Funeral and Memorial arrangements
By Peter Hitchens
Some people have asked me when and where my brother’s funeral took place. In fact, as Christopher donated his body to medical science, there has not been and will not be any funeral. He took this decision partly because of his religious (or rather non-religious) opinions, and partly because, much influenced by his friend Jessica Mitford and her book ‘The American Way of Death’, he disliked what he regarded as the excesses of the American funeral industry.
Read more (http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk)
and..
Hitchens Monument Petition
Please help get a statue of Christopher erected in London (and, after so many comments rightly suggesting it, we’ll try for DC too) by signing the e-petition. Sign it here (atheist-reference.org)
Take it seriously or not, there is a 'Award a posthumous Knighthood to Christopher Hitchens' petition with 273 signatures here. (ipetitions.com)
What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.
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16 comments:
I would sign the knighthood petition if it were for the sake of complete and utter irony (which Hitchens might like) and not for any type of fatuous royal pageantry (which he did not).
We all knew what Hitch thought of the Royal Family. It's not something he would have wanted....and they, knowing what he thought of them, wouldn't award it to him.
This has got to be joke? A knighthood? He'd be appalled. His family and close friends wont allow it in any case.
Surely this posthumous knighthood business cannot possibly be serious? For crying out loud the man was a staunch Republican. At any rate I think posthumous honours are only bestowed for gallantry and courage.
Also,as someone who is a great admirer of Hitchens I cannot say that I will be signing the statue petition either. He has spoken and written at length against hero worship. I would prefer to think of him as a great example whose ideas will live on through his words. That is the best mounument to the man that we can possibly have.
To paraphrase Voltaire on the legacy of Pierre Bayle: the greatest master of the art of reasoning that ever wrote, Hitchens great and wise, all systems overthrows.
What everyone said about the knighthood, absolutely ridiculous. Someone will be suggesting his beatification at this rate.
As far as the statute goes, while I'd agree that he will live on through his words, I don't think a memorial of some sort (whether statue, plaque or other) is necessarily an awful idea.
Hitch deserves a monument, noble prize, a Grammy, NBA MVP, student of the month at my old high school - Hoover High, a metal of honor, man of the year, NFL MVP...u get the the point. Let's put this dude's name everywhere possible. Remember he loved irony
Daily Hitchens doesn't seem to be quite so daily anymore?
As a true internationalist, I think Hitch would find this talk of monuments in his'honour' in either the Us or the UK a bit of a yawn. If one were looking for a place to erect a 'monument' (and I think Hitch would find anything too physically imposing, rather irritating) where one could spend some relective Hitch time, it would have to be Bosnia or Northern Iraq/Kurdistan. His contributions to these conflicts and peoples are those of which he is most proud.The idea of his admirers travelling to these countries and spending time with the people would I think, please Hitch immensely.
As or a statue, erect one in Jerusalem.
Instead of giving him Knighthood, they should establish "Hitchhood" as a new award for exemplar of intellectual honesty and eloquent speech, laughing at authorities etc.
wuhaha, posthumous knighthood for hitchens, that sounds like pure irony and of course he would have rejected it! hitchhood sounds nice and i agree with mjccox, spending some time on christophers more serious topics like bosnia and kurdistan and maybe realy getting involved with it would be by far more reasonable...
As a republican, I don't think he would have wanted a knighthood. I won't sign it.
The problem with a suitable monument for Hitch is that, without bothering to read the inscription, it would be mistaken for a monument to the Saudi royal family or an advertisement for Johnnie Walker.
Is this like Mitt Romney's family converting his father-in-law to Mormonism after he died?
I have just finished reading one of Hitchens books after hearing so much about him. This one was God is not great" I admit I was expecting a fully biased and full blown anti Christ opinion but after reading it found he was quite fair and totally honest about what he knew and not scared to voice it, good for him,. An honest man no doubt, enjoyable reading and will read others by him, gives lot's of room for thought. df
i continue to miss Hitch, though am delighted to still continue receiving the Daily Hitch news - but wonder if the "daily" title shouldn't be adjusted somewhat?
no doubt we'll be able to catch the latest memorial reflections on YouTube shortly.
RIP marvel-Hitchens
I loved the guy and I'm a right-leaning believer in God and Jesus Christ. It was his breadth of literary knowledge and fearless advocacy, and his little recognized physical courage, that demand respect. I always looked forward to reading/hearing what he had to say. In a world where he predeceased the odious George Galloway, maybe his atheism had a point.
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