# Hunter S. Thompson is dead, says son. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118 "2005-02-21T04:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/21 "2005-02-21T05:09:15Z")
> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#): > > I can picture HST and Oscar Acosta rampaging around heaven, looking for a place to rent a huge-ass Red Convertable. > > “OF Course the gentleman has a major credit card! Who do you think you’re talking to?” > The Thing speaks for Itself. HST at the pearly gates. St. Peter: “You can’t park your car here!” HST: “Why? Is this not a good place to park?” St. Peter: “You’re blocking the gates!” Poor guy. Survived all those drugs and the Hells angels…and now this. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/22 "2005-02-21T05:13:57Z")
What can be said? The man lived fearlessly. He faced down everyone from the President of the US to his own boss. He’ll be missed. This totally sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/23 "2005-02-21T05:24:43Z")
I love his line: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench; a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/24 "2005-02-21T05:36:32Z")
The man lived life on his own terms. I’m not surprised he’d choose to leave this life on his own terms, too. I’m thinking that perhaps he was recently diagnosed with an illness of some kind, and just said, “fuck it.” I guess we’ll find out in the next few days. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/25 "2005-02-21T05:36:38Z")
I fear and loath that this has happened. Hells Angels, Fear and Loathing on the Campain Trail 72, The Curse of Lono and of course F&L Las Vegas are some of my favorite books. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/26 "2005-02-21T05:40:59Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > What can be said? The man lived fearlessly. Yeah, right up to the time he killed himself. What a coward. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/27 "2005-02-21T05:41:18Z")
Maybe Hunter Thompson was secretly in love with Sandra Dee all these years and couldn’t go on without her. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/28 "2005-02-21T05:41:22Z")
It’s a hell of a man who, in one lifetime, can inspire two ongoing fictional characters based on him. Spider Jerusalem and Zonker’s Uncle Duke. Night of The Hunter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/29 "2005-02-21T05:43:55Z")
And so it goes. (Yeah, yeah, Vonnegut… but it fits.) From Thompson, I learned the focus that comes from outrage. I saw how clearly a jaundiced eye could view the world. I felt that there was someone out there who wasn’t on anybody’s “team”, and wasn’t buying into some tightly focused, media-managed “message”. After all, who is more trustworthy than a totally debauched man? When there’s nothing left to lie about, you will always know where he stands. So long and Mahalo, Hunter. R.I.P., HST -Rav ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/30 "2005-02-21T05:44:34Z")
I won’t believe it until I can gnaw on his skull with my very own teeth, because it’s still not weird enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/31 "2005-02-21T05:46:19Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Yeah, right up to the time he killed himself. What a coward. Oh hooray, the ‘a guy has killed himself, let’s abuse him for it’ gambit. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/32 "2005-02-21T06:00:36Z")
I’m killing my case of wine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/33 "2005-02-21T06:08:09Z")
Aw, man! Where’s the Wild Turkey? See ya, Hunter. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/34 "2005-02-21T06:13:55Z")
I actually started crying when I read this earlier. Can we please memorialize him as the brilliant politicsl writer and thinker, and not as “that wacky dood who smoked too much drugz?” It seems that 99% of HST fans focus on quotes like that in post #4 and completely miss the _entire_ point of what made him special. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/35 "2005-02-21T06:14:57Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Yeah, right up to the time he killed himself. What a coward. We can’t comment until we know the circumstances; I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a terminal illness was involved. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/36 "2005-02-21T06:17:12Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Yeah, right up to the time he killed himself. What a coward. If I get diagnosed with some dreadful, terminal illness you can bet I’m taking my own life. Why give your life savings to a bunch of quack doctors only to prolong your misery? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/37 "2005-02-21T06:20:48Z")
I’m completely not in shock. No "Damn. ☹ " here, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/38 "2005-02-21T06:38:28Z")
My first thought was that his health must have been failing him. Of course I only knew him through his writing, but he seemed too fueled by anger and righteousness to give into transient despair. Then again the years of substances probably left his psyche somewhat tattered. I have strong memories of reading everything from _Hell’s Angels_ to _Generation of Swine_ during one High School summer break. He consistently hit me in the gut with his observations and wicked humor. His later stuff lacked focus and felt a bit forced, the best work came from being in the middle of the action. FWIW, his last article is still up at [espn.com](http://espn.com) – [Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=thompson/050216). ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/39 "2005-02-21T06:49:40Z")
…and the same webmagazine bids him [farewell.](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index) Let’s hold off on the comments until tomorrow, hmmm? A little respect, since we know nothing yet about any extenuating circumstances. Let’s just agree it sucks that he’s gone–I would have loved to have read his book on the 2008 campaign. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118/40 "2005-02-21T07:00:53Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Yeah, right up to the time he killed himself. What a coward. Just - No. Ultimately, his life was his own. No cowardice ever attaches to suicide . But you can discuss it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5865431) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-s-thompson-is-dead-says-son/291118.md?page=3)