December 10, 2019

"As I lay there, I could feel the medicine take over my entire body, as if an extraterrestrial had entered my bloodstream and was taking over. I could feel it doing its work on my brain, repairing the virus known as addiction."

Says a user of Ibogaine, quoted in "Silicon Valley’s psychedelic wonder drug is almost here/A new startup called MindMed could have the key to providing the upsides of psychedelic drugs for both focus and addiction treatment—while cutting out the downsides of tripping" (Fast Company).
Ibogaine is found in a woody West African shrub that sprouts orange fruits like upside-down tear drops. In Gabon and Cameroon, members of the Bwiti religion eat rootbark from the Iboga Tabernanthe bush as part of a ceremonial confirmation of their faith. Americans have sought out this rite of passage for decades in hopes of enlightenment. In blog posts and on Reddit threads, ibogaine enthusiasts detail how the rootbark renders intense visions, hallucinations, and deep vortexes of memory followed by introspection. It can take days to go through.
Ibogaine? Isn't that the drug Hunter S. Thompson said Ed Muskie was on... back in the days when fake news was trippy and funny — a way to smoke out the squares who couldn't see a joke:
While in Wisconsin covering the primary campaign for the United States presidential election of 1972, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson submitted a satirical article to Rolling Stone accusing Democratic Party candidate Edmund Muskie of being addicted to ibogaine. Many readers, and even other journalists, did not realize that the Rolling Stone piece was facetious. The ibogaine assertion, which was completely unfounded, did a significant amount of damage to Muskie's reputation, and was cited as a factor in his loss of the nomination to George McGovern. Thompson later said he was surprised that anyone believed it.
I have that text. Excerpt:
The Muskie nightmare is beginning to look more and more like a major political watershed for the Democratic Party....  Big Ed was supposed to be their ticket to Miami, where they planned to do business as usual once again, and keep the party at least livable, if not entirely healthy. All Muskie had to do, they said, was keep his mouth shut and act like Abe Lincoln.

The bosses would do the rest. As for that hare-brained bastard McGovern, he could take those reformist ideas he’d been working on, and jam them straight up his ass. A convention packed wall to wall with Muskie delegates—the rancid cream of the party, as it were—would make short work of McGovern’s Boy Scout bullshit.

That was four months ago, before Muskie began crashing around the country in a stupid rage and destroying everything he touched. First it was booze, then Reds, and finally over the brink into Ibogaine … and it was right about that time that most of the Good Ole Boys decided to take another long look at Hubert Humphrey. He wasn’t much; they all agreed on that—but by May he was all they had left.

Not much, for sure. Any political party that can’t cough up anything better than a treacherous brain-damaged old vulture like Hubert Humphrey deserves every beating it gets. They don’t hardly make ’em like Hubert any more—but just to be on the safe side, he should be castrated anyway.

Castrated? Jesus! Is nothing sacred? Four years ago Hubert Humphrey ran for President of the United States on the Democratic ticket—and he almost won.

It was a very narrow escape. I voted for Dick Gregory in ’68, and if somehow Humphrey manages to slither onto the ticket again this year I will vote for Richard Nixon....

Well … as much as I hate to get away from objective journalism, even briefly, there is no other way to explain what that treacherous bastard appears to be cranking himself up for this time around, except by slipping momentarily into the realm of speculation....
"The rancid cream of the party" —  I wonder who's the rancid cream of the party now. If you Google the phrase, you'll only get 4 hits — and all are the full text of Thompson's essay. I'm (apparently) the first person to quote that phrase on the internet. The rancid cream of the party. I think it deserves widespread usage. We tend to say "the elite" more than "the cream" these days, and we miss out on a good deal of metaphorical fun. There's still literal cream:



But once there was vivid imagery:



And by the way, when you were reading about the Democratic Party in 1972 deciding "to take another long look at Hubert Humphrey," didn't you think about today and the prospect of the Party taking another long look at Hillary Clinton? Did you see that a new Harvard/Harris poll has her ahead of Biden and the rest — the frontrunner!?

She wasn’t much; they all agreed on that—but by May she was all they had left.

The italicized text is just a little twinge of a premonition of mine — just me, high on 2 cups of coffee at 5 in the morning.

18 comments:

Heartless Aztec said...

New Orleans coffee with chicory - trippy stuff. Feel like I hanging with Wyatt and Billy in the cemetery.

rehajm said...

I used to be a heroin addict, mow I’m a methadone addict.

Hillary up to 10 cents on Predictit. I doubled up!

gilbar said...

I think i'll stick with Iocane powder*, after all i spent all that time developing a immunity


Iocane powder* noted as being one of the deadliest poisons known to man. It has no odor, no taste, and will dissolve instantly when poured into liquid. However, one can build up an immunity to iocane by gradually ingesting trace doses over time.

Rob said...

They don’t hardly make ’em like Hillary any more—but just to be on the safe side, she should be castrated anyway.

AllenS said...

Tripping is what it's called.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

HST's gonzo was often truer than reality. Could anyone get away with this level of hyperbole, these days? I don't think so, not in AA's era of that's not funny and that's a shame. A conservative or GOP identifier can't even write or speak reality much less satirical exaggeration of this level, without being canceled. But, I don't even think a progressive like HST could get away with this today, unless the exaggerations totally excluded all Dems, especially those from the special identity groups, which basically is all Dems who aren't straight white males. He might could get away with referring to a few of the straight white males of the Dem party as the rancid cream since these particular rancid creams would most likely agree with him to signal their bona fides.

DrSquid said...

Hunter S. Thompson was a true piece of shit. You heard it here first.

JMW Turner said...

Prince and Hunter S. Thompson: Now, that's Entertainment!

Wince said...

Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on
Yeah and if you want to, you can cream on me


She said, my breasts, they will always be open
Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me
And there will always be a space in my parking lot
When you need a little coke and sympathy

Yeah we all need someone we can dream on
And if you want it baby, you can dream on me
Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on
Yeah and if you want to, you can cream on me

Roger Sweeny said...

There actually is some science behind the idea that psychedelics can be helpful in certain situations. "Scott Alexander" of Slate Star Codex has a series of interesting posts, the most recent of which is here.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Haha. That excerpt sounds just like the Democrat party today.

Floundering around. Trying to gin up a candidate that could pretend to not be crazy. All Muskie had to do, they said, was keep his mouth shut and act like Abe Lincoln.

Biden talking about his hairy legs, kids jumping on his lap (eeeewww),and calling his voters fat fucks before Muskie began crashing around the country in a stupid rage and destroying everything he touched.

Any political party that can’t cough up anything better than a treacherous brain-damaged old vulture like Hubert Humphrey [BIDEN] deserves every beating it gets. LOL!!

Nothing changes,I suppose. Still wandering in the wilderness. Can't stop being crazy.

Scott Patton said...

Quick run through of the new Althouse posts before work...
Later this eve I'll "click for more" and get to see how Prince garnered a tag. In the mean time it will be there, like a splinter in my mind.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I know it was humor.

But doesn't humor often reflect reality? Life imitating Art.

Tom T. said...

The user quoted in this post's title doesn't sound like he's receiving treatment; it just sounds like another high.

Howard said...

Trump channels HST when he tweets. He's getting away with it so far.

Le Stain du Poop said...

The Dealer: "No Ann no! One drop of that paralysizes a woman instantly!" Ann (having drunk the whole bottle with no apparent effect): "Perhaps it wears off instantly."

YoungHegelian said...

n Gabon and Cameroon, members of the Bwiti religion eat rootbark from the Iboga Tabernanthe bush as part of a ceremonial confirmation of their faith.

The Bwitians should bring their faith & their drug trees over here & Congress can defend their right to use the drug during their ceremonies by overwhelmingly passing a bill to defend their religious practices. We could give the bill a snappy name like "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act" or sumthin'.

Oh, wait...

PS: See "Background & Passage" for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to get my reference.

Treeamigo said...

“Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail” is a fun read- every election year.

Shame that journalists these days lack a sense of humour and enough skepticism about and distance from the pols and parties they support.