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Home » Forums » Speak Out

Speak Out: The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved

Posted by Rick Vandeven on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 8:56 AM:

A classic from Hunter S Thompson in honor of Derby Day...

http://english138.web.unc.edu/files/2011/08/The-Kentucky-Derby-is-Decadent-and-D...

Replies (22)

  • I hope that was more fun for the writer to write than it was for this reader to read.

    It wasn't as interesting to me as the sory with the punch line "Why do you ask, Dead Dog Rotting?"

    :) :)

    -- Posted by Old John on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 10:36 AM

  • The good doctor was the King of Fun. This was written in 1970. HST died in 2005.

    The punchline that I heard to that old joke is "Why do you ask, Two Dogs !@#$%^& ?"

    -- Posted by Rick Vandeven on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 11:11 AM

  • I always considered myself the king of suspense because

    -- Posted by Old John on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 11:30 AM

  • Sports are the most useful form of mind control ever made to control the stupid sheeple. Keep the idiots focus on some mind numbing and useless activity and they will not see what is really going on. STUPID SHEEPLE!!!

    -- Posted by Some Random Guy on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 12:04 PM

  • I always considered myself the king of suspense because

    -- Posted by Old John on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 11:30 AM

    :)

    -- Posted by Rick Vandeven on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 12:10 PM

  • Sports are the most useful form of mind control ever made to control the stupid sheeple. Keep the idiots focus on some mind numbing and useless activity and they will not see what is really going on. STUPID SHEEPLE!!!

    -- Posted by Some Random Guy on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 12:04 PM

    And you keep focusing on that spider web floating in front of your face,Guy. I think Alex has some paranoid posts up you should check out. Stay calm and take the meds as prescribed.

    -- Posted by bothedog on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 12:14 PM

  • bothedog

    What are you talking about?

    -- Posted by Some Random Guy on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 1:30 PM

  • bothedog

    What are you talking about?

    -- Posted by Some Random Guy on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 1:30 PM

    ME?

    -- Posted by bothedog on Sat, May 4, 2013, at 3:09 PM

  • Common,

    Here is something else to lay at Conservatives door. We are such a fickle lot.... why here it is, less than 24 hours after the big race and we have already forgotten it until next year.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, May 5, 2013, at 2:19 PM

  • Some folks like horse racing and some like bingo and baseball. Live with it.

    -- Posted by Dexterite1 on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 6:22 AM

  • "so many tail-end hypocrits together in one place."

    I tend to agree. Only place I have ever had the air let out of all four of my tires was a church parking lot. Good place to lock your car as well.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 9:30 AM

  • "Sports are the most useful form of mind control ever made to control the stupid sheeple."

    Actualy, people who obsess over matters about which they have little or no control would strike me as the fools. Whether be led by good men or tyrants, our ability to influence them is slight.

    Divertment in our lives is both welcome and necessary.

    While it seems likely that you are unable to enjoy a horse race without losing sight of the fact that there are great woes among us, many of have the ability to multi-task. We can sit in comfort, knowing that comfort may be fleeting. That does not cause us to enjoy it less, quite the contrary, most likely. No one enjoys the taste of life better than the man who knows he may lose it at any moment.

    Yes, bread and circuses serve to take the minds of the mob off their woes. Does that make the evil? If you give a hungry man bread are you serving him ill well by making him forget, even for a moment, that he is hungry? If you give a sad man a moments enjoyment are you serving him ill well by making him forget, for that moment, that he is sad? I say not!

    Wallow, if you wish, in your self-deprivation, unable to enjoy the pleasures of the moment. I can enjoy them, without losing sight of the fact that such enjoyments may vanish along with my life or my freedom at any moment.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 9:40 AM

  • SH

    I agree, there are things that provide entertainment and enjoyment for me and I will indulge when I can. Sports happens to be not one of them I care a lot about, but more power to those that enjoy them, unless it becomes an obsession to the point where they would rather sit with their nose buried in the TV rather than supporting their families.

    My Dad enjoyed going to the Cape Fair and the horse races years ago. I am glad he got to indulge himself in those brief moments of pleasure while he was alive. I remember they did not do a lot for me but..... to each his own.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 10:03 AM

  • Wheels, What about the potato up the tail pipe and the watermelon rinds under the rear tires?

    I have little interest in sports however the last few laps of a NASCAR race or a well matched heavy weight boxing match will sometimes hold my attention.

    -- Posted by Old John on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 10:13 AM

  • "Wheels, What about the potato up the tail pipe and the watermelon rinds under the rear tires?"

    I didn't get involved in too much of that. Some of that stuff didn't amuse my Dad a whole lot and he gave me a good understanding of what could happen to me if I got too out of line. :-(

    Sunday morning after Church was about as good as NASCAR for me when growing up. Some of the "Old Geezers" who had not learned to drive as a youngster, provided a certain amount of entertainment when they 'launched' for the trip home. I remember a couple of them, well up in age, who would start the engine with the accelerator (foot feed) on the floor, slip it in low and with their foot still on the floor let the clutch out rapidly, with Mama sitting on the passenger side with a look of terror in her eyes and the rocks flying.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 10:31 AM

  • Wallow, if you wish, in your self-deprivation, unable to enjoy the pleasures of the moment. I can enjoy them, without losing sight of the fact that such enjoyments may vanish along with my life or my freedom at any moment.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Mon, May 6, 2013, at 9:40 AM

    Though I cannot possible know the circumstances of your life,I wonder if your glass is always so dry.

    I myself, prefer a good Horse Show to horse races any day. The opulence of the Derby has overtaken the race.

    -- Posted by Reasoning on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 5:54 AM

  • "Though I cannot possible know the circumstances of your life,I wonder if your glass is always so dry."

    "Ah, fill the Cup: - what boots it to repeat

    How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:

    Unborn TO-M0RROW, and dead YESTERDAY,

    Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet!"

    - Omar Khayyam -

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 8:04 AM

  • -- Posted by Reasoning on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 5:54 AM --

    I think you have misinterpreted my post. My glass is always full of the life-restoring juice. I know not what tomorrow will bring, but today I shall live and enjoy all that God has given me to enjoy. If tomorrow I shall find myself deprived of life, liberty, or property, I shall rest well knowing that I have not wasted my opportunity to enjoy these things while I yet had them.

    That is not to say I am unconcerned nor plan for the future, but rather that I do no squirrel away my money nor my enjoyment for a time I may never get to see.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 11:35 AM

  • "Actualy, people who obsess over matters about which they have little or no control would strike me as the fools."

    And yet here you are, amongst the herd.

    -- Posted by the_eye on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 6:00 PM

  • I'm not sure if it's true but Abraham Lincoln was said to observe slaves on a flat boat going down the river. He gleaned that what ever one's station in life happiness can be found if seeked.

    -- Posted by Old John on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 7:37 PM

  • I myself, prefer a good Horse Show to horse races any day. The opulence of the Derby has overtaken the race.

    -- Posted by Reasoning on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 5:54 AM

    Those rich people that pay you are such pigs.

    -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 8:10 PM

  • -- Posted by the_eye on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 6:00 PM --

    Clearly you don't know the difference between obsession and involvement. I try to make a difference in as much as my comments and opinions may influence the voters who read them. But I do not obsess, which is to say a failure to alter the course of events does not keep me up at night, nor from enjoying the pleasures of the day, such as a horse race or a drive in the country.

    Those who obsess cannot enjoy such things, because they believe that every moment spent away from their obsession is a moment wasted.

    So, now, what is your excuse for being found here in the herd?

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Tue, May 7, 2013, at 8:10 PM

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