Christopher Hitchens died yesterday at the age of 62. Love him or hate him, he was indeed a person of consequence.
I have to say that I personally dislike him, largely because I have a lot of difficulty with the ABRASIVENESS of the T-J personalities. Hitchens could be SUCH a jerk.
I must also admit that I'm highly prejudiced against the New Atheism, which Hitchens promoted. I don't care if a person is a-religious. It's anti-religion I have problems with. Spirituality is such a core part of our identity as humans that criticizing it is on par with being anti-music, or anti-literature, or even anti-facial hair. But although I cannot personally accept Hitchen's beliefs, I would fight to the death his right to hold such beliefs.
Now that I've gotten all my negativity out of my system, let me say some nice things about Hitchens. Whatever else may be true, he was very intelligent, quite educated, and most of all he was THOUGHTFUL about the larger issues of life.
What I find most intriguing about Hitchens is how he changed over time. As a young man he was defined by his Marxism and opposition to the war in Vietnam. As a mature adult, he had more in common with the Neo-cons, and supported the war in Iraq. Why the change?
I speculate that two factors were at work.
The first is simple maturity: as we grow older, we spot the flaws in our own views and backstep into something more moderate. I remember being in my early 20s and an ardent leftist. Someone said to me "If you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are old and not conservative, you have no brain." I sat on my bed trying to figure out what, if anything, would EVER change my politics. And yet, change I did.
The second factor is that as time has worn on, we are getting much more CLEAR picture that Islamic Fascism is a worldwide threat. As a young man, Hitchens didn't care who he offended in his scathing criticism of Israel. As an older man, Hitchens saw how the left had been betrayed, how the Palestinians themselves had been betrayed, by Islamic Fascism. Unlike many leftists, Hitchens was not afraid to discuss the elephant in the room. He was quite vocal in his scorn for leftists who "made excuses" for Islamic extremism.
I'd like to sum things up by saying that while I would never have been best chums with Hitchens, I consider him intellectually honest, a kind of "noble adversary." Perhaps in the next life I will be rewarded to have a nice hearty debate with him over a good cup of coffee.
I have to say that I personally dislike him, largely because I have a lot of difficulty with the ABRASIVENESS of the T-J personalities. Hitchens could be SUCH a jerk.
I must also admit that I'm highly prejudiced against the New Atheism, which Hitchens promoted. I don't care if a person is a-religious. It's anti-religion I have problems with. Spirituality is such a core part of our identity as humans that criticizing it is on par with being anti-music, or anti-literature, or even anti-facial hair. But although I cannot personally accept Hitchen's beliefs, I would fight to the death his right to hold such beliefs.
Now that I've gotten all my negativity out of my system, let me say some nice things about Hitchens. Whatever else may be true, he was very intelligent, quite educated, and most of all he was THOUGHTFUL about the larger issues of life.
What I find most intriguing about Hitchens is how he changed over time. As a young man he was defined by his Marxism and opposition to the war in Vietnam. As a mature adult, he had more in common with the Neo-cons, and supported the war in Iraq. Why the change?
I speculate that two factors were at work.
The first is simple maturity: as we grow older, we spot the flaws in our own views and backstep into something more moderate. I remember being in my early 20s and an ardent leftist. Someone said to me "If you are young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are old and not conservative, you have no brain." I sat on my bed trying to figure out what, if anything, would EVER change my politics. And yet, change I did.
The second factor is that as time has worn on, we are getting much more CLEAR picture that Islamic Fascism is a worldwide threat. As a young man, Hitchens didn't care who he offended in his scathing criticism of Israel. As an older man, Hitchens saw how the left had been betrayed, how the Palestinians themselves had been betrayed, by Islamic Fascism. Unlike many leftists, Hitchens was not afraid to discuss the elephant in the room. He was quite vocal in his scorn for leftists who "made excuses" for Islamic extremism.
I'd like to sum things up by saying that while I would never have been best chums with Hitchens, I consider him intellectually honest, a kind of "noble adversary." Perhaps in the next life I will be rewarded to have a nice hearty debate with him over a good cup of coffee.
