Two Cultural Icons

 Two Cultural Icons by Bill Keller

Two cultural icons passed away in the last week, one who used his life for evil and one who used his life for good! In the past week, pornographer Larry Flynt died, as did talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh. When you look back on the lives of these two men who had a great impact on our culture, you see one who used this gift of life for evil purposes, and the other who used his gift of life for good.

After Hugh Hefner brought pornography into people's homes in the 60's, it opened the door for others to produce content exploiting women and filling minds with sinful thoughts that reduced sex to a physical act of carnal pleasure. Flynt's Hustler magazine became the first national monthly publication that stripped away the Playboy model of naked women amongst articles dealing with all aspects of life such as food, wine, travel, clothing, politics, and the issues of the day that were dealt with from a liberal point of view. Flynt's magazine was pure unadulterated smut. He didn't even pretend that his monthly rag was anything but the most graphic exploitation of women along with sick sexual humor.”

Flynt started his porn empire in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio in the 60's. He started out with a strip club before starting the Hustler magazine. Over the years his multi-million dollar operation grew to include strip clubs around the country, Hustler and other porn magazines, pornographic movies, as well as several cable TV channels and websites.

In 1977, Larry Flynt became a born again Christian under the influence of President Jimmy Carter's sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton. He reverted to atheism a year later after a white supremacist shot him and paralyzed Flynt for life.

Flynt became a national figure in the late 80's due to a Supreme Court case against Liberty University founder Dr. Jerry Falwell. The case gained national attention as it dealt with the issue of whether a public figure could be defamed. Flynt ended up winning the case against Falwell that is today a precedent ruling on the ability of a public figure to sue someone for damages based on how they were portrayed.

From Wikipedia: “Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), if the emotional distress was caused by a caricature, parody, or satire of the public figure that a reasonable person would not have interpreted as factual. ”In an 8–0 decision, the Court ruled in favor of Hustler magazine, holding that a parody ad published in the magazine depicting televangelist and political commentator Jerry Falwell Sr. as an incestuous drunk, was protected speech since Falwell was a public figure and the parody could not have been reasonably considered believable.”

The Bible teaches us that only God knows our heart as to salvation. I have no idea if he seriously committed his life to Christ by faith since he had lived in total contradiction to such a commitment both before 1977 and for the rest of his life afterwards. He and Dr. Falwell actually had a friendship in the years after their court battle. I have no doubt Dr. Falwell would have challenged him to make a true confession of faith, but again, his life never reflected in any way such a commitment to Christ.

ONE THING THAT IS 100% CERTAIN, LARRY FLYNT POURED OUT RAW SEWAGE INTO OUR CULTURE FOR OVER 5 DECADES. PORNOGRAPHY IS NOT A VICTEMLESS ISSUE! ONLY GOD KNOWS THE UNTOLD NUMBER OF LIVES HE CONTRIBUTED TO RUINING WITH HIS FILTH, THE NUMBER OF MARRIAGES AND FAMILIES THAT WERE DESTROYED. MAKE NO MISTAKE, LARRY FLYNT WAS NOT A 1ST AMMENDMENT HERO, HE WAS A PURELY EVIL MAN DRIVEN BY SATAN HIMSELF!

This past Wednesday, word came that talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh succumbed to lung cancer. For 33 years, this pioneer of conservative talk radio had a platform that reached tens of millions of listeners each week. Limbaugh was a very polarizing figure. He literally brought into the mainstream a conservative political message that is now a huge industry on the radio, TV, and internet.

Despite his public success, Limbaugh had a very difficult personal life. 3 wives. Addicted to painkillers that almost cost him his program, and did cost him his hearing. He took no prisoners in his commentary when talking about the Democratic Party and people who hold liberal political beliefs. That made him a huge target over the years and for the millions who loved him, just as many loathed him.

Politics aside, Rush's contribution to the culture was two-fold. First, he loved this country. Rush embodied the patriotism and traditional American values that most embraced in the 70's. He loved the military. Despite never having children and his failed marriages, he knew the traditional family unit was the foundation of our society. He held firm to those values even as they were being eroded from our culture starting in earnest as the 2000's unfolded. Rush was unapologetically a proud American!

Second, it wasn't just the traditional values he spoke of daily for 33 years, Rush also had a profound faith in God. It was only in his final months he openly spoke of his faith on the air. He stated that he wasn't there to proselytize, but Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior. Coming from the Midwest, Rush grew up in the church. His younger brother David Limbaugh is a bold Christian, having written several books on the faith. So despite the failings in life most of us endure over the years, I have no reason to doubt that Rush is in Glory as I type these words.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray that before he took his last breath Larry Flynt truly accepted Christ by faith. God says it is His desire that “none be lost.” However, it is impossible to talk about the life of Larry Flynt without dealing with the damage he did over the years to our culture. Sadly, over the past 2 decades, Flynt was just one of millions worldwide that make up the multi-billion dollar a year pornography industry.

Limbaugh's contribution to our culture was profound. 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, El Rushbo shared his conservative political views while speaking on the issues of our day from a foundation of the traditional American values and beliefs he held. As the years went on and the culture became more debased, it was refreshing to know you could always count on Rush to take a stand for our values that were being attacked and eroded. His legacy is that he spawned a conservative/traditional America values media complex where people can escape the corporate media telling them how evil our nation is, and hear that this is still America, a great nation despite our many problems!!!