Thread by @PnictogenHorses

Chara says, "it's that time again."

I don't even know if this is a good movie. now that we've learned more about Thompson's writing and Oscar Acosta's, we're inclined to think that both #JohnnyDepp and @TerryGilliam missed the point of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".

at the heart of the story is an absurdity: a noisy, pointless race that only exists because someone's rich enough to make it happen. it's big and loud, so it's newsworthy—rather like other explosions in Nevada, e.g. nuclear explosions or the PEPCON ammonium nitrate explosion.

and it really *says* something about the United States and its culture, doesn't it, that the U.S. tends to treat Nevada as mere wasteland—a dead zone where one can dump shameful and dangerous things. this is a Christian thing of course; extremist Christians need to *see* Hell.

people like @MattWalshBlog and @DouthatNYT and @pastorlocke aren't ever happy with an *abstract* Hell (or Heaven) even though they're people who claim to be better at appreciating abstract things than anyone. they need material representation, to believe in Hell. hence, Nevada!

that is to say, American culture treats Nevada (and other places) as a kind of approximation of Hell, and it's tough to get Americans to care about the sufferings and problems of people in Nevada—because, you know, it's Nevada! it's Vegas horrors and nuclear wastelands and so on.

the paradoxical benefit of (unofficially) setting aside an entire state as a wasteland is that you can do anything you want there! tear the place up, nobody cares, etc.

it's a destructive, nihilistic way of treating a place, but it's also the American personality.

Americans like to destroy things! they try to be proud of it, even though it's never good to be proud of destruction.

@elonmusk is hoping to be proud of *wrecking* @Twitter, once he can't any long sustain the illusion that he's good at running it.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen