Highbrow Magazine - Christians https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/christians en The Christian on the Psychiatrist’s Couch https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3445-christian-psychiatrist-s-couch <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 02/17/2014 - 10:34</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1freud%20%28Ferdinand%20Schmutzer%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=UBcX_syD"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1freud%20%28Ferdinand%20Schmutzer%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=UBcX_syD" width="320" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From <a href="http://punditwire.com/2014/02/13/the-christian-on-the-couch/">PunditWire.com</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>In 1938, shortly after the Nazis marched into Vienna, Sigmund Freud fled to England. He settled in the town of Hampstead, not far from Oxford University. The following year, when Freud was 83 and dying slowly and painfully from cancer of the mouth, he was visited by a young Oxford professor.</p> <p> </p> <p>The identity of the young professor is not known, but on the supposition that it was C.S. Lewis, then on the brink of becoming one of the leading Christian apologists of the 20th century, Mark St. Germain has constructed Freud’s Last Session–a mind-blowing and richly entertaining play currently running at Houston’s Alley Theatre.</p> <p> </p> <p>Lewis arrives at Freud’s study just as Hitler is overrunning Poland and Britain is about to declare war. At first, Lewis suspects that Freud has invited him to take him to task for satirizing Freud as “Sigismund Enlightenment” in an early Christian fantasy that Lewis wrote called Pilgrim’s Regress. But Freud has set his sights on bigger game. “I wanted to know,” he says belligerently, “how a man of your intellect could suddenly abandon truth and embrace an insidious lie.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Freud’s challenge sets off a brilliant verbal duel between two men of genius. Lewis was 41 at the time, half Freud’s age and only beginning to make his reputation. But he can more than hold his own against the internationally-famed psychiatrist.</p> <p> </p> <p>Lewis had embraced Christianity as an adult less than ten years before, and then with great reluctance. Until his conversion, he was even more a confirmed atheist than Freud, who all his life would pepper his letters with expressions like “God’s will,” or “the good Lord,” or “my secret prayer.” One of many amusing moments in the play occurs when Freud tells Lewis, “Psychoanalysis does not profess the arrogance of religion—thank God!”</p> <p> </p> <p>Lewis tries to persuade Freud that there is a rational basis for his belief in Christianity. Freud insists that all religion is wish fulfillment and myth making. In reply, Lewis tells Freud that he, too, once believed that the Gospels were myths until a friend and colleague of his at Oxford named T.D. Weldon—“one of the hardest boiled of all the atheists I ever knew”—admitted to him one evening that the historical authenticity of the Gospels was surprisingly sound. With that, Lewis read the Gospels for himself and was shattered by what he discovered. As a professor of literature, he was an expert on myth. He was forced to conclude that there was nothing mythic about the Gospels. They were obviously based on eye-witness accounts. And if the Gospels were history and not legend….</p> <p> </p> <p>Freud dismisses this line of reasoning with a wave of his hand. “Christ was a lunatic,” he says. “Why should I believe his claim to be God any more than the dozen patients I have who claim to be  Christ?”</p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1cslewis.jpg" /></p> <p>“But,” Lewis persists, “did any of these patients of yours exhibit a concept of reality that was otherwise sound?” What Lewis is getting at is that the Jesus described in the Gospels is too rational a being to be written off as a lunatic. Freud concedes the point.</p> <p> </p> <p>Lewis is on shakier ground when he tries to answer the eternal question of why a loving God allows pain and evil to exist. He tells Freud, in essence, that evil exists because human beings abuse the free will that God gave them, and pain exists because God is possibly trying to perfect us through suffering.</p> <p> </p> <p>Freud is incensed by this argument. He points to the tragic deaths of his favorite daughter and her four-year-old son, the sadistic cruelty to which he and his family were subjected by the Nazis and the excruciating torture that he endured through 30 operations on his mouth. “Did I cause my own cancer?” he snarls.</p> <p> </p> <p>Had he been able to, Freud might have gone further. He might have said that it was easy for Lewis, then a bachelor living the cloistered life of an Oxford don, to believe in a God of love because he had never known real suffering or bereavement. Except in Lewis’ case, this wasn’t true.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1psychiatrist.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Lewis had served in the trenches during the First World War. He had seen his friends blown to pieces and had been gravely wounded himself. If Freud has a metal plate in his mouth to separate his mouth from his nasal cavity, Lewis has a piece of shrapnel in his chest that the medics did not dare remove because it was too close to his heart. Both men have suffered deeply, and yet they have drawn totally opposite conclusions from their suffering.</p> <p> </p> <p>Mark St. Germain based his play on a book about Lewis and Freud: The Question of God by Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Armand N. Nicholi, Jr. To a great extent, St. Germain has used the actual words of both his protagonists. This makes the play even more compelling; it is as if Freud and Lewis are finally having the debate that they may never have had in life.</p> <p> </p> <p>Actors James Black (Freud) and Jay Sullivan (Lewis) acquit themselves superbly in their respective roles. Brian Prather’s sumptuous set perfectly evokes the figurine-cluttered study that Freud was able to transport from Vienna to England. Tyler Marchant’s direction is sure; the one-act, 90-minute play is intense, but there’s enough comic relief to allow the audience some needed moments of relaxation.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Freud’s Last Session runs through February 23. </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Hal Gordon, who wrote speeches for the Reagan White House and Gen. Colin Powell, is currently a freelance speechwriter in Houston. Website: <a href="http://www.ringingwords.com/">www.ringingwords.com</a>.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://punditwire.com/2014/02/13/the-christian-on-the-couch/">PunditWire.com</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/huston-alley-theater" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">huston alley theater</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mark-st-germain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mark st. germain</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sigmund-freud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">sigmund freud</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cs-lewis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">c.s. lewis</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/psychiatry" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">psychiatry</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/psychiatrists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">psychiatrists</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/therapy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">therapy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/christianity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">christianity</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/christians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Christians</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mental-health" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mental health</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Hal Gordon</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ferdinand Schmutzer (Wikipedia Commons); </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 17 Feb 2014 15:34:14 +0000 tara 4288 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3445-christian-psychiatrist-s-couch#comments Jesse Ventura on Politics, Keith Richards, and Why He’s an Atheist https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1254-jesse-ventura-politics-keith-richards-and-why-hes-atheist <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 22:02</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumjesseventura.jpg?itok=CRLQVX4-"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumjesseventura.jpg?itok=CRLQVX4-" width="480" height="263" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> When you read any of Jesse Ventura’s half-dozen books, it’s helpful to hear his voice --  the same assertive, direct, soberly outraged, and somewhat sinister voice he uses during the opening narration for his TV show, truTV’s <em>Conspiracy Theory</em> <em>with Jesse Ventura.</em> His polished Minnesota dialect compliments these vocal qualities, grounding his observations in a way that makes him sound intelligent and determined.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In his  new <em>book, DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans</em>: <em>No More Gangs in Government</em>, Ventura argues that both parties are street gangs warring with each other for power over the country and the American people.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  “Dues are paid by members of the gang; all decisions are made within the gang; there’s hierarchy within the gang,” Ventura writes. “And why do we allow them to use a fun word like party? When you say party, you think of a joyous occasion.” He believes all political parties should be abolished. Candidates should run on their names only. And the only way a third party can survive is if it becomes as corrupt as the two main gangs.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Ventura’s no fool when it comes to performance. He’s more than a TV personality. Before he was elected the governor of Minnesota in 1999, he was a professional wrestler, and before that, a Navy SEAL-turned-member of an outlaw motorcycle club in San Diego.</p> <p>  </p> <p> He’s appeared in a number of movies and TV shows, and has lectured at Harvard University. When I mention to Ventura that he taught one of the most popular courses at Harvard, he quickly cuts in to correct me: “It was <em>the</em> most popular. My class was the biggest class in Harvard history.” What was the subject? “Third-party politics. John F. Kennedy School of Government. Who else can talk third-party politics? You can’t get a Democrip or a Rebloodlican to do it.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> I spoke to Ventura on the phone for about an hour one afternoon in June. When I told him I  am a writer at <em>Highbrow Magazine</em>, he asked if it was a publication that he could buy on the newsstand. When I explained that it is an online magazine, he apologized for his ignorance and confessed that he doesn’t much care for computers, at which point we began talking about frustrations with technology.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You spend a lot of time off the grid in Mexico. Do you carry a cell phone?</strong></p> <p> I’ve never owned a cell phone and now it’s my life’s mission not to have one. I wanna be able to put it on my grave: He Never Owned a Cell Phone.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You said it would  be nice if the presidential candidates wore NASCAR suits so you know you owns them, which is a brilliant idea. If this were put into action, what logos would Obama and Romney be wearing? </strong></p> <p> Goldman Sachs. That would be as prominent as Goodyear is on Jimmy Johnson.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Both of them?</strong></p> <p> They’d all have the same patches, really. Because if you go to both conventions, you’ll see the same lobbyists paying them off, so they win either way. It’s like a stacked deck of cards. They’ve already paid off both sides, so it doesn’t matter to them who wins because they own whoever it is, be it Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/jesseventurabook.jpg" style="width: 372px; height: 600px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You endorse Ron Paul for president in your book.</strong></p> <p> Yeah, but the problem is Ron apparently is gonna go to the convention and that’s gonna be the end of him. I mean, his son just endorsed Mitt Romney. How outrageous is that? I  tell you, if my son did that to me, I’d put him over my knee and give him a spanking. But I don’t have to worry about that because my son would endorse me, so it’s really irrelevant.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Getting back to Mitt Romney, one of the main things he talked about early on was that he knew how to create jobs, but now that everyone is showing interest in how he made his fortune with Bain Capital, he says he doesn’t want to talk about that. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Oh yeah. Because their job was to take over companies and fire people. Bain Capital did the exact opposite [of creating jobs]: They got rid of workers and put them in the unemployment line. He’s just like George W. Bush. [He] became a born-again Christian at age 40, so we weren’t allowed to talk about anything that he did before age 40. Same thing. I think if I ran for office, I would do the same: I would become a born-again Christian right before I ran, and then I could tell everyone, “Well, you can’t talk about anything I did before I became born-again.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>It’s surprising that Romney’s relationship with the Mormon Church hasn’t been given more attention. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> The worst one is the magic underwear. I mean, that should disqualify him from the presidency alone. If he believes you have to wear blessed, magic underwear to have sex with your wife, that alone should disqualify him. You want a president that believes bulls**t like that?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>When you were governor, you refused to  declare a National Prayer Day. I bet the right-wing fundamentalists were furious. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Absolutely. The Minnesota media just grilled me. They went, “How come every other governor is declaring National Prayer Day and not you?” And that’s when I said, “What do you need me to tell you to pray for?” I’ve come out of the closet now: I’m an atheist. And I’m proud to say it. I’m a follower of George Carlin.</p> <p>  </p> <p> We lost a great voice when we lost George, but here’s what George believed in: George worshipped the sun. And I do too. Because the sun, and I’m paraphrasing George, gives me heat, the sun gives me food, the sun makes me warm, the sun does everything I want. It’s a wonderful thing, and most of all, every morning I can get up and see it come up, which gives it great credibility — knowing the sun exists.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Don’t get me wrong: Other people are free to believe in God; they’re free to practice their religion; I don’t begrudge them that. That’s the one thing I give kudos to President Obama for. When he took office and he did his state address, he listed Christians, Muslims, Jewish [believers] — he went down the line, and the last thing he said was “and non-believers.” I jumped out of my chair, I said, “My God, we’re legal now.” The president has finally acknowledged that there are people who don’t believe in a supreme being.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>It was Mark Twain who said if Jesus were alive today, the one thing he wouldn’t be was Christian...</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Exactly, and not only that, do you think Jesus would support these wars?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>It’s unlikely. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> And yet, our Christians do. Not only that, they seem to be wanting to drive us to Armageddon, too.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumJesseTVshow.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 419px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>compare the fundamentalist Christians to fundamentalist Muslims, who also seem to want to bring about the end times. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> And that’s dangerous for all the rest of us. To me, when you look through the annals of history, who causes all the wars and what are they caused over? Religion.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Many wars have been caused by religion, but you know …</strong></p> <p> Name me one that hasn’t been.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Well, mostly I think of the wars of the 20th century. You could argue there’s an overall religiosity behind wars of the twentieth century but…</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Even Vietnam, I learned, was caused by religion. Every war is pretty much based on religion.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>And it’s ironic because the common thread that runs through every major religion in the world is the Golden Rule. Do unto others.</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Yeah, treat others as you would want to be treated. But nobody follows that rule. And let me state clearly: An atheist has just as much value of life — and probably more — because we don’t believe there’s a hereafter. Why would we want to make things horrible if we think we only get this one go-around?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>I’m interested in conversion stories. Was there a defining moment when you became an atheist, or was it a gradual progression toward that perspective?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> It was a gradual progression, but the defining moment was when I saw Christopher Hitchens on Bill Maher’s [show], and he was wearing a funny T-shirt that said “I’M AFRICAN-AMERICAN.” Because if you go back, and if you believe in evolution, the first known man came out of Africa. And if you trace us back that far, aren’t we all African-Americans? He had that T-shirt on and Christopher said, “It’s time for us atheists to come out of the closet.” It is time for us to stand up and proudly say that we are atheists. So I said, you know what? He’s right.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>But let’s get back to this idea about religion being the source of all wars. Do you think that’s the case with Iraq?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> You know the scariest thing that I heard come out of George W. Bush’s [mouth]? He was in front of the press, getting ready to take us to war [with] Iraq, and one of the reporters said, “Did you consult your father?” (meaning the previous president, George H. W.).  And Bush turned to the reporter and said, “No, I consulted a higher father.” You mean this guy wants us to believe God is telling him to go to war in Iraq? I got angry over that. How arrogant.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>It’s theocracy.</strong></p> <p> Well, I can tell you this: I’ve been on the planet 60 years...and God ain’t never said one word to me. In 60 years.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Did you ever talk to him?</strong></p> <p> What good would it do?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumbillofrights.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 430px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>So no.</strong></p> <p> No! I mean, I was baptized Lutheran. I used to pray. Never got an answer.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Nothing at all?</strong></p> <p> In 60 years. And I’m not worried about it because if he does exist, I think he’ll accept that I’m a free thinker. I believe God would be very much like the George Burns’ character in “Oh, God!”  He’s given us everything we need ,but we’re on our own. He’s also given us brains to think with. And I shouldn’t say “he.” Who says he’s a he?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Fair enough. Let’s talk about DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans. What’s the main thing you want people to take away from your book?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> That the wealthiest people increased their wealth five times during the last recession. How much money do these people need?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Some of the figures in this book are staggering...</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> How about the insider trading of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress? Their average rate of return is 12 percent. That’s better than Warren Buffett gets.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You quote Newt Gingrich’s sugar daddy, Sheldon Adelson, the eighth-richest person in America, as saying “I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable, I’m going to do it.” When I read that quote I was really struck by it. And then, on his show last week, Bill Maher said the exact same thing when he spoke of his million-dollar contribution to Obama’s campaign. It’s this sort of an attitude of “Well, if it helps my team win and the ref can’t legally call foul, then I’m gonna do it”?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> And let’s call it what it is: it’s a bribe. If we do it in the private sector, then we go to jail. The only way you can go over the Supreme Court is to amend the Constitution, and there’s a movement out there right now to add an amendment to the Constitution stating clearly corporations do not have the same rights as people, and that money is not free speech.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumkeithrichards.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 512px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Are we living in a police state right now? </strong></p> <p> Yes. I foresee martial law in the future.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Do you think part of that is the result of the National Defense Authorization Act being signed into law?</strong></p> <p> Absolutely. They’ve now turned the military loose inside our country. They can arrest you and they can hold you without a trial or a lawyer indefinitely.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>If they determine you have ties to terrorists.</strong></p> <p> And who makes that determination? They do. Not a judge, not a lawyer, not a jury — they do.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>The military.</strong></p> <p> Yes.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You say in your book that the military is “the muscle arm of the corporations.” Would you encourage someone to enlist and serve? </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> I enjoyed my time in the United States Navy. It’s what made me who I am today. [But] that’s something each individual has to decide on their own, but I will tell you this: being a former Navy Seal and [considering] the knowledge I’ve acquired [over the past] 60 years, today I would be a conscientious objector.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>To any kind of service?</strong></p> <p> Any kind of war. My country’s been at war for over half my life, and nobody wins. People simply die. The only people that win are the corporations and the people that profit from them. But again, I wouldn’t encourage or discourage anyone from their choice.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>I wanted to talk about your TV show <em>Conspiracy Theory.</em> What are you investigating next season?</strong></p> <p> [Laughs] We’ve already completed the whole season, it was done in November and normally they go on in January and amazingly, they haven’t gone on.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Why?</strong></p> <p> You tell me.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Did something in this season scare them?</strong></p> <p> Yeah. This season’s the most controversial we [have ever done]. I’ll tell you what happened on one. We were covering a particular subject and one of the interns called a former colonel in Georgia and his quote back was “Young lady, don’t you realize that people that look into this end up dead?” That’s a direct threat.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The girl quit my show. I don’t blame her; she was getting married in a couple months. Well, we went on with the show. I brought in a whistleblower named Dr. Fred Bell. When I was done interviewing Dr. Bell, he looked at me and he said, off the air, ”You know that I have a CIA handler, don’t you?” And I said, “That doesn’t surprise me.” And here was his quote to me, he said, “Well he’s gonna go ballistic when he finds out I talked to you.” Well, guess what? Two days later he was dead in his hotel. And that’s true. And that’s what’s in the show.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>So they’re not going to air it? </strong></p> <p> I don’t know. They haven’t yet.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Can you tell me more about the subject of that episode?</strong></p> <p> Oh, I’d rather not.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What did you do when you found out Dr. Bell was dead?</strong></p> <p> I reported that to the Minneapolis Police Chief, the whole background, everything that happened — never heard back from him. All we heard was “natural causes.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>I noticed you dedicated your book to Hunter S. Thompson, who you say is “a real journalist and a man who warned us.” What did he warn us about?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> If you read Hunter’s work way back in the ‘70s when he followed Nixon on the campaign trail, many of the things Hunter wrote about back then came true. You’ve gotta read his stuff.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Are there any journalists working today that you’d put in the same league with him?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> The closest would be Matt Taibbi, the guy  who exposed Wall Street for <em>Rolling Stone</em>. But of course, Matt isn’t quite as colorful as Hunter.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You have a lot to say about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution....</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Did you know that the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution, and Betsy Ross’s  flag are all made out of marijuana?</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>I didn’t, but now I’m glad that I do. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> We eradicate marijuana and we eradicate the Bill of Rights and the Constitution at the same time.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What was the last movie you saw that really sucked you in?</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> The last one was Johnny Depp in <em>Pirates of the Caribbean: [Dead Man’s Chest]</em> when he had Keith Richards, who stole the film. Keith Richards in that scene where Johnny looks up and says “How’s Mom?” and he holds up the shrunken head? Oh my God, I was on the floor of the theatre, laughing. Keith stole the film. He has two or three lines, and he steals the film. As you can tell, I’m a huge Keith Richards fan.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>You were Keith’s bodyguard for a while. </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> I actually bodyguarded all the rock bands that came to St. Paul in ’78 and ’81. I was recovering from minor knee surgery and it was a fun thing to do. Foreigner, Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Bob Segar, the Stones twice.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <em>This interview is edited and excerpted from a longer taped transcript.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Christopher Karr is a contributing writer at </em>Highbrow Magazine.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <em><strong>Photos: truTV; CreativeCommons.org.</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jesse-ventura" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Jesse Ventura</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minnesota-governor" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Minnesota governor</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/conspiracy-theory-jesse-ventura" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrips-and-rebloodlicans-no-more-gangs-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trutv" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">TruTV</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/keith-richards" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Keith Richards</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ron-paul" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ron Paul</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/religion-atheist" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">religion atheist</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq-war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq war</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mitt-romney" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mitt Romney</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fundamentalists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fundamentalists</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/christians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Christians</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/george-w-bush" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">George W. Bush</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bill-maher" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bill Maher</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marijuana" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marijuana</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Christopher Karr</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">truTV</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:02:20 +0000 tara 1177 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1254-jesse-ventura-politics-keith-richards-and-why-hes-atheist#comments