Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

As Vanity Fair ruefully reports, Christopher Hitchens has died.  This is a great loss, not just for modern civilization but for the very idea of civilization. Hitchens was the  embodiment of liberalism, in the classical sense of that word. He was a ferocious defender of the freedom of the mind and an equally ferocious opponent of its every enemy. He despised tyranny and political violence in all its forms, including especially the incipient tyranny of all terrorists.

Despite waging a ceaseless campaign against evil, he somehow, apparently, managed to read everything. He was a devoted and loving, if frequently unforgiving, critic of literature. It is impossible to read his criticism without wanting to read everything he read and that is a tall order. His literary writing is not, however, something added to his political passions; it was part and parcel of the same passion. He believed in truth and beauty and decency. He did not believe that any of these things could be appreciated, let alone practiced and defended, without a courageous and aggressive spirit armed with wit. He once said that his mother could forgive anything except being boring. Her son was less forgiving than that, but he inherited the sentiment.

I scarcely agreed with Hitchens about everything. I think his strident atheism was unpersuasive and unhelpful to his other causes. He wrote a scathing critique of Thomas Jefferson that was, in my view, unfair. Jefferson was no terrorist or promoter of terrorism, as Hitchens made him out to be. Still, Jefferson's rhetoric did open itself up to that critique. I am not convinced, as Hitchens was, that Henry Kissinger deserved to be tried as a war criminal.

Hitchens was heroic. He didn't give a rat's ass what his friends or allies or anyone else thought of him so long as he didn't bore them. He never did. He lost a lot of friends over his support for the second Iraq war. He ceased to be, in many respects, a man of the left because he remained true to principles that the left no longer had time for. He regarded any sensitivity toward Muslim militancy as moral corruption. What virtues Hitchens acknowledged he exemplified and sensitivity was not one of them.

Christopher Hitchens' life was the life of the mind and the life of letters. He knew what to do with the pen and the English tongue. I don't have a really good sample of his wit at hand, so let this one suffice. From Letters To A Young Contrarian:

Every day, the New York Times carries a motto in a box on its front page. "All the News That's Fit to Print," it says. It's been saying it for decades, day in and day out. I imagine most readers of the canonical sheet have long ceased to notice this bannered and flaunted symbol of its mental furniture. I myself check every day to make sure that the bright, smug, pompous, idiotic claim is still there. Then I check to make sure that it still irritates me. If I can still exclaim, under my breath, why do they insult me and what do they take me for and what the hell is it supposed to mean unless it's as obviously complacent and conceited and censorious as it seems to be, then at least I know I still have a pulse. You may wish to choose a more rigorous mental workout but I credit this daily infusion of annoyance with extending my lifespan.

It did not prolong it nearly long enough.

POSTSCRIPT:

My opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time, and anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass. 

It's hard not to love a man like that. 

Comments

[Bill Fleming]

A sad day and a great loss to our planet. For those who've not had the pleasure, may I recommend his memoir "Hitch 22." Especially for those of us who are his contemporary, it's an irresistible and sweeping behind-the-scenes review of the key political and cultural events of our lives, narrated by one who was obsessively "there" and writes more than well enough to tell about it. Some passages are simply jaw dropping. Also an almost painfully intimate view of what it means to choose to be an American. Plus his pissing matches with Gore Vidal are hilarious. Reminds me of how it gets around here sometimes ;^).

[CB]

I'm very sad that he is gone. Is there anyone left who will not compromise his/her beliefs for the sake of convenience? There are very few on the left, right, or in the middle. Hitchens was unique.

[The Dude]

Great post Dr. Blanchard! I enjoyed Hitchens writing and personality also.

[Miranda Flint]

Well said. Agreed on all accounts. This is one of my favorite exchanges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQGLoAV5zWM

[Mark Anderson]

A great post. Hitchens was particularly interesting on the bohemian lifestyle. He did say he may have given it up earlier hoping to get away with the whole thing, but alas he didn't. His first words, he started talking in complete sentences, this was supposed one,"let's all go and have a drink at the club."

[Ken Blanchard]

Thanks to all. It's a sign of how big an impact Hitchens had you could easily fill a book with his obits.

[Kevin O'Keeffe]

I used to greatly enjoy Christopher Hitchens' writing when he was on staff at The Nation during the 1990s, but post 9/11, he became essentially a shill for neo-"conservative" war mongering, and a very annoying little troll with regard to his one-man Crusade for Atheism. He was a very intelligent and clever writer, but I fear he squandered many of his talents. The man whom George Galloway used to reference as the "drink-soaked popinjay" leaves the world a less interesting place by his absence, but its a shame he didn't put his energies to more productive uses than his post-Trotskyite Globalist imperialism.