CJR: the MSM are acting less childish about pot
“I think editors are realizing that people want more honest, unbiased coverage of the issue,” Richard Lee puts it. “Newspapers are to a certain degree mirrors of our society. To the degree that our poll numbers [about marijuana] are up and more people than ever don’t think it should be illegal—the coverage reflects that.”
Hunter S. Thompson's 'Ancient Wisdom' Review
We have to be careful which image we project, because the success of that projection may nullify that image. On one hand, you have Snoop Dogg – who always claimed to be a pimp and a badass. The more money he made and success he found, the more it ratified his image. Then look at someone like Kurt Cobain who made millions of pop dollars as an outsider malcontent. The cognitive dissonance was enough to blow his head off.
HST had no idea the world would adore his outlaw journalist shtick. HST had no idea that such adoration could neuter the exact pose he was striking. So be careful who you wish for …
The Onion AV Club’s review of new Thompson Q/A Ancient Wisdom:
a collection of Q&As assembled by Thompson’s former assistant and widow Anita, can be like reading the earlier ones, except that Thompson is crankier. ... He has some sympathy but little patience with nervous questioners: “God damn, man. Who wrote these questions for you?” he asks a palpably cowed Freezerbox.com contributor in 2004. And yet he responds to David Felton’s belligerent salvos for Rolling Stone College Papers in 1980-”I think it’s generally agreed that you’re pretty much washed up as a writer and a thinker and, to some extent, a human being”-with gentlemanly equanimity: “Hmmm… Jesus. Well, then there’s really no point in doing this, is there?”
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