SBS Dateline: Fighting Faith

October 30, 2011


Watch it on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o97qHxX12Y

"The annual Texas Freethought Convention draws atheists, agnostics and humanists from around the world, and this year Christopher Hitchens is the star attraction.
David Brill meets the renowned writer and thinker, as he battles cancer and uses the last of his strength to denounce religion as immoral."
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601379/n/Fighting-Faith

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Remember the love bits" :)

Anonymous said...

Poor man - looks like he's down to weeks left.

Anonymous said...

The musicians produced a clanking leaden noise devoid of inspiration and soul. That's what atheist music always sounds like.

Anonymous said...

@anonymous: seriously, what point are you making with the pitying hysteria? I don't think it's avoiding the reality of his situation to say something a bit less...jackassy. Some suggestions: "What an enormously brave man"..."He really has the courage of his convictions" or even "I hope he's not in any pain."

I dread hearing the news that Hitchens is no more. I wish I had the faith to pray and demand from God to cure him. He was a brave man long before he had this disease to fight against.

Anonymous said...

The musicians produced soaring accolades of love and devotion under the guise of piety, lest the king off their heads.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know where I can see vid of the musicians?

@the anonymous person complaining about the other guy being a jackass:

First off, he wasn't acting as you describe.

Second, Hitch himself would write polemics on a person within weeks of death and then positively jubilate when the person dies. In other words, Hitch wouldn't care. He even says something to that effect somewhere in the above speech.

Anonymous said...

First: Hitch is clearly in pain during this presentation. Instead of the cavalier and effortlessly entrancing presentations he gave in his prime, only two years ago, he was desperately on topic, fully aware of the precarious ground he's been forced onto by his malady, intent on getting a last swing of his own scythe in before the curtain falls. I found it very difficult to watch.

Second: Hitchens does not celebrate death in general. His vitriol and contempt is saved for those especially deserving of it -- the hypocrites, the tyrants, the executioners, and those who would roll rough-shod over the weak and powerless for their own selfish gain.

Third: While he is most certainly very close to the end, his courage, integrity, and relentless holding of those in power to account for their actions, no matter the personal cost, will continue to burn brightly, and inspire.

Jean Paul Sartre once called Ernesto "Che" Guevara the most complete man of the 20th Century - a scholar, a revolutionary, and man of austere integrity. I would say that a similar case can be made for Christopher Hitchens in the 21st Century.

 
 
 

Christopher reads from Hitch-22: A Memoir