Hunter S. Thompson
New history is born each year, month, day... the survivors write the record. The smart ones will always question it.
It seems almost too appropriate, now, to think that I learned of Hunter S. Thompson by first reading books with a fictional character inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. That may be a backwards way to stumble upon a talented writer, but with the events of this year I can’t help but see the fictional tale becoming more and more relevant.
Surely, only in a future setting like Transmetropolitan, only in a fictional graphic novel, could a loud-mouth reporter with a passion for truth be hunted for printing his opinion. Surely not in America, the land of “freedom of the press” (although too much freedom in some people’s opinion) could a reporter’s life be stolen, and his death purchased, by the government sworn to protect him.
Perhaps Hunter S. Thompson did kill himself, although he reportedly did not appear to be depressed and had made statements to the effect that he was in fear of his life because of evidence he said he had found (and intended to print) about 9/11. Who knows. Of course, a certain person in power has "proven himself to be particularly thin-skinned, even going so far as to use state police and expensive lawyers to silence critics", by some accounts. http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#thinskin But, that doesn’t really prove anything. I don’t know the answer, obviously, but the question is still an important one.
I do know this much, a talented wordsmith is gone and his voice will be missed. I can only hope that, with his departure, a new army of sharp minds will take up the job of digging for truths and making them known, asking tough questions and sharing their opinions, even the loud and perhaps obnoxious ones. Most of all, I hope that reporters who shove thought down the throats of resistant self-deluded masses will become obsolete because the people themselves will have stopped burying their heads in the sand, and started using their noggins.
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Note: I was going to post a link in the phrase “too much freedom” to a message outlining why the president said “There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of this site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is.", but the site to which he was referring has, for some reason, ceased to operate. It survived the first two attacks by Bush’s lawyers, but has since evaporated into the web. Hurm….
It seems almost too appropriate, now, to think that I learned of Hunter S. Thompson by first reading books with a fictional character inspired by Hunter S. Thompson. That may be a backwards way to stumble upon a talented writer, but with the events of this year I can’t help but see the fictional tale becoming more and more relevant.
Surely, only in a future setting like Transmetropolitan, only in a fictional graphic novel, could a loud-mouth reporter with a passion for truth be hunted for printing his opinion. Surely not in America, the land of “freedom of the press” (although too much freedom in some people’s opinion) could a reporter’s life be stolen, and his death purchased, by the government sworn to protect him.
Perhaps Hunter S. Thompson did kill himself, although he reportedly did not appear to be depressed and had made statements to the effect that he was in fear of his life because of evidence he said he had found (and intended to print) about 9/11. Who knows. Of course, a certain person in power has "proven himself to be particularly thin-skinned, even going so far as to use state police and expensive lawyers to silence critics", by some accounts. http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#thinskin But, that doesn’t really prove anything. I don’t know the answer, obviously, but the question is still an important one.
I do know this much, a talented wordsmith is gone and his voice will be missed. I can only hope that, with his departure, a new army of sharp minds will take up the job of digging for truths and making them known, asking tough questions and sharing their opinions, even the loud and perhaps obnoxious ones. Most of all, I hope that reporters who shove thought down the throats of resistant self-deluded masses will become obsolete because the people themselves will have stopped burying their heads in the sand, and started using their noggins.
_____________________________________
Note: I was going to post a link in the phrase “too much freedom” to a message outlining why the president said “There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of this site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is.", but the site to which he was referring has, for some reason, ceased to operate. It survived the first two attacks by Bush’s lawyers, but has since evaporated into the web. Hurm….
posted by TwistedNoggin at 4:40 PM
3 Comments:
?!
I can't believe this!
You read Hunter S. Thompson before me!
Im not aware of Hunter S. Thompson but worth that I look into..thank you for your post bringing out writers that I might have not know
Hunter is/was the man. Fear and loathing......fear and loathing.
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