{"id":6683,"date":"2011-12-16T05:46:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T05:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=6683"},"modified":"2011-12-16T06:52:09","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T06:52:09","slug":"christopher-hitchens-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=6683","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Hitchens Has Succumbed To Cancer."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Christopher%20Hitchens%20Has%20Succumbed%20To%20Cancer.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Sad to report that we have lost one of the most dynamic voices of our generation. With the exception of being an ardent atheist, he was impossible to pin down and categorize as belonging to any one political movement or ideology. He truly called them as he saw them. Without question, he truly was his own man.  He burned as bright as anyone I can recall in my lifetime, and now the flame is no more. I can&#8217;t say I always agreed with him, but he was one HELL of a writer, and I am a better writer because of his influence! He taught me to let my guard down and don&#8217;t fear what you think or believe. Still, to be 1 \/ 1000th as good a writer as he was&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Thomas-Paines-Rights-Man-Biography\/dp\/0871139553\">his treatise on Thomas Paine<\/a> (a kindred spirit if there ever way one) and many of his Slate and Vanity Fair pieces, including the last few he managed to squeeze out despite his illness. [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/culture\/2012\/01\/hitchens-201201\">here<\/a>] But, of all the things I&#8217;ve read from this brilliant man, this is <a href=\"http:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=239\">the one blindingly obvious insight<\/a> I will always remember:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBy all means, stupid people should be represented, but not by stupid people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have his autobiography on my reading cue. I break that open tonight.<\/p>\n<p>Goodbye to one of the greats.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/usnews.msnbc.msn.com\/_news\/2011\/12\/16\/9483416-author-pundit-christopher-hitchens-dies-at-62\">Chris Hitchens &#8211; 1949 &#8211; 2011.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Christopher%20Hitchens%20Has%20Succumbed%20To%20Cancer.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Sad to report that we have lost one of the most dynamic voices of our generation. With the exception of being an ardent atheist, he was impossible to pin down and categorize as belonging to any one political movement or ideology. He truly called them as he saw them. Without question, he truly was his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6683"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}