WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:05.459 up a file on a figure who, well, didn't just 00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:08.220 document the American counterculture of the 1960s, 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:10.939 he fundamentally engineered its satirical DNA. 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:14.759 We are doing a deep dive into Paul Krafner, 1932 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:18.100 to 2019, a man who really transformed comedy 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:20.699 into a weapon against censorship. Earned him 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.199 the title, architect of counterculture satire. 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:25.780 Krasner was absolutely essential. Yeah, he was 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:29.359 this intellectual bridge between highbrow literary 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.780 tradition and, well. lowbrow political shock. 00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:35.179 Right. He wasn't satisfied just being witty or 00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:38.000 entertaining. He used shock and humor, not as 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.420 light relief, but more like surgical instruments, 00:00:40.539 --> 00:00:42.320 what he called guerrilla journalism. Guerrilla 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.439 journalism. Yeah, designed to cut through societal 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:47.340 hypocrisy, challenge established power. I mean, 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:49.240 if you really want to understand the anarchic, 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.899 irreverent core of the 60s, you absolutely have 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:54.140 to analyze the material he published and edited 00:00:54.140 --> 00:00:56.740 in his magazine, The Realist. That was seminal. 00:00:57.070 --> 00:01:01.009 And our mission today is precisely that, a comprehensive 00:01:01.009 --> 00:01:04.290 unpacking of that specific brand of journalism. 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:09.150 We want to focus on how Krasner's absolute willingness 00:01:09.150 --> 00:01:11.510 to publish the unpublishable really shaped an 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:14.590 entire era of American political and social thought. 00:01:15.049 --> 00:01:16.890 We really have to start, though, by recognizing 00:01:16.890 --> 00:01:19.489 the tone he said for himself. And interestingly, 00:01:19.650 --> 00:01:21.790 it was kind of beautifully summarized by his 00:01:21.790 --> 00:01:25.170 main antagonists, the FBI. They monitored his 00:01:25.170 --> 00:01:27.689 activities, you know, exhaustively, and they 00:01:27.689 --> 00:01:30.189 provided the definitive biographical descriptor, 00:01:30.209 --> 00:01:32.989 officially calling Krasner, and I'm quoting here, 00:01:33.109 --> 00:01:36.780 a raving, unconfined nut. Wow. And coming from 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:39.620 the FBI, the institution that tracked him, that's 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:41.560 like the ultimate badge of honor, isn't it? Absolutely. 00:01:41.819 --> 00:01:43.739 As George Carlin, who, you know, knew a thing 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:45.819 or two about necessary disruptions, said when 00:01:45.819 --> 00:01:48.480 endorsing Krasner, the FBI was right. This man 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.219 is dangerous and funny and necessary. Perfect 00:01:51.219 --> 00:01:53.439 summary. That single quote just perfectly captures 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:55.120 the balance of his influence, right? Funny enough 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.700 to be popular, but dangerous enough to be feared 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:01.040 by the establishment. Precisely. And his roles 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:05.000 all confirm this identity of disruption. Founder 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.680 and editor of The Realist, launched way back 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:11.240 in 1958. That's 58, okay. He's famously credited 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.259 with coining the term yippee for the political 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:15.919 theater group, the Youth International Party. 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:18.740 Right, the yippies. And critically, he was the 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:21.740 close protege, editor, collaborator of Lenny 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.460 Bruce, perhaps the most legally persecuted comedian 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:27.020 in American history. So he wasn't just watching 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:29.800 the chaos. No. No, he was often creating it right 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:32.199 from the center. Okay, let's unpack that. How 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:35.280 does a person whose early life seemed geared 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.919 toward, you know, prestige and quiet achievement 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:41.599 end up becoming the FBI's favorite raving nut? 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.039 Well, the origin story is it's rich with contradiction. 00:02:45.699 --> 00:02:47.939 Krasner started out as a true prodigy in the 00:02:47.939 --> 00:02:50.379 classical arts, believe it or not. Yeah, a child 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:52.879 violin virtuoso, skilled enough to perform at 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.340 Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1939. Get out. 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:57.699 How old was he? He was six. A mere six years 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:00.490 old. Six years old, performing classical music 00:03:00.490 --> 00:03:02.949 at Carnegie Hall. That's about as far as you 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:05.490 can get from the anti -establishment prankster 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:09.810 advocating for, what was it, toad slime psychedelics 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.270 decades later. Exactly. Polar opposites. So what 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:15.110 happened? What shifted his trajectory so dramatically? 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:17.990 Well, while he had a background in Judaism through 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:20.849 his parents, he developed this powerful, lifelong, 00:03:21.129 --> 00:03:24.210 intellectual skepticism. made a very deliberate 00:03:24.210 --> 00:03:27.789 personal choice to be secular. He defined religion, 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.889 with his characteristic cutting wit, as organized 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:34.289 superstition. And that skepticism wasn't just, 00:03:34.289 --> 00:03:36.770 you know, a personal choice. It became the foundation 00:03:36.770 --> 00:03:39.590 of his journalistic philosophy. A refusal to 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:42.569 accept any narrative, political, social, religious, 00:03:42.610 --> 00:03:45.050 without rigorous and often shocking scrutiny. 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:49.120 So his path diverged from music into journalism 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.139 and comedy, the two fields that would eventually 00:03:51.139 --> 00:03:53.300 merge into The Realist. He studied journalism, 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.379 you said, Baruch College, then CCNY. Where did 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:58.860 he get his initial professional experience, sort 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.439 of testing those anti -authority muscles? His 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.639 professional life started firmly in the anti 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.139 -censorship camp. He worked for The Independent, 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:08.580 an important anti -censorship paper back then. 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.860 Rose rapidly, became managing editor. But simultaneously, 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:15.520 he was moonlighting. Selling freelance stuff 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.220 to Mad Magazine. Mad Magazine. Okay. Honing the 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:20.899 comedy chops. Exactly. And he even tried performing. 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:23.980 Started stand -up comedy under this fantastic 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:27.420 pseudonym, Paul Maul. Paul Maul. M -A -U -L. 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:30.040 Not the one. That captures it perfectly. A mischievous 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:33.100 critic. So he's gathering all the tools, journalistic 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:35.379 rigor, editorial experience, comedy performance. 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:38.819 But realized there was no single outlet for it. 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:40.980 Is that right? Exactly. The transition to founding 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:44.339 The Realist in 58 was, in his words, an organic 00:04:44.339 --> 00:04:47.100 evolution. Born of frustration, really. How so? 00:04:47.339 --> 00:04:50.060 He recognized that while mad was great satire, 00:04:50.139 --> 00:04:52.620 it was explicitly aimed at teenagers. Right, 00:04:52.660 --> 00:04:55.180 for kids. There was this desperate need for a 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.779 satirical magazine aimed squarely at an adult 00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.519 audience. You know, people who understood politics, 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.959 philosophy, social nuance. And he dared to mix 00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:07.019 genuine. Deeply researched alternative journalism 00:05:07.019 --> 00:05:10.680 with cutting humor and, well, grotesque exaggeration. 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:13.680 So intellectually stimulating, politically explosive, 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:17.740 morally shocking all at once. That was the goal. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:21.199 Yeah. And central to this new style, the enormous 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:25.300 looming shadow of Lenny Bruce. How did Bruce 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:28.240 specifically influence the DNA of the realist? 00:05:28.569 --> 00:05:30.589 Well, Bruce basically provided the template for 00:05:30.589 --> 00:05:33.389 public shock as political critique. Okay. Bruce 00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:35.850 was demonstrating on stage that obscenity wasn't 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:38.410 just, you know, naughty words. It was a necessary 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:41.089 tool to expose societal hypocrisy. Yeah. Which, 00:05:41.189 --> 00:05:42.949 of course, led directly to his repeated arrests. 00:05:43.110 --> 00:05:44.889 Right. He was constantly in court. Constantly. 00:05:45.350 --> 00:05:48.009 Krasner became Bruce's close protege. He didn't 00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:50.089 just edit Bruce's controversial autobiography, 00:05:50.189 --> 00:05:52.329 How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. Which 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:55.170 is a classic title itself. Isn't it? But he also 00:05:55.170 --> 00:05:57.410 absorbed Bruce's fearless approach to challenging 00:05:57.410 --> 00:06:01.050 legal and social taboos. So Bruce took the fight 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:03.829 to the courtroom via the stand -up mic, and Krasner 00:06:03.829 --> 00:06:06.569 decided to take that same shock tactic and transpose 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:09.170 it onto the printed page, giving it permanence, 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:12.569 wider distribution. Precisely. Bruce actually 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:15.069 encouraged Krasner to perform his own stand -up. 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:17.560 which he did starting in 61 at the Village Gate 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.899 in New York. But Krasner quickly realized, I 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:23.680 think, that the magazine format offered a more 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.920 effective tool for mass cultural disruption than 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:29.300 a stage act. You know, limited by geography, 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.660 the immediate presence of police sensors. Right. 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:34.180 The printed page could travel. Exactly. Especially 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:36.860 when used for satire and hoaxes. It allowed him 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:39.079 to deploy much more calculated and widespread 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:42.199 provocation. Which brings us directly to the 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:44.319 realist and the incredible art of the calculated 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.290 provocation. The signature move of his guerrilla 00:06:47.290 --> 00:06:50.230 journalism. The realist. OK, so it began in 58, 00:06:50.490 --> 00:06:53.589 ran consistently through the 60s, became an essential 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:55.569 document of the counterculture. It slowed down 00:06:55.569 --> 00:06:59.350 later, 70s, 80s, finally published its last issue, 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:03.029 number 146, in spring 2001. Wow, quite a run. 00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:05.389 Yeah. And the magazine's enduring power lay in 00:07:05.389 --> 00:07:07.579 its relentless employment of the put on. OK, 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:10.079 before we dive into the specific stunts, let's 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.720 define that key term for the listener. What exactly 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:15.720 is a put on in the context of Krasner's journalism? 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:19.540 Right. A put on is basically a tactical journalistic 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:22.899 deception. OK. Where the writer mixes, say, 90 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.180 percent verifiable, straight fact or conventional 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:28.220 knowledge with 10 percent calculated fiction 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:31.959 or outrage. 10 percent fiction designed to do 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:34.779 what? Specifically designed to expose the belief 00:07:34.779 --> 00:07:37.439 structures of the reader. or the political system. 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:39.920 It's like a method of cultural deprogramming. 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:42.220 How does that work? Well, if the reader believes 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:44.899 the 10 % outrage, it proves their assumptions 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:48.180 about reality might be based on fear, credulity, 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:50.040 or maybe a willingness to believe the worst about 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:52.899 authority figures. Krasner mastered this. And 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.120 the earliest, maybe most elegant example of this 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:57.560 shock technique was that anti -censorship stunt 00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:00.540 involving just two words, launched in 63, right? 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:04.180 Yes, the infamous affect communism poster. Red, 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:05.939 white, and blue. Framed like a piece of earnest 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.259 Cold War patriotism. With those two inflammatory 00:08:08.259 --> 00:08:10.620 words. Exactly. Linguistic dynamite in the early 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:14.019 60s. And the critical praise for this was surprisingly 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:16.879 highbrow, wasn't it? Kurt Vonnegut. Yeah, Kurt 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:19.579 Vonnegut, major literary figure, called it a 00:08:19.579 --> 00:08:22.240 miracle of compressed intelligence, nearly as 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.560 admirable for potent simplicity as Einstein's 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:29.819 EMC -2. Wow, that's high praise. What was the 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:32.340 deep insight Vonnegut recognized there? Vonnegut 00:08:32.340 --> 00:08:34.580 saw the brilliance of the political poetry, I 00:08:34.580 --> 00:08:37.539 think. In the atmosphere of the early 60s, both 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:41.679 FC and communism were linguistic landmines. Just 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.100 saying them could cause trouble. Krasner was 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:46.600 showing that Americans, grift by Cold War anxiety 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.120 and puritanical moralism, were conditioned to 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.340 react to both words with the same immediate unthinking 00:08:53.340 --> 00:08:56.240 horror, what he called cockamamie Pavlovian fear 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.299 and alarm. So by forcing these two taboos together, 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:01.820 he revealed the absurdity of the censorship reflex 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:04.080 itself. The outrage produced by the poster was 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:06.720 doubled, yet it simultaneously kind of zeroed 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.480 out because the two concepts undermined each 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:11.000 other. It was genius, really. And Krasner's guerrilla 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.080 tactics didn't end with just publishing it. He 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.399 used the poster to directly challenge the apparatus 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.320 of censorship itself. Absolutely. This is where 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.659 the strategy of the unconfined nut comes in again. 00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:24.580 Krasner saw being arrested as excellent publicity. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:27.750 Great free press. The legendary anecdote is that 00:09:27.750 --> 00:09:31.350 he took the poster, mailed a copy directly to 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.789 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. No way. To Hoover. 00:09:34.950 --> 00:09:37.049 To Hoover himself. Yep. Included a little note 00:09:37.049 --> 00:09:39.539 saying he hoped Hoover would get a chuckle. From 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:42.059 the patriotic poster. Oh, my God. He was actively 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:45.100 trying to bait the most powerful anti -subversive 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:47.679 organization in the country into prosecuting 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:51.100 him for obscenity. Precisely. He calculated that 00:09:51.100 --> 00:09:53.899 a federal obscenity trial would guarantee massive 00:09:53.899 --> 00:09:56.399 national publicity for the realist, transform 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.980 a niche satirical magazine into a cause celeb 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:02.220 for freedom of expression. And did it work? No. 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:04.279 Krasner admitted he was genuinely disappointed 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:06.809 when Hoover failed to take the bait. No prosecution 00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:08.990 resulted. He was disappointed he didn't get arrested. 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:11.870 Yes, it perfectly demonstrates his radical theory. 00:10:12.210 --> 00:10:14.750 If you want to be relevant, force the system 00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:17.110 to react against you. Make them show their hand. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:20.519 That desire for system reaction, it escalated 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.019 into his single most notorious stunt, the one 00:10:23.019 --> 00:10:25.240 that blurred the lines of truth and fiction so 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.240 effectively it became the defining example of 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:30.799 his metaphorical truth. I'm talking about the 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.799 Kennedy book hoax of 1967. Oh, yeah. This came 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.259 during a period of extreme public scrutiny, you 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:37.799 know, regarding the official narrative of the 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:39.860 JFK assassination. Right. Lots of conspiracy 00:10:39.860 --> 00:10:42.980 theories already. Exactly. William Manchester's 00:10:42.980 --> 00:10:44.980 authorized account, the death of a president. 00:10:45.419 --> 00:10:47.960 was highly anticipated but heavily censored by 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:51.639 the Kennedy family. Created this vacuum of distrust. 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:54.919 Krasner saw that vacuum and published his satire 00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:57.480 titled The Parts That Were Left Out of the Kennedy 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:00.279 Book. And the content. It was designed to be 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:02.860 the ultimate visceral transgression, wasn't it? 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.799 Leveraging the deep societal trauma around the 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:08.019 assassination and the widespread suspicion of 00:11:08.019 --> 00:11:10.399 Lyndon B. Johnson. It was. Yeah. Yeah, shocking 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.409 piece of grotesque satire. The short narrative 00:11:13.409 --> 00:11:15.429 climaxed with a graphic description suggesting 00:11:15.429 --> 00:11:18.429 that then -President Lyndon B. Johnson had, well, 00:11:18.529 --> 00:11:20.570 sexually penetrated the bullet hole wound in 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:23.490 the throat of JFK's corpse right after the assassination. 00:11:23.909 --> 00:11:26.289 Even just hearing that description today is profoundly 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:30.009 jarring. How could Krasner possibly justify such 00:11:30.009 --> 00:11:33.370 extreme content? His justification, which he 00:11:33.370 --> 00:11:36.990 reiterated decades later in 95, was based entirely 00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:40.909 on this concept of metaphorical truth metaphorical 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:43.409 truth explain that he argued the story while 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:47.649 factually untrue obviously was a metaphorical 00:11:47.649 --> 00:11:50.870 truth about lbj's personality he wasn't asking 00:11:50.870 --> 00:11:53.009 people to believe it literally happened okay 00:11:53.009 --> 00:11:55.470 he was using the horrifying image to convey a 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:58.009 broader political point about the character of 00:11:58.009 --> 00:12:00.250 the man leaving the country especially during 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:02.370 the escalating Vietnam War. But the immediate 00:12:02.370 --> 00:12:05.070 impact was that key political figures, including 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:07.389 Daniel Ellsberg, the guy who later leaked the 00:12:07.389 --> 00:12:09.950 Pentagon Papers, actually believed the incident 00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:11.870 was factual, that it had been censored by the 00:12:11.870 --> 00:12:13.809 government. Didn't that suggest the put -on had 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:17.149 gone too far? Confusing people rather than clarifying 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:19.809 reality. Krasner viewed that confusion as the 00:12:19.809 --> 00:12:22.350 desired result, or at least a valuable side effect. 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:24.799 He argued that the shocking imagery was necessary 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:27.580 because it broke through the notion that the 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:29.980 war in Vietnam was being conducted by sane men. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.440 His logic was radical. If you are capable of 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.860 waging an insane, destructive war like Vietnam, 00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:38.940 you are metaphorically capable of this unthinkable, 00:12:38.940 --> 00:12:42.720 vile act. The shock forced a cognitive disruption, 00:12:42.980 --> 00:12:45.659 made people question the moral baseline of their 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:47.980 leadership. That was his central goal. So the 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:49.980 mechanism of guerrilla journalism isn't just 00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:52.419 about printing something controversial. It's 00:12:52.419 --> 00:12:54.759 about forcing the reader to abandon their assumed 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.240 reality by confronting them with something so 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.700 offensive they have to rebuild their context 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:02.059 from scratch. Precisely. And he used other methods, 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.139 too, to challenge the notion of obscenity itself. 00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:07.279 In 66, he published the famous Disneyland Memorial 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.179 orgy poster. illustrated by Wally Wood. Oh, yeah, 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.500 I know that one. All the Disney characters not 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:14.559 behaving well. Not behaving well at all. It became 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.960 this enduring visual icon of counterculture defiance 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.379 against, you know, manufactured corporate innocence. 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:22.679 And he also deployed the put on to challenge 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:25.419 what was considered appropriate language or subject 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:27.460 matter, even if it was scientifically grounded. 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:29.720 Yeah, that's where the highbrow brow blend gets 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.480 really interesting. Also in 66, the realist reprinted 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.580 an actual academic medical journal article. from 00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:38.360 the Journal of the American Medical Association. 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:41.100 A real medical article about what? It's a sober 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:43.559 clinical discussion detailing various bizarre 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.419 foreign objects, tennis balls, drinking glasses, 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.179 vegetables found in patients' rectums. Seriously? 00:13:49.580 --> 00:13:52.000 Seriously. Krasner published it straight, no 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.799 commentary, but inserted it into a publication 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:58.549 known for satire. And how did his... You know, 00:13:58.629 --> 00:14:01.210 supposedly hip counterculture audience react 00:14:01.210 --> 00:14:04.970 to getting a dry medical report about objects 00:14:04.970 --> 00:14:07.909 lodged in human orifices. It provoked outrage 00:14:07.909 --> 00:14:11.690 among his own subscribers. No way. Yeah. They 00:14:11.690 --> 00:14:14.340 accused him of having a perverted mind. Krasner 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:16.580 was delighted, of course. He proved that even 00:14:16.580 --> 00:14:18.659 verifiable, clinical, peer -reviewed medical 00:14:18.659 --> 00:14:21.480 truth could be deemed obscene if presented outside 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.940 the expected, sterile context of academia. He 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:26.899 demonstrated that obscenity resides not in the 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:29.440 content itself, but in the context of the delivery 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.320 and the conditioned response of the reader. Brilliant. 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:34.700 Krasner wasn't content just being behind the 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:37.460 editor's desk, though. He was a hands -on activist, 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.059 helped structure the movements he wrote about. 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.240 His most lasting contribution to political organization 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:46.440 came in 67, co -founding the Youth International 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:51.179 Party and coining the term Yippie. Right. The 00:14:51.179 --> 00:14:53.820 Yippies were the ultimate realization of Krasner's 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:57.159 philosophy, merging political protests with theatrical, 00:14:57.460 --> 00:15:01.120 often absurd, humor. Political theater. Exactly. 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:03.940 They were anarchists who used pranks, cultural 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:06.820 disruption, to expose the rigidity of the mainstream 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:10.330 political machine. Krasner's foundational role 00:15:10.330 --> 00:15:13.330 here really solidified his place as a strategic 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:15.590 networker within the counterculture. He also 00:15:15.590 --> 00:15:18.210 embraced the original figures of prankster activism, 00:15:18.450 --> 00:15:20.529 right? Yeah. He was associated with Ken Kesey's 00:15:20.529 --> 00:15:23.210 Merry Pranksters, which cemented his reputation 00:15:23.210 --> 00:15:25.409 for combining serious political action with, 00:15:25.509 --> 00:15:28.610 well, outright outrageous stunts. Kesey and the 00:15:28.610 --> 00:15:31.029 Pranksters. That's a whole other deep dive, maybe. 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:33.350 Definitely. Later. during the high -stakes trials 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:36.070 of the Chicago 7 defendants. The ones prosecuted 00:15:36.070 --> 00:15:38.190 for the protests at the 68th Democratic Convention. 00:15:38.470 --> 00:15:41.379 That's them. Krasner was listed as a prominent 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:44.299 public supporter. He was central to the ideological 00:15:44.299 --> 00:15:47.320 core of the late 60s protests. What's fascinating, 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:49.799 though, is how he balanced these public theatrical 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:53.860 stunts with really high -risk, serious social 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:56.559 activism, like his early stance on abortion rights, 00:15:56.700 --> 00:15:59.600 decades before Roe v. Wade. This is such a crucial 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:01.879 detail. Often gets overlooked by focusing just 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:05.220 on the stunts. Back in 1962, remember, abortion 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:08.909 was illegal, highly dangerous. Krasner... published 00:16:08.909 --> 00:16:11.549 this incredibly courageous piece in The Realist. 00:16:11.610 --> 00:16:14.230 What was it? An anonymous interview with a provider 00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:17.809 he called Dr. Robert Spencer, who detailed his 00:16:17.809 --> 00:16:20.190 involvement in performing illegal but crucially 00:16:20.190 --> 00:16:23.029 safe abortions. Publishing that back then, that 00:16:23.029 --> 00:16:25.950 was a massive legal risk. What were the direct 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:28.250 practical consequences for him? The consequences 00:16:28.250 --> 00:16:31.370 were immediate and serious. Krasner started getting 00:16:31.370 --> 00:16:34.190 direct, desperate calls from women. seeking connections 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:36.850 to the anonymous Dr. Spencer. Wow. So he wasn't 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:38.850 just disseminating potentially illegal info. 00:16:39.049 --> 00:16:41.669 In the eyes of the law, he was potentially aiding 00:16:41.669 --> 00:16:44.389 and abetting a crime. This led to him being subpoenaed 00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:46.549 before grand juries investigating abortion crime. 00:16:46.929 --> 00:16:49.289 Subpoenaed? Yeah. This wasn't a joke or a put 00:16:49.289 --> 00:16:51.750 -on. He put himself in serious legal jeopardy 00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:53.929 out of a commitment to reproductive health and 00:16:53.929 --> 00:16:56.299 free information. So he was willing to go to 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.820 jail both for the spectacle of obscenity, like 00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:01.120 the Hoover stunt, and for the genuine principle 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.099 of providing necessary social information, like 00:17:04.099 --> 00:17:06.099 the abortion interview. It shows the breadth 00:17:06.099 --> 00:17:09.240 of his commitment. Absolutely. He also maintained 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:11.579 his political convictions through civil disobedience. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:16.099 Signed the 1968 Writers and Editors War Tax Protest 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:19.619 Pledge. What was that? Signatories vowed to refuse 00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:22.299 tax payments as a protest against funding the 00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:26.000 Vietnam War. His activism was consistent, but 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.039 his ability to penetrate the mainstream media 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:30.539 sphere was perhaps his most surprising talent. 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:32.839 That's the Krasner contradiction again, isn't 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:34.960 it? The radical activist simultaneously earning 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.180 a living writing for major commercial men's magazines. 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:41.579 He was prolific and highly paid as a freelancer. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:44.519 Throughout the 60s, contributed regularly to 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:47.319 Playboy and Cavalier, the dominant men's magazines 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:50.319 of the era. Playboy and Cavalier. Cavalier recognized 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:53.019 his talent, gave him a substantial commitment, 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:56.420 paid him $1 ,000 a month, a generous sum then, 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:59.559 to write a column he appropriately titled The 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:03.220 Naked Emperor. The Naked Emperor. Perfect. But 00:18:03.220 --> 00:18:05.519 what does that relationship tell us? That a leading 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.640 figure of the counterculture was financially 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:10.579 supported by the very establishment he was satirizing? 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.960 It speaks to the complexity of the era, I think. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.700 The mainstream was starting to embrace or at 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:19.009 least tolerate rebellion. as long as it was packaged 00:18:19.009 --> 00:18:21.750 in an entertaining way. Okay. Krasner was smart 00:18:21.750 --> 00:18:23.930 enough to take the establishment's money while 00:18:23.930 --> 00:18:27.109 using their platforms to push radical ideas to 00:18:27.109 --> 00:18:29.430 a massive, mostly conventional audience. Yeah. 00:18:29.509 --> 00:18:31.410 People who would never have picked up The Realist. 00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:33.829 He was infiltrating from within. And he also 00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:37.089 experimented with radio, continuing to use pseudonyms. 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:40.230 He did. Brief but wildly entertaining radio stint 00:18:40.230 --> 00:18:44.109 in 71, San Francisco, KSFX, and ABC -FM affiliate. 00:18:44.309 --> 00:18:46.329 And what did he do on air? Continued his brand 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:48.990 of satire, aggressively espoused atheism, all 00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:52.130 under the gloriously ridiculous pseudonym Rumpelvorskin. 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:54.789 Rumpelvorskin. Rumpelvorskin. That is truly Pete 00:18:54.789 --> 00:18:57.869 Krasner. A pseudonym designed to provoke a chuckle, 00:18:57.910 --> 00:19:00.890 ensure no one took the host too seriously, even 00:19:00.890 --> 00:19:03.549 while discussing serious ideas. And that reach 00:19:03.549 --> 00:19:06.170 extended into the arts world, too, for a truly 00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:10.680 bizarre cinematic footnote. His legs, just his 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:13.900 legs, appeared in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:16.880 avant -garde 1971 film Up Your Legs Forever. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:19.980 Just his legs. Just his legs. The fact that he 00:19:19.980 --> 00:19:22.900 was connected enough to global icons like Lennon 00:19:22.900 --> 00:19:26.519 and Ono to contribute even a small, absurd physical 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.980 element is pretty telling. We should also mention 00:19:28.980 --> 00:19:31.299 his relationship with Mama Cass Elliot, the singer. 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:33.500 She clearly saw him as more than just a political 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:36.339 provocateur. Cass Elliot was a profound admirer. 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:38.680 Yeah. After meeting him with Timothy Leary, apparently 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.099 she was so taken with his philosophy, she asked 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:43.539 him to write the liner notes for her 1968 solo 00:19:43.539 --> 00:19:46.259 album. Did he? He did. She gave him complete 00:19:46.259 --> 00:19:48.380 freedom, told him write about the Yippies, write 00:19:48.380 --> 00:19:50.220 about anything you want. She called him a hopeless 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:52.940 idealist. Hopeless idealist. Yeah. It underlines 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:54.980 the fact that his work resonated deeply with 00:19:54.980 --> 00:19:57.240 the artistic community. They saw his satirical 00:19:57.240 --> 00:19:59.700 efforts as part of a larger, maybe spiritual 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:01.980 and political quest for liberation. Okay, so 00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:04.480 after the height of the Yippie era, Krasner transitions 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:06.839 more from primarily being an editor -publisher 00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:09.359 back into a full -time author, codifying his 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.700 philosophy, his experiences in a long series 00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:14.319 of books. Yeah. He essentially shifted from From 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:19.119 creating cultural chaos in real time to documenting 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.180 and analyzing that chaos. His first major compilation 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:25.220 of realist material came in 71. with a perfectly 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:27.880 Krasnerian title, how a satirical editor became 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:30.619 a yippy conspirator in ten easy years. He always 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:32.819 did have a knack for descriptive titles, capturing 00:20:32.819 --> 00:20:34.980 the chaos and contradiction of his life. Indeed. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.599 His 1981 work, Tales of Tung Fu, prime example 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:41.319 of his unique style, blending satirical stories 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:44.920 with truly rigid social commentary. Tung Fu. 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:46.619 And, of course, the definitive account of his 00:20:46.619 --> 00:20:50.130 career arrived in 1994. his autobiography, which 00:20:50.130 --> 00:20:53.190 embraced his official federal designation, Confessions 00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:56.029 of a Raving Unconfined Nut, Misadventures in 00:20:56.029 --> 00:20:58.170 Counterculture. He leaned right into the FBI 00:20:58.170 --> 00:21:00.289 label. Absolutely wore it as a badge of honor. 00:21:00.509 --> 00:21:03.029 And he also proved that his editorial eye for 00:21:03.029 --> 00:21:05.869 controversy, his interest in censorship, it never 00:21:05.869 --> 00:21:08.549 waned, continuing to publish well into the 21st 00:21:08.549 --> 00:21:12.029 century. Right. As late as 2009, he published 00:21:12.029 --> 00:21:14.809 Who's to Say What's Obscene, a collection that 00:21:14.809 --> 00:21:16.710 revisited the themes that launched his career. 00:21:17.770 --> 00:21:20.750 Exploring obscenity in modern politics and culture, 00:21:20.890 --> 00:21:23.549 analyzing how the boundaries of comedy and offense 00:21:23.549 --> 00:21:26.190 had shifted in the decades since the realist 00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:28.789 first started shocking people. Okay, if we're 00:21:28.789 --> 00:21:31.190 truly digging into the core philosophy of the 00:21:31.190 --> 00:21:33.809 counterculture, we have to spend some significant 00:21:33.809 --> 00:21:36.069 time on his documentation of the psychedelic 00:21:36.069 --> 00:21:38.529 movement, which he compiled into his specific 00:21:38.529 --> 00:21:42.109 drug trilogy. Ah, yes. The drug trilogy. This 00:21:42.109 --> 00:21:44.720 wasn't just memoir. It was Krasner acting as 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:46.960 the archivist of altered consciousness. Archivist. 00:21:47.140 --> 00:21:49.539 Yeah. It showcases his belief that challenging 00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:52.099 cognitive boundaries was a political and spiritual 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:54.940 act, just as important as challenging legal boundaries. 00:21:55.099 --> 00:21:57.180 Let's break down the trilogy. The first volume 00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:59.220 focused on the most common counterculture drug. 00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:02.460 Plot Stories for the Soul, published in 1999, 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:05.839 focused on marijuana. Interestingly, this volume 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.630 was mostly a compilation. Stories and anecdotes 00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:11.150 gathered from other authors, establishing a shared 00:22:11.150 --> 00:22:14.170 cultural history around cannabis use. Krasner 00:22:14.170 --> 00:22:16.589 was providing the editorial framework for collective 00:22:16.589 --> 00:22:19.269 experience. Okay, so curating other stories there. 00:22:19.450 --> 00:22:22.009 The second volume saw him return to his own voice, 00:22:22.190 --> 00:22:24.549 focusing on the quintessential psychedelic of 00:22:24.549 --> 00:22:27.410 the 1960s. Paul Krasner's Psychedelic Trips for 00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:31.099 the Mind, 2001 written entirely by Krasner himself, 00:22:31.339 --> 00:22:33.779 concentrated specifically on LSD experiences. 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.079 This was a deep, personal dive into the psychological, 00:22:37.339 --> 00:22:40.339 social implications of acid use as a tool for 00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:42.630 radical thought, perception shift. And the final 00:22:42.630 --> 00:22:45.490 volume, this one reveals his commitment to chronicling 00:22:45.490 --> 00:22:47.809 the entire, sometimes bizarre, pharmacological 00:22:47.809 --> 00:22:50.089 landscape of the era. Magic Mushrooms and Other 00:22:50.089 --> 00:22:52.809 Highs from 2004, highly eclectic. It dealt with 00:22:52.809 --> 00:22:54.509 the traditional psychedelics, magic mushrooms, 00:22:54.670 --> 00:22:57.930 peyote, mescaline, but also covered THC, opium, 00:22:57.930 --> 00:23:00.630 cocaine, and a whole litany of more obscure yet 00:23:00.630 --> 00:23:02.849 culturally significant mind -altering substances. 00:23:03.170 --> 00:23:04.809 Let's list those out because it really gives 00:23:04.809 --> 00:23:06.710 you a sense of the comprehensive nature of his 00:23:06.710 --> 00:23:09.660 interest here. Okay. He covered ayahuasca. which 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:12.000 was gaining prominence even then, belladonna, 00:23:12.099 --> 00:23:17.299 ketamine, PCP, STP, and yes, the most sensational 00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:20.799 entry, toad slime. Toad slime, seriously. Which 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.940 refers to the psychoactive properties of bufotin 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:25.559 found in the secretion of certain toads. Wow, 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:28.279 okay. What's fascinating here is that Krasner 00:23:28.279 --> 00:23:30.339 wasn't just compiling a list for shock value, 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:33.279 was he? He was treating the entire spectrum of 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.819 consciousness alteration as a critical field 00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:38.619 of study. For understanding the human mind and 00:23:38.619 --> 00:23:41.460 subsequently challenging societal control. Absolutely. 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:43.759 That's the key. To him, the personal psychological 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:46.460 journey facilitated by these substances was a 00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:49.079 form of political defiance. If you truly alter 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:51.180 your perception of reality, the government's 00:23:51.180 --> 00:23:53.920 reality, its war policies, its social controls 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.640 becomes instantly questionable. It was a form 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.920 of chemically assisted guerrilla journalism aimed 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:01.900 at the self. Krasner's career left behind this 00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:05.220 paper trail of awards and recognition, but they 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:07.759 reveal a man caught between wildly conflicting 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:11.240 ideological camps. This is perhaps the most insightful 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:13.519 part of his legacy. Right. The contradictory 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:16.279 nature of his recognition is, yeah, breathtaking. 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:19.180 It speaks to his unique ability to appeal to 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:22.079 multiple audiences simultaneously. He is the 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.480 only person documented to have won major awards 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.240 from both Playboy magazine. Okay. for his biting 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:29.920 satire and the feminist party media workshop 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.960 for his journalism that is an immense ideological 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.180 split contained within one career playboy and 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:38.960 a feminist party workshop how did he manage to 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:41.619 bridge that massive gap it seems to boil down 00:24:41.619 --> 00:24:44.359 to his unwavering dedication to freedom of expression 00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:47.670 Playboy valued his ability to challenge prudishness, 00:24:47.809 --> 00:24:50.650 government interference. The feminist party valued 00:24:50.650 --> 00:24:52.890 his willingness to publish taboo and necessary 00:24:52.890 --> 00:24:55.309 information, like that abortion interview back 00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:57.890 in 62. So his commitment to process the free 00:24:57.890 --> 00:25:00.009 flow of information was sometimes strong enough 00:25:00.009 --> 00:25:02.410 to overcome ideological differences in content. 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:05.289 It seems that way sometimes. And his radical 00:25:05.289 --> 00:25:08.329 credentials, they remained entirely intact, verified 00:25:08.329 --> 00:25:10.529 by the counterculture itself. Oh, no question 00:25:10.529 --> 00:25:14.109 there. In 2001, he was the first living man inducted 00:25:14.109 --> 00:25:16.200 into... to the Counterculture Hall of Fame. The 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:18.220 ceremony took place at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:21.440 Fitting. Very fitting. He also received high 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.839 praise from the establishment he often fought, 00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:27.140 like the ACLU Uppy Award for dedication to freedom 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:29.779 of expression. And thanks to his collaboration 00:25:29.779 --> 00:25:32.180 with Bruce, he secured a Grammy nomination in 00:25:32.180 --> 00:25:36.079 2005 for Best Album Notes. For the definitive 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:40.059 box set, Lenny Bruce. Let the buyer beware. Yet, 00:25:40.099 --> 00:25:42.240 despite this high praise, particularly from that 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.140 feminist group, Krasner, like many prominent 00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:47.039 male figures on the left at the time, was the 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:50.000 subject of severe and, frankly, legitimate criticism 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:52.519 from the rising feminist movement. It suggested 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.039 that his zeal for shock often crossed the line 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.539 into blatant misogyny. This is a crucial area. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:59.279 We have to address it impartially because it 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:01.599 reveals the core conflicts within the counterculture 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:05.180 itself. In 1970, writer and activist Robin Morgan 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:07.940 published her landmark manifesto, Goodbye to 00:26:07.940 --> 00:26:10.619 All That, and she explicitly called out Krasner's 00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:13.779 problematic actions and rhetoric. Okay, so if 00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:16.880 we look specifically at Morgan's critique, what 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.700 was the primary intellectual failure she identified 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:22.680 in Krasner's thinking? Morgan pointed directly 00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:25.740 to his confusion over feminist anger. She cited 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:27.700 his astonished anger that women have lost their 00:26:27.700 --> 00:26:30.859 sense of humor on this issue. The issue being 00:26:30.859 --> 00:26:34.099 sexual objectification and degradation. Ah, the 00:26:34.099 --> 00:26:38.480 classic, can't you take a joke? Defense. Morgan's 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:40.819 central point was that Krasner failed to distinguish 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:44.079 between satire directed at systemic power, the 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:47.400 FBI, LBJ, and satire that reinforced existing 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:50.160 oppression against marginalized groups, specifically 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:52.799 women. And what were the specific examples of 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:54.900 Krasner's material that Morgan used to illustrate 00:26:54.900 --> 00:26:57.079 this failure? She presented several examples 00:26:57.079 --> 00:26:59.599 to back up her claim of his inherent sexism within 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:02.099 the movement. She cited his promotional poster 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:04.539 for an aerosol can called Instant Pussy. Oof. 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:06.869 Yeah. his monthly column for what she called 00:27:06.869 --> 00:27:09.750 the woman -hating men's magazine Cavalier, and 00:27:09.750 --> 00:27:11.990 perhaps most damagingly, his alleged dream of 00:27:11.990 --> 00:27:15.150 a rape -in against legislators' wives. Oh, rape 00:27:15.150 --> 00:27:18.349 -in. Yeah. The implication was that he used sexual 00:27:18.349 --> 00:27:21.349 violence as a shocking comedic tool, directing 00:27:21.349 --> 00:27:23.710 it at women who were not the source of the political 00:27:23.710 --> 00:27:26.490 problem. And I recall she... also called out 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:29.950 a very specific deeply ingrained instance of 00:27:29.950 --> 00:27:32.609 male chauvinism within the movement itself which 00:27:32.609 --> 00:27:35.529 krasner apparently participated in yes morgan 00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:37.529 criticized him for engaging in what she dubbed 00:27:37.529 --> 00:27:40.750 the locker room tradition she accused krasner 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:43.809 of listing quote in alphabetical order the names 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:47.109 of women in the movement he has oh wow as a way 00:27:47.109 --> 00:27:51.109 of proving he was no sexist oppressor This critique 00:27:51.109 --> 00:27:54.009 powerfully illustrated that even figures championing 00:27:54.009 --> 00:27:56.230 liberation against the state could simultaneously 00:27:56.230 --> 00:27:58.930 perpetuate oppressive behaviors within their 00:27:58.930 --> 00:28:01.190 own radical circles. It's the ultimate essential 00:28:01.190 --> 00:28:03.910 counterbalance to his legacy of liberation, isn't 00:28:03.910 --> 00:28:05.930 it? It proves that fighting government censorship 00:28:05.930 --> 00:28:08.470 doesn't grant you immunity from reinforcing social 00:28:08.470 --> 00:28:11.089 oppression. That denture between radical political 00:28:11.089 --> 00:28:14.349 freedom and necessary social responsibility is 00:28:14.349 --> 00:28:16.490 what makes Krasner such an enduring, complex 00:28:16.490 --> 00:28:19.420 subject of study. He was a product of his time, 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:21.940 using every tool available to shake the system. 00:28:22.140 --> 00:28:24.880 But, yeah, sometimes failing to see how those 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:27.099 tools might harm his allies. And just on a final 00:28:27.099 --> 00:28:29.000 note regarding his personal life, he had two 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.380 marriages, first to Gene Johnson. They had one 00:28:31.380 --> 00:28:34.799 daughter, Holly, later to Nancy Cain. He eventually 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:36.460 retired from the constant churn of publishing, 00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:39.319 moved to Desert Hot Springs, California in 2002, 00:28:39.660 --> 00:28:43.279 passed away there in 2019 at 87 following a neurological 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:46.779 disease. So to synthesize Krasner's unique function. 00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:49.450 He was a master of weaponizing shock and humor, 00:28:49.589 --> 00:28:52.069 breaking through political and social taboos. 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:54.650 His mission wasn't just to entertain. It was 00:28:54.650 --> 00:28:56.970 to force official reactions like the FBI calling 00:28:56.970 --> 00:28:59.470 him a nut or getting subpoenaed that would ultimately 00:28:59.470 --> 00:29:01.690 reveal the structural hypocrisy and absurdity 00:29:01.690 --> 00:29:04.009 of the system he was fighting. And that function, 00:29:04.089 --> 00:29:06.450 that guerrilla journalism, remains profoundly 00:29:06.450 --> 00:29:09.339 relevant to you, the listener, today. Krasner 00:29:09.339 --> 00:29:11.819 taught a generation to distrust official narratives, 00:29:11.940 --> 00:29:14.980 to recognize metaphorical truth. In an age defined 00:29:14.980 --> 00:29:17.880 by non -stop conflicting narratives, deep fakes, 00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:20.720 you know, The ability to spot the put -on to 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:23.500 know where the 90 % fact ends and the 10 % calculated 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:26.559 fiction begins, that's a critical survival skill. 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:28.839 He taught us that sometimes the most grotesque 00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:31.079 or unbelievable story is the one that forces 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:33.579 us to question the entire context of our reality. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:36.799 He perfected the art of generating outrage strategically 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:40.400 to serve a larger, necessary philosophical point. 00:29:40.670 --> 00:29:42.950 Which leads us to our final provocative thought 00:29:42.950 --> 00:29:45.849 for you to explore, building directly on Krasner's 00:29:45.849 --> 00:29:48.289 methods. His success was really predicated on 00:29:48.289 --> 00:29:50.470 a fundamental constraint, the existence of censorship, 00:29:50.789 --> 00:29:52.950 the legal threat of being arrested for obscenity, 00:29:53.089 --> 00:29:55.910 which he actively sought to gain publicity. Right. 00:29:55.970 --> 00:29:59.329 Today, in our hyper -digital world, where everything 00:29:59.329 --> 00:30:01.710 is instantly printable, tweetable, live -streamed, 00:30:01.710 --> 00:30:04.269 where that legal shock barrier Krasner valued 00:30:04.269 --> 00:30:07.509 barely exists anymore, no authority can truly 00:30:07.509 --> 00:30:10.759 stop a widely shared image. What is the modern 00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.900 equivalent of obscene? What can a satirist still 00:30:13.900 --> 00:30:18.029 use to effectively challenge power? If the satirist 00:30:18.029 --> 00:30:20.190 can no longer rely on the threat of jail time 00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:21.829 to prove their seriousness and gain attention, 00:30:22.109 --> 00:30:24.269 how can they generate that system disrupting 00:30:24.269 --> 00:30:26.450 attention? Attention that can't simply be scrolled 00:30:26.450 --> 00:30:30.329 past or ignored? How does the raving, unconfined 00:30:30.329 --> 00:30:33.190 nut thrive when there are maybe no constraints 00:30:33.190 --> 00:30:35.509 left to truly rail against in the same way? It 00:30:35.509 --> 00:30:37.869 might require a new form of digital guerrilla 00:30:37.869 --> 00:30:40.549 journalism, aimed perhaps not just at the government, 00:30:40.609 --> 00:30:42.589 but at the mechanisms of attention and belief 00:30:42.589 --> 00:30:45.279 itself. Something to think about. Indeed. Thank 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:47.319 you for joining us for this deep dive into the 00:30:47.319 --> 00:30:50.980 complex, shocking and ultimately necessary world 00:30:50.980 --> 00:30:52.420 of Paul Krasner. We'll see you next time.