Huck Finn in Hell
Bob Wallace
2005-01-27 17:00
It can only be described as miraculous that the writer J. G. Ballard survived almost four years in a Japanese internment camp in China during World War II, four years he chronicled in Empire of the Sun. He was all of 11 years old when it happened.
The Law of Many Devils
Bob Wallace
2005-01-25 17:00
There are many things that bedevil humanity. Ninety percent of them are located in human nature. If there is "evil" in the world, it comes right out of the human heart.
To say that people are "imperfect," or if you want to use religious terms, "fallen," isn't enough. What's wrong with people has to be analyzed, so it can be studied.
Libertarian Novels
Bob Wallace
2005-01-19 17:00
For some reason which I don't understand, the worst writers, like Karl Marx, are leftist, the best, such as Conrad and Dostoevsky, are conservatives, and the anarchist/libertarian ones write science-fiction, fantasy and horror. Even Tolkien, who wrote of a Stateless Shire in his first novel, The Hobbit, described himself as an "anarchist."
Ow! Leave My Brain Alone!
Bob Wallace
2005-01-17 17:00
Wait, hold on, let me get my Tinfoil Hat! (And if you want to understand the theory behind Tinfoil Hats, and how to construct one, cast an eyeball upon Lyle Zapato's book, Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie: Practical Mind Control Protection for Paranoids).
Conspiracy theories have been around since, well, the beginning of the human race. They are a constant with people, so they must fulfill a...
Educated in a Tent
Bob Wallace
2005-01-12 17:00
Several days ago, I ran across an article about a 52-year-old man who had lived with his 12-year-old daughter in a tent in a Portland , Oregon park for four years (click here). When they were discovered, the girl was described as "well-spoken beyond her years." Actually, this girl, who would have been in the seventh grade, tested at the 12th grade level. And what did her educational materials...
Politics and the Garden of Eden
Bob Wallace
2005-01-09 17:00
It is comforting to lie to oneself. Comforting, but dangerous. At times, very dangerous. It is a matter of degree: a little bit is not so bad, but a great deal can be terrible, most especially when it affects other people.
Politics and the Garden of Eden
Bob Wallace
2004-12-28 17:00
The only religious joke I tell is one I made up: the human race has Fallen and can't get up. Okay, so it's not very good, even for one of my always-bad puns. But as bad as it is, I think it is a true statement. Even a bad joke often has truth in it.
The idea that the human race is "fallen," that is, imperfect, exists in all religions. In the Western world, it's because we were, whether...
Reeding, Riting and Self-Esteam
Bob Wallace
2004-12-12 17:00
I'm certainly no expert on self-esteem, but I do know that a teacher patting a student on the head for spelling "kat" and telling him, "Well, at least you tried" is not the way to create it. And that is now what some schools (government run, of course) are telling teachers to do, in hopes of not hurting students' feelings and making them feel good about themselves.
What they're doing isn't...
Libertarian Rabbits
Bob Wallace
2004-12-07 17:00
There is a continual rotation of books through my house. Some I've read so many times I practically have them memorized, others I never much cared for. If I had kept every book I've bought since I starting buying them at age 11, I'd probably have about a quarter-million by the time I come out on the far end of the Geezerfier.
Some books, though, never leave. Among the non-fiction ones there...
Living in a Fantasy World
Bob Wallace
2004-11-14 17:00
In the West, the best-known story about a "perfect" world is that of the Garden of Eden. I find it interesting there is an angel with a flaming sword preventing us from returning to it. There is wisdom to our being barred--or actually, to our barring ourselves. The story may be just a myth, but myths that last millennia always have great truth in them; in this case, there is no perfect world,...
Luciferian Good and Evil
Bob Wallace
2004-10-31 17:00
Oh boy. There's just no telling where my thoughts will lead me. Sometimes, to very odd places.
Let's take the concepts of Good and Evil. Just what are they? In reality, I think Good can be defined as harmony and wholeness (which is related to words "health" and "holy"). That means "evil" is the exact opposite -- lack of harmony, lack of wholeness (or "unholiness").
True "good" and "evil...
Dubya bin Laden
Bob Wallace
2004-10-26 16:00
I'm not sure how it started. I think it was while watching Pinky and the Brain with a roomful of people. Children, teenagers, adults of all ages. All were laughing at the antics of a bulb-headed mutated lab mouse who wanted to conquer the world, with the aid of his dim-witted, hyperactive, worshipping sidekick. They failed every time with their Rube Goldberg plans, yet never gave up.
What...
The Tragedy of the Idealist
Bob Wallace
2004-10-18 16:00
Before he was executed, Adolf Eichmann was asked to explain his actions. "I was an idealist," he said. An idealist, one whose moral compasses were spinning madly. Perhaps all idealists, in greater or lesser degree, have such compasses. The Nazis and the Communists were idealists, as are the greenies who blow up SUV dealerships and drive spikes into trees. To them, they are right; everyone...
The State as Serial Killer
Bob Wallace
2004-10-10 16:00
The evil man is the child grown strong. ~ Thomas Hobbes
If one person kills another, he is a murderer. If he kills 100, he is a monster. But if he kills 10,000, he is a hero. And the only way one can become this type of "hero" is through the agency of the State.
The victims of the worst serial killer in the world are but a drop in a lake compared to the political victims of Mao Tse Tung,...
God, Satan Hold Joint Press Conference
Bob Wallace
2004-10-06 16:00
God and Satan, in a surprise joint announcement today, informed the media that "most people today have gotten everything so wrong we decided it's time to clear things up."
"First of all," said God, "all those goofy 'Left Behind' Christian Zionists who think they can bring My Son back and end the world by unconditionally supporting Israel no matter what it does to anyone, you can just forget...
Resistance Is Futile, Under-People!
Bob Wallace
2004-10-03 16:00
"Under-People" is the English translation of the German word "Untermenschen," made famous by Hitler in Mein Kampf. And of course, if you've got Untermenschen, you've got to have Ubermenschen, too. At least in fantasy.
And fantasy indeed is what we're dealing with in Thomas P.M. Barnett's book, The Pentagon's New Map: Peace and War in the Twenty-First Century. Only, the Over-People are what...
Why Plants Don"t Have ADD
Bob Wallace
2004-09-26 16:00
When I was growing up, we didn't have any hyperactive kids. We certainly didn't have anyone on Ritalin. We'd never heard of the stuff. At 11, the only "drug" we knew about was aspirin-in-Coke, which was supposed to make you drunk. (We also believed if you put a tooth or nail in Coke overnight, they would dissolve. Our experiments proved this to be not true, just as we proved that throwing...
A Gangrene of Politicians
Bob Wallace
2004-09-02 16:00
Grrr. I don't even want to write the word anymore. At least I can do it like this: p********n. It's probably the worst insult I can imagine, worse even than "soccer mom in an SUV, blocking the intersection while babbling on her cell phone."
Dr. Jack Wheeler invented a collective noun for those, um, "people"--a "scum of politicians." It's funny, but it's an insult to scum, which must have...
Bill the Galactic Hero
Bob Wallace
2004-08-08 16:00
Here we have a case not only of art imitating life, but attempting to nudge it back on course by making us smile a little bit. That makes the case in question, Harry Harrison's novel, Bill the Galactic Hero, a fine satire that, unlike the author's better-known Make Room! Make Room! (filmed as "People are Soylent Green!"), hasn't yet been made into a movie. And that's a shame, because I laughed...
The Ever-Present Warrior
Bob Wallace
2004-08-02 16:00
Some people are born to be certain things. I've known singers who knew they were going to be singers at the age of five. I'm a natural-born comedian, much like a Pug dog, and even though I don't remember it, have been told by my relatives I used to crack them up at the age of five or six. I certainly remember being 13, by which time I was a class clown.
Some men are even born to be natural...
Revenge! I Want Revenge!
Bob Wallace
2004-07-25 16:00
I want George Bush to lose so bad I can taste it. And it's not because I'm for Kerry. Kerry looks like what happens when Herman Munster and Gomer Pyle get into the transporter together, there's a horrible accident, and only one person comes out.
There's about a dime's worth of difference between Bush and Kerry. Contrary to the hallucinations of the Poorly Educated Who Can't Spell (also know...
Kill "Em All and Let God Sort Them Out
Bob Wallace
2004-07-18 16:00
It's fascinating to watch a new mythology, with new mythic characters, evolve before my eyes. I'm speaking of Chickenhawks.
I'll argue that all mythic characters, no matter how ancient, are based on people that actually existed. Not just one person, but many. People noticed their characters, and noticed them well. Stories were created about them to educate and entertain the young and old...
Kill "Em All and Let God Sort Them Out
Bob Wallace
2004-07-06 16:00
Glad to say, I'm not a highly-paid court intellectual, or don't have three words in my name, or a Ph.D from some effete eastern university. So, I am reduced to using what creakingly passes for my common sense. Compared to the aforementioned groups, though, I'm a genius.
My common sense notes with great dismay that there is only one way an army can defeat guerillas: kill everyone. I don't...
Ask Brainitor!
Bob Wallace
2004-06-23 16:00
Dear Brainitor: So what is the real deal with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Were we really attacked because we are "good" and they are "evil"? Is it that simple?
Confused
Dear Confused,
That simple? Not even close, Confused. So, let me take a few paragraphs to...
Prophet for Hire, Cheap
Bob Wallace
2004-06-20 16:00
"Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." ~ Matthew 13:57
I consider myself a part-time prophet. It's more of a hobby than anything else. I'm pretty good at it, because it's not hard. I certainly don't get any honor from it, though. But as far as I'm concerned, the government should hire me, the way ancient Hebrew kings had their prophets. The kings didn't...
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