It is with profound sadness that I write this blog. Christopher Hitchens, one of the greatest minds of our time has passed away only hours ago in Texas of pneumonia brought on by his fight with cancer, he was 62.
I'm sat staring at my monitor wondering how I can do this great man any justice with what I now write, he after all was a man of words, a remarkable journalist, author and orator, a man as someone frankly quoted today that 'dared to stand alone'.
Only this week I was watching him on YouTube in debates, such was my interest in what he had to say, especially on the evils of organised religion. Hitchens was a shining light of reason in a world that is increasingly blinded by faith. To me he was a champion, a man of acerbic wit, stalwart debater and a great modern day thinker.
Here are some of the current Twitter tributes;
Richard Dawkins, scientist and author wrote 'Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.'
Author and friend Salman Rushdie tweeted 'Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.'
Actor, author and friend Stephen Fry said 'You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous man.'
Dennis McShane MP and friend wrote 'He could throw words up into the sky, they fell down in a marvellous pattern.'
Friends and journalist colleagues have done tributes on the New Yorker and Vanity Fair websites.
Christopher Hitchens through his books has inspired me to write and speak out against organised religion, his literary style, his pitch and prose and his words of reasoning and pragmatism will ever resound within me. Reading his books and watching him orate have often given me the strength of will to write with my own convictions against what I perceive to be wrong and how I see the world.
I've had to write some difficult emotional blogs in the past, and this rates up there with them, such was his influence in my thinking. He was a maverick, a freethinker and a man that feared nothing, not even cancer. He among others raised the banner of freethinking, he was a great champion of it and I will go on fighting for that cause with the same passion Hitchens had.
I'm sat staring at my monitor wondering how I can do this great man any justice with what I now write, he after all was a man of words, a remarkable journalist, author and orator, a man as someone frankly quoted today that 'dared to stand alone'.
Only this week I was watching him on YouTube in debates, such was my interest in what he had to say, especially on the evils of organised religion. Hitchens was a shining light of reason in a world that is increasingly blinded by faith. To me he was a champion, a man of acerbic wit, stalwart debater and a great modern day thinker.
Here are some of the current Twitter tributes;
Richard Dawkins, scientist and author wrote 'Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.'
Author and friend Salman Rushdie tweeted 'Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.'
Actor, author and friend Stephen Fry said 'You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous man.'
Dennis McShane MP and friend wrote 'He could throw words up into the sky, they fell down in a marvellous pattern.'
Friends and journalist colleagues have done tributes on the New Yorker and Vanity Fair websites.
Christopher Hitchens through his books has inspired me to write and speak out against organised religion, his literary style, his pitch and prose and his words of reasoning and pragmatism will ever resound within me. Reading his books and watching him orate have often given me the strength of will to write with my own convictions against what I perceive to be wrong and how I see the world.
I've had to write some difficult emotional blogs in the past, and this rates up there with them, such was his influence in my thinking. He was a maverick, a freethinker and a man that feared nothing, not even cancer. He among others raised the banner of freethinking, he was a great champion of it and I will go on fighting for that cause with the same passion Hitchens had.
Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
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