# Is Hunter S Thompson a notorious liar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128 "2003-05-28T21:56:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/21 "2003-05-30T06:04:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by widdershins \* > \*\*In his book, Barger describes Thompson as a gutless coward and a fake who hid in the trunk of his car during an Angels fight with the police at Bass Lake in 1966. He also claims an Angel, Junkie George, “poleaxed Hunter while a couple us kicked him around,” after Thompson told him “Only punks slap their old ladies and kick dogs,” Thompson had just witnessed George slapping his woman and then kicking his dog after it bit him. > > Barger also blames Thompson for making up some of the mythology about the Angels (like “memberss pissing on their patches”) and the book serving as a law enforcement guide for the Hell’s Angels. > > Thompson embellishes, Barger claims the Angels are misrepresented and misunderstood. I wouldn’t trust either one of them for a straight factual retelling of events. \*\* Heh…Barger also said in an interview recently that he thought hunter was the greatest writer america ever produced…He just doesnt think much of him as a person. You really have to understand the culture to understand bargers coments, but they sound pretty accurate. Bargers book didn’t gloss over much…He admitted to a lot of stuff that most people wouldnt. Basically, what happened with Hunter and the angels at the end, is that Hunter witnessed an Angel slaping his wife and kicking his dog. Hunter did something he shouldnt have, in that culture, and he stepped up and mouthed off to the guy. Hunter may have been right, but it was an unwise thing to do and he got stomped for it. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/22 "2003-05-30T06:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cholo \* > \*\*Don’t know about you but if any more than 2 Hell’s Angels were beating on me, I believe I’d hide in the trunk too. > > Ever see those guys he’s talking about? Check out the Stone’s “Gimme Shelter”…I’m pretty sure that’s the same Angel Chapter that HST was running with a few years earlier. \*\* Yeah, it was the same chapter…Oakland. Hunter wasnt hiding in the trunk from the angels. Hunter was with the angels on a beer run, and they got into a standoff with some townspeople. Hunter, not wanting to get caught in the middle of riot, hid in his own truck. Smart, but a major loss of face in the Angels eyes. He was with them, after all. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/23 "2003-05-30T08:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yawndave \* > \*\*I can’t remeber the name of the book/film project, but two women set out across the country talking to various American Icons, HST being one of them. Their tales of time spent with him are pretty hilarious. \*\* The film was 1997’s [Anthem](http://www.imdb.com/Details?0118626). I haven’t seen it, but I’d certainly be interested to. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/24 "2003-05-30T09:18:23Z")
[And this guy thinks HST is a tool of the system.](http://www.capital.net/~phuston/HSThompson.html) I’d tend to agree with the sentiment: True radicals like Jello Biafra and Jim Hogshire are ignored while the McRadicals with `names’ can advocate illegal activities without legal repercussions (or repercussions they can’t afford). The author makes an astute comparison between HST and The Anarchist’s Cookbook. The Cookbook is a well-known `counterculture’ book, purporting to detail how to make bombs and drugs and all sorts of things. It’s also a blatant source of disinformation, the drugs being poisons and the explosives being overly-dangeorous suicide traps. The Cookbook’s popularity effectively suppresses real counterculture works from being written while selectively weeding out those naive enough to follow its recipies. HST works the same way, the author says. Of course, I don’t believe everything the author says. Not by a long shot. But if HST is really despised by the Hell’s Angels, why the hell ain’t he dead or in hiding right now? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/25 "2003-05-30T11:31:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*But if HST is really despised by the Hell’s Angels, why the hell ain’t he dead or in hiding right now? \*\* You’re ignoring one simple fact. Killing Hunter S. Thompson would, if traced back to them, be a fatal blow to their exsistence as an organization. (This is why a whole lot of radical groups on the left and right don’t go out killing their opponents.) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/26 "2003-05-30T14:12:51Z")
I’ve always taken HST with a few grains of salt (and a huge tequila shooter, haha). To me, he uses preposterous anecdotes to get across a certain feel of a person or story, if not the fact themselves. The Clarence Thomas story is a perfect example. Of course it’s total factual BS, it gets across the feelings and aura that HST got from Thomas. It paints a better mental picture than just saying “Yeah, he was kinda creepy.” Plus, and this is my favorite point, HST is the most underrated humorist of the 20th century. I can’t count how many times I’ve laughed out loud while reading his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/27 "2003-05-30T15:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*Of course, I don’t believe everything the author says. Not by a long shot. But if HST is really despised by the Hell’s Angels, why the hell ain’t he dead or in hiding right now? \*\* Not that I am expert on the Hells Angels or anything, becuase I’m not(Ive known a couple of them though), but I get impression, he pissed them off, they stomped him, and let him go. They don’t kill eveybody who pisses them off…Good Lord, where do people get these ideas. Hell, I wouldnt be suprised if he is still friends with a few of them. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/28 "2003-05-30T16:01:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by widdershins \* > **and the book serving as a law enforcement guide for the Hell’s Angels.** There was an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street about bikers once and there was a shot of Meldrick reading the book in the office at one point. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/29 "2003-05-30T17:45:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ryan Mahoney \* > \*\*I’ve always taken HST with a few grains of salt (and a huge tequila shooter, haha). To me, he uses preposterous anecdotes to get across a certain feel of a person or story, if not the fact themselves. The Clarence Thomas story is a perfect example. Of course it’s total factual BS, it gets across the feelings and aura that HST got from Thomas. It paints a better mental picture than just saying “Yeah, he was kinda creepy.” Plus, and this is my favorite point, HST is the most underrated humorist of the 20th century. I can’t count how many times I’ve laughed out loud while reading his stuff. \*\* And if you would like to read the story, its at [http://www.gonzo.org/hst/](http://www.gonzo.org/hst/) Just click on Fear and loathing in Elko. Great story. ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/30 "2003-05-30T17:49:06Z")
On a few HST topics: -Did anyone ever figure out what happened to Dr Gonzo? -What the hell did he do to Bill Murray to make him such a prick after Where the Buffalo Roam? ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/31 "2003-05-30T19:12:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > **True radicals like Jello Biafra and Jim Hogshire are ignored while the McRadicals with `names’ can advocate illegal activities without legal repercussions (or repercussions they can’t afford).** Thompson’s not a radical. He’s a writer, and a damn good one. _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail_ is one of the best books I’ve ever read, but it always puts entertainment before politics. I like Biafra, and maybe he’s a better ‘radical’, whatever that means, but he’s nowhere near the artist Thompson is. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/32 "2003-05-30T20:25:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TigoleBitties \* > **-Did anyone ever figure out what happened to Dr Gonzo?** From the page I linked to: > [@](#): > > And where is Oscar Zeta Acosta, the real life model for Dr. Gonzo, Raoul Duke’s attorney, today? So we assume that Dr. Gonzo’s real name is Oscar Zeta Acosta. Now that we have that much, we Google. [Oscar Zeta Acosta from The Biography Project](http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/oscar_zeta_acosta.html): > [@](#): > > Acosta was last heard from in May, 1974, with a telephone call from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, to his son Marco. The journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, who was Acosta’s close friend and confidante, speculated on Acosta’s untimely disappearance as either a political assassination or murder at the hands of drug dealers. Acosta is presumed dead. Hm. Interesting. [Oscar Zeta Acosta from gonzo.org](http://www.gonzo.org/hst/oscar/): > [@](#): > > Oscar Acosta was born sometime in 1936, and it is not known whether he is alive or dead (my theory is that he is dead - but note, Paul Perry in Fear and Loathing writes that Rolling Stone received a hospital bill for a broken arm for a patient named Oscar Acosta in 1977. RS was unable to trace the bill any farther than the hospital). Confirmation! As [gonzo.org](http://gonzo.org) is an Official Unofficial HST website, it should be accurate. Interestingly, The Biography Project places his DoB at April 8, 1935, not `undetermined.’ I don’t know which to believe, myself, but his date of birth was not in contention here. Also, The Biography Project doesn’t mention his final hospital bill, so I don’t know how much stock to place in that, either. But the main fact is that he disappeared in the mid-1970s and he’s presumed dead. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/33 "2003-05-30T22:47:42Z")
At the time Hell’s Angels was written, HST was in something of a transition phase, which is obvious if you’ve read a significant portion of his work. HA is more journalistically accurate thananything that follows it. You can tell because there are long passages of hard, uninterpreted information, such as the headcount of people at events and other details. While I certainly wouldn’t hold HA up as a paragon of the traditional journalistic endeavor, it is much closer to “real” journalism than anything he did after, and effectively marks the end of HST as a reporter. Everything that followed was the beginning of Gonzo. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/34 "2003-05-31T00:02:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gypsygirl31 \* > **…and the fact that I got to meet the guy once several years ago…** You have no idea how jealous I am right now. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/35 "2003-06-02T12:44:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > \*\*Not that I am expert on the Hells Angels or anything, becuase I’m not(Ive known a couple of them though), but I get impression, he pissed them off, they stomped him, and let him go. They don’t kill eveybody who pisses them off…Good Lord, where do people get these ideas. Hell, I wouldnt be suprised if he is still friends with a few of them. \*\* HST said in **one** interview that I read that the Angels went off on him because they saw a copy of his book and said, “$4.95, huh (lot of money back then!)? How much of that goes to us?..Oh yeah?..” Well, that’s **one** version of it; don’t know if there are any others. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128/36 "2003-06-02T13:07:12Z")
In his book Hells Angels, Hunter S describes his stomping incident and how “Tiny” saved him. Read the Great Shark Hunt, sounds like Hunter was a pretty brawling kinda guy from the South, but then found guys that didn’t fight for fun like he was used to back home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hunter-s-thompson-a-notorious-liar/178128.md?page=1)