Hitch, please! Why Christopher Hitchens Matters

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

- Christopher Hitchens

 

When he stepped up to the podium – at the “Freethought Innovation” conference in Texas back in 2011 – Christopher Hitchens carried a heavy breath within him and a raspy voice due to his cancer, repeating his impediment, yet popular speech to the crowd, speaking about the expedition we, as a society, are heading. He envied the charm and gratification of the young going into the profession of critical debate and speaking the truth; from journalists to writers of all. He gave a blissful warning about what might happen if we give up our rights to the superstition, the surrogates of political informants and worships, and the overall disturbing indoctrination sweeping against the freedom of the individual. But it wasn’t just the individual or the skeptics who joined into the speech the sixty-two-year-old gave, but everyone – those who opposed him for his beliefs, watched him. Afterward, Christopher’s friend Richard Dawkins walked up and gave him a warm hug while the crowd applauded. Today, in 2017, Hitchens continues to be an influence six years after his death. He contributed more to the world than any apologetic or prophet ever did. Through his vigorous, verbal comebacks with his magnificent use of the English language, to historical accuracies displayed in which no one else bothered to admit, he was a burning flame in a void of nothingness shining a beautiful light and attracting many particles down one path and never stopping.  

 

As a public intellect, and his political views from both a socialist/Marxist and libertarian standards, including philosophies taken from the U.S. Constitution and the works of Thomas Paine, and Charles Darwin, Hitchens took credit from both sides as practical ideologies, citing the large outcome was to understand the nature of power while providing an alternative for growth within an economic and conservative stance. In other words, Hitchens pulled the pros and cons of men like Lenin, Trotsky, and Bush Jr. to allow the theory and practice to unfold both sides instead of choosing to praise or dismiss them entirely at once. He had options. Other strong impulses included the propaganda and encroachments of public figures and organized groups, from the Clintons, and Mel Gibson, to radical Islam, and Bosnian War, whom he thought were only dividing objective truth from the world, and reconstruct regulations and reduce freedom.

 

He had an amazing depth of recalling information. As someone who grew up in an academic environment, Hitchens was embroiled with many literary works from Orwell and Dostoyevsky and was tutored to and by professors and students in the fields of politics, economics, and philosophy. He took part in many worldwide events, such as the protesting of the Vietnam War, and would later turn down the Labour Party for disagreements. He took no sources that were uncredited and didn’t follow a news event while he worked as a journalist, except those who have gained experience or by himself. He later gained widespread recognition in the nineties, and broke away from his support and down the center, after the controversial breakout over the publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, in which he delivered a comical, but carefully constructed argument on why it is important to hold those responsible, in this case, the supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini who called for what he called a Fatwa (religious edict), for drinking the absurdity Kool-Aid in the name of Allah, even though Khemeini promised never to get involved with plans with Saddam Hussein. By provoking the offended, without hypocrisy, Hitchens mapped a repertory to speak clearly and concisely using lofty but not extravagant vocabulary. This would be known by many as the ‘Hitchslap.’

 

In many of the videos on Youtube, there are users who comment on how sad they are and how they wish Christopher Hitchens was still around today. Well, based on his existence and his will to fight against real hatred and bigotry, I say instead of grieving, why not take up the courage to be like him? Like the many scholars from the past, Socrates, Paine, Russel, and Nietzsche, if we need a bloke like Christopher Hitchens now more than ever, let’s take up his teachings today. Let us be the one to carry his beautiful light into the void and among those who wish to do more harm than good.                  

 

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