Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

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Nick Thomas
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Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Nick Thomas » Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:35 am

The average intelligence of the human race was noticeably reduced earlier today with the death of one of the greatest essayists, debaters and thinkers of our time. I wil miss his clarity.
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Thomas Rendle
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Thomas Rendle » Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:52 am

Agreed. I regret only discovering his work relatively recently but at least I have a lot of reading still to come....
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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:30 pm

A true giant - in many ways the Orwell of our day. RIP :(

Even when wrong (as many of us thought he was over Iraq, for instance) he was wrong for the "right" reasons.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
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Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:18 pm

His niece (Peter Hitchen's daughter) was a very good chess player (about 150 at the age of 16). I don't think she plays anymore.
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Nick Thomas
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Nick Thomas » Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:23 pm

"Christopher's most memorable rejoinders, I have found, linger, and reverberate, and eventually combine, as chess moves combine," Martin Amis wrote.
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Phil Neatherway
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Phil Neatherway » Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:33 pm

Jon,

I think maybe you mean Daniel Hitchens, Peter Hitchen's son?
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Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:53 pm

Phil Neatherway wrote:I think maybe you mean Daniel Hitchens, Peter Hitchen's son?
You're quite right. I was actually getting mixed up with Naomi Miller - several years ago I used to chat to Peter Hitchen's wife if we were both early for the school pick-up, and she used to chat about Naomi, a friend of their family, as well as her own son, Daniel, hence why I was confusing the two.
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Arshad Ali
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Arshad Ali » Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:54 pm

This is arguably the best essay I've seen so far on Hitch following his death:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/12/19/run ... -hitchens/
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Nick Thomas
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Nick Thomas » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:22 pm

I found it didn't tell me the truth. It painted a credible narative as the truth when the truth is probably that we will never get to the heart of CH's motivations and influences and it is pointless to try, or at least try this hard. This would have been better written when CH was alive and able to respond.
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John McKenna

Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by John McKenna » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:58 pm

How about a female view to complete the picture?
www.politicalblonde.com
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Rob Thompson
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by Rob Thompson » Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:34 pm

Anyone who is writing their Hitchens obituaries sober is clearly missing the point.
True glory lies in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read.
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James Plaskett
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Re: Obituary - Christopher Hitchens

Post by James Plaskett » Tue Sep 27, 2016 9:04 pm

A man with whom I disagreed on a vast number of fundamental points.
But whose balls and brains I much respected.
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