An encomium for Hitchens

The Guardian is running a series on the Heroes and Villains of 2010, and Richard Dawkins writes up Christopher Hitchens. As a hero, of course.

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Cold rainy friday, as winter returns. So, we ask the iPod - what is in store for us this spring semester? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh.
A man can be a hero if he is a scientist, or a soldier, or a drug addict, or a disc jockey, or a crummy mediocre politician. A man can be a hero because he suffers and despairs; or because he thinks logically and analytically; or because he is "sensitive;" or because he is cruel.
Water Lillies. Claude Monet.
“Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” -Bob Riley