Comments

  6. says

    Damn that, at least he got to do it his own way in the end, he was always a tower of humanism, and a sharp mind.
    I’ve read his blogs since they started and he will leave a big hole in the world!

  8. flexilis says

    Thank you for letting us know. Dying peacefully is the best we can hope for at the end. Making the most of our time here should be our goal. Miss you already, Ed.

  9. MathMac says

    I am sad. Ed gave me a lot to think about—and influenced my perspective on important issues of our time.

  10. hairyeyedwordbombthrower says

    I’m sad that Ed’s health became so fragile, but glad he was able to go out on his own terms, in minimal pain and anguish.

  11. yaque says

    Damn!
    I’ve been lurking there (and here) for (mumble) years. (very!) occasionally posting something. But his blog was the first I opened every day. My world is a little grayer.
    I’ll really miss him.

  12. Samuel Vimes says

    Well, shit. From all accounts he was a great guy. Funny as hell, kind, fair, and the “give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back” kind of guy. All sympathies go to his family and his friends. I only “knew” him through his blog, but I’m going to miss him a lot.

  13. says

    My condolences to his friends and family. As much as I knew Ed he was a genuinely kind person and he will be greatly missed. Fuck cancer.

  14. says

    I never had a GOD shaped hole in my heart.

    I did, years ago, have a reason shaped hole in my brain, Ed helped to fill it.

    I don’t know that Ed had big feet, but those shoes of his will be hard to fill.

    Ed proceeds on his return trip to the statdust of the cosmos.

  15. Larry says

    After all his struggles, I’m happy to see he was able to go the way he wanted, hopefully without much pain, and was at peace with his decision. I personally didn’t know the man but I respected his works and enjoyed reading and participating on his various blogs. It is so unfair that we lose people like Ed and yet that fat orange jackass still squats in our Whitehouse.

  16. fusilier says

    Larry@15

    <

    blockquote>It is so unfair that we lose people like Ed and yet that fat orange jackass still squats in our Whitehouse.,/blockquote>

    exactly

    fusilier

    James 2:24

  18. raven says

    Good bye Ed.
    You did a lot to make the world a better place.
    There were 342 comments this morning on his last thread at Dispatches.
    You can see that he will be deeply missed by hundreds of people.

  21. says

    He didn’t exactly go the way he wanted. There was an interfering nurse who tried to talk him out of it, and the state of Michigan wouldn’t let him take his desired morphine dose. It’s rather distressing that people had to impose these petty aggravations on his last day of life.

  24. KG says

    I’m very sorry to hear of Ed Brayton’s death – he was a great fighter for reason and justice. Condolences to his family and friends.

  27. hackerguitar says

    Condolences.
    He was a powerful writer and a clear thinker, and a good person.
    I will miss his writing.

  28. whheydt says

    At least he lived long enough to see Biden name Kamala Harris as VP candidate. One might hope that brightened his end a tiny bit.

  31. Larry says

    #21

    Damn it, that really harshes my buzz, PZ. When you lose someone, you like to think of them crossing that bridge to rainbows and unicorns on the other side. When you hear that they had to face the Black Knight to do it, its distressing. You can’t even die peaceably without religion raring its Gorgon head and crying “None shall pass”! Fuck ’em 10 ways from Tuesday.

  33. says

    This is a repost of what I said on the last Dispatches post:

    …Who should you look to for leadership? I nominate Dale McGowan, the finest example of humanism I know, and Matt Dillahunty. They should be the public face and voice of this movement, not Dawkins or Krauss or Shermer.

    Which brings us to another major benefit of finding Dispatches and sticking with it all this time. As the Old New Atheists were starting to show their major shortcomings, Ed and the other atheist — oops, excuse me, nonreligious — bloggers were beginning to expose a newer, and more diverse, wave of New New Atheists, who are now representing women, minorities, LGBT+ folks, and atheists stuck in Muslim countries, in a club that had earlier been mostly white, male and upper-class. So thank you, Evil Big Thing, for helping to bring a significant number of people into contact with a new and expanding cosmos of freethinkers.

  35. DonDueed says

    Oh no. Now who do we have embedded on the front lines to send us the dispatches we need so desperately?

  36. thebookofdave says

    For years, Ed’s blog was my entry point into FtB, and then Patheos. He helped me become a better skeptic and media critic, and was an inspirational defender of humanist values. I am going to miss him dearly.

  37. JustaTech says

    Well … damn.
    Peace upon you, Ed.

    I’ve been reading Ed since the Scienceblogs days (how long ago was that?) and I learned so much reading him. I really appreciated his willingness to read and point out the crazies in the world before they became mainstream.

    I’m going to have a bit of a cry now, and dedicate my next bit of BBQ to Ed, and humanism.

  39. magistramarla says

    Condolences to all who knew and loved Ed. The loss of his voice leaves a big hole in the internet.
    Ed and PZ have done much to shape the way many of us look at the world.
    He will be missed, but more important, he will be remembered.