The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 24 October 2011
by Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette, half of the brilliant Las Vegas magic duo Penn & Teller, strikes this reader as that smart-ass kid you knew in high school who was so in love with his own smarts that he didn't give a damn what affect it had on the people around him when he loudly declaimed his opinions. But who's to argue? Jillette is smart and talented, and, it turns out, tells a pretty good (if raunchy) story in this book. Though the subtitle suggest a screed on religion and morality, that is just part of this book full of show-business tales and small political rants. As a reader, one can not help but be energized by Jillette's provocative stance. He is an erudite vulgarian, and many of his allegations demand a response. To start with, though, the book is an uneven collection of essays, memoir pieces and political rants. The stories that fall under the "Other Magical Tales" are vivid and explicit showbiz tales of debauchery (though he repeatedly reminds us he never partakes of intoxicants, illegal or otherwise). There is plenty of name-dropping as one would expect and desire from a guy like Jillette. But the stories come off as pretty juvenile. We are treated to tales of swimming naked in his pool with a naked Elvis impersonator (at his Las Vegas mansion, The Slammer), scuba diving sex, porn star fans, various misadventures with his private parts, and an all around exuberant joy in his body and its functions. Maybe these tales are intended to be shocking, but they're just funny and dirty. Then there are his political rants.
Jillette has harsh words for people on both the far left and the far right (though mostly for the liberals). As an atheist, he refuses to allow his kids to believe in Santa Claus and invents another holiday for them on New Year's Day. In the sixties, many hippie folks tried the same thing, observing pagan rather than Christian holidays, or inventing new ones altogether. In that, Jillette may have more in common with his iconoclastic hippie ancestors than he knows. In the end, the sixties experiment proved troublesome for the kids, though the experiment cannot be dismissed outright.
Jillette suggests that atheism is essentially a libertarian act. The "I don't know" he jumps off from right from the start denies collective action to improve the state of the world, because it suggests that since we can not know anything definitively, there is no basis for action beyond that of the self-involved individual. This kind of libertarian thinking is a fundamental ideology, so it tends to be of limited value to argue the point. A liberal point of view is, of course, very different, leaning more accepting government as the way in which we act collectively to solve problems too large for any private organization. Jillette argues people are essentially good, and without government assistance, will take care of each other. But there is no nation in the world with the standard of living like that of America which also does not have a strong government with a strong safety net. One can point to both Somalia and Haiti as examples of nations with small government, weak social safety nets and few regulations. Is that how we'd like to live? (Jillette's own story of securing in-home care for his parents rests on his substantial wealth. Does he expect the private sector to carry that kind of weight when the vast majority is much less well-off than he is? The average American, the average human, might be fundamentally good, but outside of government, good people don't have a great track record for fixing large problems.) Jillette goes on to dismiss the vote for the government we have, stating that the majority "forces", at gunpoint, its will upon the minority (rich people like himself). But he also says he consistently votes "libertarian". So, which is it? Libertarians are smart people, and Jillette is certainly smart. It's just that libertarians often use their intelligence to craft arguments for doing nothing. Bashing the TSA as an example of government run amok is easy. Solving significant social and structural problems by relying on pure good will is another matter altogether.
To be a libertarian, one would almost have to be an atheist. This reader observes that often to be the case, though many Tea Party libertarians claim to be religious. The reason is that libertarians essentially believe that they have no moral obligation toward any of their fellow man, and, most importantly, should not be obliged by community or government to be so. This, of course, contradicts the teachings of almost all world religions, so no true libertarian could be a person of faith. Perhaps that is the key lesson of Jillette's provocative take on the world. As our culture grows away from religious tradition, the political and social landscape shifts to one of rather free form play. One may think that's the world in which Jillette prefers to live. And yet, if his playful (if sometimes almost unreadable) tone is any indication, there is still love and compassion running beneath the surface.
See Also: [Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris]