Friday, October 21, 2005
Long Live Larry Flynt
The publisher of Hustler has received the first ever life-time achievement award at San Francisco's world-famous Erotic Exotic Ball, and I don't understand how this Chronicle Article can lead-in making it sound like the city has chosen to honor Hitler. Larry Flynt is a true American hero; a champion of First Amendment Rights who has stood his ground, fought for his position, and taken a bullet in the spine for his troubles.
Like Lenny Bruce before him, Flynt hasn't been afraid to "work blue", and has suffered for it. As noted above, he's spent an assload of money defending himself against the prudes, and has donated almost as much based on one simple proposition: grown-ups have the right to say and print what they will, without censorship.
And that's a noble cause. Period. Who cares whether Flynt made his fortune off of beaver shots? In fact, that little detail alone -- Flynt made his fortune off of beaver shots -- ought to tell you everything you need to know. People vote with their wallets, and while they might try to be hypocritical and deny it, there's a reason that porn (or pr0n, if you will) is a multi-billion dollar business. Why do you think the Internet exploded into a major force so quickly? That's right -- easy access to porn. What was the second thing we heard after Apple announced the video iPod? That's right -- porn movies were now available for it. That's always the second use of any new technology, and you can bet your sweet ass that as soon as that first cave painter at Lascaux was done drawing an antelope, someone came along and painted a tits 'n twat portrait.
But, anyway... just another indicator of America's hypocrisy. If we weren't so schizophrenic about sex, Larry Flynt would have received a Congressional Medal of Honor long ago for defending the Constitution. Instead, political parties return his donations, newspaper articles have to pretend they don't celebrate him even as he's being celebrated, and most people just don't have the balls to thank him for being the hero that he is. Quoth St. Larry:
If you have a problem with that, then you probably need to get laid.
Flynt recently calculated that he has spent $44 million on legal fees in the three decades that he's run Hustler, and given $10 million to $12 million to free speech and First Amendment protection organizations over that time. That generosity has endeared him -- or at least earned him an acknowledgement -- from many free speech advocates.And again, the Chronicle tries to distance themselves with that "or at least earned him an acknowledgement" bullshit. But, c'mon. If you're at all interested in First Amendment rights in this country, Larry Flynt is a god.
Like Lenny Bruce before him, Flynt hasn't been afraid to "work blue", and has suffered for it. As noted above, he's spent an assload of money defending himself against the prudes, and has donated almost as much based on one simple proposition: grown-ups have the right to say and print what they will, without censorship.
And that's a noble cause. Period. Who cares whether Flynt made his fortune off of beaver shots? In fact, that little detail alone -- Flynt made his fortune off of beaver shots -- ought to tell you everything you need to know. People vote with their wallets, and while they might try to be hypocritical and deny it, there's a reason that porn (or pr0n, if you will) is a multi-billion dollar business. Why do you think the Internet exploded into a major force so quickly? That's right -- easy access to porn. What was the second thing we heard after Apple announced the video iPod? That's right -- porn movies were now available for it. That's always the second use of any new technology, and you can bet your sweet ass that as soon as that first cave painter at Lascaux was done drawing an antelope, someone came along and painted a tits 'n twat portrait.
But, anyway... just another indicator of America's hypocrisy. If we weren't so schizophrenic about sex, Larry Flynt would have received a Congressional Medal of Honor long ago for defending the Constitution. Instead, political parties return his donations, newspaper articles have to pretend they don't celebrate him even as he's being celebrated, and most people just don't have the balls to thank him for being the hero that he is. Quoth St. Larry:
"First, I'd like to think that I've helped two generations get through puberty, because we're all about having fun... The obscenity and free speech issues came later.Hear, hear. To quote the motto of Flynt's (successful and fun) Hustler stores, "Relax. It's just sex..."
"You've got to see that this Justice Department keeps chipping away at our rights. The American people are so ill-informed... that they don't realize what's going on. And they won't until it's too late."
If you have a problem with that, then you probably need to get laid.
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