The twice-married British columnist and author, who once said “everyone’s a little gay,” has passed away from complications of esophageal cancer at the age of 62.
We’d be lying if we didn’t say the guy had a special excellence for troublemaking, but the world would be a better place if more people shared his fluid conception of sexuality—he admitted to homosexual “flings” with two Tory ministers—his high-minded love of ideas and unabashed contempt of irrational and intolerant religious principles.
Rest in peace, Hitch.
Photo via Jutta
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kinkynik
A sad day for all free thinking people.
R.I.P. Hitch.
tallskin2
Christopher Hitchens was so good about sky pixie worshippers
I love what he said about that ‘nasty little charlatan’ jerry falwall
http://tinyurl.com/djor9u
CBRad
An interesting man. His fawning over Bush could get annoying, though.
Mike in Asheville
Just curious, but why the lead of “Twice married”? It hardly seems relevant to such a short obit about a man of distinguished credentials in journalism and world affairs. You mentio his twice married, but no listing of his many books on many subjects nor the awards for his work. Why did you bother posting this at all?
christopher di spirito
“Hitch” was a cheerleader for George W. Bush and the Iraq war. A war based on a lie that ultimately cost the U.S. more than $800 billion dollars, 4,500 lives and 35,000 injuries.
It’s difficult for me to feel badly about his passing.
Evan Mulvihill
@Mike in Asheville: Because he was twice straight-married and admitted to gay affairs and that “everyone’s a little gay.” And this is, lest you forget, a gay blog.
Mike in Asheville
@Evan Mulvihill: Well “Duh” Evan, just like you wrote it EXCEPT unlinked in separated paragraphs.
Yes a gay blog and sure report it, perhaps in a third or fourth paragraph, well after his accomplishments as a Best Selling author, biographer, etc. with a: The twice married author also wrote that “everyone is a little gay” and admitted two gay flings with Troy MPs….”
gollygeegaygoy
Hitchens was a genius, who exposed the nonsense of superstition and the sinister sickness behind religious indoctrination. Anyone doubting his credentials should watch him obliterate homophobe and NOM puppet Frank Turek, and watch his graceful and passionate defense of his friend Stephen Fry in the Intelligence Squared debate, in which together they win a debate about the lies of the catholic church. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx1yXvcT2kw&feature=autoplay&list=PL7F7B07CC5D37EAD2&lf=results_video&index=5&playnext=2
Fagburn
Shame he turned into a right-wing warmongering loon…
Mike Hipp
I didn’t agree with his views on Iraq but his contributions to the free thinking community cannot be ignored.
The world is worse off on his loss. Goodbye Hitch.
CBRad
@Mike Hipp: Hmmm…SOME might say that’s like saying, “Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
SteveC
‘God is not great’ is a wonderful book.
Kylew
@CBRad: LOLOLOLOL!
In my book, almost anyone who intelligently challenges religious doctrine can’t be ALL bad.
Michael Bedwell
Today has been a learning day. I discovered that very few seem to have read/remember certain passages from a particular article by Hitchens—and when they’re informed, too many gays reveal how little self-respect they have for themselves in the shadow of celebrities or someone they refuse to believe is not the knight in shining armor they need to believe.
For it wasn’t Rick Santorum who said that: “America’s gay manhood is still sucking away as if for oxygen itself.” Nor Ann Coulter nor Gingrich nor Perry nor Bachman nor Jesse Helms nor Pat Buchanan. Nor Brett Ratner nor Mel Gibson nor Eddie Murphy nor Anita Bryant. Nor was it Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, Paul Cameron, Fred Phelps, Bryan Fischer, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, or James Dobson. Nor was it tennis great, great homohater Margaret Court, nor the latest slur from some idiot savant basketball/football/baseball player quickly followed by a statement insisting he didn’t mean to hurt anybody.
No, that line, which was neither “intellectual” nor “courageous” nor a product of his reputation for “critical thinking,” was written by Christopher Hitchens, and, with respect, even “intellectual” straight men [and most of his fans think of him as straight even had they read his cheeky tales of tiptoeing through the tulips] no more to be given a pass for saying such things than barely literate jocks. Nor for writing, emphasis mine: “The QUEER monopoly on blowjobs was the result of male anatomy, obviously, and also of the wish of many gays to have sex with heterosexual men.” AS IF we would have never thought of it were it not for our pathetic obsession with those not gay.
NOR “This was therefore an inducement the gay man could offer to the straight, who could in turn accept it without feeling that he had done anything too FAGGOTY. … The illusion of the tonsilized clitoris will probably never die (and GAY MEN LIKE TO KEEP THEIR TONSILS for a reason that I would not dream of mentioning) ….” That latter absurdity ranks [in both its verb and adjective forms] as the oral [no pun intended] equivalent of the sick, homohating legend years ago about what a certain actor allegedly liked to do with gerbils [Hitchens was, no doubt, disappointed his scoop on our tonsils didn’t go viral as gerbilpalooza did], along with his assertion that sucking cock is as important as life it self to gay men, come from Hitchens’ 2006 “Vanity Fair” ode to fellatio which he could have written WITHOUT engaging in the kind of reduction of gay men to desperate sexual psychopaths that the vilest from politicians to propagandists for the Antigay Industry have been rightfully denounced for.
And it is his very hallowed place among the literati, the ancien/nouveau riche, and the noblesse oblig[ed] that makes his words far more dangerous than those coming from repugnant Republican riff raff and rancid rappers for they perpetuate the prejudices of the Power elite. For these, as late, renown Truman biographer Merle Miller wrote in his coming out article in “The New York Times Magazine”—“The definition of a ‘faggot’ is ‘the homosexual gentleman who just left the room’.” A great writer just left the room, and it’s just as fair—and SELF-respecting—to remember and renounce his hate-filled words, too, for poison springs from many kinds of wells, and not all bullying happens in classrooms and hallways—sometimes it happens sandwiched between glamorous ads for Louis Vuitton handbags and hymns to Jackie O and other ladies who lunch. The moment I read it, I thought: Well, this will add another 10 years to the public closet expiration date of Vanity Fair Darling Anderson Cooper.
Some have tried to parse the quotes above into Hitchens merely mocking REAL homophobic men, but that’s where quotation marks are supposed to go around such words, and there were none. Even if there had been, it wouldn’t explain nor excuse his direct assertions about our alleged compulsions. If Hitchens had chosen to throw around “nigger”—even WITH quotation marks—in an article the way he CHOSE to throw around “queer” and “faggoty,” had chosen to perpetuate the stereotype of black men as uncontrollable sex maniacs as he did gay men for whom, according to him, sex = oxygen, if he had chosen to write something like, “the Kike monopoly on banking…,” would so many be mourning him? Gays will never get OUR legal equality until we DEMAND the same kind of respect that African-Americans and Jews rightly do.
Some have also tried to insist that his “support for gay rights” and his own “bisexuality” excuse, neutralize his venom. Anyone positing that would logically have to also say that the 100% gay [and possible gourment cook] Jeffrey Dahmer deserves a pass for his serial gay murders and necrophagia. Those some love to love like Hitchens no more deserves an admiring, “Well, yes, but….” despite slurs and lies about us than those we love to hate like Coulter and Santorum.
Greg
Why did homophobic pastor Rick Warren write what he did on his twitter, about Chris Hitchens?
Mike Hipp
I get such a kick out of individuals that think, just because they can expound to ridiculous lengths, seem somehow scholarly.
@CBRad – maybe some would – I’m not one of them. The war would have gone on with or without what Hitchens said about it. What he contributed to the freethinking community rises above mere political disagreement. Get over it.
Lefty
I’m sad that he’s gone.
We still have his writing, though – and his example.
Nathan91
I knew this was coming but was still very shocked to hear of his death. I was a big fan of his and i’m very saddened by the news. I didn’t agree with everything he thought but I enjoyed seeing him debating his side either way.
Angel
“God is Dead.” —–Christopher Hitchens, 2007
“Christopher Hitchens is Dead.” —-God, 2011
ewe
This world has lost a great intellect.
Aaron
Oh no. A religious fundamentalist, Marxist-Leninist is dead. How tragic.
The man supported Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, specifically the destruction of the Russian Orthodox Church. He literally came out in the support of the slaughter of millions. (Twice, at that – albeit the latter far more indirect than the former)
Would you be crying if he was, say, a fascist? (Sorry, quasi-godwin’s law invocation) Probably not. The man was horrible, a hypocrite, and a disgrace to the LGBT community (and I hesitate the call him an active member of it).
On a sincere note, I do feel bad for his family. But I do not feel sad for him. Call me when Stephen Fry dies – then you’ll get my condolences.
PS, I love your comment, @Angel. A perfect way to honor his memory, if I do say so myself.
Geoff
Christopher Hitchens was no doubt a complicated man but he died with dignity and could be warm and humane. The many letters and eulogies from people who knew him tell a different story than the haters who never did.
I disagreed with his position on Iraq and he had a dark side, but if there was a sacred cow that needed to be skewered, Hitch was the one to do it. There never existed a better, more eloquent or fierce a writer with the wit and intellect he demonstrated.
If the worst thing one can say about Hitchens is that he expressed opinions people didn’t like then it’s only fair to say that’s a testament to his way with words and his intellect.
A great intellect has been lost.
Michael Bedwell
>>>For Hitchens, [the Iraq invasion] it was the opening maneuver in a grand, imagined clash of western civilization against the Islamofascist hordes.
It was something else for 113,000 civilians who died in the chaos unleashed. The great tragedy of Hitchens’ life was that, toward its end, he aligned himself so stridently with the very fools, cowards, and charlatans who most desperately invited exposure by his prodigious skills as butcher. How can someone who devoted so much of his life to as noble a cause as destroying the reputation of Henry Kissinger blithely stand shoulder to shoulder with Rumsfeld?
People make mistakes. What’s horrible about Hitchens’ ardor for the invasion of Iraq is that he clung to it long after it became clear that a grotesque error had been made. In September 2005, he defended the debacle in Rupert Murdoch’s Weekly Standard in terms that are simply breathtaking in their lack of concern for the victims of his Mesopotamian adventure. It was headlined “A War to Be Proud Of.”
Torture and murder by feckless American troops at Abu Ghraib? “Prison conditions at Abu Ghraib have improved markedly and dramatically since the arrival of Coalition troops in Baghdad,” he wrote. How clever! Anyone objecting to the occupation of Iraq on the grounds that torturing and murdering people is wrong and illegal is now obligated to defend the “abattoir” that existed prior to our arrival.
Hitchens’ style—ironically, given his hatred for tyranny and love of free expression—brooked no dissent. There was little room for good-faith disagreement or loyal opposition. His enemies were not just wrong, they were stupid or mean or small-minded or liar or cheats or children or cowards. To see it deployed in favor of war, on behalf of a dullard and scion, against the hysterical mother of a dead son was nauseating. In the months and years since Hitchens publicly proclaimed ‘A War to Be Proud Of’, for Murdoch’s ideological crib-sheet, 78,708 Iraqi civilians and 2,548 U.S. troops have been killed. He did immense good in his life, and unforgivable harm.<<< – John Cook.
Gideon
Didn’t she call Mother Teresa a lot of very nasty names in one of her hissy fits? Sorry, this sounds like a case of karma plain and simple..
Grevin
Christopher Hitchens wasn’t perfect. He was however one of those rare individuals brave enough to challenge strongly held beliefs. Even when those beliefs were his own.
Ken S
@Gideon: As I recall (perhaps imperfectly) he derided Mother Theresa for preaching about a god her private writings conceded she didn’t believe in, and leaving her legacy to a deceit.
He, on the other hand, proclaimed all along that he didn’t believe, that he saw no comfort in the delusion, and in turn he died, like every single person ever born has eventually had to do. Not because we ‘deserve’ it but because it’s inevitable for everybody.
Do you even know what “karma” means, or are just invoking it to try and sound clever and ironic?
Joel
“There was little room for good-faith disagreement or loyal opposition. His enemies were not just wrong, they were stupid or mean or small-minded or liar or cheats or children or cowards.”
Right back at ya, Bedwell
Robert
He always reminded me of Bill Buckley, and news of his death gave me the same slight boost to my day…