The MUG Center Blog: Goodbye, Hunter S. Thompson

Writings, ramblings, proclamations and prognostications from the front lines of the Apple community.

Standing in the shower this morning, in a haze of steam with the radio on full blast, I learned that famed “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson took his own life on Saturday.

You may not be familiar with Thompson’s work, but if you are, you know what a truly unique perspective he had on almost everything. A high school friend introduced me to his hilarious and now classic Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (if you saw the pathetic attempt to make movie out of the book forget it and pick up a copy. The movie was horrible and did no justice to the brilliance of the written word.) and since then I have been a fan. Thompson has held forth on virtually every subject under the sun from the pages of Rolling Stone, Playboy, Esquire, and a host of equally unlikely places, most recently authoring a sports column (that often veered wildly off course) at ESPN.com. He was also the inspiration for the character of Uncle Duke in the Doonesbury comic strip

A number of years ago Thompson was scheduled to speak at my alma mater, the University of Maryland. Not being able to get anyone interested in making the six hour round trip, I went alone, and got a terrific seat. There was no specific topic. Even if there had been, it would have been out the window at the start, as all of the Doctor’s personal appearances were reputed to be rather free-form. About halfway through, questions were taken from the audience. They ranged from political questions of the day to his time riding with the Hell’s Angels, and each one yielded exactly the kind of offbeat answer one would expect.

When my turn came, I asked him to update his views on the state of the American Dream, one of the sub-themes of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. What I prompted was a ten-minute rant on the highs and lows of our society, politics, and popular culture. He supported his opinions with quotes from sources as varied as Timothy Leary and Thomas Jefferson (perhaps the only time the two have ever been linked in any fashion), mixed with conclusions that left the audience doubled over in laughter.

Many of us are still stinging with the loss of the greatest comedian who ever lived, Johnny Carson. Now, we have suffered another loss by a figure who was as not well known, but will be missed as much by those who knew and appreciated his work. From my perspective these two individuals had one important thing in common: no matter how good or bad things were going for me personally, they both could make me laugh out loud. Both have left us with a body of work to be treasured and enjoyed over and over, and both will be missed.

Thompson: An Epitaph (article from the Diamondback, the student newspaper of the University of Maryland about the appearance mentioned above.)