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Christopher Hitchens died today and I was surprisingly shocked. I was saddened, of course, but I shouldn't have been shocked given his diagnosis. I feel a bit fake for how upset I am seeing as I've never read a book he's written. But I loved that man for his Vanity Fair contributions, his awesome personality, and his public voice of atheism. I did borrow God is Not Great from the library once but I had to return it before I had a chance to read it. But you only have to read a few articles of his to know that he was a brilliant man with tremendous wit and great intelligence. I never did agree with all of his beliefs but if I only liked and admired those who shared my every opinion, my life would not be as rich as it is. Hitchens was one of a kind and I'm going to miss him. I'm going to make up for lost time by starting with his autobiography and going backwards.
My atheism is something I take incredibly seriously, to the point that the general manager of my company once commented, negatively, that I'm awfully sensitive about it. But every year I have people wish me a happy holiday or merry Christmas and I find the hubris of assuming that I'm Christian revolting. Why? Because if I just randomly spouted off to my coworkers that believing in a supernatural being who gives a shit about us and made this world is ridiculous, I'd get into major trouble. I've had people sneer at me and make jokes about how I should have to work on Christmas since I have stupid beliefs. I can't do the same back without sanctions. My first year at the company I work for, I took part in all of the holiday shit because I didn't know how long I'd be there and didn't want to be that weird temp. But I've long since let people know I'm an atheist and that I don't take part. They still try to explain that the holiday party isn't about religion and act like I'm making much ado about nothing by not taking part. They do not do this to the Jehovah's Witness we work with.
I don't believe in any god, soul, afterlife, etc. These are beliefs, regardless of what you want to say. To those that say "well then how did we get here?" I say "do you answer all questions to which you don't have the answer with 'God did it'?" And I sound like the asshole. People wish me a happy holiday thinking they are covering all the bases when they really are not. Go ahead and say I'm overreacting but let's face it, it took a long time for the U.S. to get from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays because the U.S. couldn't even account for Jewish individuals for however long.
Here is how much I don't give a shit about holidays: I was at Tilt a Kilt with a friend of mine, drinking and checking out the chicks serving us when I turned to him and said "I really wanted to say 'let's take off the Santa hats because Christmas is over.'" This was the other day and Christmas is still weeks away.
I may not agree with everything Hitchens believed, like his backing of George W. Bush or the war in Iraq, but I am grateful for his willingness to be outspoken about his atheism. I don't know how many of us are out there but we are still treated like our beliefs don't matter. But fuck us if we don't honor, tolerate, and respect the religious.
Thank you, Christopher. I will miss you.
Christopher Hitchens died today and I was surprisingly shocked. I was saddened, of course, but I shouldn't have been shocked given his diagnosis. I feel a bit fake for how upset I am seeing as I've never read a book he's written. But I loved that man for his Vanity Fair contributions, his awesome personality, and his public voice of atheism. I did borrow God is Not Great from the library once but I had to return it before I had a chance to read it. But you only have to read a few articles of his to know that he was a brilliant man with tremendous wit and great intelligence. I never did agree with all of his beliefs but if I only liked and admired those who shared my every opinion, my life would not be as rich as it is. Hitchens was one of a kind and I'm going to miss him. I'm going to make up for lost time by starting with his autobiography and going backwards.
My atheism is something I take incredibly seriously, to the point that the general manager of my company once commented, negatively, that I'm awfully sensitive about it. But every year I have people wish me a happy holiday or merry Christmas and I find the hubris of assuming that I'm Christian revolting. Why? Because if I just randomly spouted off to my coworkers that believing in a supernatural being who gives a shit about us and made this world is ridiculous, I'd get into major trouble. I've had people sneer at me and make jokes about how I should have to work on Christmas since I have stupid beliefs. I can't do the same back without sanctions. My first year at the company I work for, I took part in all of the holiday shit because I didn't know how long I'd be there and didn't want to be that weird temp. But I've long since let people know I'm an atheist and that I don't take part. They still try to explain that the holiday party isn't about religion and act like I'm making much ado about nothing by not taking part. They do not do this to the Jehovah's Witness we work with.
I don't believe in any god, soul, afterlife, etc. These are beliefs, regardless of what you want to say. To those that say "well then how did we get here?" I say "do you answer all questions to which you don't have the answer with 'God did it'?" And I sound like the asshole. People wish me a happy holiday thinking they are covering all the bases when they really are not. Go ahead and say I'm overreacting but let's face it, it took a long time for the U.S. to get from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays because the U.S. couldn't even account for Jewish individuals for however long.
Here is how much I don't give a shit about holidays: I was at Tilt a Kilt with a friend of mine, drinking and checking out the chicks serving us when I turned to him and said "I really wanted to say 'let's take off the Santa hats because Christmas is over.'" This was the other day and Christmas is still weeks away.
I may not agree with everything Hitchens believed, like his backing of George W. Bush or the war in Iraq, but I am grateful for his willingness to be outspoken about his atheism. I don't know how many of us are out there but we are still treated like our beliefs don't matter. But fuck us if we don't honor, tolerate, and respect the religious.
Thank you, Christopher. I will miss you.
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