Christopher Hitchens dies at 62 after suffering cancer
 

Possibly known on either side odf the Atlantic for his strong viewpoints.

RIP Sir

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16212418

Great debator able to shoot verbal fireworks, smart mind and strong self-confidence, determined by cause but always fair by means, giving respect where credit was due, and unwaveringly denying respect for what deserves no respect, creative and original - non-conformist, self-reliant: our rotten, conformist, politically correct, intellectually submissive, modern time is in desperate need of good men like this.

I'd kill for his wit

The entire world IQ average just dropped by a 100 points and though he doe'ns believe in afterlife he's still alive, books, youtube and in nightmares of religius zealots :salute:

very sad

Hitchens on the afterlife:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH6iIeYgrnE

RIP.

Excellent clip. Hitchens' wit was only surpassed by his honesty.

I felt pretty low when I heard about this today. I guess we all knew it was going to happen. A great polemicist and, in my view, just about the best essayist since Orwell. Certainly one of the finest masters of the English language. I'm going to chill tonight and read some of his essays on Orwell, I think. I'll miss not reading his latest articles on Slate.com on a Tuesday morning.

I recommend his last article for Vanity Fair: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/20...itchens-201201

And, of course, check Youtube for his performances against slimy, fascist loving scumbag George Bush.

Interesting article. I'm not familiar with most of his work, but his expressed philosophy on religion apparently closely parallels my own. As to that article, I've always believed that Nietzsche was speaking of the mind, not the body, which for me at least puts a whole different spin on things.

Nietzsche is extremely easy to be misunderstood, turning his strong defence of indiviudality, nobleness and non-conformity into a position of claimed racism, turning his defence of a healthy self-reliance and his antagonism for the softy Christian church dogma and its forged softy message into a claim that Nietzsche was anti-faith and again nihilistic, and turning his concept of the Übermensch into a claim about either Marvel-comic like Supermen or again a racist idea of a superior race (which made him so attractive to abuse for the Nazis), where in fact he was talking about the transcending of human nature into a humane evolution that leaves behind our lower instincts and drives that are like shackles binding us to the fear of death and the primitive grounds of fatalistic life. He is almost Buddhistic there, and if you also get reminded of Emerson, who occassionally mentioned him as I currently find out, then this is by no randomness only.

One of the many great examples you can quote him by.

Yes, a good example :yep: