In Praise of Assholes: A Eulogy for Christopher Hitchens

"Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on." -Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was in the business of disagreement, so I can think of no better way to commemorate his life than to disagree with him. Here it is, then: Christopher Hitchens, depsite his own and others’ assertions to the contrary, was not a militant atheist. Or at the very least, he was a militant atheist of a different sort than Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the others who surrounded him. Consider this pertinent quote from a debate he had with Al Sharpton:

“Firstly, I’ve said repeatedly that this stuff cannot be taken away from people. It is their favourite toy and it will remain so, as Freud said, as long as we are afraid of death, which is, I think, likely to be quite a long time. Second, I hope I’ve made it clear that I’m perfectly happy for people to have these toys, and to play with them at home, and hug them to themselves and to share them with other people who come around and play with the toys.

They are not to make me play with these toys. I will not play with the toys. Do not bring the toys to my house. Don’t say my children must play with these toys. Don’t say my toys-which might be a condom-are not allowed by their toys. I’m not going to have any of that. Enough with clerical and religious bullying and intimidation. Is that finally clear? Have I got that across? Thank you.”

While spoken with Hichens’ characteristic abrasiveness, this quote reveals something that is not widely recognized: while Dawkins complains that religious belief is an epistemic offense, Harris makes moderate believers responsible for the actions of fanatics and Dennet speaks of a religious spell that needs to be broken, Hitchens always focused his attention squarely on those cases where religious excesses cause real human suffering. Hitchens’ first priority was always human welfare, and by never straying from this goal into the epistemic snobbery of his atheist colleagues, he was, I think, more a friend to moderate religion than he himself would have admitted.

Of course, those who wish to remember Hitchens negatively will not do so for his ends but for his means: Hitchens was famous for his contrarianism, and the brash and frequently offensive manner in which he expressed it. My attention was first drawn to Hitchens by the dramatic flourish-commonly referred to as the hitchslap-with which he would dispatch his opponents in a debate. Unfortunately for me, the hitchslap was not reserved only for those who I happened to dislike. Hitchens applied his rhetorical ferocity to a number of quite unpopular causes: support for the war in Iraq being the most egregious example.  It would be easy to simply say that nobody is perfect and dismiss Hitchens’ support for some nasty right-wing causes as blemishes in an otherwise admirable career, but that would not do the man sufficient justice. While many of his political positions were mistakes, the important thing to take away from his stalwart defense of them is that Hitchens never pandered to an audience. Having arrived at his positions through careful moral deliberation, Hitchens would aggressively advocate for them until either his goals were achieved, or further deliberation caused him to change his mind. Hitchens would not hesitate to alienate his existing fans if he thought it would be necessary to do so in order to confront injustice. Today, when most newspaper columnists appear to simply express positions calculated to best corner the market potential of a particular slice of the political spectrum, Hitchens’ approach is more needed than ever, even if it makes us angry from time to time.

Hitch was not always an asshole. His discussion of a reading list with an eight-year old girl, to take one example, is absolutely heartwarming. On the frequent occasions when he was abrasive and unpleasant, it was never for frivolous reasons. Hitchens was, in fact, exactly the kind of asshole that the world needs. Aggressive challenging of preconceived notions is sometimes necessary to make real ethical progress, and that was exactly what Hitchens was in the business of doing. In an inspiring interview about his impending death, he quoted somebody (I forget who) who said that one should be embarrassed to die if they have not done anything to make the world a better place. By that measure, Christopher Hitchens can go into the grave with pride.

Tagged: Atheism, Christopher Hitchens, Humanism, In Memoriam

Posted in: Uncategorized