Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

This tale of savage overindulgence is in many ways a reaction to the failure of the 1960's counterculture movement. Dr Hunter S. Thompson and his Attorney travel to Las Vegas with almost every narcotic known to man, in search of the American dream, the Mint 400 and the Drug Conference for an unnerving amount of misinformed American cops.

What ensues is a sleeplessly intense 3 day trip involving bats and convertibles, casinos and polar bears, riddled with twisted humor, Wild Turkey-razor sharp wit and chemically clear observation.

Thanks to the media massacre of the 1960's Hippies, fear and hysteria surrounded drugs in 1971 America. Hunter wanted to find out what was left of those ideals, to push it as far as it would go, and see what level of freedom was left to do so.

This excerpt from the book is when the Dr of Gonzo Journalism ponders San Francisco in the mid sixties. The passage is thought to be so poignant of that era that its known as the Wave Speech.

Yesturday i had a Buy Nothing Day in true Adbusters spirit. Here's how it went.

Wake up - 11.00am: Alright its not early but its not that late either, it could be later. Breakfast consists of Coco-pops but i have no bread or fruit, buy nothing day could prove to be very unhealthy at this rate.

It could also leave me ignorant, i want to buy a newspaper.  Yes i know, im on the Guardian Unlimited as we speak but its not like the broadsheet in my own two hands is it?! So already ive established that buying nothing is detrimental to both my health and intelligence. Thanks Kalle Lasn.

13.44pm: Right, im here in the heart of it, facing buy nothing day straight in the face, im in the belly of the beast. Im in town! And its full of trials and tribulations. As i scurry through the south Lanes its a gauntlet of unnecessary wants and appropriated 'needs.' Every shop front shouts out to me, newsagents, retail, restaurants, pubs, bars, fast food - i want it all! Any excuse to buy a newspaper, shiny magazine or chocolate bar. What i really want, what my mouth longs for is a can of caffeine and sugar. I want some sickly drink to quench this thirst for expenditure.

The brightly coloured packaging calls to me like an evil siren by the sea. The vibrant designs of seduction pierce my mind with splinters of doubt. "I do really need an envelope today so i might as well get some Sprite too." No! No weakness. Fortunately i was smart enough to come out penniless. That was obvious enough. So now im in Boarders reading their magazines and books for free! Ha! Zac - 1, Consumerism - 0. But a war is made up of many battles and this victory is short and savory. As i paw another H.S.T archive the growls in the pit of my stomach become deeper, darker and much more foreboding than before. I should have listened to my GCSE History teacher Mr Kendall, "fail to plan and you plan to fail." Wise words full of punctuation as my stomach plummets, twists, turns and knots to remind me how stupid ive been not to brink a packed lunch. I can hear pitta bread and houmous whispering my name on the wind. Must keep my mind occupied, ill have to move on soon.

Ive yet to make it back through town and into college. College will be sanctuary number two with its water cooler full of free h20, and its library full of free entertainment. There i will be safe from the ghastly influences of the outside world and i can occupy myself with printing. But i don't think im strong enough to face the ugly temptations of town. No i must take a different route, through the backstreets, keeping to the shadows where the light of consumerism cannot reach me. I must go underground.

14.31pm: I made the stupid mistake of walking down Sydney Street in the North Lanes and i was of course bombarded with smells of baked goods, pastries, pies, bagels, baguettes and oh Lord - bacon! i had to practically sprint to get here unscathed and unspent.

16.34pm: Walking up Elm grove to get home accentuated the cavernous echoes of hunger so when i got in i put together a pitifully stale baguette of cheese and salad, and thats it.

20.43pm: Im home and have been now for a few hours. Home is safe and secure from the external world so full of sinful enticement.  Obviously a night out on the town os out of the question. No, ive got tortellini to cook, Batman Returns to watch and tobacco to smoke. Im worried though because ive developed an affiliation for Galaxy chocolate after my evening meal and alas i didn't stock up. Its ok, simply ignore it.

"Does anyone want anything from shop?!" Goddamn you bastard! I forgot this killer question. My heart sinks, my sweet tooth twinkles and and i have to swallow down my pride, my tasteless, insubstantial pride. Yum. Remember when you used to say "aww im starving!" and your Mum would shout "you don't know the meaning of the word!" Well maybe not but i know the meaning of Nestle, and i want it! To hell with fair trade Mr Cadbury i want you!

"Bourbon biscuit anyone?" Don't mind if i do. Ha! My quick fix has been granted, briefly my craving is quenched.

2.16am: Hopefully these are the last minutes of my buy nothing day. Unless i try to sleep but instead just fantasize about the lavish banquet im going to have tomorrow. Well ive done it, a whole day spent not spending, and it wasn't too hard. You have to be quite strict with yourself and make a few difficult lifestyle choices but anyone with an ounce of will power and Mary-Jane can buy nothing for a day. But what does this prove? I haven't learnt a valuable lesson or come to some profound realisation about the nature of consumerism. I resent it just as much and accept it as an unfortunate reality. perhaps if i get involved with the official buy nothing day then ill feel different, a part something. We can only hope.    

Dialectic diagnosis suburbia

Counterculture will never work because it is merely a reform of our current culture, we need to reject our culture entirely and start afresh. As Marx wanted to do with Communism, we must do with culture jamming. We need to rethink our application of media and technologies and reinvent our social and economic order. Karl's critique of the Unions can be applied. They were a step in the right direction, but in no way revolutionary enough, they simply redesign the cages in which the workers operate rather than break the shackles of labour power. It applies today as much as it did 120 years ago. The proletariat are kept subservient by ideologies, false consciousness and warped meta-narratives. 

This is the illusion the bourgeoisie erected by producing ideas as a means of exercising subordination of the working class. The workers are not people, just cogs in the machine. Their only individuality comes from their significance in the mode of production that is privately owned, therefore they can never function as a social human being in the outside world, purely a tool. They are a labour means towards a capital end. They toiled 12-16 hour days to barely survive and were still drowning in poverty and famine when they returned home each night. This alienation can be summed up by the phrase "existence precedes consciousness" (more depressing than Sartre's 'existence precedes essence'). A proletarian is defined by their social context rather than their essential behavior.

But can Communism ever work? Soviet history would argue no. People always have their own personal agenda which overrides the necessary selflessness that is required to unite the proletariat. Capitalism promotes egocentric materialists lost in self-obsession and further strengthens the wrong kind of individualism via bourgeois propaganda and hegemony - contemporary advertising makes fake promises of identity, self-definition, status and power through the purchasing of overpriced, mass produced goods. This state of affairs will continue to get worse until there is a breaking point where consumerism crescendos and the smog of greed, ignorance and apathy clears to reveal a lucid sky of working class clarity.

Unfortunately i don't see counterculture bringing this forth. So why am i taking a subversive attack on the MTV brief? Well, because i'd much prefer to take a socialist point of view where i can still exercise my imagination, than conform to corporate group-think and be another free instrument of ideas and labour power. Saying that, however, if MTV were to appreciate my alternative approach and want to offer me money for the idea, or future ideas, i would happily accept it. I don't know how Communism can ever hope to cope with the fact that human nature is inherently egotistical, let alone counterculture.