Saturday, December 17, 2016

Hunter S. Thompson Predicted the Rise of Trumpism with a Most Unlikely Metaphor: Ancient Gonzo Wisdom from Beyond the Grave: A Must Read Article and Response


 Recently I reconnected with a life long friend whom I greatly love and admire.  My friend has been quite successful in life, is a professor at a prominent southern university and shares alot of the same political beliefs as I, albeit a wee bit more cynical and rightly so.

In a recent exchange of emails wherein I attempted to rouse his interest in a mid-winter motorcycle trip in his adopted Red States of America, my friend politely declined, primarily due to scheduling conflicts but added:   "I plan to sell my two Triumphs...tired of the attention required that I don't give them...plus I'm getting old...plus just bought a new Honda Ridgeline PU (I'm all about comfort now)."

After my brother sent me a link to Susan McWilliams must read article
This Political Theorist Predicted the Rise of Trumpism ... - The Nation ,

I could not resist firing off this tongue in check recommendation to my professor friend:



(Please read above article before proceeding)

Professor,

I too have read, represented and associated with H.A.s, but would never be so presumptuous as to claim to understand
let alone speak for them. 

Like the Berkeley crowd and the intellectual and cultural elite, those that crave comfort and security deserve neither to paraphrase the famous American revolutionary Ben Franklin.

So professor I applaud your decision to sell your "sleek, faster and more efficient European imports", your Triumphs (which is ironic in itself) but not for the purpose of facilitating your purchase of comfort and security (Ridgeline) but rather to repurpose your life, quit resisting and succumb to Trumpism. 

"How can I best accomplish this?" the elitist professor asks.  Do what in essence your country did.  Return the Ridgeline and double down on the "least appealing, underpowered and hard to handle" clunky alternative.  In the end, like your country,  you will live to regret it.

Plain Sense