Christopher Hitchens has died

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 07:55PM

justryan wrote: »

I doubt it he sounds like an arrogant toff, and the vast majority of AH poster would not have heard of him so I'm not alone. This thread needs to be moved to Bereavement or Politics

Kettle and black there methinks.

InkSlinger67 · 16-12-2011 07:57PM

I've read a few of his pieces, can't claim to be a huge fan or follower nor can I claim what I have read has had a big impact on me but it was enjoyable as far as I recall.

RIP anyway, takes a lot of courage to write about such sensitive topics. I'm sure a lot of people's beliefs have been challenged from what he has written and that's probably the best compliment I can pay a writer.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 07:58PM

My name is URL wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

I doubt it he sounds like an arrogant toff, and the vast majority of AH poster would not have heard of him so I'm not alone. This thread needs to be moved to Bereavement or Politics

If you don't want to post in or read the thread then simply don't. And it's a bit presumptuous to say that the vast majority of posters here have not heard of him.

The vast majority of those that have not heard of him are not continuously proclaiming that fact.

I have as much right to post as anyone else here, regardless if I have heard of him or not, After Hours is a light hearted discussion forum on current events if the OP wanted to be taken seriously he should have posted in the aforementioned forums.

RayM · 16-12-2011 08:02PM

justryan wrote: »

This thread needs to be moved to Bereavement or Politics

No, I think you need to be moved. Away from a computer, preferably.

Seriously though, if you don't know who somebody is (or give a damn about them) why bother posting in a thread about their death? I'm not questioning your right to overtly display your ignorance - just your motivation. It seems odd (not to mention a bit troll-like).

take everything · 16-12-2011 08:04PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't know him. Is he the hero all the artsy essay-writing internet arguers look up to and wish they were?

Yes.
Like you, i can't stand that sort of blind sycophancy myself.
But from what i've seen of him (like the Paxman interview talking about his illness which he seems to have borne with dignity) he is impressive.
Anyway RIP.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:05PM

Anyway you have derailed your own thread by getting hung up on my original comment :P so let's put it back on topic.

RIP arrogant toff

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:07PM

justryan wrote: »

I have as much right to post as anyone else here, regardless if I have heard of him or not, After Hours is a light hearted discussion forum on current events if the OP wanted to be taken seriously he should have posted in the aforementioned forums.

You certainly do have the right to post here but so do I and everyone else, but you seem to be the only person with a problem about the subject been mentioned on this forum just because you haven't heard of the man. You can quite easily not click on the threads that don't interest you, it ain't gonna cost ya anything.

MagicMarker · 16-12-2011 08:12PM

justryan wrote: »

Anyway you have derailed your own thread by getting hung up on my original comment :P so let's put it back on topic.

RIP arrogant toff

Go back to your xbox, the grown ups are speaking.

Yahew · 16-12-2011 08:12PM

justryan wrote: »

Some people are obviously still very raw about the loss of this apparent well known person. I will take my "ignorance" elsewhere...

justryan wrote: »

I doubt it he sounds like an arrogant toff, and the vast majority of AH poster would not have heard of him so I'm not alone. This thread needs to be moved to Bereavement or Politics

The majority of AH is university educated, and surely all university educated people should know Dawkins, Hitchens et al. Love, em, like em, or hate em?

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 08:16PM

It would appear this gimp is turning into the Princess Diana of After hours.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:20PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

It would appear this gimp is turning into the Princess Diana of After hours.

Perhaps a bit of a more detailed critique of the fellow is warranted from you? I have no problem with you hating the guy but just calling him a gimp is a soft option.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:20PM

Yahew wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

Some people are obviously still very raw about the loss of this apparent well known person. I will take my "ignorance" elsewhere...

justryan wrote: »

I doubt it he sounds like an arrogant toff, and the vast majority of AH poster would not have heard of him so I'm not alone. This thread needs to be moved to Bereavement or Politics

The majority of AH is university educated, and surely all university educated people should know Dawkins, Hitchens et al. Love, em, like em, or hate em?

What a generalisation I am University educated and I have never heard of him.

Yahew · 16-12-2011 08:22PM

justryan wrote: »

What a generalisation I am University educated and I have never heard of him.

University educated people should know about a figure like Hitchens, one of the most powerful polemicists of his generation. Your education seems to have been a waste.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:23PM

MagicMarker wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

Anyway you have derailed your own thread by getting hung up on my original comment :P so let's put it back on topic.

RIP arrogant toff

Go back to your xbox, the grown ups are speaking.

Bravo bravo another Xbox reference once again when you learn a new trick let us know, maybe you should lay off the MagicMarkers

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 08:24PM

Technocentral wrote: »

Perhaps a bit of a more detailed critique of the fellow is warranted from you? I have no problem with you hating the guy but just calling him a gimp is a soft option.

Don't hate the guy at all, my point is that the mourning around here for a guy probably no one here has met is getting a tad hysterical.

In my opinion.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:25PM

At the end of the day this thread fails the OP was expecting everyone to be in mourning over this "well known" person, and got quite defensive when a few people put their hands up to say they never heard of him.

MagicMarker · 16-12-2011 08:27PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

Don't hate the guy at all, my point is that the mourning around here for a guy probably no one here has met is getting a tad hysterical.

In my opinion.

OMG, mourning for someone you've never met, the inhumanity of it all is appalling.

This must be stopped at once, thank you for bringing this to our attention, I shall make sure this outrage is dealt with accordingly by reporting every single post in this thread.

Soon the mods will be along to put a stop to this fiasco.

Yahew · 16-12-2011 08:28PM

justryan wrote: »

At the end of the day this thread fails the OP was expecting everyone to be in mourning over this "well known" person, and got quite defensive when a few people put their hands up to say they never heard of him.

wasn't the only person you? In any case Hitchens is the Front of all quality papers at the moment. He may not be on the Sun, or the Express or your papers of choice, but there is nothing in After Hour's charter that it is for the uninformed and the less educated. It is for everybody, and as I said, most people are university educated. That one or two university educated people don't know who hitchens was, is indeed appalling, but the thread is still justified.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:29PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

Don't hate the guy at all, my point is that the mourning around here for a guy probably no one here has met is getting a tad hysterical.

In my opinion.

I disagree, you don't have to have met someone for them to be a big influence on your thinking or on the world surely? I'll be sad the day Nelson Mandela dies and was very sad the day John Peel died and I never met them.

MagicMarker · 16-12-2011 08:29PM

justryan wrote: »

At the end of the day this thread fails the OP was expecting everyone to be in mourning over this "well known" person, and got quite defensive when a few people put their hands up to say they never heard of him.

Holy shít, some people have never heard of another person in a world full of 7 billion people? The hell you say.

Thankfully the majority of them aren't being a dick about it.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:34PM

Yahew wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

At the end of the day this thread fails the OP was expecting everyone to be in mourning over this "well known" person, and got quite defensive when a few people put their hands up to say they never heard of him.

wasn't the only person you? In any case Hitchens is the Front of all quality papers at the moment. He may not be on the Sun, or the Express or your papers of choice, but there is nothing in After Hour's charter that it is for the uninformed and the less educated. It is for everybody, and as I said, most people are university educated. That one or two university educated people don't know who hitchens was, is indeed appalling, but the thread is still justified.

Read the first few pages, you can read right? Quite a few people have said they haven't heard of him, so your assuming that everyone in University studies Arts/Politics wrong I studied Computer Science and Hitchens never came up?

Dimithy · 16-12-2011 08:39PM

justryan wrote: »

Read the first few pages, you can read right? Quite a few people have said they haven't heard of him, so your assuming that everyone in University studies Arts/Politics wrong I studied Computer Science and Hitchens never came up?

So why do you seem to have such an interest in commenting on something or someone you know absolutely nothing about?
Surely an educated person would familiarize themselves with a topic, before jumping in?

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:40PM

justryan wrote: »

Read the first few pages, you can read right? Quite a few people have said they haven't heard of him, so your assuming that everyone in University studies Arts/Politics wrong I studied Computer Science and Hitchens never came up?

I didn't go to University and I heard about him donkey's years ago through his many books, tv appearances and magazine/newspaper articles and radio interviews, though if you only read tabloids and watch sports on tv perhaps you wouldn't have, I find it sad that people can close their mind to the reality of whats going on in this world though.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:46PM

Dimithy wrote: »

So why do you seem to have such an interest in commenting on something or someone you know absolutely nothing about?
Surely an educated person would familiarize themselves with a topic, before jumping in?

Thats the nub of the whole problem with justryans contributions, for instance I hate rugby and have no interest in it if I seen a thread on here that said "Rugby player John Watkins is dead" I wouldn't look his name up in wikipedia and then quote the entry saying, "who the hell is this I never heard of him" If politics and the state of the world isn't your thing just ignore these threads ffs. Personally I enjoyed reading the informed opinions on this forum today.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 08:47PM

Technocentral wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

Read the first few pages, you can read right? Quite a few people have said they haven't heard of him, so your assuming that everyone in University studies Arts/Politics wrong I studied Computer Science and Hitchens never came up?

I didn't go to University and I heard about him donkey's years ago through his many books, tv appearances and magazine/newspaper articles and radio interviews, though if you only read tabloids and watch sports on tv perhaps you wouldn't have, I find it sad that people can close their mind to the reality of whats going on in this world though.

More assumptions, I don't read tabloids and I don't watch any sports on TV.

Yahew · 16-12-2011 08:48PM

justryan wrote: »

Read the first few pages, you can read right? Quite a few people have said they haven't heard of him, so your assuming that everyone in University studies Arts/Politics wrong I studied Computer Science and Hitchens never came up?

What's him "coming up" got to do with anything? He is hardly taught in university. The point of education is that you get the tools to continue it afterwards. You spent 18 or so years in education, and after that you had no concern about what was going on. Not knowing Hitchens is not to really know what is going on in the world. I bet every single world leader has heard of him, for instance.

Yahew · 16-12-2011 08:48PM

justryan wrote: »

More assumptions, I don't read tabloids and I don't watch any sports on TV.

you clearly don't read at all.

Standard Toaster · 16-12-2011 08:49PM

lol...."university educated"

Ok, you never heard of him justryan. Anything else sensible to add?

InkSlinger67 · 16-12-2011 08:52PM

*Thread is primed for a comment to make everyone who has argued in the last few pages to look equally stupid and also introduce Nazism into the mix thus ending the productivity of any tributes to whoever was mentioned that died in the OP*

16-12-2011 08:53PM

The Johnnie Walker Black Label is open and I drink to the memory of a man whose ability to drink booze and subsequently piss out words was inspiring. I never met him in person, but who cares?

Not that it matters, but I studied computer science as well.

Christopher Hitchens has died

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