John C. Wright's Blog, page 23
April 28, 2015
Guest Post by Vox Day — Sentio, ergo rectum
This is a reprint of a WND column from 2004, which I thought bore repeating. Please note that step 1 and step 7 are the same in both versions of the Leftist textwar tactic:
How to argue like a liberal
By Vox Day
Published: 03/29/2004 at 1:00 AM
It is inarguable that liberals – in the modern American sense of the word – are the most flawless human beings on the planet. They are smarter, better-educated, wealthier, kinder and morally superior to those benighted quasi-Neanderthals called conservatives, who would like nothing better than to drag society back to the Middle Ages, or, according to some high-minded liberal theorists, the Iron Age.
How do we know this? Why, liberals tell us so!
Perhaps it has escaped me, but I have not personally witnessed any call for a return to the monarchy, much less land grants held in fief, on the part of even the most conservative Republican. And the last time I looked, the Bush administration was very much in favor of steel – certainly the U.S. steel industry appears to be most appreciative of his efforts in enacting a 30 percent tariff on their behalf.
But being a liberal means never having to worry about the facts. Facts can be uncomfortable, and of course, anything that makes anyone uncomfortable is a violation of our constitutional rights. The only fact that matters is the foundational fact that you can only feel what is right, so if a fact happens to contradict your feelings, obviously that fact must be wrong. Sentio, ergo rectum.
Due to this inescapable and irrefutable logic, I have finally been convinced that I will be healthier, happier and wealthier if I join the large-brained ranks of the morally superior elite. I have therefore decided to become a liberal. Already I have benefited greatly from my decision – whereas many previous discussions ended in a frustrating impasse, now, being inestimably more clever and better-looking than before, I am able to win any argument with the greatest of ease. Let me share with you the secret of my success.
Make an untrue statement, preferably on the subject of something about which you know nothing.
Express astonishment that your source could possibly be inaccurate.
Demand what motivation your source would have to lie.
Assert that the other party’s inability to articulate this motivation is tantamount to proof that your source is not lying.
Question the motivation of the contrary source.
Argue that all sources are equal and that therefore the contrary source is irrelevant.
Change the subject.Alternatively …
Make an untrue statement.
Deny that you said what you said.
Deny that the other party understood what you said.
Deny that the words you used mean what the other party claims they mean.
Redefine your definition and hope the other person forgets the previous one. Repeat as needed.
Assert that since definitions are irrelevant and subjective, the other person is mean-spirited, racist, sexist, intolerant and obsessive.
Change the subject.Remember: As long as you haven’t admitted you’re wrong, you are right. Any attempt to demonstrate otherwise is evidence of criminal hate and probably mental imbalance, too. Never forget that an answer to a question you have asked should always be regarded as a personal attack if the answer is something you don’t like, and that the answer to all evils personal, spiritual, moral and societal is more government money.
Now, if you don’t mind, I should probably go exercise my newfound moral superiority. The world won’t save itself, after all – not without the fount of all that is good and wise and smart and cute, which is to say, me.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Pray for Marriage
The Supreme Court, in an unconstitutional overreach of their powers, are hearing oral arguments this day to decide whether to sustain or abolish marriage. It is doubtful that the High Court would have entertained the case if the fix were not in, and the decision already made to overrule the legislatures of the allegedly sovereign states of our union, to scorn the will of the people, and to trample the alleged common law by which we are allegedly ruled.
How has it come to this?
Considering the miniscule number of people who suffer from the objectively disordered passion of same sex attraction, considering the logical impossibility of living chastely within an oath to pursue unnatural sex acts, considering the absurdity of insisting on a mating ritual for partners who cannot mate, and considering the lack of penalty for divorce of such unions or betrayal of the oath, one is left with no choice but to conclude that there is no human reason for this surprising and surprisingly victorious social movement. It is a supernatural effect, and it does not come from the regions of the unseen order favorable to human life.
Hence, prayer and fasting is the most logical response, and the most effective.
And I am reminded that the first public miracle which initiated Our Lord’s ministry on Earth was at a wedding feast. The Book of Genesis begins with the marriage of Adam and Eve; the Book of the Apocalypse ends with the marriage of the Lamb and His bride, the Holy Church; and all the books between are depictions of the rather rocky marriage between the Lord and His people, our frowardness and adulteries, and His offer of reconciliation.
Our faith begins and ends in marriage: this is not a part of life we can abandon to the corruption, corrosion, filth and rats of moral relativism, or the locusts of political correctness.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 27, 2015
This should also go on the Wall of Awesome
A friend sent me this link, which I found both awesome and amusing.
Odd that they mention cursorial hunting — that notion crops up in VINDICATION OF MAN, when the humans have an audience with the Hyades Cluster emissary-mind, it explains that the solar-system-sized artificial intelligence humans called The Beast, which was the military governor the Empyrean Polity of Man from the 61st to the 66th Millennium, was selected because its remote biological ancestors, and therefore its current psychology, society and laws, were those of a cursorial hunters, just like homo sapiens. The Whelks of Ain thought the two forms of cusorial hunters would be better able to understand each other.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Two Fronts in the Culture War
A crowdfunding campaign that had raised more than $109,000 for the Christian-owned bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon was removed Saturday after complaints from gay-rights advocates.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries proposed a damages award Friday of $135,000 against Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the [Sweet Cakes] bakery, after they were found in violation of the state’s anti-discrimination law in February.
“Lisa Watson of Cupcake Jones started her own campaign to contact GoFundMe and report the campaign as being in violation of their terms of service,” said the website GoLocalPDX in a Saturday post.
Sweet Cakes by Melissa has since closed its doors, although the Kleins are still providing baked goods from their home. The Kleins, who have five children, have said they are now struggling to make ends meet.
See here for a new donation site for the Kleins.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
And now the French
The overseas bloggers are getting into the act:
And, no, no one contacted me to discover what the other side of the story was, or even whether there was one.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 24, 2015
Monster Hunter Wright
Larry Correia made on his blog the following announcement:
From editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt: I am very pleased to announce that Larry Correia and I have signed a contract as co-editors with Baen for an anthology with the working title MONSTER HUNTER TALES which will feature stories set in the universe of his NYT Bestselling MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL series. Besides Larry, authors will include Jim Butcher, Jonathan Maberry, Jessica Day George, Faith Hunter, John Ringo, Sarah A. Hoyt, John A. Pitts, Jody Lynn Nye, Mike Kupari, Maurice Broaddus and more. For release in 2017.
And then in the comments, added this little tidbit:
I am happy to announce that John C Wright is in there. (Bryan only listed like half the names on his announcement for space)
Unless Mr Schmidt insists on changing the title, my story is called The Manticore Sanction.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 23, 2015
The Wall of Awesome
I wanted to start a list of what science fiction and fantasy stories need to capture in order to be awe-inspiring. So far I have two entries.
First is the ‘I wanted a Roc’s Egg’ speech from Robert Heinlein’s GLORY ROAD:
What did I want?
I wanted a Roc’s egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, then pick a like wench for my droit du seigneur – I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilting of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles.
I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, “The game’s afoot!” I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.
I wanted Prestor John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be–instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is.”
Second is from a comment here, by Steve. I have edited out the specific authoresses name, because I want the reader to notice the point of the comment as it applies generally, not just to this case:
In turbulent times such as these, I take comfort in knowing there are skiffy authors … who know how to write a compelling story:
[…] I have a book with an ace protagonist coming out next year.
When I was a wee lad in the 1980’s, “ace” meant “cool”. So will [the authoress] be writing about a rakish, devil-may-care space pilot who women love and men want to emulate? A dashing cavalier of the cosmos, a man who aims to misbehave and definitely would shoot Greedo first, but who – underneath his galaxy-weary cynicism – has a heart for romantic adventure and derring-do? The sort of man who rescues space princesses, smuggles Romulan ale, fights cylons, and has smoked kippers for breakfast?
No.
“Ace” apparently means “asexual”, as in people who are so sad and wretched that not only can’t they get Pon Farr at the sight of a pretty young Vulcan’s logically heaving bosom (or space-codpiece), they don’t even want to.
Fun times, right?
And there will be a no-prize for anyone who catches all the allusions in both speeches, from Arabian Nights’ to Ace Rimmer.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Personal Appearance
My lovely wife, L Jagi Lamplighter, and I will be guests are Ravencon 10 this weekend.
Doubletree by Hilton Richmond Midlothian</p>
1021 Koger Center Blvd, Richmond, Virginia 23235
Guests of Honor:
AUTHOR: Allen Steele
ARTIST: Frank Wu
GAMING: Brianna Spacekat Wu
SPECIAL AUTHOR: Jack McDevitt
SPECIAL AUTHOR: Lawrence M. Schoen
Here is the facebook page with details: https://www.facebook.com/events/560726884060854/
And here is the registration page: http://www.ravencon.com/
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
An Unexpected Gift
Here I reprint a fan letter for my work, with some unfan comments about Mr. Sandifer’s recent and unfortunately public attack of verbal gas, and an observation about the duty of due diligence reviewers owe their readers:
Before this post is buried by time, I wanted to share this experience with our host. On my bus ride home I was reading through Castalia’s collection of your Hugo-nominated works, and “Parliament of Beasts and Birds” came up. I had noticed Mr. Sandifer included it among his “Very Lousy Pieces of Science Fiction” that he compared unfavorably to “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love.” I was pleased that I had the opportunity to finally read your tale, which came to me much vaunted after several months of my lurking here and reading related blogs, and compare it with Mr. Sandifer’s analysis.
I was spellbound. From the opening lines to the conclusion, I was enraptured. The conceit, the rich detail and description, the poetic and Biblical allusions, the characterizations of these animals that fit like gloves, the living vein of the fabulous that underlay and animated the story just embraced me and sucked me in. I felt as I did at the conclusion of your “The Ideal Machine,” except for the entire length of the tale instead of just the grand finale. “Parliament” was, in a word, beautiful. Your story was like the empyrean garments presented to the beasts, except spun with heavenly words rather than heavenly threads. It was a story like a fine glass of wine and a hearty roast beef dinner. You gifted me a most rewarding, uplifting, fulfilling and gorgeous tale and one hell of a magical bus ride home. My sincerest thanks.
With my mind aglow with “Parliament,” I get home and after dinner and coffee I return to Mr. Sandifer’s blog to read his arguments for why it’s lousy and weigh them against the story. True, I thought it marvelous, but surely Mr. Sandifer will deliver on the promise he makes in his section heading that “several very lousy pieces of science fiction” will be “analyzed in depth.” Perhaps his critic’s eye, honed by years of comics and Doctor Who analysis, caught something. I scroll down, eager for his critical analysis of “Parliament,” and…
Four sentences. That’s it. Four sentences that boil down to “I didn’t like it.” No argument, no analysis. Just dismissal.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
April 22, 2015
James May on Jack Vance
An excerpt:
When Jack Vance, one of the greatest writers of SF and fantasy, died in May of 2013, one of SF’s new breed of racialized feminists, Aliette de Bodard, multiple nominee and winner of SF’s highest awards, the Hugo and Nebula, Tweeted, “I don’t actually think I’ve read any Vance. Should I?”
Had Jack Vance been a non-white gay woman, de Bodard would’ve sent up rocket flares when he died, since she is well acquainted with the most obscure women, non-white, non-Western authors in SF and fantasy. De Bodard represents a culture within SFF that fetishizes a black mid-list SF author like Octavia Butler whose influence and talent compared to Vance is minimal but whose race, politics, and gender represents a trump card. Vance represents the complete opposite: devoted to word and artistry to the exclusion of all else. And yet Vance has been enrolled in a de facto supremacist ideology by radical feminism by fiat and so is of no interest to them whatsoever other than an example of a smotheringly oppressive patriarchy. Aside from that, an SFF writer who had never read Vance is like an Egyptologist missing a dynasty or two. It’s betrays a rather stunning disinterest and lack of knowledge of one’s own literary ancestors and history of one’s own genre.
On her blog and Twitter, De Bodard never ceases recommending literature according to the race and gender of those writing it; whether they’re actually any good or not seems immaterial. It shouldn’t be any surprise that in this new climate, de Bodard is relentlessly nominated for awards based on her own patronized and pandered to racial identity and that of her stories rather than her skills, which are nominal.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
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