Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, 1937-2005

It's really bizarre to take a step back, and look down at a keyboard.

This arrangement of characters has been in place for much of the so-called information age, and it will stay in place, until our minds are able to formulate what we want to print at the batting of an eyelash.

And I think that is what our collective hero, Dr. Gonzo, was trying to comprehend.

For some reason, he decided to shoot himself in the head tonight. And I'm having a really hard time trying to deal with that. Most of my literary heroes are already dead (some of which chose to take their own lives), but I expected him to MAINTAIN. He showed me that yes, you can exhibit emotion in objective journalism. Yes, people do in fact care what you - their eyes and ears - have to say. And they really do like how you say it.

And he had the voice. You could just say, "well, he was a doped-up boozer who just wanted to get paid". But he knew early on what he had to do to get the job done. And that is crucial as a journalist. He realized this game is all about facade and he saw right through it. An interview should never last more than ten minutes. If you are a good writer, you should know what you want to know. He had his fun, but at the same time blew everything else of his time clean out of the water. Like a migrating duck with fresh shotgun pellets lodged in its wings. That was convention. He was the shooter. And unfortunately tonight, he decided to shoot again.

There is a certain stigma about the things he wrote. People cast it off as some random dude with a typewriter just getting high and drunk and writing about it. But it was all REAL. He connected with the reader like no other columnist or god damn editorial board does these days. He had a goal, and always went far and beyond achieving it.

You don't have to be some kind of 60s outcast, or even a stoned teenager to understand. He had a passion, and there is nothing that can debunk that kind of virtue. Our Doctor was a storyteller, and he did it way better than any of the talking heads or censored "geniuses" we have feeding us opinions in this new foul century ever could. What he did was 100% genuine and straight from the heart. He gave the middle finger to rules, and carved out a unique niche in storytelling that will never be emulated.

So, good sir, I will struggle for the rest of my life trying to understand why you did it. You won, which is why I don't get it. But maybe it'll come a lot clearer later. I love everything you have done for me, and I hope you are having way more fun wherever you are now than you did here.

Posted by waub at February 21, 2005 02:16 AM