Hunter S. Thompson on Prime Minister Blair

[tjwmason]

I think that he pretty much nails this one....

"England has allowed itself to become taken over and stigmatized by some corrupt little shyster who enjoys his slimy role as a pimp and a prostitute all at once. - selling a once proud nation of independent thinking people down the river and into a deadly swamp of slavery to the pimps who love Jesus and George Bush and the war crazed US Pentagon".

http://labour-watch.blogspot.com/

I've never come across him before - does anybody know anything about him.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Founder of Gonzo Journalism...died Feb. 20, 2005

which is also my birthday.

I'm a HUGE Thompson fan. His last book "Hey Rube" is very damning of the Bush administration. You kind of have to read him to see what he's about. You can't really explain Gonzo...well, you sort of can...Did you see the movie "Where the Buffalo Roam?" or "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas?" They're both Thompson based movies.

[tjwmason]

3. Thanks for that.

I'll have to check him out more.

As I say, I'd never heard of him before as he didn't comment much on British politics - but his comment quoted here is pretty damn accurate.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Yeah, he's mostly American politics and sports.

nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Great writer...

along with Tom Wolfe and a few others, he was one of the leading lights of the "New Journalism" movement in the US in the 1960's-1970's. His book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 remains, after more than thirty years, the single best thing written about the American presidential election process.

He wasn't one to pull his punches, as you can see in this quote on Bush: "Who are these Swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? ..... They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character.... I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck Them."

[jonnyblitz]

5. one of my favorites

i wouldn't know where to begin describing him...he was great friends with johnny depp who played him in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

check out the wikipedia entry. :hi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S_Thompson

[supernova]

6. You must read The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved

:rofl: :rofl:

This is I think one of his first published essays. He dabbled in sports writing when he wanted to get away from politics.

He mixes his own experiences and impressions along with his reporting. You really feel like you're there experiencing the wierdness with him. All the while, he doesn't forget to give you the truth about what's really going on. It's a verbal high-wire act that very few people achieve. And practically nobody in modern American journalism.


Edit: Here's the link via wikipedia

http://www.derbypost.com/hunter.html

edit: I chose this one because it's short and it's really classic Hunter in a nutshell. :-)