[HN Gopher] Hunter S. Thompson Interview on Gonzo Journalism (19...
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       Hunter S. Thompson Interview on Gonzo Journalism (1975) [video]
        
       Author : raptorraver
       Score  : 64 points
       Date   : 2021-10-02 15:43 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | fidesomnes wrote:
       | Hunter's whole schtick is "Nixon did/said/something I don't like"
       | is the work of a word hack and not a wordsmith.
        
       | kreeben wrote:
       | Maybe I'm being nostalgic, but I don't see this type of open
       | discussions in media today, where on the one hand you'll have a
       | reputable, mainstream journalist and on the other you'll have
       | someone who thinks so far out the box that you'll have to invent
       | a new word before classifying them and what they produce, even
       | though they come from different parts of the what-have-you
       | spectrum, is pure intellectual brilliance that's bliss to
       | consume.
       | 
       | I miss that aspect of the past. Maybe I shouldn't but I do.
        
         | itisit wrote:
         | Salisbury's clearly well-informed and knows how to ask a
         | question without probing or catering to Thompson. Thompson is
         | home at ease in his snow-covered Aspen hamlet. They're both
         | journalists/writers with a mutual respect for one another and
         | the craft. And the medium in that era was often there to
         | capture a record of the proceedings, not to generate a product
         | of it. It's not a lost art per se, but having all the great
         | interview ingredients from what's on display in this video sure
         | seem to be rare.
        
         | andy_ppp wrote:
         | Hasn't it just moved to podcasts? You are right though, the
         | traditional media just deals in half truths and artificially
         | modifying information to suit whatever will make people click.
         | 
         | "Orange juice (whatever) causes/cures cancer" or "some person
         | said controversial thing" or "aggressive interviewer with an
         | axe to grind" and actually when you go to the original sources
         | in context this is very rarely justified or true. I actually
         | think the lack of sourcing of things is horrendous when full
         | versions of quoted interviews are usually available to be
         | linked. And then there is the disingenuousness of the people
         | who are attempting to appear in the media, they will literally
         | say anything.
         | 
         | I'm really not sure where we are when I trust most of the
         | podcasts I listen to to tell me more accurate information than
         | the BBC or CNN or Fox or The Times etc. but here we are.
        
           | tomarr wrote:
           | >>traditional media just deals in half truths and
           | artificially modifying information
           | 
           | You know, this also could be a definition for Gonzo
           | journalism which by its nature is 'truth inspired'.
        
             | alfl wrote:
             | Perhaps Gonzo has been industrialized: "when the going gets
             | weird, the weird turn pro."
        
             | henvic wrote:
             | Unfortunately, most of traditional media is both really
             | intertwined with government actors, and mostly interested
             | in matters of politics, instead of sciences, technology,
             | and more meaningful and informative things.
             | 
             | News is, unfortunately, mostly propaganda and de facto
             | marketing & public relations of government officials
             | instead of about interesting topics you can learn from.
        
               | wombat-man wrote:
               | I mean, I guess? Just as an example NYT has entire
               | sections about science, technology, art, travel. They're
               | pretty mainstream.
               | 
               | There's a lot of noise out there but there's still good
               | journalism happening.
        
           | kreeben wrote:
           | >> traditional media just deals in half truths
           | 
           | >> I trust most of the podcasts I listen to
           | 
           | But so does pod casters, even Joe "Vitamin D" Rogan does it.
           | Half-truths sell magazines.
           | 
           | It seems we've created a society where being "right" and
           | pointing fingers are highly lucrative ways of conducting
           | ourselves. It seems we have forgotten the ways of the past
           | where even the most unalike could find consensus around basic
           | matters and have fruitful discussions around your point of
           | view as well as mine, because we knew, we're both far from
           | being 100% "right".
           | 
           | The arrogance of the human race, it makes me so sad.
        
             | clord wrote:
             | > consensus around basic matters
             | 
             | But the thing is Joe (and others) will have the
             | conversations you're describing- it's not forgotten. Part
             | of having a good conversation is being comfortable with
             | being wrong. He's explicit about being a joke comedian
             | sports commentator, and can sympathetically talk with
             | anyone. Conversations with ground rules of truth are those
             | that tend to be dry and pre-processed. The listener can
             | think too and figure out what makes sense. Part of what
             | makes gonzo fun, too.
        
               | Aerroon wrote:
               | > _Conversations with ground rules of truth are those
               | that tend to be dry and pre-processed._
               | 
               | Focusing too much on truth turns your conversations into
               | legalese. People will be more focused on not being wrong
               | than communicating useful information and ideas.
               | 
               | Conversation happens in half-truths. You can't expect
               | anyone to know all the ins and outs of everything they
               | discuss - even scientists in their field of expertise.
               | These half-truths are usually unintentional.
               | 
               | The media has the problem of half-truths while seeming
               | credible. In the modern media a news reporter reports on
               | a protest and describes it as "mostly peaceful" while in
               | the background you can see buildings on fire. This is an
               | intentional half-truth, but it's branded with the media
               | organization's credibility.
        
             | andy_ppp wrote:
             | There is a huge correlation between people low in Vitamin D
             | and bad COVID-19 outcomes, correlation != causation, sure.
             | It's usually too late to expect giving vitamin D at the
             | point of hospitalisation to expect it to help. I'm for most
             | people taking vitamin d regularly for all sorts of reasons.
             | I'd be much more circumspect about Ivermectin but the
             | studies are being done now to see if it can help, to say it
             | absolutely won't work is unknown. I think promoting it is
             | pretty bad personally and I don't take my medical advice
             | from Joe Rogan. Medcram is pretty informative though.
        
               | kreeben wrote:
               | >> huge correlation between people low in Vitamin D and
               | bad COVID-19 outcomes
               | 
               | >> correlation != causation
               | 
               | Thank you for that perfect explanation of "what is half-
               | truth".
        
               | anonymouswacker wrote:
               | Thanks for illustrating that you "half-understoood" the
               | argument.
        
               | kreeben wrote:
               | Which part _did_ I understand and what part did I not,
               | according to you?
        
               | anonymouswacker wrote:
               | Sorry, I'm sometimes snarky in the mornings. Giving the
               | OP the benefit of the doubt, I presume they meant that
               | correlation does not always equal causation, but that
               | there is a middle ground of the "unknown" rather than
               | just the inverse of a logical, mathematical statement. If
               | you see a pattern from enough correlations, then you
               | might let go of some of your own hubris. It's not black
               | and white, and so on.
        
               | kreeben wrote:
               | I'm sorry you feel I've been too binary and full of
               | hubris. I'll take that to heart. Cheers!
        
               | andy_ppp wrote:
               | Well I'm not here to defend Joe Rogan but I think most
               | people should be taking Vitamin D. Listen to the stuff
               | medcram have put out on this, it's really informative and
               | science based and doesn't make outlandish claims.
        
       | criticaltinker wrote:
       | _" That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around
       | America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a
       | thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait
       | for all the people who took him seriously... All those
       | pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace
       | and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and
       | failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the
       | central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a
       | generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never
       | understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture:
       | the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force
       | - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel."_
       | 
       | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my all time favorite
       | movies. It's a disorienting and psychedelic plot filled with
       | subtle yet striking insights into human nature. I highly
       | recommend giving it a watch if you're looking for a taste of
       | Hunter S Thompson's legacy.
        
         | jds375 wrote:
         | Not sure why the downvotes. Perhaps it's due to referring to
         | Fear and Loathing as a movie instead of the book it's based on.
         | The movie is actually a good representation of the book and
         | almost all of the dialog is taken word-for-word
        
           | pimeys wrote:
           | I've been trying to think for a while, why the downvotes, and
           | one thing definitely comes to my mind: For many people, the
           | idea of Hunter S. Thompson is this drug-fueled lunatic acted
           | by Johnny Depp. That this is all he is; leaving behind the
           | amazing amount of writing about American society and
           | politics.
           | 
           | Las Vegas is a tiny book. It's a great book, a story about
           | excess and the American dream. And the movie is the dialog
           | word-for-word, but it adds nothing to the legacy of Hunter S.
           | Thompson. It's Depp getting famous by riding the fame of
           | Hunter. And it is generally thought as a movie about taking
           | drugs and doing crazy things. And, I might be wrong here, but
           | this is how I see it after many of my schoolmates watched it
           | and were quoting the scenes.
           | 
           | And I like the movie. I love his writing. And I think Terry
           | Gilliam was the right director to do this movie. I still kind
           | of want to reject this idea of this movie to be the first
           | thing people think when they talk about Hunter. He was so
           | much more.
        
             | bryanrasmussen wrote:
             | >It's Depp getting famous by riding the fame of Hunter.
             | 
             | Depp was already more famous than Thompson when the movie
             | was made, not that that counts for much.
        
               | pimeys wrote:
               | It's funny to think how he also destroyed it all by
               | following his hero's footsteps, isn't it?
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-03 23:01 UTC)