Morning Metro: More More ‘Mart, Poster Hut Closes and Hitchens Dies
Decatur Metro | December 16, 2011
- Another article on the Walmart parking variance meeting [Champion]
- A Pierce Pettis interview from 1992 [Dateline: Decatur]
- No new taxes or cuts in DeKalb’s proposed budget [AJC]
- Atlanta’s oldest “adult store” closes its doors [AJC]
- Birmingham ranks among Top 10 cities that donate the most [HuffPo]
- Christopher Hitchens dies [Vanity Fair] [NYT
Fuzzy photo of Woodlawn lights courtesy of me!
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Goodbye, Hitch.
+1 million. He was an incredible thinker, writer, orator, debater and proud American.
Amen.
After reading yet another lionizing tribute to Hitchens, this one a blog post by Bill Buford at the New Yorker, Winnona Park Stud stumbled upon a comment to the post which is a model of the form, and a fine antiseptic to what we’ve read about this man since his death. Post is at the link, comment re-printed in full.
Post:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2011/12/remembering-hitch-bill-buford.html?mobify=0&intcid=full-site-mobile
Comment:
It’s clear that those writers, such as Buckeley and Mayer who knew Hitchens personally are devoted friends. Like other Brits, the plummy accent and “larger than life” self-promoting character has a certain appeal to Americans. Perhaps it’s because such characters speak and write in English? In Hitchens case, his support and promotion of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, his blithe disregard for the deaths of what he no doubt thought of as “wogs” and “Islamofascists” places him not in the company of Orwell so much as Kipling and other lovers of Empire, British or otherwise. Perhaps it was the cumulative affect of alchoholism or other displays of one who “knew how to live” but, in this issue, his vaunted intellect seems nothing more than one steeped in literature, self-regard, racism and either “vodka, or was it gin.” R.I.P.
Wasn’t it Churchill who said that a sign of great intellect was the ability to hold two completely contrary opinions to heart, believing both to be true? Intelligence isn’t everything. (I think David Halberstam has shown that point pretty wonderfully time and again in his books.) But I think the magnitude of his intellect is pretty universally admired. It’s been very fascinating to see people coming out of different corners of the Catholic Church – one of his great targets of course – praising him since his death.
That comment seems disjointed and mainly is just looking to peg Hitchens as a racist and alcoholic.
The alcoholic thing is just a cheap-shot. The commenter approaches it as a weakness, but I think Hitch would have argued differently. Hitchens himself, staring in the face of death, assuredly said he’d never have wanted it any other way. That the nicotine and alcohol greased the wheels of good intellectual conversation. Unless he was causing people all kinds of undue harm, I don’t see the issue.
The racist comment seems to stem for his support of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, no? I think this is also off-point. Hitchens was deeply affected by the fatwa put on his friend Rushdie’s head – which he once talked about at Emory – and I think this is the actual seed for his support of these foreign wars. Imagine spending near on 10 years prior to 9/11 studying the ugly undercurrents in these Middle Eastern countries and then one day – wham! – everything you’ve feared comes true. This seems enough to me to influence a single opinion on whether the U.S. was equipped to do anything about it.
As for literature and self-regard, show me any modern day commenter without the latter. Hitchens had the former in spades and that made all the difference.
And BTW, what SHOULD a “vaunted intellect” be steeped in instead?
Thanks for passing along the Pierce Pettis interview. He’s been a favorite of ours for years. Seen him at Eddie’s (and elsewhere, including my parents’ basement) many, many times.
While we are mourning Hitchens, let us not overlook the death of Russell Hoban, author of a slew of classic children’s books (the Frances series, “Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas”, and especially “The Mouse and His Child”) and some pretty amazing novels for adults as well.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rip-russell-hoban-author-of-riddley-walker-the-mou,66698/
Would love it if Little Shop of Stories had some sort of event celebrating his life and works.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear of this, too. We watched the Jim Henson “Emmett Otter” special (a favorite from my childhood) the other night, introducing it to my little one for the first time.