The Manifesto of the Cornucopians

Posted November 19, 2024 By John C Wright

This is a reprint of the first column ever published here in my journal. Oddly, it seems to be part of an ongoing conversation, of whose earlier segment, if any, I have no record.

sophistibation asks:

I’m curious what your suggestion, if any, is for a long-run solution to the problem of overpopulation, given your seeming distaste for contraception, one-child policy, etc. I’m not suggesting that there is a current global overpopulation crisis, but only that eventually the population must be limited either by “self-regulation” (abortion, contraception in the case of the West today) or by war, famine, etc. Interested to hear your thoughts.

I am a Cornucopian, which is the opposite of a Malthusian. The term was coined to define the position of economist Julian Simon whose famous wager with doomsayer Paul Ehrlich in a sane world would would have put paid to the Malthusian predictions of the latter. (You can see more about the Simon-Ehrlich wager here.) A Malthusian says that population growth (especially of Irish, Hindoos and Negroes) leads to disastrous scarcity of resources, resulting in mass famine, war, and apocalyptic megadeath. A Cornucopian says that population growth, while it creates dislocations and even disasters (such as the enclosure laws of England) does not necessarily lead to the scarcity of  any particular resource, nor all of them.

More people does not mean less stuff.

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Emboldening the Wolves

Posted November 18, 2024 By John C Wright

The lovely and talented Mrs. Wright graces us with another essay of hers, a meditation of the side effects of slander in politics.

Emboldening the Wolves

Why repeatedly calling your political opponents names may be a really bad idea.

We’ve all heard of the Boy Who Cried Wolf and how one downside to constantly crying wolf—or nazi or racist or whatever—is that when the real thing comes, no one believes you.

But there’s another downside.

When you continually cry Wolf!…the wolves start listening, too.

They are emboldened. They think there are more of them out there and, thus, are more willing to come out and attack.

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My comment: if you convince the world that all conservatives are Nazis, the real Nazis will think they are the majority, not a freakish minority badly outnumbered by UFO enthusiasts or flat-earthers.

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Epistles to Ansgar: Letter 06 Sin

Posted November 18, 2024 By John C Wright

28 July AD 2024, Feast of Saint Innocent I

Dear Godson,

These letters shall discuss why we believe, what we believe, and how we are to live our belief.

Today is the Feast of Innocent I, who is remembered for having condemned Pelagianism, a heresy that denied the doctrine of Original Sin. Pelagianism held that a man by his own efforts, unaided by divine grace, could avoid sin and earn a place in paradise.

The Church teaches otherwise.

Even the most dark-minded cynic ever to despair at the woe of the human condition does not paint a scene as dark as this: we are all born to die, all condemned to hellfire and damnation eternally, merely for the sin of being born human.

The sin of our nature is built into human nature, and no human effort can efface this sin, nor even mitigate it. You cannot climb out of the grave under your own power. You cannot climb out of hell.

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On the Card Game of Politics

Posted November 17, 2024 By John C Wright

Our own Stephen J brings this point by the late Canadian blogger Kathy Shaidle, of blessed memory, to our attention. She write about the people who used to screech about 9/11 being an inside job:

I wonder if the nuts even believe what they are saying. Because if something like 9/11 happened in Canada, and I believed with all my heart that, say, Stephen Harper was involved, I don’t think I could still live here. I’m not sure I could stop myself from running screaming to another country. How can you believe that your President killed 2,000 people, and in between bitching about this, just carry on buying your vente latte and so forth?

His comment:

That said, it occurs to me in hindsight I should be less judgmental of this reaction, because there are things I believe to be true with all my heart that don’t have as much of an impact on my behaviour as they should. Remove the plank in my own eye first, and all that.

My comment:

I have such a plank of my own.

At one time, I was neither pro-abortion nor anti-abortion.

Condemn me now if you will, but such was my honest opinion at one time. Abortion was an issue, the only issue known to me, logic could not solve. Neither side, given its axioms, proposes a self contradiction in any argument I heard: one side said humanity was a property that developed in the womb, like brain development, and the other said humanity was a property that exists categorically, like membership in one’s species.

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Ayatollah Khamenei Dead — Iran rejoices

Posted November 17, 2024 By John C Wright

I am passing along a rumor I saw on social media. I have no personal knowledge of whether this is true or false, but if it is true, then Aslan is on the move.

BREAKING

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly fallen into a coma and DIED. Good riddance!

Iran will soon be free!

https://x.com/realMaalouf/status/1857920672959181273?t=IxCQLQ7IssjEfmWE0EThWw&s=19

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Pic of the Day

Posted November 16, 2024 By John C Wright

BREAKING NEWS:
Nov 13, 2024

President Joe Biden, Leader of the Free World and mankind’s final but failed hope against the now-inevitable dystopian deathfuture of Trumpofascist Handmaid’s Tale, shakes hands with the President-Elect, Mr. Literally Hitler, and promises a peaceful transfer of power to the autocratic super-tyrant, and a peaceful end to democracy, free elections, and human happiness here and worldwide forever.

In addition to the transfer of lawful and constitutional powers as is conferred to the chief executive and commander-in-chief, Biden promises a peaceful transfer of illegal, autocratic and absolute power.

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Insulting the Imagination

Posted November 16, 2024 By John C Wright

A story is like a child. You nurse it along, aim it in the right direction, put your heart and soul into the baby, but then, if heaven smiles, it comes to life, grows up and has its own soul, its own spirit, its own essence.

Call it the muse or call it whatever you like, but there is something that directs a story in the direction it is meant to go — and I do not necessarily mean what direction the author is aiming. Stories speak of themselves, under their own power, or not at all.

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Not Tired of Winning Yet CLXXVI

Posted November 15, 2024 By John C Wright

While I am not tired of winning, I am unable to keep track. It is a lot of winning. A lot.

The golden wine-goblet of victory overflows, and we are heady with delight. More than we hoped to win is ours! — And it is but 10 days yet.

Too much winning? Maybe. But is this what the onset of a Golden Age feels like?

Let us consult the pundit Andrew Klavan:

Vision swims and stars dance in the vision. Optimism is alien to conservatives. Seeing one of our number wreathed in grins and giggles is akin to seeing Eeyore the Stuffed Donkey tap-dancing with joy.
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Important Announcement to my Crowdfunders!

Posted November 15, 2024 By John C Wright
To those of you who backed my Starquest crowdfunder.
We have shipped the first wave of books–those going to addresses we have confirmed.
If you backed this campaign for a physical book and you have not received an email saying your book is on the way, please send your current snail mail address to my lovely and talented wife at
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Woketalk

Posted November 15, 2024 By John C Wright

I have it on good authority that it is “misogynist” merely to observe that paranormal romance is meant for girls, while boy’s adventure tales for boys. (See, for example, ANITA BLAKE: VAMPIRE HUNTER by Laurell K. Hamilton versus A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs.)

Note scarequotes. “Misogynist” in Woketalk does not mean misogynist in English.

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The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 34: Warmind

Posted November 14, 2024 By John C Wright

From THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.

In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.

But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?

The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 34: Warmind

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The Mountains Sway

Posted November 13, 2024 By John C Wright

Modern society faces seven mountains of madness, that is, seven institutional strongholds, captured by the enemy, that command the culture and war against it:

  • The Press and Hollywood
  • Washington and Wall Street
  • Academia, The Chattering Class, The Church

While the Church is not entirely captured, the number of priestesses, pro-abortion, pro-sodomite and pro-contraception denominations, bishops, and orders who have fallen away from Christian teaching is severe and severely scandalous.

With the election of Trump, the centermost of the mountains of madness, the stronghold of politics, takes a sharp and shocking blow.

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Utopia via Armageddon

Posted November 13, 2024 By John C Wright
We do not need further debate on political philosophy. Wokeness is not a political philosophy, nor is the Democrat party seeking any rational political goals.

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Last Straw on Twitter: 1.0 Star Wars Anonymous

Posted November 12, 2024 By John C Wright

My “Last Straw” column on the platform formerly known as Twitter is up:
https://x.com/johncwright2001/status/1856377864083349871
The Last Straw is an ongoing autopsy of The Last Jedi — a failure that demanded Starquest: Space Pirates of Andromeda:
https://a.co/d/cNGCf7R
to revive pulp-era space opera in all its grandeur, wonder and fun.

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Starquest: Space Pirates of Andromeda audio preview

Posted November 11, 2024 By John C Wright

This is an experimental audiobook preview of the prologue STARQUEST: SPACE PIRATES OF ANDROMEDA made by a friend and patron of mine. Listen and enjoy!

I am seriously debating whether to do the audiobook myself, in order to get the accents correct, but this robot reading sounds much better than anything I would have expected.
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