Christopher Hitchens has died

Dimithy · 16-12-2011 08:55PM

Yahew wrote: »

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.

I wouldn't assume that an educated person knew who Hitchens was, I wouldnt expect them to either.
I dont think you can draw any conclusions regarding someones education from their knowledge, or lack of, of him.
I would however expect someone who did not know who he was, to bother themselves spending 5 minutes on google before making smart assed "who is he anyway" comments.
Whats the expression, its better to stay silent and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 08:57PM

justryan wrote: »

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

Fine, I meant "one" "a person" when I used the word you, are you interested in and do you read/listen/watch anything to do with the following.

A. The debate about the existence of God/Allah etc
B The wars currently happening in the world.
C World politics

If so I can't believe you never heard of him, I'll leave it at that.

Reamer Fanny · 16-12-2011 09:02PM

Technocentral wrote: »

justryan wrote: »

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

Fine, I meant "one" "a person" when I used the word you, are you interested in and do you read/listen/watch anything to do with the following.

A. The debate about the existence of God/Allah etc
B The wars currently happening in the world.
C World politics

If so I can't believe you never heard of him, I'll leave it at that.

I'm interested in wars/world politics to an extent and I accept that I should have at least looked him up on google before commenting, but I still have the right to say I have/haven't heard of him without being insulted.

TanG411 · 16-12-2011 09:03PM

I never heard of him before. I feel ignorant because I think he's great now.

tim_holsters · 16-12-2011 09:06PM

RIP Hitch. Really admired him for the waterboarding "experiment".

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 09:12PM

justryan wrote: »

I'm interested in wars/world politics to an extent and I accept that I should have at least looked him up on google before commenting, but I still have the right to say I have/haven't heard of him without being insulted.

To educate yourself further on these matters check out the Xbox game "Atheist Dawn" in it Hitchens and Richard Dawkins take on the Pope and Ayatollah Khamenei in a post apocalyptic world in a bid to wipe out ignorance and superstition.

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 09:25PM

Technocentral wrote: »

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.

Mandela, fair enough.

John Peel, you have got to be kidding. Whats that guys legacy?
No one pressed play quite like him. Lol.

Crann na Beatha · 16-12-2011 09:32PM

This post has been deleted.

Da Shins Kelly · 16-12-2011 09:33PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

John Peel, you have got to be kidding. Whats that guys legacy?
No one pressed play quite like him. Lol.

Are you joking? There are so many artists who pretty much owe their success to John Peel. The Peel Sessions helped to thrust many, many artists into the limelight and promote their music. He is a huge figure in the legacy of radio and popular music in general.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 09:34PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

Mandela, fair enough.

John Peel, you have got to be kidding. Whats that guys legacy?
No one pressed play quite like him. Lol.

Its not a music thread mate and I don't want to hijack op's topic so I won't go on about it too much but Peel promoted and gave airplay to bands and genres which didn't get it anywhere else, bands I loved such as Joy Division, The Fall,, Orbital and dozens more plus he played reggae, metal, punk and techno, D&B etc when no one else was and he had a great, dry sense of humour, I used to listen to him in the 80s and was introduced to loads of new music, its not like now when you can find everything online. To any indie fans growing up in the 80s he was a hero

My name is URL · 16-12-2011 09:36PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

Mandela, fair enough.

John Peel, you have got to be kidding. Whats that guys legacy?
No one pressed play quite like him. Lol.

Isn't there a certain point which is pertinent in what he says, though? Different strokes and all that..

No one person is ever going to be regarded as positively-influential or legendary by everyone else.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 09:41PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Isn't there a certain point which is pertinent in what he says, though? Different strokes and all that..

No one person is ever going to be regarded as positively-influential or legendary by everyone else.

My point was more about the effect someone you never met can have on you more than you must like this person.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 09:42PM

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Are you joking? There are so many artists who pretty much owe their success to John Peel. The Peel Sessions helped to thrust many, many artists into the limelight and promote their music. He is a huge figure in the legacy of radio and popular music in general.

From a bio I found online:

"His legendary ‘Peel Sessions’ launched many careers, including unknowns such as Marc Bolan and David Bowie. John's success hinged on his ever-evolving music taste and his ability to talent spot new sounds, from the likes of The Smiths, Joy Division and the Undertones."

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 09:53PM

Technocentral wrote: »

Its not a music thread mate and I don't want to hijack op's topic so I won't go on about it too much but Peel promoted and gave airplay to bands and genres which didn't get it anywhere else, bands I loved such as Joy Division, The Fall,, Orbital and dozens more plus he played reggae, metal, punk and techno, D&B etc when no one else was and he had a great, dry sense of humour, I used to listen to him in the 80s and was introduced to loads of new music, its not like now when you can find everything online. To any indie fans growing up in the 80s he was a hero

He pretended to play the mandolin once on Top of the Pops, right?

Thats some real world changing behaviour right there!

DoireNod · 16-12-2011 09:56PM

Mr Hitchens' ability to capture an idea, a moment in words was simply inspirational. Even when bitterly embattled with cancer, he was prolific.

He will be missed.

Dimithy · 16-12-2011 09:58PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

He pretended to play the mandolin once on Top of the Pops once, right?

Thats some real world changing behaviour right there!

How does someones feelings regarding a public figure dying effect you, and why do you feel the need to tell them that their feelings are wrong?

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 10:00PM

ThinksAmoral wrote: »

I never heard of him before. I feel ignorant because I think he's great now.

Thats the power of After Hours.

KeithAFC · 16-12-2011 10:00PM

What was his views on the big bang?

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 10:03PM

Dimithy wrote: »

How does someones feelings regarding a public figure dying effect you, and why do you feel the need to tell them that their feelings are wrong?

Where have I told anyone they are wrong??

I am just putting across a different point of view. Ok?

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 10:03PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

He pretended to play the mandolin once on Top of the Pops once, right?

Thats some real world changing behaviour right there!

I hadn't heard that but so what, what's wrong with acting the bollox now and again, obviously launching Bowies career isn't as important as that to you?

The following would be more significant:

A stage for new bands at the Glastonbury Festival, previously known simply as 'The New Bands Tent' was renamed 'The John Peel Stage' in 2005.

In 2008 Merseytravel announced they would be naming a train after him.

In 2009 the first blue plaque to bear his name was unveiled in Heywood, part of Rochdale, Greater Manchester to recognise Peel's contribution to the local music industry in financing Tractor's recording studios.

On 13 October 2005, the first "John Peel Day" was held to mark the anniversary of his last show. Over 500 gigs took place in the UK and as far away as Canada and New Zealand, from bands ranging from Peel favourites New Order and The Fall, to many new and unsigned bands.

In his Heswall birthplace a pub was opened, named The Ravenscroft, in his honour.[37]

Again, like justryan, there is this "I never heard of/I don't know anything about so they can't have been important" attitude on this forum, a bit of humility and research wouldn't go amiss in this place.

amacachi · 16-12-2011 10:05PM

He thinks that God bought a copy of The Sims 8,000 years ago, left it for about 6,000 years and came back and didn't like what he say. So he changed everything so it looked as though the game had been going on for billions of year and added an expansion character into an underdeveloped part of the in-game world just to fcuk around with the inhabitants of that area.

Or something like that.

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 10:10PM

Technocentral wrote: »

I hadn't heard that but so what, what's wrong with acting the bollox now and again, obviously launching Bowies career isn't as important as that to you?

The following would be more significant:

A stage for new bands at the Glastonbury Festival, previously known simply as 'The New Bands Tent' was renamed 'The John Peel Stage' in 2005.

In 2008 Merseytravel announced they would be naming a train after him.

In 2009 the first blue plaque to bear his name was unveiled in Heywood, part of Rochdale, Greater Manchester to recognise Peel's contribution to the local music industry in financing Tractor's recording studios.

On 13 October 2005, the first "John Peel Day" was held to mark the anniversary of his last show. Over 500 gigs took place in the UK and as far away as Canada and New Zealand, from bands ranging from Peel favourites New Order and The Fall, to many new and unsigned bands.

In his Heswall birthplace a pub was opened, named The Ravenscroft, in his honour.[37]

Again, like justryan, there is this "I never heard of/I don't know anything about so they can't have been important" attitude on this forum, a bit of humility and research wouldn't go amiss in this place.

What did he do to try to bring an end to world hunger?
Bring about world peace?
You know, important stuff like that.

Technocentral · 16-12-2011 10:12PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

What did he do to try to bring an end to world hunger?
Bring about world peace?
You know, important stuff like that.

If music isn't important to you, fine it is to me and millions more, you sound like one of those people just interested in arguing for the sake of it so I'll leave it there.

Dimithy · 16-12-2011 10:13PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

What did he do to try to bring an end to world hunger?
Bring about world peace?
You know, important stuff like that.

Are you really going with that as an argument?

Really?

padd b1975 · 16-12-2011 10:26PM

Dimithy wrote: »

Are you really going with that as an argument?

Really?

Look Dim' Perhaps you should talk to the guy who put him in the same bracket as Nelson Mandela.

Da Shins Kelly · 16-12-2011 10:26PM

padd b1975 wrote: »

What did he do to try to bring an end to world hunger?
Bring about world peace?
You know, important stuff like that.

There are many different ways of being an important, influential and positive figure. Somebody doesn't have to be working towards world peace and ending hunger to be a good person and to have an affect on people. Music is a very important aspect of life for an awful lot of people, and if someone contributes to another's well-being through music, then that is a great thing, in my opinion.

Anyway, this is a hijack of the original point.

RIP to Christopher Hitchens. The world is a duller place without him.

KeithAFC · 16-12-2011 10:29PM

I can see he means a lot to Atheists which is fair enough. I think that should be respected.

hmmm · 16-12-2011 10:32PM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Cooper: Christopher I'm not sure if you believe in heaven but if you do do you think Jerry Falwell is in it?

Hitchens: No, and I think it's a pity there isn't a hell for him to go to.

I hadn't seen that clip before, that single line summed him up. A fabulous amazingly sharp riposte.

He was a contrary fecker, but we need people like him to challenge the status quo. He's a sad loss to anyone who is a free thinker, I'm not sure who can replace him - particularly as the world seems to be entering a new dark age where criticism of religion is banned, science is under attack from religious conservatives and the world in general is filling with cloying political correctness.

DoireNod · 16-12-2011 10:32PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

I can see he means a lot to Atheists which is fair enough. I think that should be respected.

To say he means a lot to atheists diminishes his intellectual and journalistic pursuits. He was by no means a single-issue type.

MagicMarker · 16-12-2011 10:34PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

I can see he means a lot to Atheists which is fair enough. I think that should be respected.

Many people admired him, both atheists and theists.

Many people are indifferent, both atheists and theists.

Christopher Hitchens has died

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