Hitchens' quote "the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: why not?" [closed]
In asking “Why me?”, the questioner is assuming she matters in the grand scheme of things. That makes it a dumb question because, in Hitchens’ view, no one matters in the grand scheme of things.
In having the cosmos barely return the reply “Why not?”, Hitchens is having the cosmos state what to him is obvious, that the questioner matters not at all in the grand scheme of things. Hitchens opts to have the cosmos barely respond to the questioner, for otherwise the questioner would, in Hitchens' view, continue to have no inkling of her insignificance. If Hitchens were calling it as he sees it here, the cosmos would not respond at all, in which case the questioner would continue to have no clue.