# Christopher Hitchens just died **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384 "2011-12-16T05:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/81 "2011-12-16T18:55:19Z")
Here are 15 great quotes from the man.[http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattcherette/the-15-most-memorable-christopher-hitchens-quotes-4td5](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattcherette/the-15-most-memorable-christopher-hitchens-quotes-4td5) ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/82 "2011-12-16T19:13:15Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Here are 15 great quotes from the man.[http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattcherette/the-15-most-memorable-christopher-hitchens-quotes-4td5](http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattcherette/the-15-most-memorable-christopher-hitchens-quotes-4td5) Whoever put those together missed these: - Ups… hard to pick… go [read for yourself](http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/995phqjw.asp?page=3) \*\* Must admit my favourite is on the subject of failures and mistakes re: Iraq War > [@Hitchens](#): > > We need not argue about the failures and the mistakes and even the crimes, because these in some ways argue themselves I mean… come on.. ins’t it Great! ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/83 "2011-12-16T19:32:47Z")
I’m new to the world of atheism and don’t know a lot about Mr. Hitchens. I have a very favorable impression of him though from the few videos I’ve watched here at the dope in the last year or so. I’m going to watch more today. I hope his death was peaceful. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/84 "2011-12-16T19:36:48Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’m new to the world of atheism and don’t know a lot about Mr. Hitchens. I have a very favorable impression of him though from the few videos I’ve watched here at the dope in the last year or so. I’m going to watch more today. > > I hope his death was peaceful. You should also read his essays and columns. Here’s his final one for Vanity Fair. > **[Vanity Fair - Entertainment, Politics, and Fashion News](https://www.vanityfair.com/)** > > Entertainment, TV, politics, celebrity, fashion, and beauty news and commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/85 "2011-12-16T19:41:28Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Thanks for that, **Marley**. > [@Cumberdale](#): > > Agreed. Very well said. Thank you, but it turns out Hitchens covered it in the video **Mr. Kobayashi** linked to. And I don’t have that nice accent. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/86 "2011-12-16T20:16:19Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Very true. They’re both decomposing. It’s been 2000 years. I’m pretty sure Jesus is done decomposing. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/87 "2011-12-16T20:54:02Z")
You have to respect the balls, at least, of a dude who [criticizes the morality of Mother Theresa.](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html) ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/88 "2011-12-16T21:00:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [I’m not seeing it.](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html) I don’t see him arguing that anyone should hate her, just that she’s not deserving of the universal accolades she received. The “attacks” also started before she died. In the article you linked to, he called Mother Teresa “a fraud”. Elsewhere he accused her of “stealing millions of dollars” and being “a cult leader”. Now generally if you’re going to accuse someone in print of commiting theft and fraud, you want to be able to say when the person was convicted or at least indicted of the crime, which Hitchens couldn’t do. If not that, you at least want to be able to offer some evidence that the crime occurred, which Hitchens also couldn’t do. Indeed, in that article he offers no evidence to back up any of his serious accusations against here. There are two links within the article, but neither goes to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/89 "2011-12-16T21:03:26Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > In the article you linked to, he called Mother Teresa “a fraud”. Elsewhere he accused her of “stealing millions of dollars” and being “a cult leader”. Now generally if you’re going to accuse someone in print of commiting theft and fraud, you want to be able to say when the person was convicted or at least indicted of the crime, which Hitchens couldn’t do. None of that is true. Anyway I’m still waiting for the part where he said all of that stuff just because she’s Catholic, and the part where he says people should hate her. Can you quote them? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/90 "2011-12-16T21:11:09Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He’s with Jesus now. Physically. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/91 "2011-12-16T21:14:58Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Now generally if you’re going to accuse someone in print of commiting theft and fraud, you want to be able to say when the person was convicted or at least indicted of the crime, which Hitchens couldn’t do. If not that, you at least want to be able to offer some evidence that the crime occurred, which Hitchens also couldn’t do. Indeed, in that article he offers no evidence to back up any of his serious accusations against here. There are two links within the article, but neither goes to anything. Given your own history of making unsubstantiated claims about issues related to religion, and then running away when asked to substantiate your assertions, you shouldn’t be talking. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/92 "2011-12-16T21:22:16Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Given your own history of making unsubstantiated claims about issues related to religion, and then running away when asked to substantiate your assertions, you shouldn’t be talking. It doesn’t matter. Hitchens never uses the words “theft” or “stole” in that piece, and he did call her a “fraud,” but he wasn’t discussing financial fraud. And he wasn’t discussing criminal charges, so the fact that there were no criminal charges isn’t relevant. It’s over-literalism as a rhetorical dodge. Here’s what he wrote with regard to money: > [@](#): > > MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? He said that money didn’t help anyone and was badly spent or went nowhere, but he doesn’t say she stole it. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/93 "2011-12-16T21:41:55Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > You should also read his essays and columns. Here’s his final one for Vanity Fair. > > [Vanity Fair - Entertainment, Politics, and Fashion News | Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/01/hitchens-201201) I will. I just read this one, thanks for linking it. That was hard to read. Very evocative. I could almost feel the physical pain he was in. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/94 "2011-12-16T21:42:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It doesn’t matter. I recognize that. I was more making a comment about **ITR**. Some time back, i engaged him in a thread he started about the Inquisition. At the time, i had no idea about his religious leanings, and i thought it was just another thread about history. It soon became clear, though, that when historical evidence contradicted his dogmatic assertions, he was more inclined to run away from the debate rather than back up his spurious allegations. At that time, he went into my memory banks as someone who should not be engaged in rational debate on the issue of religion. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/95 "2011-12-16T21:53:29Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > A little early for that, isn’t it? After all, he only died yesterday. Are his remains likely to have already been buried? No, but they’re all gone . . . One of the paramedics who handled them was a smoker . . . :o ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/96 "2011-12-16T22:02:13Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I will. I just read this one, thanks for linking it. That was hard to read. Very evocative. I could almost feel the physical pain he was in. ☹ It’s hard to read and rings very true. > [@mhendo](#): > > I recognize that. I was more making a comment about **ITR**. I don’t want this to get too personal, and I don’t know about the history there. What I did want to say is that the argument style and the claims don’t hold up. Keating lead a financial fraud and Duvalier was a brutal dictator. It’s fair to say that if Mother Teresa took money from them, she took stolen money. That’s not a claim that requires a legal charge although there may be arguments to the contrary. It’s fair to ask how the money she did receive was spent. Hitchens argues that she didn’t do much of anything to help people. I’d argue that letting people die with dignity is better than having them die in the gutter and I don’t think he really addresses that, at least not in the pieces I’ve read. But helping people die with dignity is not as good as building hospitals, let alone educating people and doing other things that fight poverty and the effects of poverty more effectively. Hitchens argues that she didn’t do those things because she didn’t think they were really all that bad and because of the Christian view of poverty and suffering. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/97 "2011-12-16T22:09:14Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Hitch and his brother Peter spent much of the last 50 years in various states of estrangement and contention. Here is Peter’s beautiful and moving eulogy to his brother. Well worth a read. > > [http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2011/12/in-memoriam-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011.html](http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2011/12/in-memoriam-christopher-hitchens-1949-2011.html) For some reason, this brings me to a page with a bunch of links to books, recent posts, and some other stuff, but nothing to read. Clicking on the recent posts brings me nowhere, either. Anyone else having this issue? ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/98 "2011-12-16T22:15:06Z")
Always made worthwhile contributions. I liked his Atlantic and Vanity Fair pieces best. I didn’t know this, but he popularized the term “Islamofascism” – rightfully so. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/99 "2011-12-16T22:16:06Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > For some reason, this brings me to a page with a bunch of links to books, recent posts, and some other stuff, but nothing to read. Clicking on the recent posts brings me nowhere, either. Anyone else having this issue? Yep. Had it using Firefox and AdBlock plus. The article is flagged with the ads annoyingly. Disable AdBlock just for that page and refresh. Bada Bing 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384/100 "2011-12-16T23:10:22Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I recognize that. I was more making a comment about **ITR**. > > Some time back, i engaged him in a thread he started about the Inquisition. At the time, i had no idea about his religious leanings, and i thought it was just another thread about history. It soon became clear, though, that when historical evidence contradicted his dogmatic assertions, he was more inclined to run away from the debate rather than back up his spurious allegations. At that time, he went into my memory banks as someone who should not be engaged in rational debate on the issue of religion. If you have a problem with another poster, take it to the Pit. No warning issued. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christopher-hitchens-just-died/606384.md?page=6)