By Don Hall

The 1960’s firebrand comic Lenny Bruce has always been a bit of a hero to me but not for how he ended. He’s a legend to me due to his middle period.

He started out doing Catskills bits of goofiness, a little sexual innuendo, some wacky impressions. After he hit NYC, however, he got into a hipper crowd, a crowd that got him hooked on heroin but also changed his act. He evolved into a social comic, doing bits of dark observational humor to a crowd hungry for it.

Some of his humor could no longer be done today. Intent has little merit as the idea of a joke’s impact has taken the fore. 

For example:

As the story goes, his humor became more and more blue, and the police decided his use of certain terms were against the decency clause. He was arrested for many things but what they brought him in for was his use of the term “cocksucker.”

There are a few mirrors I could point out here. Bruce was fighting for his right to say things that could be taken the wrong way at a contentious time in the country’s history. His often brilliant but off-color observations were shut down by a moralistic authority who deigned his language and ideas were unacceptable. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, Bruce kind of lost it after he was arrested a few more times. Instead of continuing his comedy, he would get up onstage and rant about his court time. He would read the court transcripts out loud to the audience. He became singularly focused on this and lost his sense of humor, his sense of comedic import, lost his audience.

I remember once reading a story about a Texas rancher who encountered an injustice to himself. He had means, he had a large family, he was pretty set for life. The nature of the injustice had something to do with a tiny parcel of land in the corner of his huge ownership. 

This man spent the rest of his life going all over the country exacting his level best to use the legal system to punish those who had wronged him. So singularly focused on his revenge, he lost sight of all he had and subsequently lost it all in his pursuit of justice.

He lost land and money. His wife divorced him. His family, one by one, dropped out of his life. At the end of the quest, all he had left was that two-acre plot.

Bruce became that man. So hellbent on proselytizing about the injustice done to him that he lost everything he had. He effectively gave the Thought Police exactly what they wanted—he died from an overdose and was forever prevented from saying “cocksucker” onstage.

When I say everyone has magically transformed into Lenny Bruce I don’t mean everyone. I mean that portion of society (approximately 15 percent at last record) who devote their days on Twitter and Facebook and Reddit and 4Chan digitally debating and trolling one another about issues that only really matter to the tiniest part of society.

When I say everyone I mean those mealy fuckers who try to justify their inherent intolerance for any idea in contrast with their own by bullying, doxxing, and mobbing. I’m talking about the Alt Right, the White Supremacists, the hardcore Libertarians, the Eco-Warriors, the Feministas, the TransActivated, and the fucking Woke White People who have deigned to speak for non-whites as a means to make sure they get invited to the fucking BBQ.

I’m referring to the mental defective who took the time to type out that “I want to problematize the concepts of ‘reliability’ and ‘loyalty’ as desirable qualities in an employee. It's part of capitalist white supremacy to believe that people should love their job or do it with enthusiasm, or even do it consistently ‘well’ if their needs are not met.” NOTE: Unfortunately some of the #BLM organizers are fucking idiots.

I’m referring to the borderline mental illness that infects that mob of angry, spiteful, insulting people who have elevated their sense of perceived injustice to include anyone not in agreement of their righteous cause an enemy of said cause.

It’s a temporary illness as the bizarre tool that is the internet renders people to be their absolute worst selves void of simple courtesy, critical thinking ability, and any sense that if they behaved that way in public, they’d get their faces punched into a self righteous bloody pulp resembling a freshly slaughtered pig’s ass.

It all reminds me of the time when I “unfriended” that toad-faced asshole in Chicago and she called me a fucking racist and I said “No, I’m not.” and she got a bunch of sycophantic turds to gang up on me online and threatened me and tried to get me fired and GODDAMNIT, the INJUSTICE AND I AM STILL SO PISSED AND WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO STICK IT TO THOSE FUCKTARDS! LET ME READ YOU SOME OF THEIR MESSAGES TO ME AND YOU’LL SEE EXACTLY…

Lenny started as a bit of a hack. Then he became socially conscious. Then he lost his mind over being arrested and charged with thought crime. Lenny, in his middle period, was all about equality and anti-war but once he was marginalized, he lost his sense of who he was and transformed into a crack pot.

Before you type that doxx or that blistering insult at someone you’ve decided is an enemy of decency, think about Lenny and maybe type something funny instead of outraged.