I got this today from Max I’m going to post it and then I have a few things I want to say about it.
For Immediate Release: Friday, November 28, 2008
From: Max World Entertainment Inc. Los Angeles, CA
To: Adult Industry Professionals and News Organizations
The War on Porn
The Adult Industry in Los Angeles is under the most ruthless attack by the US Justice Department since 1990. Yet some industry leaders don’t realize, the potential magnitude of the problem. Many think it won’t ever happen to them, because they don’t make nasty smut. That’s what John Stagliano thought too.
More people need to get involved and work together to mount a dynamic opposition. Otherwise there will be dire consequences. Business destroyed, good people sent to prison. Just like in the past.
But it doesn’t have to end like that again. Not if we start by helping those involved in ongoing cases, and deny prosecutors the easy victories which would justify their crusade. They can ill afford to lose more than a single case, or their deceit will be exposed, and the mission cancelled.
See the attached Action Alert to find out more important information. Thank you.
Mr. Paul Businger
Director of Public Relation
Max World Entertainment Inc.
626 791-5800 Office
626 791-5801 Fax
818 935-1243 Mobile
Almost everyone in porn has an opinion on the Max Hardcore case and not surprisingly they are as different as the people who share them.
On the one hand you could say that Max is like a freshman high school bully who keeps throwing rocks at the seniors, then when they come to kick his ass he wants the freshman class to come together to rescue him. The seniors of course are the feds.
It’s a pretty safe bet that Max knew that what he was doing not only crossed the line, it completely left it out of sight behind him.
None of us likes the idea of obscenity law, it’s arbitrary and it doesn’t translate well into modern day society. At the same time we all pretty well know where the aforementioned line is and we don’t cross it.
So here comes Max picking a fight that we all have been careful to avoid, and now he expects us to help him fight his fight. Admitted if he wins, we all benefit but if he loses we all lose as well. Sun Tzu would not approve of Max’s strategy here, it’s a ready made loser.
Now taking a different view one could say that Max stuck his head out for all of us, put himself front and center and drew a target on himself and said hey…I’m your huckleberry.
The Bush administration was out to get porners, so Max offered himself up as the bait, hoping the industry would come to defend him when the predators came for him. After all who might they have gone after had Max not made himself a big target?
Whether you believe Max should be incarcerated or not you really do have to consider what is at stake here and with the Evil Angel case particularly. [I noticed something the judge said in that case that the defense had to have been floored at their good fortune but I am not going to say what it was because I don’t want to bring light to it until it’s all over.]
So now Max is begging for monetary relief, a man who has probably consumed more money in the way of alcohol than I have ever made in this business. If I could afford to I probably would help him out but this isnt a good time to be asking porners for money.
Personally I don’t like the idea of Max going to jail on obscenity related charges, I say either clearly define what is obscene or do away with it altogether. On the other hand I can understand how someone can say “Right guy, wrong crime”
4 Responses
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a poorly written press release. Good lord. I’m sorry, but for someone carrying the title “Director of Public Relations” to send out a piece of shit like that and expect people to not only read it, but understand what he’s trying to say is beyond the pale. His tortured syntax makes my brain hurt. Craig Valentine or Evan Seinfeld could do better.
For god’s sake, Paul, ask Santa for a copy of Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style”.
I can tell you’re a writer, Tim:)
Mike,
You don’t like Max because he reminds you of your essence. His irrational behavior towards a relatively simple thing like unnecessarily provoking(?) ire causes you to see the fundamental irrationality of not only yourself, but of your entire industry; at whatever level. You want money and your customers want fantasy. You desire the products of rationality, while offering the means towards irrational indulgence in return. Your customers want irrationality, while offering the products of their rationality to you. You trade in – and you exist because of – the unreal.
But you evade all of this. It’s easy to do; it’s relatively a complicated issue.
But Max Hardcore? Well, he’s hard core. He doesn’t evade as much as you. He senses this more than you do. He is more consistent about it. He takes his irrationality to another level. To a level that forces the issue. To a level that forces all pornographers to justify pornography, not just on terms of freedom of speech, but on terms which say to the censors: “Look, yes, we know what we do is fundamentally unproductive and irrational, but you should let us do it. Not because it is equal to what you allow, but only because to censor it, and to establish the precedent of censorship, would be *more* irrational.”
Psychologically, it is not possible to be aware of that for too long and remain even relatively sane. To know that what you do is fundamentally useless. Hence, all of your rationalizations about non-essentials like tactical stupidity on the part of Max. You know he’s right. You know that what Max does is essentially no different than what you do, but you cannot live with knowing that every day. You absolutely have to convince yourself – and others – otherwise. It’s a matter of survival.
Hence your “mixed emotions.” They are, at root, no different that Hardcore’s handcuffs. You are both after the same object of evasion; you just take different routes. You do it through denunciations, petty rationalizations, non-essential distinctions, monetary reinforcements, and social confirmations. He does it through out of the way attempts to get in legal trouble – and thus be taken care of by someone else. But underneath, we all know it is all the same.
Max certainly doesn’t belong in prison. Having said that, he pretty well taunted the feds as you say to come after him. Both Max and Rob Black think drawing heat on the industry with their bullshit makes them some kind of crusaders — I think it makes them idiots.