HST: He was different

<![CDATA[Many of the elegies for Hunter S. Thompson, founder of Gonzo Journalism and defiler of respectable sensibilities, have revolved a particular idea, that he was the proto-blogger. Please, refrain from such nonsense and let the good doctor rest.
His writing, while it was intensely personal and totally over the edge of journalistic sensibilities in his time or any other, was not the first blogger sensibility to appear in the world—read Swift, Pepys, good God, just read Joyce's Dubliners—nor should anyone be taking credit at the time of his death for following him, because, frankly, people, Thompson went places where very few writers go. He was that great at his best, abysmal at his worst and even at those lowest times better than almost anyone who hasn’t given their life over to getting the word out onto paper (or a screen).
Thompson is an example, but not proof, of what blogging can be. Try not to feed off the corpse because that kind of glory doesn’t last very long. Read Thompson and so many others that he read to try to become a little of what he was. If you’d tried to claim him as your own in his lifetime without draining your life force into your writing first, well, Thompson would have done you violence.]]>

I will miss him … BIG HUG for Juan, Jen, Willam and Anita… who will never be able to fill the hole left in there lives by the man in spite of the myth and legend attached to his life..
I am a long time friend of Juan we went to the Aspen Community School together I have been using the blogs to try to send a message of love to him and the family but I know he is totally swamped because of the media attention at Owl farm and I need to let him know that we care for Him, Anita and the whole family in this time of tragedy while respecting his privacy
Let’s see if we can get the word out …
He was first THE MAN….
He became the myth and legend
To me he was several people.
He was my best friend’s dad although he always called his dad Hunter
(At Juan’s wedding he said to a friend about me “Look there’s another little bastard I raised that turned out OK”)
He was Hunter S. Thompson retiring shy southerner who loved guns and his freedom
And
He was the Dr. Gonzo who we all know who would be in your face and try to kill you if you attempted to try to take away his guns, drugs, freedom, privacy and the god given right to go into an explosive tirade about it.
To be such a person required him to have a unique emotional support structure. These people now need our support, love and understanding in this time of grief.
Bradley Laboe

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