Christopher Hitchens; Attention Whore
January 2nd 2012 05:04
Those who read Vanity Fair will recall the first time they came across an essay written by Christopher Hitchens. The language captivated and some of the ideas were rather interesting. One kept reading his work, expecting the next piece to be magnificent. After awhile the repetition and hollowness became a bit much.
He had a pathological resentment of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa simply because the majority honoured them. It wasn't that he wrote a scathing piece about either because he had come across damaging information he thought to share, it was that he had to counter the view of the majority to gain attention.
When they died he lost his reason for living and searched for new targets eventually deciding that to offend the most people be would be an atheist, or, as he chose, an antithesist. Not that anyone cared what he thought about anything as it had become apparent he had no views, no ideology, he was just dissenting to gain focus.
Christopher Hitchens died on December 16th. He was eulogized by a few quotes from his work; almost clever paragraphs which are forgotten after reading because tragically his need for attention had so twisted his ability that he became so much less than what he could have been.
As any attention whore who shouts 'look at me!' there is this internal knowledge of triviality. The impression of not being good enough and that unless one demands attention it will not be gotten.
Had Hitchens not tried to be the antithesis but wrote honest prose, he might have achieved his full potential. Because he so needed to be noticed he wasted his talent in meaningless attacks.
I doubt anyone who read his pieces on Princess Diana lost any respect for her any more than his atheism stopped one person from believing.
As a clever bit of graffiti that amuses for a moment as one drives past, so too the prose of Christopher Hitchens.
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