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-- RIP Christopher Hitchens
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Originally posted by Vector A Ahh, so anybody who expresses unpopular views is an "extremist?" I guess that clears things up.

I think he did a little more than that -- i mean his books were meant to sell, inflammatory language was used throughout the whole thing. It wasnt a peer reviewed article filled with only facts he was writing about.

I however enjoyed the one book i read of his.

quote:

Originally posted by Vector A Ahh, so anybody who expresses unpopular views is an "extremist?" I guess that clears things up.

now now, don't you dare to discuss the meaning of a word here. else Eddie is going to make fun of you

Huh? What if I were American?

quote:

Originally posted by Vector A Ahh, so anybody who expresses unpopular views is an "extremist?" I guess that clears things up.

Unpopular beliefs of extreme nature. It's right there in the example, Brian, stop being such a philosopher

Anyway, got a more comprehensive link that lists more dictionaries. The point is, I don't know what the hell you guys mean by "extremist" that doesn't include Hitchens.

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Originally posted by Lira Brian, stop being such a philosopher

As I see my positive influence is coming through.

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Originally posted by Meat187 As I see my positive influence is coming through.

I said that in jest, Fleisch - I still like philosophy just as much as him, it's just that I was in a hurry and didn't bother making everything explicit because it was implicit in the example, but he was right to call me out on that

quote:

Originally posted by Lira Unpopular beliefs of extreme nature. It's right there in the example, Brian, stop being such a philosopher

In terms of belief, I am not sure there is a useful distinction between "unpopular" and "far from the norm," which is what the definitions refer to.

Anyway, I think of "extremists" as people who use or at least advocate violence to punish people for the mere refusal to believe the same things they do. The first definition on that page gets at this a bit when it refers to "resorting to measures beyond the norm."

I guess writing a book full of polemic against religion is also a measure "beyond the norm" of what most people would do. But it also falls rather short of beheading somebody, for example.

quote:

The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has � from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness. (History News Network, 2003)

-Christopher Hitchens

quote:

Originally posted by Vector A I am not sure there is a useful distinction between "unpopular" and "far from the norm," which is what the definitions refer to. Anyway, I think of "extremists" as people who use or at least advocate violence to punish people for the mere refusal to believe the same things they do. The first definition on that page gets at this a bit when it refers to "resorting to measures beyond the norm." I guess writing a book full of polemic against religion is also a measure "beyond the norm" of what most people would do. But it also falls rather short of beheading somebody, for example.

Then how can we say he was not a moderate, but someone whose views were so far from the centre they can barely make it in the graph? We need to point out, using a word, that some of the things he said were bang out of order.

"Immoderate?" "Crazy?" "Intemperate?"

Also, far from the "center" of what? "Bang out of order" how?

Just heard.... I am sad... A great loss for all logical thinking people...

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Originally posted by Lira Huh? What if I were American?

I was just curious, nothing else. No offense or passive aggressiveness intended

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Originally posted by Vector A "Immoderate?" "Crazy?" "Intemperate?"

Fair enough, I'll pick the word "immoderate" because I reckon moderation is the one thing he could use to be as awesome a thinker as he was a writer.

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Originally posted by Vector A Also, far from the "center" of what? "Bang out of order" how?

The way I see it, if you draw a line ranging from immoderate religious conservatives to immoderate atheists, debate wise, with apathetic agnostics in the centre, he took his views too far down the atheist road, not unlike Dawkins and Harris... and it irked me because he didn't seem to acknowledge how rich and diverse (ir)religion is. The subtitle of "God is not Great", for example, claims religion poisons everything.

Really? Everything? I find it hard not to be stumped by his hasty generalisations.

quote:

Originally posted by Redd I was just curious, nothing else. No offense or passive aggressiveness intended

Oh. But, nah, my views are not common in Brazil either, so I really don't think my location alters that much my way of thinking... I'm just eccentric

From what little I know of Hitchens, he came across as someone who was crushed and incredibly burdened by the pain he saw in the world (hence the alcoholism), but his toxic attitude toward religion was akin to someone attempting to extinguish a house fire by turning a hose gushing petrol on it.

I like your analogy. Though I believe he was well intended, that's precisely how I see it.

"Well" is a rather worthless term, it's the intended part that's important. He was holding the hose, unapologetically, on the fires he thought were worth fueling. If we had more people like him... well shit, we'd all be burnt to a crisp. That's why he was exceptional.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On "Well" is a rather worthless term, it's the intended part that's important. He was holding the hose, unapologetically, on the fires he thought were worth fueling. If we had more people like him... well shit, we'd all be burnt to a crisp. That's why he was exceptional.

So I should replace ", but" with ";".

Anyway, I left my views on religion (and why I reckon Hitchens was way off the mark) in this thread.

Would love to visit his grave one day.
And shit on it, people like him make me wish that hell actually exists.

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Originally posted by tazzjayz Would love to visit his grave one day. And shit on it, people like him make me wish that hell actually exists.

haha, what did he ever do to make you this mad?

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Originally posted by tazzjayz Would love to visit his grave one day. And shit on it, people like him make me wish that hell actually exists.

Still pissing people off from beyond that grave. That's why he's exceptional.

Religious folk around the world are cheering because its one less obstacle between them and total ignorance.

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Originally posted by kamil Religious folk around the world are cheering because its one less obstacle between them and total ignorance.

Yes. Total ignorance. That's our goal. Always has been. Complete and total ignorance, like this comment, right here:

quote:

Originally posted by kamil Religious folk around the world are cheering because its one less obstacle between them and total ignorance.

Now we don't have to shoulder the weight of bearing so much ignorance, ourselves. We can get help from atheists who are too stupid to comprehend Hitchens fully, while they bend over backwards to cite him in their stupidly formed arguments.


You are a fucking tool!

quote:

Originally posted by kamil Religious folk around the world are cheering because its one less obstacle between them and total ignorance.

Omg you're so right. I can't wait to go to a special "thank God Christopher Hitchens is dead" mass on Sunday. One shouldn't be hard to find, as his death has surely united every single member of every single religion worldwide.

quote:

Originally posted by tazzjayz Would love to visit his grave one day. And shit on it, people like him make me wish that hell actually exists.

And, quite honestly, this comment is next to fucking useless, as well. I think if we added yours and kamil's IQ's we might come up with a number that's three digits long, but that's being optimistic.

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