Hitchens Moves Closer To Death

[Atheist-Lite]

Lost his voice so we won't have any more new powerful Hitchens talks on youtube sadly.

http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/04/28 ... -to-death/

Christopher Hitchens disclosed to his atheist comrades on Friday that he has now lost his voice to esophageal cancer but his atheistic beliefs remain stronger than ever.

In a letter to the American Atheists conference, Hitchens encouraged fellow unbelievers to remain united and to carry on the “secular revolution”.

“Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal; the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need),” wrote Hitchens in the letter.

The American Atheists organisation held its national conference in Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend to coincide with the Easter holidays.

(continued)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The "deathbed conversion" videos have already been produced and are awaiting release.

[charlou]

His voice and his thoughts are on record. Long live Christopher Hitchens

[Bolero]

Damn this is sad.

[Atheist-Lite]

It is like losing one of The Beatles for the New Atheist movement but life does go on and new strong mentoring figures will arrise.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It is like losing one of The Beatles for the New Atheist movement but life does go on and new strong mentoring figures will arrise.

[Atheist-Lite]

It is like losing one of The Beatles for the New Atheist movement but life does go on and new strong mentoring figures will arrise.

Hitch is Lennon, Dawkins is McCartney, Dennet is Harrison which leaves Harris as Thomas the Tank Engine....

[Coito ergo sum]

Christopher Hitchens jokes about joining 'cancer elite'
Beloved 'contrarian' tells 60 Minutes documentary that he's begun to look down on 'people with lesser cancers'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/ma ... out-cancer

[Feck]

Christopher Hitchens jokes about joining 'cancer elite'
Beloved 'contrarian' tells 60 Minutes documentary that he's begun to look down on 'people with lesser cancers'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/ma ... out-cancer

Typical He's still fucking funny

[Coito ergo sum]

Does anyone have any updates on Hitchens' health?

Obviously, he doesn't stand much of a chance to live a long time, but I was wondering if any good or encouraging news was in the offing? Any chance of his voice coming back?

[Coito ergo sum]

His voice is back, apparently.

http://www.therecord.com/living/faith/a ... gion-at-uw

Barry Brummett says he isn’t a rock star but Christopher Hitchens practically is.

The two men are to take the stage at the Humanities Theatre at the University of Waterloo for a debate at a sold-out full house on June 4.

Hitchens, a prolific author and well-known atheist, is an influential intellectual with many books to his name, including the bestseller, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. He is also a current Vanity Fair contributor and Slate writer.

People line up to get his books signed, some bring him gifts of his favourite scotch whisky, Johnnie Walker Black label, while believers wish he would turn to God.

[Ronja]

Not quite in the spirit of the OP = all for the better: Some early comments and links to more comments on the 4th June debate can be found here http://rsa.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/5202#comment-5964

Excerpts:

The debate was more like a sequenced pair of performances. Hitchens did less to engage Brummett than to riff on his language.

We (the organizers) thought it best to have someone debate Hitchens who would probe the themes and presuppositions of his arguments rather than bible-thump. Brummett did not disappoint on that score.

I truly wanted to witness a high-level philosophical conversation between two intelligentsia (if I may indulge with this term)...and I got just that.

[Atheist-Lite]

My dad had a couple of these 'miracle comebacks' before he died from cancer. A combination of painkillers and the quest for normalcy...then wham! each relapse worse than the last until. With Hitchens, it's sad that people want to the push the guy back into the public eye, he shouldn't have that kind of pressure now.

[Ronja]

My dad had a couple of these 'miracle comebacks' before he died from cancer. A combination of painkillers and the quest for normalcy...then wham! each relapse worse than the last until. With Hitchens, it's sad that people want to the push the guy back into the public eye, he shouldn't have that kind of pressure now.

Based on this article he wrote shortly after loosing his voice, I doubt that he is being pushed as much as pulled by the likely last possibilities to relish in using his voice. Hitch has never struck me as a pushover, to put it mildly... http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/featu ... ths-201106

Excerpt:

To a great degree, in public and private, I “was” my voice. All the rituals and etiquette of conversation, from clearing the throat in preparation for the telling of an extremely long and taxing joke to (in younger days) trying to make my proposals more persuasive as I sank the tone by a strategic octave of shame, were innate and essential to me. I have never been able to sing, but I could once recite poetry and quote prose and was sometimes even asked to do so. And timing is everything: the exquisite moment when one can break in and cap a story, or turn a line for a laugh, or ridicule an opponent. I lived for moments like that.

[Coito ergo sum]

I've seen some people beat cancer by pushing themselves to get back on the horse from which they fell. I've never seen anyone beat cancer by taking it easy.