December 19, 2011

  • Christopher Hitchens

    Christopher Hitchens died last week on December 15th from complications due to advanced esophageal cancer. He was a breathtaking author, dedicated hell-raiser, unequivocal anti-theist, and heavy smoker. I didn't know much about him except that he was the author of God Is Not Great, which I read, and it was a stunning work.

    Mr. Hitchens said last year that he'd be lucky to be alive in five years, and sadly, it didn't happen. Some hoped that he would change his mind and seek religion in his hardship (a view all too indicative of belief-in-belief, the position where one wishes to believe, and then convinces themselves that they do). That didn't actually happen either. In September, he wrote in his column on Vanity Fair, "please do not trouble deaf heaven with your bootless cries. Unless, of course, it makes you feel better."

    I wish he'd smoked a bit less in the interests of living longer.

    I plead that the world regard him with statistical rigor, and not do him the insult of claiming he was killed by divine will. That's not a statistically plausible claim, and he refutes it himself in his article here: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/hitchens-201010.

    RIP Christopher Hitchens. We shall have to work faster to slay the dragon tyrant.