Nearly twenty years ago, I wrote a paper for my high school American government class on Larry Flynt’s candidacy for president in the 1984 election. Got an A-, which wasn’t bad, considering that the teacher was a feminist who, despite being a liberal (and a great teacher!) was against everything Flynt stood for – and I sprung the paper on her at the last minute. But it was pretty much par for the course for me, having written an immigration paper about extraterrestrials, among others.
So last night, at the Hustler Hollywood store in downtown San Diego, Flynt was there in person. I actually thought that it was going to be a political speech of some sort, but instead he was just there signing autographs, with someone named Jenna Jameson; I was apparently the only one in line who didn’t immediately recognise her from her numerous porn videos. “You’re here to see Larry?” I picked up his book, and got him to sign it and my paper (which I somehow was able to dig up from the archives); I’d even made another copy for him to keep, which he seemed to appreciate. He wasn’t looking all that great, but did seem to brighten up when I showed him the paper. “I would certainly like to read this.”
Flynt’s style of porn does not appeal to me. The women don’t look real; and they don’t appear to be the sort that I’d enjoy talking to or hanging out with (not to mention whether they’d like hanging out with me!). And I’m still ambivalent about whether or not they’re being exploited. Though I must admit, back in 1984 what Flynt produced was way, way over the top – but with what’s availble on the internet, the Hustler store seems downright tame.
But I do like his style of politics, whether or not I agree with any of it. We’re supposed to be the greatest nation on earth, because we’re a government of, by, and for the people. Not the rich people, not the powerful people, not the elegant and politically correct people. But all the people, including the pornographers, the go-go girls, and the plain ol’ everyday people that do whatever they happen to do, assisted by the image of Jenna Jameson. So I like the fact that there are – or at least, were – outrageous people like Flynt to fight to define our first amendment rights.
And there were a lot of those everyday people in line last night. Took 2 hours to get in to the store. I still don’t think I could pick out Jenna from a line-up. Maybe I’ll have to rent a video. But one of my favorite parts of standing in line, is when they were telling us the “rules” – you could take pictures OF them, but not WITH them. “That’s okay,” I told the people in line around me, “that’s what Photoshop is for. ‘See, here we are at Sea World, and there we are at the zoo…'”