Hitch's Ride

It's too bad that we're not celebrating the life of Bill Hicks in the wake of the death of Chris Hitchens. Bill, who would have been 50 today, was an indigenious talent to America whereas Hitchens imported himself as the last Spartan for liberalism's effects. Who benefited from liberalism's effects is still being sorted out by Hitch's many fans and foes. 

On the third hand, Hitch was Hitch. He was against the death penalty but for the Iraq War. He stood up for the Palestinians yet he feared the spook of "Islamofascism." He drank Jameson, although he spit cigarettes. While I have heard him called a misogynist, I have yet to hear anyone refer to him as a misandrist, probably because labels fail when no one looks at the neckline.

With lots of British ex-pats and post-imperialists, Hitch suffered from the ideology of boredom. His atheism with a little "a" still assumed that people -- men, women, children -- still needed the protection of something, some institution, some being. So, who was to protect us from the God-fearing set? Hitch hisself? Gravestones and urns make fine shields.

No amount of enlightenment will stop violence if the mind is rooted in violence from hat drop. I will say tho that Hitch's attack on Mother Theresa was interesting. He used her well, to borrow from his cig fight with Dave Zirin. I must finish on a high note, so here it is: Christopher Hitchens was not his own god. He was his own ride. You swing the metaphor.

UPDATE: Tuesday 12:25p CST

Former British MP George Galloway took a nice heavy swing at the dead Englishman the other day in The Daily Record. The storm uncovered a few points I had missed on Ol' Hitch, such as his passing glance at the 10 Turkish dead on the Mavi Marmara, his support for George W. Bush's relection in 2004, and his praise for Bush's Hurricane Katrina handling. "Strange bedfellows" doesn't even begin...