All sorts of folks have all sorts of reasons for wanting Hitch to live or die. Here's one of the most unusual ones hoping for his early demise that I've come across yet. It's by a writer name Alan Salkin, who doesn't wish Hitch any ill but wonders whether a remarkable recovery in the Contrarian's condition will make him feel better about not having followed the sort of career path that Hemmingway and some other hard drinkers pioneered.
Why It Would Be Better if Christopher Hitchens Died Sooner Rather Than Later By Alan Salkin
The greatness of Christopher Hitchens has always been his brutality. Say what you will about the guy — and there is plenty to be said — he has never let his concern for anyone get in the way of the truth. So let me say it like it is: not all of me, not all of me for sure, but a good part of me is glad that Hitchens is apparently dying at the age of 62.
It’s probably not for the reasons you think. I don’t hate him for attacking Mother Teresa, God, the Clintons or anybody else who has been in his sharp-quilled sights over the years. It’s funny the way he chomps sacred cows with salivating gusto. Nor do I hate him because he’s a bilious, self-important Brit with pretentious literary chums like Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie. (Did you see that Atlantic video with the scarecrow-haired, chemo-riddled Christopher — he dislikes being called Chris, and I’m not the type to call a dying man names — where Amis was lurking around what looked to be Hitchens’ living room? You know Amis must be taking notes for a forthcoming book: The Last Days of My Chum Hitch.)
In fact I don’t hate Hitchens at all. But I did not pray for his recovery on last week’s “Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day” even though I have been known to pray now and then.
No, part of me is glad that Hitchens is dying because his death would make me feel better about not pursuing the model of the writing life he exemplifies: the hard-living bad boy with a pen of gold.
“The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant." • "If it is an offense to justice to hold people who may have been victims of mistaken identity or of vendettas by other factions, then it is also an offense to justice to release psychopathic killers who believe that they have divine permission to throw acid in the faces of girls who want to attend school." • "Don't be such a lesbian!
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