John C. Wright's Blog, page 217

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Hat tip to Mark Shea at CAEI:

On Speaking Ill of the Dead

A bit of advice to my fellow conservatives: 

Do not speak ill of the dead.

I think you know to whom I refer, do you not?

A second bit of advice to my fellow Christians:

Do not speak ill of the dead.

Let us suppose that you are a wretched man, recently died under unseemly circumstances, whose life was made all the more wretched by fame. Oh? Do we not believe fame brings wretchedness? It brings its own temptations and its own sorrows that we private people, we happily private people never hunted by t

The Desires of Individuals are My Highest Value

This post is related tangentially to the last.

A comment left here made the remark that in a “recent discussion I had with an atheist […:] he was unable to posit a single non-religious point that was in any way positive, advantageous, or otherwise non-relativist. When I told him to go and die in whatever way seems best to him, he said that he would go kicking and screaming. Had I decided to respond, I would have said that I see no reason why in a relativist system one should do anything with any f

An Unexamined Life is Just Not Worth Thinking About

Whoo boy. I think I have heard the most simpleminded argument of all time. It was presented to me in all seriousness, however, so I will answer it seriously.

A commenter here says "Dr. Dalrypmle says that "Human affairs cannot be decided by an appeal to an infallible rule, expressible in a few words, whose simple application can decide all cases. . ." But such a rule is exactly what I'm arguing for. It would have a great advantage over the chaotic state in which we live and which Dr. Dalrymple a

Lynching is bad but Stoning is good?

Not long ago, when I made some offhanded remark about the superior courtesy of the generation of our grandparents—men actually did used to tip their hats to ladies, and thought and taught that stealing was wrong— a Leftist friend of mine made a reply that astonished me, and opened my eyes to the inner workings of the leftwing mind.

His response was scorn and bile.

To him, the only thing significant about our grandparents’ generation, the folks who worked their way out of the Depression and won t

Somone asked me to stand for public office

Sun_Stealer remarks: "Have you ever considered running for political office, Mr. Wright? You'd have my vote."

Heh. I am a failed attorney, because I found law work boring, and unrewarding, and I was (to be frank) not an asset to the firm that hired me. Writing law is just as boring as reading it, but has the added drawbacks of being a job where one must meet, greet, and please the public, plus one must chiffer and bargain with one's fellow politicos to get things done.

If the Lord recalls my sins

Why I am not a Libertarian

If it may be permitted, I would like here to quote in full an article which argues against the legalization and the award of social sanction of that form of mental self-mutilation known as recreational drug use, and does so with more authority than I command (since the author speaks from personal experience--note particularly his anecdote about building a road in Africa, when the construction workers were given free booze) . 

The article is from Front Page magazine, and the author is the skeptic

Life Unworthy of Life

An article from Inside Catholic. If it may be permitted me, I will quote the whole thing, without comment. It speaks for itself.

Praying with the Kaisers by John Zmirak 6/10/09 As I'm writing this column at the tail end of my first trip to Vienna, some of you who've read me before might expect a bittersweet love note to the Habsburgs -- a tear-stained column that splutters about Blessed Karl and "good Kaiser Franz Josef," calls this a "pilgrimage" like my

Reviewer Smile for "The Far End of History"

My latest Golden Oecumene short story appears in New Space Opera 2 (now out in paperback!) The Fantasy Book Critic (Liviu Suciu) is kind enough to give it several stars and a plus sign, not to mention double exclamation points. Here is the salient paragraph: “The Far End of History”, John C. Wright
(LS) *****+

This is just awesome, especially if you are a big time fan (like me) of the author's Golden Age debut trilogy. Here there are encounters with Atkins, the Lords of the Silent Oecumene and muc

Lensmen!

</b></a> wyrdwood  points out that Michael J Straczynski is working on a live-action Lensman movie. He says the script is already written.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Forget-Avatar-Lensman-Is-The-Next-Big-Thing-13703.html

Boiling the Lensman series down into a script is no small feat, but apparently it’s a feat JMS has already accomplished. He recently appeared on the Babylon Podcast where he revealed that, “the second draft is in. Everyone is very happy with it, and we'll now see where that go