
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Feb. 25, 2005
/ 16 Adar I Shevat, 5765
Fear and loathing of the gonzo establishment
By
Diana West
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
If there is one thing that bugs the Left, it's the idea of empire and
particularly the idea of its own established empire the media culture
it still dominates by dint of groupthink.
That's why when Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide at age 67, the
empire of the Left, a.k.a. the mainstream media (MSM), had to pretend
that a bona fide "iconoclast" had died, someone at odds with the
establishment "like Galileo or Martin Luther," as Orville Schell,
dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, rather
colossally saw fit to describe Thompson's clip file for the ages.
Far from living life on the fringe which is not to say he didn't live
a fringy life Thompson was enshrined as an icon by the so-called
establishment. By "establishment" I mean the prevailing powers that be,
the media and cultural powers for which Thompson was never a threat, but
always a promise. He has long been appreciated, if not celebrated, for
his open and prodigious drug use. (He was "who Mark Twain might have
been if Twain had discovered acid," friend and National Public Radio
foreign editor Loren Jenkins told The Washington Times.) And he has been
consistently applauded for a concocted reportage that divorced
"journalism" from fact. (His work was "true in a way the bean counters
would never understand," said a New York Times appreciation not penned
by Jayson Blair.) Thompson's "gonzo" career was a template for
counter-cultural behaviors and attitudes that had reshaped the American
mainstream by the end of the 1960s. Tantrums. Hedonism. Self-absorption.
And the "craziness," the Washington Post appreciation toasted, "that
comes with sticking the big toe of your brain in the socket of
'high-powered blotter acid,' and 'uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.'"
Guess you had to be there. Even if you weren't, even if you tried to
read "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" and couldn't, the "gonzo"
sensibility lives on. Indeed, the gonzo sensibility has infused our
culture to the point where it's no longer a relic of the old
counter-culture, but is an innate characteristic of the establishment
today. Who keeps his head up in the mainstream today who isn't
gonzo-"wild" and gonzo-"crazy"? In gonzo we trust. This explains not
only the lavishness of praise being heaped upon Thompson, but also the
extraordinary lengths to which his appreciators and they are legion
have gone to palliate his lifelong depravities.
My favorite: His was a "lifestyle dominated by a long and sophisticated
romance with drugs," said the New York Times appreciation, quite
picturesquely dispensing with the ravages of chronic drug use. Then
there is Thompson's "obscenity-laced prose." Not to worry, said his
Times obituary, expletives "broke down walls between reader and writer."
As for his "creative blend of fact and fantasy" (wasn't that Dan
Rather's problem?), his "rule-breaking style" and "outrageous voice,"
they "helped refocus the nation's customarily straitlaced political
dialogue." How? The obit doesn't say, but maybe his political coverage
that "made no secret of his hatred of Nixon" had something to do with
it. And thank goodness. What would the republic have done without him?
Too bad he couldn't have been around to refocus the Constitutional
Convention.
Gonzo-style aside, what's left? According to a line in the middle of the
Washington Post appreciation, not so much. "In fact, he'd never done
very much in his life except write about it, which he did with clarity,
hilarity and big-train momentum." Well, to each his own. On the other
hand, gonzo-style alone, given that it has become a way of life, may be
enough to rate the posthumous star treatment, although a little distance
between star and treatment-ers would be appreciated.
But there is something else. "For a generation of American students,"
The New York Times writes, "Mr. Thompson made journalism seem like a
dangerous, fantastic occupation." This notion is echoed in The
Washington Post: "He was a particular hero to journalists, whose
terrible secret is that beneath all the globe-hopping and news anchor
fame, they are merely clerks and voyeurs. Thompson ... had the bearing
of an adventurer striding out to the very edges of madness and menace."
Fear and loathing. Madness and menace. Danger. Fantasy. These are the
moods of adolescent rebellion, the stylistic attitudes of an adversary
culture that has long dominated the MSM. Which tells me that when all
the ink is dry, Thompson's special place both on the Left and in the MSM
is as a sort of adversary mascot, a totem of a mythical time when the
empire still lay ahead.
Too bad the emperor has no clothes.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
Diana West Archives
© 2005 Diana West
|