Lend Me Your Ears--Funeral Oration for Hunter S. Thompson

(originally published 02-23-05)

If Hunter Thompson accomplished nothing else in his life, he did one monumental thing. He exposed the myth of objective journalism. He proved that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle also applies to reportage. Simply by observing an event, we change it.

Thompson saw the simple truth that a writer cannot be separated from his story. The writer is always part of the story. His embodiment of this principle was probably responsible for both his success and his demise. We all know the story of talent being overcome by fame.

I came to bury HST, not to praise him, but a little praise is in order. Although his conspicuous addictions and wonderful excesses were glorified in movie and print and cartoon, he was a consummate craftsman and as dedicated a writer as Updike or Hemingway or Kerouac or Twain. Perhaps in the end the myth overcame the man. But, at least Thompson created his own adversary. Et tu?

The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Hunter. He took no prisoners but filled the general coffers with a richness of defiance and cold-eyed realism that is rarely seen today in journalism. Hunter cut to the chase. He wrote of real personal experiences and what can be learned from them.

The New York Times obituary said of Thompson:

"Mr. Thompson's approach in many ways mirrors the style of modern-day bloggers, those self-styled social commentators who blend news, opinion and personal experience on Internet postings. Like bloggers, Mr. Thompson built his case for the state of America around the framework of his personal views and opinions."

And the New York Times is an honorable paper.

They say that his approach 'mirrors' bloggers. No. Bloggers mirror him. This man was the first one to cross the Rubicon when it came to personal, involved reporting. He occupied a story and influenced its outcome. This was his innovation and also his downfall, because when the reporter becomes more important or interesting than the story....well, you see the problem.