What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.
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Mr Steve Wasserman, Christopher Hitchens' literary agent, kindly replied to my query about a possible memorial. Posted with permission. ...
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A short audio clip from the Politics and Prose event in Washington DC. As in the previous post, I've asked the uploader to post more...
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Why is it so hard to speak honestly about allegations of sexual harassment or our corrupt ally in Afghanistan? By Christopher Hitchens T... -
SKY ARTS 1 / HD: THU 14 APR, 10PM "Sky Arts is screening back-to-back interviews with the Hitchens brothers: writer Peter who's k...
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Watch the debate: Does Atheism Poisons Everything with Christopher Hitchens and David Berlinski on C-SPAN2 here . Hosted by the Fixed P... -
By Peter Hitchens I can’t really claim that I never notice the extraordinarily spiteful attacks on me which come from one particular qua... -
The Atheist Foundation of Australia is excited to announce that the next Global Atheist Convention – ‘A Celebration of Reason’ will feat... -
Vanity Fair, June 2011 By Christopher Hitchens "Like so many of life’s varieties of experience, the novelty of a diagnosis of m... -
Why Evolution Is True has a great post on Hitchens encounter with 8 year old Mason, who wanted to know what books she should read. Read...
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4 comments:
Wonderfully fluent and heartfelt words from Simon Schama. Thankyou.
These news items all state that Mr Hitchens was killed by cancer. That doesn't seem accurate to me. From what I know he was killed by an infection, which his body couldn't resist because his immune system had been decimated by chemotherapy - which is to say that his cause of death was iatrogenic - the treatment killed him, not the disease.
Christopher Hitchens was killed by chemotherapy and pneumonia, or some combination of opportunistic ptathogens, not cancer.
Not that it matters, but I happen to have incurable tongue cancer, so I'm probably somewhat familiar with the treatment regimen Mr Hitchens endured before his passing, so please understand I'm not trying to belittle his struggle or dignity. Quite on the contrary, the bravery he showed in the face of his deteriorating health is of a piece with the rest of his life. It's heartening to see people like Schama affirm the value of his commitment to truth, the basic integrity he held that deserves respect also from those like myself who often disagreed with his opinions.
Becky, I understand from what others have written that Mr Hitchens' life was extended by the treatments, although, not to the extent the world had hoped. You describe your cancer as incurable but hopefully it can be healed.
Love the comparison to Hemingway. Two of the most brilliant writers to grace literature. Thank you, Hitch.
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