
Hunter S Thompson: A Man Has to BE Something - 40acres
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2016/07/your-type-is-dime-dozen.html
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Arun2009
These sentences capture my takeaway from this article.

 _Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your
experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your
perspective changes._

 _So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands
of a goal we see from a different angle every day?_

 _...to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So
we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen,
nor doctors. WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES._

 _I don 't mean that we can't BE firemen, bankers, or doctors—but that we must
make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual
conform to the goal._

 _...beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want
to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of
life._

 _In doing this... he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which
puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his
goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it_

Summary: rather than fixating on specific goals, find a way of life that
maximizes your potential for self-development and lets you be your most
authentic self.

~~~
dnissley
Reminds me of John Boyd's call "To Be or To Do".

[https://www.myosynthesis.com/john-boyd-to-be-or-to-
do](https://www.myosynthesis.com/john-boyd-to-be-or-to-do)

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everyone
I kinda think what literature enthusiasts _really_ enjoy are simply words and
the creative use of language and so on.

There could be some interesting ideas in there too, but that is not the main
_meat_ of literature.

I think its important for the sake of intellectual rigour not to confuse the
two.

~~~
ashark
There are a lot of things that need to come together for great literature to
happen. Qualities of the author's use of language are some of them, but not
all. It is true that if a piece's language is poor, or simply unremarkable,
it's probably not going to gain many fans from the lit crowd. If there's
nothing going on but good/interesting language, though, that's also not going
to get it much lasting interest, typically.

I'd say expression _coupled with_ insight and _excellent_ taste is the sweet
spot for the really good stuff. Putting together a great novel, say, is a lot
more than knowing how to make yer words purty and fancy. It's also more than
just telling a well-structured story. It's more than lifelike characters. It's
more than prompting sharp and lasting emotions on the reader. It's more than
atmosphere. Than having the confidence to let an amazing, beautiful idea slip
by like a passing stranger's hint of perfume in a crowd. More than honesty.
And so on. It's _all of those things_ , continuously, for a few hundred pages.

[EDIT] though I'm not defending this letter as any kind of top-notch
literature (is it supposed to be?). The parts I've read so far seem obviously
too thin to qualify.

~~~
timr
_" I'd say expression coupled with insight and excellent taste is the sweet
spot for the really good stuff. Putting together a great novel, say, is a lot
more than knowing how to make yer words purty and fancy."_

Yes. It's fashionable right now to be florid, but writers like Hemingway can
punch you in the gut using simple, declarative sentences:

 _" This book contains material from the remises of my memory and of my heart.
Even if the one has been tampered with and the other does not exist."_

~~~
crooked-v
I'm reminded of the distinctly short and punchy urban myth attributed to
Hemingway:

> For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

------
ShabbosGoy
“No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming.
67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am
always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your
(old) age. Relax — This won't hurt.”

Really struck me in the feels. Rest In Peace.

------
orf
I wonder if Hume Logan took the advice, and what became of him (other than
becoming a name in the associated context of a great letter).

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alexashka
If this piece didn't have a famous person associated with it, no one would
read it on it's merit alone.

I feel like he had the inklings of some good ideas in there, but none of them
fleshed out. As all ideas about life are when you're 20 :)

The people to look up to, are those you relate to, who are past 50. Who've
raised children, who know how to communicate to younger people AND have a
wealth of life experience and hopefully wisdom.

No 20 year old has ever given me solid life advice - you just haven't lived
long enough.

~~~
cmurf
There are few 20 year olds with the imagination to recognize "But a man who
procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by
circumstance."

~~~
abritinthebay
It's beautifully written but all it's saying is "choose or the choice will get
made for you".

Which I've heard variations of from teenagers, let alone 20 year olds.

Tho none with Hunters gift for verbiage

~~~
alexashka
The critical point here is he's saying it because he's read it in a book, and
it rang true.

That means he had good upbringing or just good life intuition to recognize
that to be a good idea.

Wisdom is knowing in your bones, that something's true. Thompson's merely
trying to convey what others have conveyed to him, coupled with some
intuition.

Which's my entire point - don't bother listening to people regurgitating
something they read in a book, go find folks who've lived it. They tend to be
older :)

~~~
aaachilless
So if a 50-year-old wiseman writes a book, a 20-year-old reads it and copies
its ideas into a letter for a friend in need of some wisdown, and I read the
letter 60 years later, what do I do? To help with the prescription: I'm in my
mid-twenties and, as you now understand, quite a simpleton.

~~~
chillacy
I'd like to throw in that Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is quite a famous
staple of stoic reading, but it's mainly a compilation of lessons from other
great stoic teachers that resonated with him.

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testoo
he shoulda just ended the letter at "WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES."

..."i apologize for the length of this letter; if i'd had more time, it would
have been shorter"

------
b0rsuk
Is this something very American to hunt for all quotes and stories of a famous
person once he's dead ? Happened with Hunter, happened with Steve Jobs.
Successful people seem to reach some kind of cult status in America. Even
quite vague stuff he said is fished out and accepted, because he now has level
253 on Battle.net forums.

 _I don 't think you can learn from positive examples exclusively._ To solve a
nonogram, you need to mark squares that are black and those that ARE NOT black
for sure. Another example, survivorship bias. In WW2 the British were sending
bombers to Berlin and other German cities. Engineers were tasked with putting
more armor plating on bombers. They examined where round (bullet) holes
clustered on the returning bombers, and added extra armor in the biggest
clusters. Fewest holes were found around the fuel tank and pilot's cabin, and
those got no extra protection. It was a perfectly rational decision they made
based on available data. But they could learn a lot from losers.

Being wise, or intelligent, is not following some great personas. It's forming
insight based on your observations. Hunter S. Thompson's advice may be sound,
but it would be equally sound if he was a garbage collector. That you must get
such advice from him, suggests, sadly, that you can't recognize it when you
see it. (I'm not saying I'm better)

~~~
jacobolus
Considering that the creator of the site we’re having a discussion about is
English, I would say no, this is not something particularly American.

Is this something very [whatever place you’re from] to make condescending
sarcastic comments whenever people from other places find something
interesting or meaningful to them, and want to share and discuss it?

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sidcool
I have seldom related to such articles. I feel deeply about them. After
reading this twice, I feel different, motivated and emotional. But I also know
that I will be back to default mode (the floating with the tide mode) in a few
days. Is it my job that makes me so? My habits? My psychology? Unsure.

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pizza
i am fond of hunter thompson's breakfast routine..

~~~
kough
are you the same pizza as on tumblr?

~~~
pizza
nope

