Who Said That?
Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 05:43PM 
“It strikes me that Playboy is a religious magazine, though I will admit I have a peculiar understanding of the meaning of the word. What I mean is that the magazine tells its readers how to get into heaven. It tells them what is important in life, delineates an ethics for them, tells them how to relate to others, tells them what to lavish their attention and energy upon, gives them a model of a kind of person to be. It expresses a consistent world view, a system of values, a philosophical outlook.
Not only does Playboy create a new image of the ideal man, it also creates a slick little universe all its own, creates what you might call an alternative version of reality in which men may live in their minds. It's a light and jolly kind of universe, a world in which a man can be forever carefree, where a man can remain, like Peter Pan, a boy forever and ever. There are no nagging demands and responsibilities, no complexities or complications.
But for the most part, the magazine is, I would expect, pretty harmless. It amuses its readers by creating a delightful imaginary world for them, a world that they find it fun to live in; and everybody needs a little fun now and then. ”
Who said that? Leave your guess in the comments section below. Please, no google searches!
Kim Riddlebarger
I know that you'll never guess this one. This is a quote from a Unitarian minister, John A. Crane, from Santa Barbara, California, who devoted an entire sermon to the subject, "Philosophy and Fantasy in Playboy Magazine and What This Suggests About Us." Hugh Hefner cites this sermon approvingly in his December, 1962 essay, "The Playboy Philosophy."
Looking back at Hefner "philosophy" through the lens of 55 years of hindsight, Rev. Crane's comments sound pretty ridiculous, in light of the scourge of sexually transmitted disease, pornography, and child abuse, which all flourish as unforeseen consequences of "Hef's" hedonism.
Reader Comments (18)
DSY
Speaking of which, and with all due sympathy to certain wives, it does seem to me that men behaving like little boys is more the problem, not big, bad magazines roaming the earth seeking whom they may devour. I know we are not suppose to think/say such things in our culture of the therapeutic that moralizes and demonizes at the expense of personal responsibility...but I can't help myself (!).
That sounds like Rick Warren.