The Horrible Esthete Wrote:skippy the wonder dog Wrote:As for taking the coward's way out (or being courageous), that's simplistic. These are not rational decisions. Suicide (with the exception of right-to-die cases) is usually the culmination of a period of mental illness. Thompson suffered from severe bouts of depression throughout his career. This time, he lost the fight.
His death was an 'irrational decision', indeed. Now I can understand what frame of mind is required to write such ridiculous garbage as the above-posted article.
Last time I saw Hunter on Conan O'Brien, he was so drunk, he needed help finding his seat. He was almost incoherant...babbling. Real shame, but if you pickle your brain long enough, thats what happens.
Weather his death was an irrational decison or not, is another question. From what I've read, he was in great pain and pretty much planned everything out over a period of time. Since his natural state was AFU, perhaps his thought process was rational for him.
But he died like he lived...by his own rules. He decided it was time to go, so he went.
My father suffered from intractable spinal pain. He got worse and worse...nothing to look forward to but more and more morphine. That wasn't acceptable, so he ate his side arm. Not the easiest thing to be the survivor of a suicide, but in the end, I understand his decision.
I'm sure HST would just say; "it was his life and it was none of your fucking business if he chose to end it. Because, in the end, if we lose control of our own destiny, life isn't worth a shit anyway."