He was number 166 on the list.
Hugh Hefner didn’t invent pornography, and it would no doubt be thriving today even if he hadn’t founded Playboy magazine those many years ago. After all, man is fallen, and somebody would have filled that depraved niche in American life. Hefner, however, played his part, and the part he played was immensely destructive to our nation’s cultural, moral, and spiritual fabric. Hefner mainstreamed porn, he put it in millions of homes, and he even glamorized it — recasting one of America’s most pathetic industries as the playground of the sophisticated rich. He then grew to a ripe old age, consorting with women young enough to be his granddaughters. He was America’s most famous dirty old man. And now he’s dead. May God have mercy on his soul. It’s hard to calculate the damage he did, but the cultural rubble is all around us. My generation is perhaps the first to grow up with easily accessible porn. Every one of us knew whose father had a Playboy subscription (only the scary pervs subscribed to Penthouse or Hustler), and their kids knew exactly where dad kept his stash. They’d sneak out old issues, bring them to school, and pass them around. Before teens could rent porn on tape, they could see porn on the page, and once they saw it, they were hooked.
The effects have lasted a lifetime. Boys grew up believing they were entitled to sex on demand, and the sex would always be amazing. They learned to grow bored of the “same old thing” and instead to seek new adventures. They learned that monogamy was confining, that promiscuity was liberating, and that women should always be hot. The normal female form was no longer enough. It had to be enhanced, sculpted, and waxed. Though that kind of reality can’t exist for the vast majority of men, that didn’t stop the desire. So, they did and do the pitiful thing — retreated to bathrooms and bedrooms and masturbated nonstop to the women they could never have and the life they’d never live. How many families have broken to pieces when a wife discovers her husband’s secret addiction and realizes that she’s not enough — that she’s never been enough — and he spends much of his life fantasizing about thousands of others? How many men have grown to hate themselves for their psychological dependence on the saddest of habits?
The testimonies from porn nation are devastating. “I watched so much porn that I can’t really enjoy sex with my wife.” “He wants me to be something I can’t. I’ll never be as good as the girl on the screen.” “I can’t imagine being content with just one woman. I’ve had sex with thousands in my mind.” To see men become addicted to porn is to watch character formation in reverse. Their integrity and fidelity unwind before your eyes. They lie habitually to cover the extent of their habit, even when their wives are allegedly “open” and sexually liberated. After all, if she knew how much he watched or exactly what he looked at, even she would be shocked. The screen alone is never enough, the wife is never enough, and the addict so often seeks mistresses, prostitutes, or both. Another family breaks. More lives fall into despair. To see a man become addicted to porn is to watch character formation in reverse. All this is known. Everyone has seen it happen in their churches, in their neighborhoods, and in their families. This cycle has likely happened to thousands of men who’ll read this column. And yet, the secular, progressive guardians of our public morality — you know, the people who think you’re a horrible person if you don’t recycle or if you use the wrong pronouns — all so often don’t just tolerate but celebrate the sexual “liberation” that is part and parcel of porn nation.
So many A-list celebrities spent time at the Playboy Mansion, especially at its peak, that there was a time when one could wonder who hadn’t embraced Hef or the magazine he made. Our president has. The evidence is on his office wall. These were the people setting the tone for American culture. These were the people mocking the values that kept families strong. These were the people who teaching a nation that fulfillment could be found in sex, and that the joy of sex was worth more than marriage itself. They were wrong, and the cultural harm done outweighs the cost of botched presidential elections, bad congressmen, or a judiciary riddled with knaves and fools. The cultural harm done is even now ripping kids from parents and husbands from wives. When I think of Hugh Hefner, yes I mourn, but I mourn because the bitter fruit of his life’s work has helped poison the families of people I know and love. He is gone, but his legacy lives on. And his is a legacy of despair.
Hollywood continued in its celebration of perversion by featuring Hefner in several films where he mostly played himself - such as Beverly Hills Cop 2.
His filmography:
The Playboy Club (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Pilot (2011) ... Hugh Hefner (voice)
2011 Hop
Voice at Playboy Mansion (voice)
2009 Miss March
Hugh Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
2008 The House Bunny
Hugh Hefner
2008 Shark (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- One Hit Wonder (2008) ... Hugh Hefner
2007 Family Guy (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Airport '07 (2007) ... Hugh Hefner (voice)
2006 Robot Chicken (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Drippy Pony (2006) ... Hugh Hefner (voice)
2005 Weezer: Beverly Hills (Video short)
Hugh Hefner (uncredited)
2005 Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- The Smoking Jacket (2005) ... Hugh Hefner
2005 Entourage (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Aquamansion (2005) ... Hugh Hefner
2004 The Bernie Mac Show (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- The Talk (2004) ... Hugh Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
2004 Comic Book: The Movie (Video)
Hugh Hefner
2003 Las Vegas (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner - Justice of the Peace
- Year of the Tiger (2003) ... Hugh Hefner - Justice of the Peace
2003 Nelly feat. Justin Timberlake: Work It (Video short)
Hugh Hefner
2001 Just Shoot Me! (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- At Long Last Allie (2001) ... Hugh Hefner
2000 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV
President of the United States (uncredited)
2000 Sex and the City (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Sex and Another City (2000) ... Hugh Hefner
1999 V.I.P. (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Why 2 Kay (1999) ... Hugh Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1996 Roseanne (TV Series)
Hugh M. Hefner
- What a Day for a Daydream (1996) ... Hugh M. Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1993 Blossom (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- True Romance (1993) ... Hugh Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1993 The Larry Sanders Show (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Broadcast Nudes (1993) ... Hugh Hefner
1993 The Simpsons (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- Krusty Gets Kancelled (1993) ... Hugh Hefner (voice)
1982 Laverne & Shirley (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- The Playboy Show (1982) ... Hugh Hefner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1982 The Comeback Trail
Hugh Herner (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1981 History of the World: Part I
Entrepreneur - The Roman Empire
1974 The Odd Couple (TV Series)
Hugh Hefner
- One for the Bunny (1974) ... Hugh Hefner
1969 Get Smart (TV Series)
Control Agent in Elevator
- The Treasure of C. Errol Madre (1969) ... Control Agent in Elevator (uncredited)
1969 Romeo und Julia '70 (TV Mini-Series)
Hugh Hefner (1969) (as Hugh M. Hefner)
1968 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV Series)
Guest Performer
- Episode #2.1 (1968) ... Guest Performer (uncredited)
1965 Burke's Law (TV Series)
Manager
- Who Killed the Grand Piano? (1965) ... Manager
No comments:
Post a Comment