Reading Hunter S. Thompson amid the Moral Majority December 26th, 2005 As a high school student in Mississippi, Donna Tartt worshipped Hunter S. Thompson, dragging his books everywhere, listing him as a reference and naming him the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. But she also devoted time to writing and winning essay contests sponsored by right-wing organizations. She explains the paradox in the current (print) issue of Vogue. During those years (when I was either trapped in my cinder-block bunker of a school down in Mississippi or — more entertainingly — roaming drunk around airports as the all-expenses-paid guest of political organizations whose valuses I didn’t share), Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was my constant companion. I kept his books in my locker at school, and I smiled for group pictures on the Capitol steps with his gloomy voice (psychotic… delusional… how long can we maintain?) echoing in my ears. In my own view, I was a double agent: an outwardly cheerful and apparently harmless American child who had by some insane whim of the governing class been welcomed deep into the heart of Republican darkness. I believed that I was a member of Uncle Duke’s secret army, entrenched behind enemy lines; and furthermore, I believed that I was not alone. I believed that scores of other kids like me were keeping their eyes and ears open in hick towns all across America: a nest of hissing vipers, nursed deep in the bosom of Jesse Helms and the Moral Majority. And I believed that someday, when we grew up, we would take over the country. I was wrong.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 19:15:51 +0000
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