Hunter S. Thompson
I find far too many sites on the internet today, with shady information about Hunter S. Thompson, and what he was all about. In fact many people on the net refer to Raoul Duke as Duke Raoul, which i find quite amusing. An entire generation growing up only knowing the man behind fear & loathing in las vegas. I fear too many even associate Johnny Depp with his masterpiece. Although played magnificently by Depp, it really takes away from a history of gonzo journalism. Too many people associate smoking a joint, with gonzo journalism. It in fact has lost its heart in American literature, polluted with tails of ether soaked rags.
People should see Thompson for his greatest accomplishment. His ability to function within the walls of justice, as a complete & total negative to all things that stood for social conformity. Notice i say Social conformity, because he understood the laws of physics perfectly fine & never questioned them.
I really think thats the point lost about Hunter S. Thompson & his alter ego Raoul Duke. It forever transformed the publics conception finally of what was possible at the very outer shell of our psyche . Because in the end, we’re all just beasts, with curiosity, and selfish yet primal objectives, and he was just the one able to describe it vividly in words. Thus creating gonzo.
To quote Dr. Johnson
“The man who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
Raoul Duke