For the past year, there has only been a few things on the Internet that I found to be actually humorous. I have a number of theories for why so little on the Internet is funny. Perhaps the most compelling is that the Internet really offers something for everyone. To the contrary, even the most seemingly marginal topic of interest will likely have a well develop enthusiast community on the Internet. While these hidden worlds of shared interests are probably a good thing on many levels, its definitely not good for humor.
Every community is free to develop their own boundaries of acceptible behavior and thought.
More importantly, with the weirdos of the world safe within their groups of like minded degenerates there's a shortage of people to laugh at and heckle. The result is similar to what might happen on Monday Night Football if they'd ever give Dennis Miller a long enough leash to really rant about the societal implictions of big time sport. Thompson's columns have largely slid under the radar of mainstream America, and the result is a frequently hilarious and occasionally insightful riff on American culture with only the thinnest of concept revelatory. Most significantly, Thompson's writing is as sharp and lucid as seen in years. In the past decade his most compelling writing has been seen in his compilation of personal letters.