Hunter S. Thompson was a remarkable human being. Just an absolute maniac. I mean, we’re talking about a guy whose schedule included waking up at 3 p.m. before drinking, smoking, and doing coke all before 4 o’clock. Seriously — just look.
Frankly, nothing was beyond him. Especially going double middle-fingers to his subordinates when they stepped out of line. Take, for example, Anthony Burgess, the author of A Clockwork Orange. Burgess worked as a journalist for Rolling Stone when Thompson was above him, and his idea to submit a “novella” instead of a “thinkpiece” didn’t exactly go over as well as he’d probably hoped. The long lost artifact of a letter was brought to the surface via Imgur.
“What kind of lame, half-mad bullshit are you trying to sneak over on us? When Rolling Stone asks for ‘a thinkpiece,’ goddamnit, we want a fucking Thinkpiece … and don’t try to weasel out with any of your limey bullshit about a “50,000 word novella about the condition humaine, etc….
Do you take us for a gang of brainless lizards? Rich hoodlums? Dilettante thugs? You lazy cocksucker.
I want that Thinkpiece on my desk by Labor Day. And I want it ready for press.”
The rest of the letter, which is not as scathing as the part where he calls Burgess a “lazy cocksucker” is below.
I actually don’t hate the thought process behind this. Like, Thompson didn’t have time for bullshit between writing, ripping heaters, and having two margarita / two burger lunches before his daily doses of acid. But you know what? That actually kind of sounds like the schedule I’d imagine for a certain Post Grad Problems writer I know. .
[via Imgur]
Image via YouTube
I feel like I would love to work for Thompson, but at the same time, completely despise him.
It would be the job that you worked for 3 amazing years before your family holds an intervention and sends you to rehab, and then all your stories from the “good old days” consist of just college and that job.
I had a roommate in college whose older sister worked for him the year before he died. She told him it was a fucking nightmare.
Frankly, I think I’d get a lot more done and have a hell of a lot more respect for my company if I received such straightforward feedback as opposed to the anti-lawsuit lingo that is far too common nowadays.
Hunter S. Thomson was and is still the embodiment of everything that America used to stand for.
Now we have corporate sponsored political correctness and Starbucks.
The only think pieces we get now are from morons on TV who claim to be journalists that sit behind a desk but somehow have credibility and cultural knowledge because they rode economy class overseas at one point in their lives.
Really? On a Friday?
It’s America!
Thompson*, fuckk
I would definitely recommend his biography, Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S Thompson, to anyone who likes his work or is just interested in the kind of man he was. It’s basically commentary from people during every stage of his life and it’s one of the most interesting biographies I’ve read.
“We just need to Hunter S Thompson our way down to Tijuana.”