4 Christian Reactions to Hugh Hefner's Death: The Mansion Is a Myth
Samuel James: Hefner's Mansion Is a Myth, the Reality Is Misery
"Hefner did not invent pornography, and what his media empire did promulgate is probably considered mild compared to what the Internet now offers," wrote Samuel James of Crossway Books in Illinois in a post on Mere Orthodoxy Thursday, where he blogs regularly. James is also a former staffer of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
And it is ironic, he added, that this man, who is sometimes referred to as a "ladies' man,"
institutionalized a habit that keeps men and women separate from each other.
"Men who chase the Hefner dream wake up in their 30s and 40s shocked to realize that the years passed them by, while they were hibernating in make-believe fantasies. And that is to say nothing of the men whose marriages, careers, and fatherhoods fall apart when the depth of their compulsion is made public (as it almost always is)," James said.
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"The facade is glitz and Hollywood glamour. The brick and mortar that holds it all together is the despondency of those trapped in a locked room without windows."
Hefner normalized that facade, putting a "classy" veneer on fantasy and addiction, he said, but it has all been a farce.
"Hugh Hefner became what he did in large part because a man who sins sexually sins against his own body, and the wages of such sin are neurological, powerful, and mysterious. The Mansion is a myth. The basement is the reality."
