The Official Hunter S. Thompson Tribute Thread! Leave A Message For Dr. T!

[DistressedAmerican]

I was very much saddened to hear about Dr. Gonzo's untimely death. I loved the guy's writing and whole lifestyle. I made up this graphic as a little tribute and invite you to leave a parting wish for the father of gonzo journalism...

I met him a few years ago at a book signing and stole a Dunhill smoke from him. It was my tribute at the time. I figured he would have respected the move. Love you Hunter. R.I.P.

Anything you'd like to say to the guy on this sad day?

I'll post the text (without identifying info) of the replies to my website on a special tribute page later today.


On Edit: MY GRAPHIC TRIBUTE TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE WRITERS OF ALL TIME!

[kris10ep]

1. My tribute here:

KP Ramblings

[ixion]

2. rage into the night, good doctor

you're bravery to explore the dark underbelly of Life, and the truths you told while standing in the very fires of the Big Bang will inspire generations to come. Your work is done now, old friend, fellow patriot and psychedelic warrior. I guess it finally got weird enough. Enjoy the time off.

Dr. Thompson is one of the Great Spirits, and one of the people who inspired me to become a writer, so many years ago. He will not be forgotten.

[shadowknows69]

32. beautifully said ixion n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

3. I just heard on AAR!

Oh man what a shock.

Of all the writers I've tried to turn my son onto, he took to HST like a duck to water.

RIP, Dr. Gonzo. ;(

[shadowknows69]

4. I hurt so bad today I can't stand it.

Anyone who is just discovering Hunter through this horrible news do yourself a huge favor and go read this important author. In particular find as many of Rolling Stone columns as you can and "The Great Shark Hunt" and "Fear and loathing in Las Vegas" are required reading. DON'T JUST RENT THE MOVIE!!! You lazy bastards. RIP Hunter. You were a guardian of truth in this country and your work will continue to inspire until they finally ban and start burning your books along with all other classic literature. If all our revolutionaries leave us the rest will be overrun by the mob of the sheeple and their eager overlords. Someone has to emerge to fill the role Hunter has left vacant. A true category unto himself. Wise, insane father of Gonzo Journalism. We love you and will sorely miss you.Try not to slip any of the angels a mickey while you're up there.

[blueknight]

6. my fellow kentuckian,

i loved your work. you inspired me.from one wildcat fan to another. you will be missed, rip doctor

[hlthe2b]

25. Surely Rolling Stone will release a special volume/edition with his

writings? I think I'll write them to request. Perhaps others will as well. RIP, Hunter S.

[LTR]

5. I am totally shocked!

But surprised that HST lived so long considering his chaotic lifestyle. I thought the guy was indestructable.

Nonetheless, HST was a phenomenal author, and he will be missed.

I tracked down the last article he penned for ESPN.com. This one was published last Tuesday, and has something to do with the NHL, "shotgun golf" and a strange telephone conversation with Bill Murray. Enjoy!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1992213

[DistressedAmerican]

8. Funny To The End!

Sure doesn't sound like someone getting ready to off himself! I do not get it.

[blackcatpgh]

29. end of the article

HST signed off in that last article by saying "So long and mahalo."

i guess you could take that "so long" as a final goodbye. this is an extremely depressing day for a lot of people, myself included.

[DistressedAmerican]

35. I Guess You Are Right.

Maybe it was. I Still Don't get it. Someone suggested that things in the world had finally gotten TOO UGLY for him. I've always thought of him as having a pretty high tolerence for the crap the world serves up. Maybe, I was wrong...

[ixion]

38. actually, it was his low tolerance for ugliness that inspired him

he told the truth about the so-called 'moral' leaders because he couldn't stand the sight of them. He was a hypersensitive, and to us the world is a ugly, frustrating, demented place inhabited, by and large, with what are apparently reptillian creatures in human form.

I remember seeing Thompson speak way back in 1989. The theme of his speech was that the First and Fourth Amendments were in danger because of rampant fascism brewing in the political sector.

As always, he was spot on.

[DistressedAmerican]

39. I think It Is That feature That Most Endears Many DUers To Him

Most of us "get it" too. I find it totally depressing from time to time. Good news is that I live to gobsmack these fools myself. Keeps me going!

[psychopomp]

83. ???????

Shotgun golf...so long...;(

I don't have many heroes; perhaps HST was the only one.


I would like to write a moving tribute but am at a loss.

[Botany]

7. The fall of Phnom Phen ......

The water is off and the electricity is only hit and miss.....
I do have a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black and some ungodly
strong Thai stick ..... the Khmer rouge are 10 miles from the
city ..... it will be as strange night.

O8)

[DistressedAmerican]

16. Fantastic Prose!

If I could only ready one author for the rest of my life handsdown, it would be Hunter!

[Botany]

27. The prose was how I recall it ......

..... it was from Rolling Stone ...... circa 1978/79

close counts?

[DistressedAmerican]

28. Close Enough For My Tastes.

I think I'll do a little work later on and find the full text.

[xmas74]

9. You made me laugh

you made me angry, outraged, disbelieving and then you finally made me want to do some about it.
You turned me on to new ideas and thoughts. You proved to me that there was a world outside of my Cleaver-like small town.
You also taught me how to take a downer, chug Wild Turkey and then take uppers (so that I wouldn't crash).
I learned how to speak my mind in an outrageous fashion and that it is more important to experience life than to sit and watch it pass.
Bless you. I never really met you, yet you taught me more than you will ever know.

[jandrok]

10. What the hell???

Why? There's only one explanation....the rat bastards finally wore you down to the point where a bullet looked better than sitting around and watching things slowly collapse. People just don't care anymore. You went out on YOUR terms, not theirs, and I can respect a man who will take matters into his own hands rather than be led off of the cliff.

I had just reread "Fear and Loathing on the Campaing Trail '72" back in the fall, when I felt that were several analogues to that presidential election and this one. You had the fire then, the insight, the willingness to into the belly of the beast. It was good to revisit you in your prime.

Godspeed, old man.

Fucking rat bastards. Fuck!!

[Binka]

11. My favorite HST quote

"I've always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it's a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don't do much giggling."

Rest well dear friend.

[mdmc]

12. rage, good doctor, rage...

:kick:

[DistressedAmerican]

13. Just Remembered What Might Be The Perfect Epitaph For Dr. Gonzo!

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." --William Blake

[Eagle_Eye]

14. Fair winds and following seas Mr. Thompson. n/t

[shadowknows69]

30. I think Hunter would prefer

Riding a tornado on top of a deluge.

[KyndCulture]

15. I feel like I've lost a dear friend today...

"In a nation of frightened dullards there is a shortage of outlaws."

My favorite HST quote...

maholo my friend.

[UTUSN]

17. Wish He Were Here to KICK Matt PUDGE's Obnoxious Ass

Last night on the radio PUDGE read the breaking news and then began hinting around that THOMPSON's groundbreaking was what led to PUDGE. It was disgusting.

On Edit: "disown PUDGE" was changed to "kick his obnoxious ass".

[WilliamPitt]

18. Here you go

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022105Z.shtml

[DistressedAmerican]

20. Read it earlier. Well done.

If you have not read this tribute, I highly recommend it!

[Howardx]

40. this quote covers it for me

"My hero died tonight. He was a flawed man, a maniac, in so many ways the antithesis of what a journalist is supposed to be. Worst of all, he told the truth. There is now one less warrior on this planet filled with Guckert clones, drones who get fed shit and regurgitate it wholesale for the masses because that is what we are trained to eat."


thanks will and thanks HST, the world is a smaller, uglier place with your passing.

[Left Brain]

53. Moved me to tears, Will.

Thanks for that heartfelt tribute.

[mattclearing]

19. To the author of the best book about politics ever written...

Thanks for your wit, your charm, your near complete lack of self-censorship, and your refusal to play by arbitrary rules.

The world is worse for your leaving, but better for your having been.

I can only hope that you are in a better place now.

Mahalo.

[Goathead]

21. You couldn't invent someone like Hunter S.Thompson

He was a... he was one of a kind. He was a mutant. A real heavyweight water buffalo type... who could chew his way through a concrete wall and spit out the other side covered with lime and chalk and look good in doing it.

So long, Hunter.

[two gun sid]

22. He had more truth in him than any rat-bastard journalist....

alive today.

[ernstbass]

23. Thank you Mr. thompson

for enriching my life over the past 30 years. And say hey to Sandra Dee when you see her.

[CabalPowered]

24. Pass the ether

[natrat]

26. and some adrenachrome :)

[Bob3]

31. Good Bye Doc - You meant more to me than words can say

You were brave and outraged and in a world where the cynics count the money and sycophants kiss butt you were an idealist. You truly believed in the fantastic possibilities of this place and what made you sooo angry was watching the waterheads shit in our own nest.

I will always treasure the first time I read Fear and Loathing in Lost Vegas - I wasn't the same after I finished that book. And the first thing I did was read it again. Mad Angry and funny oh god roll on the floor laughing funny.

You were not a traditional reporter who is trained to be neutral and non-judgmental and dispassionate. You had the bravery to FEEL down to the depths of you soul the horror, and to scream like a man caught in a mortar barrage: "God Damn this is madness! Look at these People these are fucking Monsters in Human skin! Cheap jack hustlers and pimps and waterheads, power junkies and crooks. Just look at them all! And they are running things! And someone's been giving booze to the god damn things! And no one bats and eye!"

I suspect that the drinking and the drug use were part of an effort to deal with having emotions as deep as yours. It can't have been easy doc. We'll miss you.

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take effect."

I will put on Bob Dylan's Mister Tambourine man, wear a tacky shirt and drink Wild Turkey today.

RIP HST.

[tom_paine]

33. Thank you for everything, Hunter. For all you did for so many.

To make us laugh, make us cry, and everything in between.

For all your words, fiction and non-fiction alike...who could tell where one ended and the other began with you?

Every words was amazing, insightful or fun...usually all three.

In some regards, I am glad you won't be around for what comes next.

[Straight Shooter]

34. Hunter will live forever, a hexagonal peg in the round hole of journalism.

I love his writing. There's just something about the truth that pulls you in and doesn't let go.

[DrGonzoLives]

36. One of God's originals

The last of the truly great American commentators are dying out, and the world is less of a place without him.

[stubertmcfly]

37. my tribute...

050221

to my recollection, there have been only two times when i have vocally cried out "no" upon hearing of a person whom i had never met's death. the first was kurt cobain. today was the second. both were from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

one of my literary heros is no more. hunter s. thompson was a genius. and fortunately for the world, his genius will live on through the words he so generously put to paper.

few authors have touched me as hunter did. he could take a tale and spin it in ways from which you were certain there was no escape. no way to bring that plane back under control before careening into the ground killing all aboard including the reader. then, as if from nowhere, clarity would descend, scoop up the wounded duck that was about to belly-flop into the abyss and something more profound, more sensible than anything ever before uttered would flow forth on the page in front of you and you would know that all was right in the world and that if something that beautiful could come from such chaos… well… i can only say that i was inspired. i was touched, awed, amazed that such clarity could come from such anarchy.

i suppose that i should be happy that hunter was able to go out on his own terms. i should feel grateful that he was generous enough to share himself with us for so many years. and i am. but i will miss him. though i never met him… i feel that i knew him a little bit. and somehow, he knew me.

"I wasn't so much worried as spooked. There was something eerie about the whole business, as if God in a fit of disgust had decided to wipe us all out. Our structure was collapsing; it seemed like just a few hours ago that I was having breakfast with Chenault in the sunny peace of my own home.Then I had ventured into the day, and plunged headlong into an orgy of murder and shrieking and breaking of glass. Now it was ending just as senselessly as it began. It was all over and I was very sure of it because Yeamon was leaving. There might be some noise after he left, but it would be orthodox noise, the kind a man can deal with and even ignore – instead of those sudden unnerving eruptions that suck you into them and toss you around like a toad in rough water."

Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary

toeleven

[tavalon]

41. Hunter

Thank you for gracing us with your presence until you just couldn't put up with us anymore. The world is a little bit darker today and damn, the shrub sure didn't deserve to outlive you!

[bettyellen]

42. i can't think of another person of his era that inspired so many people

to question, and to be angry about what the hell was going on in this country.
we owe him a great debt for inspiring the many truthseekers among us who carry on.

" you tend to forget now and then that about half the people you meet live from one day to the next in a state of such fear and uncertainty that about half the time they honestly doubt their own sanity. These are not the kind of people who really need to get hung up on depressing political trips. They are not ready for it. Their boats are rocking so badly that all they want to do is get level long enough to think straight and avoid the next nightmare."

[Luminous Animal]

43. In his honor...

This week I am using the name Raoul Duke to sign for all packages.

[DrWeird]

44. There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high powered mutant of some kind: too weird to live, and too rare to die.

[twenty2strings]

45. Now we must all turn pro...Cuz the going's gotten weird..N/T

[Mr.Green93]

46. We will get the Bastards

that did this to you.

[peekaloo]

47. Dear Sir,

As strange as it may seem, and possibly reckless and wrongheaded on my part, I used to read your stories to my nephew when he was a wee lad. Although I cleaned up the nasty parts (such as stabbing some guy in the nuts with a fork) most of it went right over his head yet it still provided the both of us with some quality, albeit perverse, family time. }( To this day, he's now twenty, he still recalls the title to one of your short stories, "Showdown in the Pig Palace". We both smile and wink as his mother gives both of us the stink eye.

Wherever you are I wish you peace. You will be missed.

R.I.P.

[burythehatchet]

48. What will become of Duke, made in your image Dr. Thompson

presently serving as the viceroy of Al-Amok, Iraq.

[DistressedAmerican]

49. That's a good point.

Wonder how (or if) Trudeau will handle the issue.

[Inland]

62. Hardly a worry, since Duke has already died once.

The Duke character is actually a reanimated corpse now.

[DistressedAmerican]

64. Question is, will he be de-animated?

The possible ways to do it are nearly endless! The mind boggles.

[burythehatchet]

66. looks as though I missed a storyline or two

when did that happen? What about Honey?

[Inland]

67. I forget.

He died, and was brought back as a zombie--I can't even remember what decade that was.

I think it was after he was coaching the Redskins.

[burythehatchet]

71. here's the Bio

Some people regard "Uncle" Duke, a rabid controlled-substances buff, as " the High Lord of Inner Space." But in fact he has a long record, some of it involving public service. Few writers at Rolling Stone have been able to move on to something as substantial as Governor of American Samoa, which led to a post as Ambassador to China. Following his triumph in Peking, Mr. Duke enjoyed a brief career as a laetrile farmer. After applying for jobs as President of Yale and head of ABC News, he made a name for himself as General Manager of the Washington Redskins. His experience packing heat led him to serve as a lobbyist for the NRA, followed by some sensitive work in Iran for Universal Petroleum. After bargaining for his life before a firing squad, Mr. Duke disappeared for l7 months, then surfaced as "the 53rd hostage." Upon release he settled down as a drug smuggler in Florida, a career cut short by an ill-fated sightseeing cruise to the Falklands War. Following his rescue from Matagorda Island, Duke became entangled in Hollywood politics, the John Delorean story, and a major cocaine bust.

Abruptly moving to Haiti, he opened the Baby Doc College of Offshore Medicine. Discovered more inert than usual one morning, he was pronounced dead, which led the St. Petersburg Times to run a full obituary. Fortunately it turned out that Duke was not dead, only zombified and sold into slavery. A friend noted, "Frankly, he could use the discipline." After losing his condom company to John Gotti over a bad loan, Duke took a much-deserved rest in Bellevue, returned to active duty as captain of the Trump Princess, then rescued his former translator and devoted love-slave Honey Huan from China.

Tapped by George Bush to serve as Maximum Proconsul in post-invasion Panama, he moved on to smuggle guns to the Kuwaiti resistance, then opened Club Scud, a popular wartime watering hole in Kuwait City. After working on David Duke's campaign, he moved into the "nonprofit" sector, opening Nothing But Orphans. One of his first charges, according to DNA test results, was a long-lost son, Earl. Abandoning the orphans and Ms. Huan, father and son lived in a trailer in Las Vegas, pursuing the gaming arts and trafficking in stolen Beanie Babies.

His stint as a key advisor to Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura led Duke to make a run at the White House. The "Duke2000 -- Whatever It Takes" campaign, headquartered in a motel in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was a resounding failure, despite the efforts of campaign manager "Mini-D" and corporate sponsorships by heavy hitters Lipton Tea and Absolut Vodka. A successful business trafficking in stem cells was followed by a lucrative involvement in the messy fallout from the Enron scandal. As conflict with Iraq loomed, Duke made a return to government work, taking up a post as Viceroy-in-Waiting.
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/thecast/duke.html

[Taxloss]

50. Rest in peace, you magnificent bastard.

The world was too small for you.

[Old and In the Way]

51. No one could twist a phrase like the Doctor....

It took a brilliantly twisted mind to see and write about this world in the clarity that he could convey it. Anyone else see the irony here?

The world just got a little darker today.......

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." HST

[librechik]

52. Yo, Duke! Save a place for me at the party

Timothy Leary, Jimi, Janice, Jim and many others will all be there. The conversation and the music will be beyond description. But you could do it!

Love to the family &
My deepest respect for this special man.



http://www.ralphsteadman.com/

[slackmaster]

54. Thanks for some of the best advice ever

"Don't mess with their religion!"

From The Curse of Lono

[Midnight Rambler]

55. RIP Doctor

I had always hoped that he would stick around to aid in the eventual and inevitable fall of the house of Bush. I guess the little bastard was just more than the Good Doctor could handle. Mahalo, Hunter.

[porphyrian]

56. You're dead. - n/t

[TOOLZ]

57. Fear & Loathing in the Blogosphere

I wrote this late last night in my sorrow. Drunk.



:cry:

[DistressedAmerican]

58. Good write up.

Though I'd include some teaser text to encourage others to give it a read.

-snip-
Re-reading some of his greatest works, on the campaign trail leading to Nixon’s re-election, I am stupefied by how prescient he was. Even while wallowing in the dark ramifications of such a conservative fascist’s vindication, Thompson was never cognizant of how much more fucked this country would be in less than 30 years time that it would settle on George W. Bush as its leader. History will no doubt look back on this time with puzzlement as to how G.W. Bush was ever allowed near the Oval Office even with a Friends & Family tourist pass. I can only imagine that Hunter’s effacement of this was searing.
-end snip-

[TOOLZ]

59. Thanks, DistressedAmerican

Nice moniker, too.

It feels like we're so moved to write in his departure because that's what we heralded him for. It's like denial, keeping him alive, in spirit and all that emotional hooey he would have no part of.

Who among us here will prove his heir apparent?

[Swamp Rat]

61. Yet he will live on,

having woven into the fabric of our collective conscience the essence of his personality spawning countless "Hunters" ... many will take up the mantel... so, the question should be "how many heirs apparent?" - hopefully a lot.

How's your head? :) :hi:

[DistressedAmerican]

65. I Forgot To Mention Happy Birthday. We're The Same Age.

I hope that as he left this earth a little bit of his soul infiltrated the hearts of some of our Democratic "leaders". We could use some of his fire!

Maybe he will just haunt the hell out of the Whitehouse.

If I had my choice, I think I'd go for that. Float around, spook George, make him question his faith a bit.

[JohnnyCougar]

60. Man, I never thought someone like Hunter could actually die.

That guy's perspective was one of a kind. He explained things at the animalistic level so well. He understood and accepted human nature as the volatile beast that it is...and yet made us feel proud of it.

"I was right in the middle of fucking reptile zoo...and somebody was giving booze to these goddamn animals....It won't be long now...before they tear us to shreds!" --HST

[readmoreoften]

63. You were one of the world's singularities...

The rarest of birds, a warrior, a truthseeker, and a world-maker.

Fuck resting in peace. Your heart was so mighty, you'll kick ass even from the grave...

[Dangerman]

68. Isn't that the guy...

Who said "Hitler's most foulest atrocities can't compare to the Abu Grahib prison scandal"?

[ezekiel333]

69. "We were somewhere around Barstow..."

[DistressedAmerican]

70. NICE GRAPHIC!

Thanks for posting it.

Mind if I use it on the tribute page on my website?

[ezekiel333]

72. Thanks

Feel free to use it as you wish.

[DistressedAmerican]

74. I'll post it shortly with the various tributes.

Let you know when it is ready. Shortly!

[LittleClarkie]

73. God bless ye Dr. Thompson

I will miss your clear-headed-despite-all-the-substances take on American politics. Thank you for telling it how it was and speaking truth to power.

Your last piece in the Rolling Stone will turn out to have been prophetic, I'm sure.

Rest in Peace, sir. The fear and loathing is over.

[Sugar Smack]

75. You changed me.

You were fire, and you consumed us with your wit and your sensitivity. Just quoting you to strangers made people listen. I collected your phrases and labeled them "Hunterisms". I learned to write angry letters from your tutelage. Everybody should be like you: curious, sensitive, with a sense of humor, and fearless, so fearless. I love you. The thought of you crying tears me out of the frame. You won't cry any more. You are as beautiful as the best of all things. You can't come back, either. That's what tears me up.

[umtalal]

76. will miss you. Good bye.

[Blue_Tires]

77. see you on the other side

[DistressedAmerican]

78. I've Posted Most Of Your Replies To My New Hunter Thompson Tribute Page

Click the Hunter graphic (or the link below it) to go to the tribute page.

http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/main.htm

Feel free to keep adding to the list. I'll add your comments to my page as I have time.

Thanks to everyone. Stay crazy!

[Fovea]

79. Have you ever hurled a brick through a window Ralph?

I loved his essay/letter to Ralph Steadman, 'the pro-flogging view.'

He calls Maggie Thatcher a denatured pig.
He had a 115mph fastball, and he wasn't above
beaning a thug with it, even with the bases loaded.

Be at peace and rest, Hunter. Then get your ass back to us, all fresh, shiny, and ready to kick ass.

[DeaconBlues]

80. In his own words....

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."

He was writing this about Oscar Acosta, but I think this is a perfect description of Thompson, as well. So long, Dr. Gonzo, things will never be the same without you.

[Dr Fate]

81. Put in good word for us you big weirdo.

n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

82. "The Edge... there is no honest way to.......

...explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."...Hunter S. Thompson.

Oddly prophetic quote. RIP, Hunter.

[confludemocrat]

84. Greg Palast on HST

posted today or last night not thoroughgoingly adulatory as I would have hoped:

NOSE HAIR AND HUNTER
Monday, February 21, 2005
Greg Palast on HST

It was Princess Di's photographer who told me to shave the hair on top of my nose. That was when I was famous, famous for a whole week. I was famous only in England, an island off the coast of Ireland, but it was fame nonetheless. The entire front page of the Mirror, a London tabloid newspaper, was splashed with a ghastly photo of my head (hair on nose, not on head), an attacking my investigation of Tony Blair. My own paper, the Guardian/Observer, wanted to give a different impression of me, so the editors spent an ungodly sum of money to hire Princess Di's photographer to make me pretty for a large photo spread of their own. But there was nothing much the lens man could do. "Get rid of the nose hair," he suggested, working, without success, on the 200th snap.

I met Hunter Thompson when I was twenty years old; that is, saw him from the back of a crowd at the gym at my college where he was performing. I say "performing" because that's what Thompson did, even three decades ago. He'd become an astonishing success as a writer -- and his writing was astonishing. Then he became very accomplished at success and stopped accomplishing much as a writer. That's when I decided not to become a journalist.

If that's what a journalist does, I thought, I'd rather do something a little more interesting with my life. I switched to the hospital administration program with a plan to open a community health center in Woodlawn, then the hardest of the hard-core poverty troughs in Chicago.

Things didn't work out as planned; and twenty-five years later I ended up a reporter. Thompson ended up as a cartoon character. No kidding: "Transformer," the bald-headed comic book journalist hero, drinker, druggie, smart-aleck scourge of bad guys and editors.

That was the comic book; then there's the man. Thompson the writer kept writing in bits and snips, but it was always a parody of Thompson. His later compilations (he couldn't sustain a book) like "Generation of Swine" were brilliant one-joke rants. You'd read them and you didn't know a goddamn thing you didn't know before you read them.

Thompson stopped taking on the big topics -- after all, what topic could measure up to him?

It wasn't always that way. What impressed me about "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is that it was written as a coda, a needed break, from Thompson's grueling investigative report on the death of Chicano activist Ruben Salazar. And this I also know: all that cool fear-and-loathing patter was not written on acid in a Ghia doing 140; it was typed alone in a quiet room.


Alone in a quiet room. No school gyms of adulating audiences on their feet to cheer the genius, no comic book figures dropping bon mots could press those keys.

And then came the satanic sucker-punch, celebrity. Poor Mr. Thompson.

When I think of how my one goofy week of offshore stardom twisted my head (I'm still neurotically plucking hairs off my nose), I can only imagine what Thompson's daily dose of fame cocaine did to him.

When I go off track, when I catch myself obsessing about my number on the Times' paperback nonfiction list, I wrestle my thoughts back to Tundu Lissu. Tundu's the lawyer who followed up on my investigation of the deaths of 50 Africans in George Bush Sr's gold mines. They were buried alive and Lissu brought back the evidence for which he was arrested and charged with sedition by the government of Tanzania. Released from prison, he refuses to seek refuge and safety.

Tundu Lissu is a giant. I barely reach his knees, that is, as a moral being. But I can do one thing: tell his story to the world -- and keep myself out of the way.

When a writer gets bigger than his subjects, he's dead -- though not yet buried.

This morning, I heard that Thompson faced this intractable truth, and completed the job; suicide with one of the guns he toyed with for the cameras.

Goodnight, Mr. Thompson.

And thanks for those astonishing words, no matter what they cost you.



-----------
Greg Palast is a journalist.

www.gregpalast.com

[Jacobin]

85. A Poem by Rudyard Kipling that Dr. Thompson used himself

in a foreword to one of his books:

"Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle
the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles and
he weareth the Christian down;
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name
of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear:"A fool lies here who tried
to hustle the East."

-Rudyard Kipling "The Naulahka"