How Long O Lord…
The Rockies Loss in The World Series had little to no impact on me, and I haven’t received any heartache emails from readers, so I won’t bemoan it. But the recent Washington Post review of the book about Hunter, edited by Jann Wenner was very upsetting to some people. Please! Don’t be offended by the review, or the book. Notice that the Gonzo dagger has a double edge. The courage that readers imbibe from Hunter’s work through his dedication to the craft, his friends and his convictions are unshakable.
But the other side of the gonzo knife is inevitable: some will hate Hunter and everything he stood for. A journalist named Stacey McCain, from the Washington Times put it nicely after reading the review: “Envy is the ugliest emotion…”
Yes, it is only natural that there will be those who magnify a few nasty martyr comments about Hunter from ex-girlfriends, or ex-wives or ex-secretaries, ex-editors or family, in an effort to degrade Hunter and his legacy. The last half of the book is meant to satisfy the lascivious and angry cravings of a paying public (which one can argue was done out of love for Hunter, but is the reason I decided NOT to take part in the book). So it takes a smart and more astute reviewer to decode how the book was put together.
If you are one of the people upset by the review, you don’t need me to remind you, because you already know, that Hunter’s work will be in libraries and taught in Universities and passed among friends & family around the world long after all the critics, naysayers, and yes… after ALL of us are dead.
But forever, there are those who will try to warp the gonzo work of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman to make a buck… So the wisdom for today comes from our beloved Ralph, who has lifted my spirits on so many occasions that I’ll never be able to repay him. When I’m feeling helpless to defend Hunter, or when I say something stupid, he invariably reminds me about the humor and better instincts in life… One bit of fabulous wisdom he recently emailed me was regarding my studies of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels:
There is a saying: ‘Beware of bearded men in sealed trains bearing
ideologies’ which was how Lenin was brought into Russia from
Switzerland to start his Revolution. But we cannot blame Marx and
Engels for that…..
—Ralph Steadman, a few days ago.
Anyway, that is my pep talk to those of you who have expressed concern about the review of the book about Hunter. Sensationalism is a very profitable industry, and we do, despite Marx and Engels’ wishes, live in a Capitalist society.
Until next time, your friend,
Anita Thompson
