Dr. Gonzo is Gone

As you all know by now, Hunter S. Thompson, the deranged doctor of gonzo journalism, killed himself at his home in Aspen, Colorado on Sunday. He will be sorely missed. HST was the writer that every young, acerbic, aspiring writer wanted to be. He didn't care what editors said; he penned what he believed to be the truth. And only by betting on himself (and a lot of drinking and drugging), did he rise into the pantheon of great American writers. The various horror stories of journalists traveling to interview HST in Aspen are hilarious and always involve some gunplay. I'll see if I can scour the net for some to link to.

Here's an incendiary quote from HST's Kingdom of Fear that says it all:

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you. Well, shit on that dumbness. George W. Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world. We didn't vote for these cheap, greedy little killers who speak for America today and we will not vote for them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever. Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? They are same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American Character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them.

It doesn't get more crude and direct and truthful than that.

Hunter S. Thompson, 1937 - 2005

-- M. Wood