It's About Mr. Flynt
By Frank Zappa
I met Larry Flynt for the first time yesterday. He came to my home with his wife and some of the people from the HUSTLER staff. This was the result of an invitation from HUSTLER to direct a fantasy sequence for an upcoming series in the magazine.
The next day my wife and I went to the HUSTLER offices and had a long talk with him. That is why I am writing this piece now. I had been previously aware of a few facts surrounding Larry's legal problems, but not being a regular HUSTLER reader, the wretched details of the story were not clear to me. The discussion I had with him filled in several blanks.
I think Larry Flynt is a brave man. I also think that what has been done to him, in and out of U.S. courts, is as disgusting as anything ever printed in this magazine.
Whether you agree with his editorial policies, his sense of humor or his sexual attitudes (even I do not score 100% in all those categories), we ought to stop and think for a moment about what has been DONE to this guy in the name of AMERICAN JUSTICE. I don't waste a lot of time feeling sorry for people, since most of them make their own problems, but after reading about the two obscenity cases in the November Publisher's Statement, I got pissed off, because that sort of ignorance (especially when it becomes violent, as in the Lawrenceville, Georgia, incident) is something that any rational person should condemn as conduct unbecoming a judicial system that pretends to be the best in the FREE WORLD.
Must the public be taxed to support courtroom proceedings dragging on for years and years over a fucking CARTOON? Does somebody have to get paralyzed because you don't like his sense of humor?
THE "OPTIONAL POINT OF VIEW" (ANYTHING THAT DEVIATES FROM THE FRAUDULENT "NORMS" BEING MERCHANDISED BY INSTANT RELIGIONS AND OTHER BRANCHES OF THE MIND-CONTROL INDUSTRY) IS NOW AN ENDANGERED SPECIES IN AMERICA.
IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS. IGNORANCE IS MERELY IGNORANT. MANY PEOPLE IN THE U.S. HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE FOR BEING UNEDUCATED (OUR SCHOOLS...EVEN THE GOVERNMENT WILL ADMIT TO THAT), BUT HARD-CORE AMERICAN IGNORANCE, AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS WORSHIPPED AND REWARDED HERE, IS A DISEASE.
Things in this magazine, described by some as repulsive, can "optionally" be interpreted as drastic therapy for an atrophied physical function-in this case the ability (and the desire) to sort YOUR OWN OPTIONS: to confront and compute, ON YOUR OWN TERMS, the unthinkable, the unspeakable, the outrageous: without first having it filtered through the thought-process and bizarre motivations of a "somebody" somewhere who has taken it upon him-or-herself to tell YOU how and what to THINK.
Please be advised: YOUR RIGHT TO THINK FOR YOURSELF HAS NOT YET BEEN CANCELED. YOU CAN STILL DO IT: AND IT IS GOOD FOR YOU. IT IS ALSO GOOD FOR AMERICA.
THE FORMULA FOR THE CONTROL OF A TOTALLY SUBMISSIVE WORKFORCE, AS IT IS BEING ADMINISTERED TODAY, IS A SHORTSIGHTED SOLUTION TO COMPLEX ANTHROPOMORPHIC PROBLEMS.
UNIFORMITY IS NEITHER DESIRABLE NOR ENFORCEABLE, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF A "FREE SOCIETY," IT IS NOTHING TO ASPIRE TO.
Larry is a tough son of a bitch, and-as his health improves-so will this magazine (something that he is almost unbelievably proud of).
I hope he can keep his health, his sense of humor and his willpower in top form during the difficult months ahead.
Read by OCR software. If you spot errors, let me know afka (at) afka.net