Hunter S. Thompson was an American… and that's something that doesn't really exist anymore in this country outside of Taylor Swift and Kanye West.
Thompson was a rare breed of journalists obsessed with uncovering great truths in the profound emptiness of our world.
His work reminds me of a line from Andrei Tarkovsky's 1980 film Stalker: “May they laugh at their passions. For what they call passion is not really the energy of the soul, but merely friction between the soul and the outside world."
I'm finishing up reading nearly two thousand pages of the good Doctors’ letters published in the late 90s to & from friends, family, journalists, crackheads and other acclaimed writers. Below are the most uncommon axioms I found:
1. “In a democracy, you have to be a player”
Politics is more than politics.
Thompson described politics as the ultimate high.
The reason the Ancient Greek philosophers were so disillusioned with democracy is the citizens got bored of participating and politics became a decadent self-congratulatory circlejerk (paraphrasing Thucydides).
I'm not going to tell you what to do, but this machine wouldn't function unless everyone were culpable and just as likely to be blamed as the conspirators. Corruption only breeds in stagnating societies plagued with apathy. If we Americans really loved this country we would've never given it away.
2. "There are all kinds of very able people wandering around with no place to use their energy.”
They all want to get into something, according to Hunter.
I think this is even truer today. My roommate in New York City built his six-figure videography business from the ground up, connecting with abled people who needed a job.
My sister did the same, working on her photography.
Many people think the hidden cost of being a deep thinker is isolation. Bullshit. I'm thankful I found some of you to shoot the shit with about topics I thought were off-limits. It ain't gotta be a big group, but being able to connect with others is a damn superpower that'll keep you from going insane.
3. The Edge
Hell’s Angels is probably one of my least favorite Thompson books but I’ve always liked this quote:
“The Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others-the living-are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later. But the edge is still Out there.”
Welcome to the art of disconnecting from the Matrix. As I’ve realized later in life, however, you must always retest your system or you’ll fall into apathy.
You have to restart the fire.
4. “3:45 cocaine, 4:05 coffee, 4:15 cocaine.”
Hunter was a shit-sucking hedonist, but I admire his daily schedule:
3:00 p.m. rise
3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
3:45 cocaine
3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
4:15 cocaine
4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
4:30 cocaine
4:54 cocaine ... and so on.
So, is this how you emulate Hunter? No. There's an old saying that the times we live in shape who we are and what we do. In fact, the journalist who wrote the forward to Hunter's letters said there's nothing worse than for any young journalist or artist to try to imitate Hunter.
Be original. Be you. Figure that shit out. That's how you become a true great.
5. “Beer on whiskey mighty risky, whisky on beer never fear.”
Here's some so-called wisdom from the good Doctor.
Personally, I've always seen things the other way around.
But hey, what do I know?
6. Write out your favorite book
Hunter S. Thompson claims his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has the same rhythm as music. It really does in my opinion. That inspired me to write the entire book, cover to cover. Something just clicked.
Writing it out helped me get the timing of a great writer.
Hunter wrote out his favorite writers too being Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I think there’s something to this. In a world where words are magic—my good friend just asked me how to improve his vocab—I think crazy activities like this have true power.
7. “Too weird to live, too rare to die.”
The full quote is about Hunter’s friend Oscar Acosta:
“There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”
Anyone who’s read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas knows how wild the book is: coke, adrenochrome, stealing, assault, and depravity for two life sentences. I was looking forward to finding out through Hunter’s letters how much of it was true.
Hunter answered that question: who cares?
If it’s a good story stop trying to figure everything out.
It’s like that famous David Lynch quote when someone asked him to elaborate on one of his movies and he said “No.” Stop trying to figure everything out.
You ruin the magic.
8. “A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.”
Hunter was a philosopher, though he’d probably deny it. One tip I like of his that helped me figure out my own life is that the cluelessness of NOT knowing your purpose and “winging it” is not rare; in fact, it’s probably the most rigid ubiquitous pattern in America.
It’s why hearing the words “chill” and “laidback” seem cool when you’re young, and then it’s more so the words “driven” and “disciplined” that peak your interest.
It’s like what Logan Roy told his kids on Succession: “You are not serious people, children.”
Most people drift through life with no direction. They waste their time with half-baked dreams of becoming internet famous. They want is success without effort. It won’t work.
Choosing edges, not letting life choose for you, is the only way to make it work.
9. “Don’t go easy on the bastards”
Hunter’s last lament in finishing his letters is that he “stomped too softly on the bastards” regarding people he used to work for.
This sentiment reflects his entire existence.
It's a warning: there will be regret, and it might just be that you didn't live life at full throttle, kicking ass and taking names.
And this advice is coming from a man who lived life at fucking warp speed. Be warned.
Final Thoughts
What happened to all the great people? I mean, why haven’t subsequent generations produced equally wonderful individuals like HST?
Well, nowadays, if you tried to be a Great Man, you’d be gutted alive on CNN before you got your pants on. The web doesn’t make it easier — too many people with too many opinions standing on the shoulders of great men and women.
You don’t have to be nuts to achieve greatness, but while you’re glued to your computer, others are living interesting lives.
Who will be the next Hunter S. Thompson? You really gotta wonder.