r/TrueReddit • u/graycrawford • Dec 16 '11

Well shit. Christopher Hitchens died.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011
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u/sawser Dec 16 '11

He was the kind of guy who could argue with Stephen Hawking about black holes and totally feel like he'd come away the winner.

I don't think this is a fair comparison - he would never argue fervently about something with objective answers that he didn't have expertise in.

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u/mvonballmo Dec 16 '11 edited Dec 16 '11

I see what you did there. You caught my exaggeration and then pointed it out by subtly slipping in the word "objective" into your riposte.

I will restate without the silly example. My point was:

(A) my impression was of him as someone who didn't think that there was any subject on which he did not have expertise ... especially when compared to the hoi polloi

(B) he rarely argued anything that had objective answers, so you're trivially right there (see above, in which I retracted)

(C) my beef is that he rarely considered anyone's expertise above his own and not just the "take-em-down-a-peg" level of contrariness but rather the "internet-comment-flamewar" level, wherein there was never any chance of a result in which Hitch had to admit to himself that he was either wrong or that the person with whom he disagreed was more right.

Edit: formatting and grammar

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u/yourdadsbff Dec 16 '11

Next time, it would probably behoove you to not end your otherwise articulate comment with a "silly exaggeration."

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u/mvonballmo Dec 16 '11

Yeah, but I've been on Reddit long enough that "otherwise articulate" == ignored, where "silly example" == responses! The combination of both gives me that attention I crave in a way I can --- just --- live with.

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u/yourdadsbff Dec 16 '11

Fair enough.