I always admired Hitchens' falre for theatrics.
He could make his point and then just twist the knife a little.
I think where a lot of people go wrong with Hitchens is hilarious actually, they worship him a little too much, they dont hold Hitchens to his own professed standards!
Hes not always right, his word is not Gospel!
He was a brilliant debater, but part of that is tactics as well, being 'larger than life' allowed him to skirt some of the rules for polite debate and allowed him to forcibly move his points forward, but forcibly! Something that he himself claimed to detest was one of his greatest feats and common tactics.
It always makes me cringe a bit. Because I really like Hitchens, but when he engages in debates and drops the; 'crowd goes wild' bit when he bullies someone, I know the technique. Its so painfully obvious but equally painfully effective.
That being said, I think his point of view and the way he brought that to the world was absolutely fantastic and a breath of fresh air.
Dont just look and believe in what someone has put in front of you, actually learn and understand it and what it means and what it does and what that means to you. It doesnt matter how big the hat the person is wearing dont just take their word for it.
Its great advice, its very similar to advice I was given when I was very young. Ironically, by a Priest.
I find that to be an attitude thats sorely absent in a lot of places.