Promising to resurrect hope to the American Dream, Obama is gaining on the likes of Mandela and Gandhi in popularity as a role model.
Having famously sneered at this dream is the man I admire the most, Hunter S. Thompson. Although I don’t share his love for firearms and mescaline, he has taught me to never compromise in my beliefs.
A true leader who never ceased to challenge the status quo, he revolutionized media with Gonzo Journalism. He rejected traditional journalistic objectivity and adopted manic subjectivity in works like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Rum Diaries. The unflinching honesty of Thompson’s writing had a profound impact on me both as a person and as an aspiring journalist.
He wasn’t only vocal about his contempt for authoritarianism, he acted on it. Who but Thompson could have campaigned to become the Sheriff of Pitkin County on the Freak Power ticket? Advocating to rename Aspen as Fat City to discourage investors and to decriminalize drugs, he garnered significant support. Despite losing by a narrow margin, he showed me that the masses have a radical potential and can be awoken from a political stasis.
Hunter S. Thompson, through his turbulent life and times, inspired me to be vocal about the tabooed; he empowered me to be true to myself.