In Praise of Indecency: The Leading Investigative Satirist Sounds Off on Hypocrisy, Censorship and Free Expression

by Paul Krassner

Paul Krassner's style of personal journalism constantly blurs the line between observer and participant. Nowhere is this more apparent than this collection of essays and interviews culled from his columns at AVN Online. Whether being interviewed by Susie Bright, or imagining a conversation between Pee-Wee Herman and Pete Townshend about their busts by overzealous cops, or reminiscing about his friend Lenny Bruce, Krassner shines his keen satirical...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573443506
• ISBN13: 9781573443500
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Cleis Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Perfectly Indecent, Completely Provocative, Smart and Sometimes Disturbing

Paul Krassner's essay collection In Praise of Indecency covers all manner of indecency, focusing largely on sex and porn, from product placement in adult movies to the demise of pubic hair, necrophilia, and Charles Manson, with a bit about The Aristocrats (the film and the joke) thrown in. Mostly, these are very short dispatches, but they cover a range of topics, many of which are seen as somehow taboo. One of the best pieces here is the title one, which covers all manner of obscenity and supposed indecency, from the ongoing saga of Janet Jackson and Nipplegate to Bono dropping the F word to even more lunacy: NPR deleted part of a story on Portland, Oregon's famed Voodoo Doughnuts Cockfest (yes, it's a contest to "see who can put the most doughnuts on their unit"). It's sad and shocking that we need to be "protected" from dessert-draped dicks. Another example is 3 16-year-old girls suspected for saying the word "vagina" during a reading of The Vagina Monologues. Krassner makes it clear what he thinks of this and other instances in which the government, or individuals, turn sex, and sexual gratification, into something dirty. He doesn't shy away from topics that many of us (I'll admit, myself included) would find disturbing, and where most would stop reading, he digs into his subject, looking at those who are profiting from, say, bestiality, providing details that even the most well-read sex nerd wouldn't have come across. There are a few off notes, such as the overly long and rather ubiquitous topic of spam subject lines. I also would have liked to see some sort of introduction and a date with the pieces; for instance, there's a piece that surely would've referenced 2 Girls, 1 Cup had it been written in its wake (I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want to read it - that certainly was one of the ones I found interesting yet a little nauseating as a topic). This collection pushes boundaries, as it presumably was intended to, and certainly points to the fact that there is much to abhor about the quest for a thoroughly "decent" society.

Social and Political Commentary

Krassner, Paul. "In Praise of Indecency", Cleis Press, 2009. Social and Political Commentary Amos Lassen Paul Krassner has his own style of personal journalism that manages to dim the line between participant and observer. "In Praise of Indecency" is a collection of essays and interviews which have been taken from his online columns and they are satirical views of today's taboos. Krassner breaks them down and takes them apart to show their hypocrisies and he does so in a biting way and with tongue in cheek. We see how absurd and oppressive the social mores of today really are and we see this through humor and thought-provoking ways. Krassner has been a counterculture warrior for a long and his social commentary is widely read. He is more than a social rebel and he is as funny as he is considered dangerous by many. He is ingenious at being able to ferret out the hypocrisy of our times and he does so from some of the most solid American institutions. He has described himself as an "investigative satirist" and he sits somewhere between politics, pornography, drugs and culture. His manner is rambunctious as he probes the values of America. Nothing is sacred to Krassner as he takes the reader on a thought-provoking tour. Krassner's style is unorthodox as he shows that indecency is a form of art as well as a kind of revolution. The book opens with an interview with Susie Bright and covers topics like rape and porn, masturbation, aristocracy, pubic hair, Lenny Bruce, Pee Wee Herman, Pete Townsend, the FBI, Charles Manson, hip hop music and so much more. Your eyes will be opened and I do not think that you will close them for a very long time.