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Anderson Cooper interviews Hitchens.

post #1 of 12
8/8/10 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
Video here.

Among the more famous proponents of atheism Hitchens was never my favorite. But I'll be damned if my respect for him doesn't grow ten-fold when I see stuff like that. I really hope that when my time comes I'll have the same courage to stick to my convictions.
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post #2 of 12
8/8/10 at 3:39pm
BTW, I already started a thread with a link to that video. It's called "GET WELL SOON, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS"
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post #3 of 12
8/9/10 at 1:45am
I'm a massive Hitchens fan, and seeing him like that genuinely breaks my heart. There's a long list of things I don't agree with him on, but he's one of maybe five figures I pay real good goddamn attention to when they speak up. His books on Orwell and Jefferson are great and exciting, and God Is Not Great is a classic, even when taken outside of the New Atheism context. The Portable Atheist travels with me everywhere I go, too.

Like I said, heartbreaking. I really wanted to see a lecture or book signing in NYC sometime this year, but this dashes my hopes pretty much tenfold.

Ugh. Someone needs to feed Palin a grenade to lift my spirits. Just writing this out depressed me even more.
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post #4 of 12
8/9/10 at 10:45am
I love the bit at the end about death-bed conversions.

I hope he beats the odds. He's one magnificent bastard.
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post #5 of 12
8/9/10 at 4:38pm
Yeah, saw this on CNN. Much respect to the guy. Personally speaking I already got my deathbed recant speech memorized.
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post #6 of 12
8/10/10 at 9:15am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer View Post
I love the bit at the end about death-bed conversions.
"Not while I'm lucid."

Heh.
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post #7 of 12
8/10/10 at 9:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
BTW, I already started a thread with a link to that video. It's called "GET WELL SOON, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS"
It's a good thought, but unfortunately he's not going to get well, soon or otherwise. Some idiot from the Atlantic interviewed him and said "How are you?" Hitchens, being Hitchens, replied "How am I? I'm dying."
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post #8 of 12
8/10/10 at 11:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post
It's a good thought, but unfortunately he's not going to get well, soon or otherwise. Some idiot from the Atlantic interviewed him and said "How are you?" Hitchens, being Hitchens, replied "How am I? I'm dying."
I read that, it's shitty. I'm going to post in the other "GET WELL SOON" thread* with a link to an article about those comments. I like the message of the other thread just because I want to send positive energy his way. I don't understand how this could happen, that he could suddenly get cancer and die. It's like when my grandfather died of pneumonia last year, since when did that become something that modern science was powerless to stop?

Anyway, the GET WELL SOON thread seems like the best foot to put forward on this, IMHO. I mean, what are we supposed to do, start a "Don't die painfully!" thread?

*unless anyone has any objections
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post #9 of 12
8/10/10 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
It's like when my grandfather died of pneumonia last year, since when did that become something that modern science was powerless to stop?
Pneumonia is certainly treatable, but it's called "the old person's friend" for a reason. Most often it's a complication that carries off someone who is otherwise in crap health, like my mom. If someone's death is imminent anyway, a hospice team may well elect to keep the patient comfortable (i.e. on gobs of pain meds) and let the pneumonia take its course. It's supposed to be a relatively easy way to go, hence the term.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
I mean, what are we supposed to do, start a "Don't die painfully!" thread?
Hitchens might actually appreciate that more. Along with a fat ounce of sticky-icky.
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post #10 of 12
8/10/10 at 12:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post
Pneumonia is certainly treatable, but it's called "the old person's friend" for a reason. Most often it's a complication that carries off someone who is otherwise in crap health, like my mom. If someone's death is imminent anyway, a hospice team may well elect to keep the patient comfortable (i.e. on gobs of pain meds) and let the pneumonia take its course. It's supposed to be a relatively easy way to go, hence the term.
.
It was a horrible experience, IMHO. They sent him in and out of the hospital no less than 5 times over the week that he died. If they'd just kept him there and treated him, IMHO he might have lived. I get angry just thinking about it. My grandfather had had heart surgery and was weak, but he was an Important American and deserved better from our health care system. Plus, I kind of hid from the hospital towards the end (though I did visit him) which make the whole thing worse to my mind
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post
Hitchens might actually appreciate that more. Along with a fat ounce of sticky-icky.

I am sure his friend Bill Maher would be happy to smoke him up!
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post #11 of 12
8/10/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Kate View Post
It was a horrible experience, IMHO. They sent him in and out of the hospital no less than 5 times over the week that he died. If they'd just kept him there and treated him, IMHO he might have lived.
Ah, but then they wouldn't have made money by re-admitting him repeatedly and ordering lots of tests (I presume).

The U.S. "health care" system sucks perpetual bags of dicks. Everyone dies, but nobody has to have their deaths made nightmarish by bureaucratic incompetence and venality.
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post #12 of 12
8/10/10 at 1:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post
Ah, but then they wouldn't have made money by re-admitting him repeatedly and ordering lots of tests (I presume)..
Precisely
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

The U.S. "health care" system sucks perpetual bags of dicks. Everyone dies, but nobody has to have their deaths made nightmarish by bureaucratic incompetence and venality.
I was furious about it at the time, I said that they should not keep sending him home if every time he got there he had to be ambulanced back within 24 hours. Whatever doctor said he was fit for release was clearly lying. That's just a fact.
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