“You’re a Whole Different Person When You’re Scared” could well be a kind of theme song for American culture, at least since the assassination of Kennedy, which is to say for most of my life, and it would probably be equally appropriate for me personally. The song was written by Warren Zevon and his friend Hunter S. Thompson, and appears on Warren’s penultimate album, My Ride’s Here. Certainly, it seems to provide at least a partial explanation of how people (not just Americans) can hold such high ideals and yet do such terrible things. This is a slideshow I did a couple of days ago, which to some extent follows the song’s narrative about leaving a foreign born sweetheart in her native land (presumably in comparative safety), and also expands on some of the ways in which the “home of the brave” has seemingly become “the kingdom of fear,” itself the main title of Thompson’s 2003 book. I hope it provides an interesting perspective on a deeply unsettling, brilliant song.