Image by alibaba0.
This is quite a coup of an interview, especially if you are a Lenny Bruce / Paul Krassner fan. Here’s a snip from Paul Krassner’s Unstoppable Indecency – Violet Blue: America’s leading satirist opens up about porn, Lenny Bruce, and why being “indecent” is more important than ever:
Even the word “indecent” seemed quaint to me; Paul Krassner‘s (paulkrassner.com, NSFW) newest book “In Praise of Indecency” sat on my desk for a good long while before I cracked the spine. After years of being the foremost girl porn blogger in the Internet village (see Fleshbot.com circa 2005-09, if you dare) I just couldn’t imagine that there would be anything shocking, relevant to my generation, or truly indecent between the covers.
I was delightfully wrong, and completely entertained.
Krassner made his mark as a major counterculture figure in the 1960s. He was one of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, close friends and a protege of Lenny Bruce, and had people such as Kurt Vonnegut and Groucho Marx openly stating that Krassner was a hilarious, yet biting force to reckon with in a culture rife with sexual and political hypocrisy. That would be our America.
After I got my hands on his book, I was introduced to Krassner and jumped at the chance for an interview. That there are statutes of limitations in this country made my time with Krassner all the more exciting, especially given he’s still a tooth-and-nail troublemaker.
Violet Blue: Why do you think that indecency is especially relevant right now?
Paul Krassner: History shows that when a country is in the process of becoming totalitarian, the first target is pornography because that’s the easiest thing to ban. There have been arrests for obscenity based on the Patriot Act. In my latest book, “Who’s to Say What’s Obscene,” I point out how that word has morphed into an adjective for non-sexual acts that really do cause harm to people, such as HMO profits and the justification of torture.
VB: What do you mean by “indecency” and how does that translate in a culture where teens are growing up thinking that “two girls one cup” is so last year?
PK: Indecency is a concept that festers in the mind of the beholder. It was an excuse in 1964 to arrest Lenny Bruce at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York for giving “an indecent performance.” At the top of the police report was this notation (…read more, sfgate.com)
