As you know, Christopher Hitchens took time off from his chemotherapy to attend the Atheist Alliance of America convention in Houston, Texas to receive the Richard Dawkins Award for promoting freethought and atheism. Here, hot off YouTube, are the three videos of Richard announcing the award and Hitchens’s response. Together they’re about 25 minutes long.
Hitch’s speech will move you; that I guarantee.
Richard’s announcement:
Hitchens’s response:
Hitchens answers audience questions:
And here’s a reader’s comment on a previous post about Hitchens, which I thought I’d put up here as a tribute:
I was in the audience when he received that award. Me and my SSA group were all in tears as he spoke – with his recognition of his ‘time’ approaching, of his wanting his children to know his tenderest life moments, and his immense humility, and the moments where he paused because he needed to cough and have a drink (but apologized as though he were inconveniencing us through his illness). I freely confess I haven’t cried so hard in a very long time… nor have I felt so sad for the death of another person outside of my family. I will miss Christopher Hitchens, and I feel like I knew him, even if he never knew me. We all know him. I am glad that I saw him at this convention, because I recognize that it might be the last.
h/t: Michael
UPDATE: New Statesman covered it too.
Thank you for cluing me in that these are up. So poetic, so sad.
His continued ability to be witty and genuinely funny at this time is deeply moving.
/@
What I find so admirable about it (besides his intellect, wit and style of course) is the obvious difficulty he had drawing a breath to speak, but the determination to get it said anyway.
It would be so easy for a man of his contribution to society to rest on his laurels and quietly retire from the public. But no.
I hope when my time is on the horizon that I demonstrate something that reasonably well approximates all that is his ultimate Hitchslap.
Impressive. Heartbreaking.
Typo in the title!
Jerry/et al, do you recall the website dearchristopher.com where people were to send letters than they would have sent to CH and they would be published on that site? Well the site has gone titts up. My question is does anyone remember the site and the photo that they used? it was a fabulous photo of CH and I cannot find it anywhere.
Anyone know what I’m talking about?
This photo?
/@
Yes that is the one, thank you Ant Allen!
Chris
You’re quite welcome, Chros!
/@
Boundless courage! So moving & inspirational to see that The Hitch laser beam remains focussed with surgical precision.
Also I was pleased to see that The Hitch saluted Lawrence Krauss. I’m fairly certain that Hitch did this partially as a mini-slap in the direction of the talentless mob who’ve had a go at LK over the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
(subscribing)
It is difficult to put my admiration into words, what an incredible man. His courage and determination are also a poke with a stick to all those idiots who claim that when looking death in the eye all atheists come running back to Jesus.
I would like to personally thank Christopher Hitchens for saying so many things that needed to be said, and for saying them so damn well.
I don’t want to write him off just yet, but I also was moved to tears by his address and his apparent physical condition. He has to date truly been a significant contributor to the advancement of human culuture. I will consider my own life a success if I can contribute a thousandth as much as he has.
Hitch is irreplaceable and an inspiration to us all.
Is it just me or have the videos disappeared?
It’s just you. Try Janet Goelzer’s Channel she’s the original YouTube uploader
Yep! I have no plans to take them down, enjoy.
If they do get flagged down and truly disappear, I’ve saved local copies. One never knows how the parties of god will behave on youtube, what with maliciously false filing of DMCA take-down notices being served right and left and all.
Mostly left.
I don’t know what to say. The look in his eyes, and his sheer bravery, wit and wisdom is just overwhelming. Going to get some kleenex …
Great job posting these. It is saddening to see him like this, but amazing to see him battle on. Such a great influence, such fight, such will power. Thank you, Hitch.
Was quite heartbreaking to see him like this. However, he is one tough son of a bitch and will be converting people to his grave. Hear, hear hitchens,you are and always will be a legend. Thank you for everything.
I saw Hitch for the first time (together with Harris) earlier this year in LA. I flew all the way from Pennsylvania because I wanted to see and hear the man in person–it meant that much to me.
I’m truly distressed at the thought of seeing Hitch go and I’ve never felt so strongly about a complete stranger. I must admit that being a skeptic innoculates me against any sort of hero worship. I’ve seen my share of inspiring speakers and while hearing a Nobel laureate’s work firsthand is quite an experience, Hitch so eloquently engages at a level that is far more profound and personal–the philosophy and defense of secular humanism. Can anything be more important or necessary?
Finding the cure to the cancer that afflicts him that we might have him around for years to come I could suggest is a strong contender.
Like you, I feel an obligation to see him live just once; had I known he was to be there this weekend, I’d have flown down.
The pharma industry is starting to make important inroads to treating cancer. Immunotherapy such as recent drug ipilimumab has a lot of oncologists talking because it stimulates the immune system to attack cancer. Eventually, many cancers will be eliminated because our immune systems cure us of cancer throughout our lives.
Regretably, these drugs of the future won’t be discovered in time to save the irreplaceable Hitch.
My sister died this April of esophageal cancer. The prognosis is not very good. The statistics tell the story. The five year survival rate of metastasized esophageal cancer is 3.4%. The five year rate of EC for cancers spread to regional lymph nodes is 18.4%. The overall five year survival rate for white men is 17.4%. The disease is still incurable. The treatments include taking multiple types of chemo at the same time taken in different ways. My sister was on a 21 day regimen – she was infused with one chemo once a week, she took a shot of another every 3 or 4 days and took the third orally daily. She would get a week off then 21 days on again. She did that for almost the entire final year. Her body finally couldn’t take anymore (as a hospital administrator she was able to push the doctors as far as they would go) and she had to stop the treatment. She was dead within three months. The side effects were too horrific for me to describe here.
Heartbreaking (because of his health, although he looks good here) and very uplifting and inspiring.
I still have hope for him, but if he doesn’t make it, he can be sure, that he will live forever. Not in heaven (obviously) but in our hearts and minds.
Fight Hitchbaby!
Perhaps my favorite Hitchens speech:
Thank you so much for this – I was waiting to hear him talk. I wish he wasn’t going to die so soon. He really put the fire in my heart for how disgusting christianity is. scapegoating is disgusting, religion does poison everything- and I just really learn so much when I hear him speak- what a completely epic personality!
I was in attendance. It was indeed as moving and awesome as described. Prior to the award, CH had entered the dinner event about an hour after everyone had started eating, and he received about a 5 minute standing ovation just for walking in. This was after he spent a gracious hour signing his books!
A class act, beyond words, and I will never forget him and what he has done for the cause of reason and rational thinking.
Hitch is great, I wish I felt more confident of seeing him in Melbourne next year. He was supposed to do a video linkup to a Think Inc I recently attended but didn’t make it. He is an inspiration to everyone who cares to listen.
Great video; thanks so very much for posting it. I would have hated to miss it, as much as I love Hitch. The man has changed my way of thinking, and I’m a better person for it. He will truly be missed; the great always go to early. Hitch, know you’re loved by many more than you know.
Not since Plato – indeed, Socrates – have we had a mind with such preternatural ability for pure reason.
And he combines it with such love and camaraderie, as well as a wit to rival the most incisive and erudite in recorded history.
I feel sick to my stomach when I contemplate a world in which the continuing contributions of Christopher Hitchens come to an end. And I will feel like I have lost a dear, if ethereal, confidant.
Mother Nature: I hope beyond measure that things line up in such a way so that
this man will be saved.
What I’m trying to figure out is whether everyone’s glowing admiration for Hitchens would remain intact had they been regular readers of this blog: (WARNING: Not recommended for those who don’t take well to disappointment.)
http://christopherhitchenswatch.blogspot.com/
pffft !!
** Number of listed contributors: 9
** Nyms: Mark G, JQ, yoyo, Greywolf, Philipa, Hidari, Rakhmetov, FGFM & Sonic
** Real names linked or given = 0
** Reader comments = 0 [comments not enabled]
Anyone with a brain [plenty of them visit WEIT] realises The Hitch isn’t omnipotent. At all of his debates he will engage anyone about anything, with the exception of the aluminium-foil-hat 9/11 truthers, NATO black helicopterists etc. etc.
Why not pick an actual Hitch failure & tell me what you think ~ there’s plenty to choose from
And the answer to your query is “yes”
Christopher Hitchens versus Feminism
I just posted some photos of the evening, it was an incredible experience.
http://www.brettbuchanan.com/2011/10/hitchens/
Those are the biz. Thanks.
I’m going to cry buckets whenever he dies. I’ve only known about him for about the past five years but those years of sharing this planet with him have been an inspiration. I’m headed into journalism because of Hitchens and it’s because of him that I realised I’m an antitheist as well as an atheist.
Unfortunately, the videos are down. So far no alternative recording to find.
Yes, there appears to be no other videos of this posted. Can someone track down these vids so I may get a chance to see them?
You should take part in a contest for one of the best websites on the internet. I’m going to recommend this blog!