R.I.P. Hitch

I was saddened when Christopher Hitchens passed away after a long battle with esophageal cancer. He took pains to emphasize that he had not revised his position on atheism.

His work took him to Greece, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Argentina in the 1970s, to shine a light on the evil practices of entrenched dictators and the meddling of the superpowers in these poor countries.

There is one quote, for me, that stands out among many of his quotes:

“Nothing optional - from homosexuality to adultery - is ever made punishable unless those who do the prohibiting (and exact the fierce punishments) have a repressed desire to participate. As Shakespeare put it in King Lear, the policeman who lashes the whore has a hot need to use her for the very offense for which he plies the lash.”
- Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

This post shares some common themes with my prior post (see Sphincter, Game-Show Host, Faux Moralist). It is true that those most opposed to gay rights, are those with repressed homosexual urges. There is scientific proof - an article in Scientific American shows that of two groups of self-reported heterosexual males (one being homophobic and one non-homophobic), the homophobic group showed a good deal of sexual reponse. The same holds true to those who hate prostitutes - deep down inside those individuals have a desire to have sex with a prostitute. They refer to them as 'whores' and knock them down outwardly, but behind closed doors they fantasize about acting out their hidden desires.

Hitchens published his first book, "Cyprus," in 1984 to commemorate Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus a decade earlier. A longer version was published in 1989 as "Hostage to History: Cyprus From the Ottomans to Kissinger." His interest in the region led to another book, "Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles" (1987), in which he argued that Britain should return the Elgin marbles to Greece. In 1981 he married a Greek Cypriot, Eleni Meleagrou. The marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by their two children, Alexander and Sophia; his wife, Carol Blue, and their daughter, Antonia; and his brother, Peter.

After moving to the United States, where he eventually became a citizen, Hitchens became a fixture on television and in print. He threw himself into the defense of his friend Salman Rushdie when the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 'fatwa' calling for Rushdie's death in 1988 after the publication of The Satanic Verses. The book uses magical realism, and the title refers to 'satanic verses' which is a group of alleged Quranic verses allowing intercessory prayers to be made to three Pagan Meccan goddesses: Allāt, Uzza, and Manāt. That part of the story was based on accounts from the 1st millennium (AD or AH) historians al-Waqidi and al-Tabari. It's an incredible book inspired by the life of Mohammad. Conservative Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy and mocking their faith. Hitchens received death threats because he defended Rushdie and he allowed Rushdie to stay at his house whenever he visited from London. Hitchens believed in freedom of speech - his life's work is a testament to same.

In his last book "Hitch-22" he talked at length about his feelings about the end. “I personally want to 'do' death in the active and not the passive,” he wrote, “and to be there to look it in the eye and be doing something when it comes for me.”

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Soren A. Kierkegaard

The last time I saw Hitchens on tv was when he was being interviewed by Charlie Rose shortly before his death. He was very sick - he had lost all his hair, had lost a lot of weight, looked very weak, etc., but it was a wonderful interview. While I am not an atheist (I believe in a universal God - a higher power), I find myself agreeing with Hitchens more often than not. He was right when he said 'more people have died in the name of religion than from any other cause ...'

Below are some more favorites:

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."

"Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."

"Indeed, it's futile to try and use Holy Scripture to support any political position. I deeply distrust anyone who does. Just look at what an Islamic Republic is like."

R.I.P Hitch ... I will miss your essays in Vanity Fair.