Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christopher Hitchens: man of many faces

I really liked some of Hitchens' work. His unremitting contempt for Henry Kissinger is in itself sufficient reason to keep Hitchens name on the walk of fame.

On the other hand, why kick around Mother Teresa?

Where Hitchens really lost me was in his support for the Iraq war. That still looks to me like a calculated attempt to be as controversial as possible and thereby maximize his own marketability, for by then Hitchens had become a brand.

And the so-called debates with Tony Blair about the relative merits of religion were sheer marketing fakery from stem to stern. If God needs Tony Blair as His spokesman on earth, then He must be in worse shape than we can possibly imagine. The life and works of Phony Tony are a more profound argument for atheism than anything Cristopher Hitchens ever wrote.

But overall, love him or hate him, when you saw the name you read the work. He will be missed.

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