Playboy magazine boss man Hugh Hefner passed into the great beyond Wednesday night, leaving behind a legacy of sexual decadence and a media empire dedicated to the sexual exploitation of women.
By his own admission, Hefner slept with possibly over a thousand different women, had various harems of girlfriends (which became the subject of a reality TV show), and sold women’s bodies for profit.
The death of anyone is sad and should be met with reverence and respect for the fact that the person’s soul has gone to eternal rest. Nobody should be standing on the grave of Hugh Hefner celebrating his demise. That being said, he should not be hailed a “hero” or some magnificent force of sexual liberation, even by feminist standards. Hugh Hefner lived the life of a pimp, or at the very least, the life of a piggish king ruling over a company of interchangeable harems.
On top of his hedonist lifestyle, Hefner also stood at the forefront of the 60’s sexual revolution and embraced various feminist causes, beginning with birth control and ending with abortion.
“Playboy fought for what became women’s issues, including birth control,” Hefner said to Vanity Fair during a 2010 interview. “We were the amicus curiae, friend of the court, in Roe v. Wade, which gave women the right to choose [abortion]. But the notion that women would not embrace their own sexuality is insane.”
Hefner’s magazine also pushed transgenderism before it became woke back in 1991 when it featured transgendered Caroline “Tula” Cossey in a pictorial. “I had done pinups and calendars and glamour shoots, but to be the first transsexual in Playboy, I felt absolutely honored. I remember being invited to the Mansion to meet Hugh Hefner,” Cossey said. of the opportunity “He looked into my eyes and I immediately knew he felt my story. He felt my cause.”
Of all the criticisms to level against the man, the Left can only muster this ridiculous excuse of a talking point:
What’s the correct response to Hugh Hefner’s death? Matt Walsh of The Blaze provided a terrific post on Facebook that best sums it up:
Hugh Hefner died last night. I’m sorry he’s dead. I’m sorry for his family. But mostly I’m sorry for the incredible damage he did to society as one of the pioneers of the sexual revolution and a driving force behind our cultural decay.
It’s unfortunate that we must point out the fact that Hefner was a pornographer and a pimp. That his life’s work was to amass a collection of desperate women who were willing to be used and exploited. But we must tell this truth in order to combat the untruths that people are now saying about him.
We live in a country where men like Hefner are immediately canonized upon death. I’ve seen Hefner described as a “hero” and a “role model.” These are lies, and we must call them lies. The fact that Hefner is dead does not change the fact that he was a peddler of filth. If a man wishes to be remembered as virtuous and decent, he must live virtuously and decently. We don’t become virtuous and decent when we die, as if death itself washes away every bad thing we’ve done. Quite the opposite, actually. Death is when we reckon with the bad things.
I’ve been assured that Hefner is “in a better place” now. I realize this is just a thing we say about all dead people, no matter who they are and what they did. And indeed it’s possible that Hefner repented before death and has now entered the Better Place. But to confidently state as fact that a pornographer is in Heaven is arrogant and dangerous. Pray that God has mercy on him, but do not run around declaring that a man who spent his life having orgies and taking pictures of naked women must necessarily be reaping eternal rewards.
Let’s try to be serious for a change. Let’s treat the death of a man like Hefner with somber honesty. It is always sad when someone dies. It is even sadder when a corrupt and decadent man dies. We may have hope that a man of great faith and goodness is in Heaven. We may have the same hope for the corrupt man, but it is a slimmer hope. So, we simply trust in the mercy and justice of God, knowing that He will deliver us all to the destinations we have chosen. And, if we must learn anything from Hefner’s life, it’s that a life of selfish pleasure seems so pointless once it’s over. That is the great lesson he taught us.
May God have mercy on him and all sinners. Amen.