Generation of Swine

June 3, 1988
Thompson may be correct in assuming that the greed and immorality pervading the American social landscape are obscene, but his surreal, half-demented style has hardened into a pose. These columns from the San Francisco Examiner prove only that journalism can become dated quickly. The author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas calls Colonel Khadafy smarter than Ronald Reagan and takes potshots at television news, Gary Hart, Ed Meese, evangelists, Michael Dukakis, Pat Robertson and the Iran-contra hearings. He predicts that the Democrats will self-destruct in the 1988 presidential campaign. People he dislikes are described as ``money-sucking animals,'' ``brainless freaks,'' ``geeks,'' ``greed-crazed lunatics'' and so on. Thompson's flaccid diatribes seem designed to instill a sense of smug superiority in the reader.