchens was an author and journalist, a critic and a skeptic, and was perhaps best known at least to internet culture, as a great debater who debated most passionately on issues involving religion. His style was brash and unapologetic, setting him apart from many of the so-called New Atheists (folks like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris), who, while passionate, seem not to really unload.

Last year, Hitch was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He died this evening (December 15th) in Houston at the age of 62. He will be missed.

 

I mentioned this to my partner. She said, "Who?" ... I forgive her since she's studying for finals, though when I explained who he was she said, "Oh, I don't pay attention to religious blowhards, why would I pay attention to athiest ones?"

 

I'd not ever heard of him until he was on Jon Stewart flogging Hitch-22.
He was obviously an intellectual, witty and charming in a rakish way. Vanity Fair seems to be pretty broken up by his death. There are a number of articles he wrote for them there if anyone is curious.
EDIT/ I did read the OP -- just missed the link. Sorry.

 

Bummer. I enjoyed his wit. Wish I had half as much.

 

His writing is very good and I love watching him speak. If you hunt around youtube he has a pile of videos as well as his own channel. I'm not one usually to be bothered by celebrity news of any sort, but I feel as though this has cost me a tangible part of my life and he will be sorely missed. The world has lost one of it's greats in his passing.

 

One one hand, he was an outspoken atheist who had no qualms about taking on things like the dark side of Mother Teresa's missionary work, and it took big balls to undergo waterboarding to give himself a better perspective on it. On the other hand, his hardon for old-world imperialism and asinine "religion is bad, but Islam is worse" views are something we could do without. I lost most of the respect I had for him over the latter two issues so this mostly means I scored 32 points in my celebrity deadpool this year.

 

He engendered way more conversations in my house than just about any other author.

Great writers/thinkers like him do not come about all that often.

 

I wouldn't say I necessarily lost respect for him over those issues, but I certainly strongly disagreed with him. Nonetheless, it's unfortunate that he has died as I think he provided a rather significant net positive to society.

 

I was never really that into Hitchens. I don't think I heard of him until he had entered the Bush Doctrine phase of his life. The things of his that I have read were always interesting, even if his main point was dumb.

 

My condolences to Mr. Hitchens's family, friends, and admirers ... I however must disagree in the main with his Materialistic philosophy. Hitchens is well known for the statement that, "Exceptional claims require exceptional evidence". I think that by the time of his passing, with the proof of Bells Theorem (non-locality) and direct substantiated evidence of the paranormal pouring in everyday from around the globe, transcendence is well established but Materialism is in deep distress for need of "exceptional evidence" to reestablish even a modicum of rational viability. Consider; if just one instance of anything that transcends matter / Materialistic philosophy, in the entire history of planet earth and mankind's tenure thereupon is true, then Materialism fails utterly. Fare well Christopher on your new adventure.​

 

bummer :-(