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Hitchens is dying

Whilst I don't think he always made the best arguments, nobody could put them forth with quite the intense vigour that he did. I've watched hundreds of his speeches on youtube - my personal favourite was the debate in which he and Stephen Fry went up against the Catholic Church and gave it a trouncing so bad that I think it would have been only a little less painful if they'd literally thrown the opposition to the lions.

It's terrible to see what he's going through. I wish him well.
 
Cain said:
Staying alive -- something else Chomsky is better at.
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Mark6 said:
It's a loss for humanity.

Not something I will say when Chomsky dies, BTW.
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Pardalis said:
Chomsky parading with Hezbollah leaders, that's not warmongering?
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Such class.

I admire Chomsky a great deal. His contributions have been monumental.

You shouldn't have brought up Chomsky in this thread, but since you did I thought I needed to respond.

If you want to have a debate on Chomsky, please create some other thread and play there. This is not the place.
 
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Dunstan said:
I don't think there's anything inherently irrational about it, unless you assume that the only rational goal in life is to live as long as possible.
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This ^

And Hitchens doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who would have taken kindly to the busy-body prohibitionists telling him what to put in his body. Great minds often have a rebellious streak, I guess.

As others have said, Hitchens wouldn't want sympathy. I hope his final days are peaceful, painless and with friends and family.
 
23_Tauri said:
This ^

And Hitchens doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who would have taken kindly to the busy-body prohibitionists telling him what to put in his body. Great minds often have a rebellious streak, I guess.

As others have said, Hitchens wouldn't want sympathy. I hope his final days are peaceful, painless and with friends and family.
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I should add that Hitchens has said that he regrets not quitting smoking earlier, though even now his advice to smokers is (I forget his exactly words) more along the lines of "if you're of a mind to quit, you would be well advised to do so" rather than a "do as I say and not as I did" lecturing.
 
Wow portlandatheist.

Just wow. I didn't know this project was underway. I hope there is another opportunity to participate in something similar.
 
Antiquehunter said:
I'm a fan, and make no bones about it. I am deeply saddened by his (impending) loss. However the courage he shows throughout the battle, is inspirational on a level no religion could inspire.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/01/hitchens-201201
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I don't want to be a wet blanket but this is just a silly collection of cliches, some of which Hitchens himself has debunked.

In one essay for Vanity Fair I think he mocked the whole "battle against cancer" line by saying that there is nothing martial at all about being given a course of chemotherapy but rather there's a feeling of complete lethargy and boredom.

And while his courage is more inspiring to you than any religion can be this is clearly not the case with everyone.
 
What specifically is the collection of cliches? The article I posted? That is his own writing.

I'm sorry if my comment didn't end in 'for me'. I wasn't pretending to speak for anyone else.
 
In the course of his mental decline, he became convinced that the most important possible cultural feat would be to prove that the plays of Shakespeare had been written by Bacon. This is an unfailing sign of advanced intellectual and mental prostration.

Oh Hitchens.
 
Uh-oh, here comes the God Squad, circling like vultures.

Apparently because Hitchens disagrees with Nietzsche on something Nietzsche wrote when he was probably insane that means Hitchens is going to convert to Christianity.

You have to be as mad as Nietzsche became and as ... well ... parochial as almost only a Christian can be to think that Hitchens is going to convert.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/08/is-christopher-hitchens-about-to-convert/
 
angrysoba said:
Uh-oh, here comes the God Squad, circling like vultures.

Apparently because Hitchens disagrees with Nietzsche on something Nietzsche wrote when he was probably insane that means Hitchens is going to convert to Christianity.

You have to be as mad as Nietzsche became and as ... well ... parochial as almost only a Christian can be to think that Hitchens is going to convert.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/08/is-christopher-hitchens-about-to-convert/
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LOL. Most god botherers assume that everyone else lives with their own cognitive dissonance, in a Universe where this kind of logic makes sense.

I've only seen one interview with Hitchens since he became ill. He was very succinct, basically saying that yes, he probably did contribute to his demise. And?

I'm sure he probably is scared now, and asking himself questions that only others with a terminal disease could ask. But only Christians and other religious zealots would assume that those questions would lead to what they assume is the only answer.
 
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