Gadzooks-- I cannot comment... 
as I never read any of the stories.
RIP Hef
Posted on 09/29/2017 10:19:27 AM PDT by drewh
He was the kind of person American conservatism seeks to enable — the self-made man; the radical, pajama-clad individual; the author of his own destiny. And he idealized women as women, in a way the left no longer allows.
Ironically, when given the choice of going full-throttle into hard-core pornography, and creating the kind of content the market now demanded, or bowing to mainstream traditional standards that shunned nudity on supermarket shelves, Playboy made the more conservative choice. Even in the battle to survive commercially, there were lines Hugh Hefner would not cross. He thus took his place alongside the very conservatives he once mocked earlier.
That does not mean Hefner was a conservative. But Hefner personified the famous promise at the heart of the Declaration of Independence — that this Republic would be devoted to the “pursuit of Happiness.” He pursued that ideal in an age when the left insisted on grievance and misery. He lived an eccentric life. But in the end, he gave up the thrill of girlfriends for the love of one wife. He challenged social conventions, but he also, perhaps despite himself, affirmed the eternal truth that women are women, and there are moral limits.
Hefner’s victory came with a loss — namely, the institution that was Playboy itself. Our culture now rejects the ideal of feminine beauty that Playboy once promoted, regarding it as a form of oppression rather than liberation.
But that feminine ideal lives on — not in the pages of Playboy, but in the imaginations of millions of quietly dissenting adults in the world Hefner helped create. However he is judged, Hefner changed us all.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I see his point, but it is more in the vein of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
I confess that as I listened to an NPR review of the man’s life and accomplishments yesterday I had to fight the urge to say that in many ways, the man was right.
But in the end, I was successful in that fight. :)
Gadzooks-- I cannot comment... as I never read any of the stories.
RIP Hef
Hefner is in eternal agony and profound solitary isolation.
If he could come back he would not be recommending celebration.
People do not die. They just go to their permanent change of station.
It was certainly his right to pretend that he was forever in his 30's, infinitely wealthy, and possessed of epicurean tastes in everything from scotch to automobiles. The reality was still an old wrinkled git in a bathrobe. De gustibus non est disputandum.
He started the hedonistic movement against women.
There are a lot of paintings and statues in Europe that are a bit older that showed beautiful women unclothed.
Women weren’t forced to pose for the magazine. It was a choice they made. They weren’t “used”.
Excellent point. Many women did it to get exposure for what they thought would be their acting or musical career. Bad on them I guess for thinking that showing off your rack would lead to you being accepted as a serious actress. Some of them posed solely because they could and wanted everyone to see it.
The sad part is the number of women who were promised auditions if they went the casting catch route or spent the night with a producer or movie financier.
But yes the bottom line is that no one forced these women to pose nude.
Amen!!!!!
No, no we shouldn’t.
Not relevant.
Hefner was a pipe smoker, as am I, and it was widely-rumored that his favorite blend was Middleton’s Mixture No. 79, which has been been reviled by pipe smokers who have described it as having the flavor and smell of soap, or perfume, or a scent cachet from granny’s bloomers drawer. I tried it once myself. Once. I guess some people like it.
And that’s my only comment about the life, legacy, and passing of Hugh Hefner.
What reasons?
Conservatives celebrate someone who worked to destroy the family (the basis of society) through objectifying women and implying that family life (i.e. marriage) is sexless by default? There’s one.
‘The Pill’ was introduced coincidentally as Hefner built the magazine. Without the pill, Hefner would have been just another nudie mag publisher.
Yes, that angle is not going to sell, at least not with me and not with a lot of others I think.
What the hell is up with Breitbart?
_________________________________________
Seems like they are trying to out-lib Reason, Slate, Salon, Puff Ho, CNN, etc.
It’s bizarre. Is this an example of “damning with faint praise”?
Hefner divided the left into the feminist faction and the more libertine that really wanted an invite to his parties.
Utterly unintentional. One of the funniest videos out there is him trying to convince a feminist back in the 60's that he's really on their side and her getting more and more shrill.
Correct.
Hef would have made a great liberaltarian. Conservative?
Not in a million years.
I would question that. How many had to sleep with Heff to become a playmate?
How many were made to do other things at the playboy parties?
How many became hooked on drugs?
We must look at the impact of Playboy in the porn industry. It legitimized porn and brought it into the mainstream of America.
It lead to other publications like Penthouse, Hustler, etc each taking porn to another level.
Again, all of this brought porn into the mainstream.
The porn industry in America does have a good number of young women seduced by the lure of "easy money".
No...Playboy was not good for America.
Many went on to lucrative modeling or acting careers. Others crashed and burned on their own.
He threw the first stone. That others threw bigger stones with more force is irrelevant. This man started the stone throwing. Without him doing this, it may have never started.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.