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The Ale-Drinker's Answer to Hegel: Chesterton's The Everlasting Man by John Zmirak 9/16/08 One of the books I'm teaching this semester is a title that, over the years, I've found indispensable for my sanity, such as it is: G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man. If you don't know the book, stop reading now. Click over and order your copy. Go ahead, I can wait . . . When your package arrives, settle into a comfy chair with a decent supply of monastic beer, because you're in for a wild ride. In this easy book of medium length, Chesterton tries the...

The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist. 100,000 years into the future, sexual selection could mean that two distinct breeds of human will have developed. The alarming prediction comes from evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry from the London School of Economics, who says that the human race will have reached its physical peak by the year 3000. These humans will be between 6ft and 7ft tall and they will live up to 120 years. "Physical features will be driven...

Human race will 'split into two different species' The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist. 100,000 years into the future, sexual selection will mean that two distinct breeds of human will have developed. The alarming prediction comes from evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry from the London School of Economics, who says that the human race will have reached its physical peak by the year 3000. Go to the link in the header/excerpt for more, or the link in the...

NEVER in the field of human conflict was so much owed by one great orator to one great science fiction writer. That is the view of a Cambridge don who has discovered that Winston Churchill - a closet science fiction fan - borrowed some of his biggest ideas and most telling phrases from his favourite author, H. G. Wells. Dr Richard Toye, a history lecturer at Cambridge University, spotted remarkable similarities between Churchill's speeches and earlier works by Wells. In particular Toye found The Gathering Storm - the foreboding title of Churchill's famous account of the rise of Hitler -...

Introduction[From the beginning I realized it too voluminous a work to record all the evidence contained in H.G. Wells’ book, The Open Conspiracy, which supported a thesis that today we are in latter stages of it. There is here, however, sufficient citation of evidence to that end. The objective of writing an expose’ on the Open Conspiracy is not as much a fascination with the past as it is a revelation of the now, and the immediate and not too distant future.] Never before in the history of the world has mankind possessed such great troves of knowledge, and although...

HUMANS could evolve into two sub-species within 100,000 years as social divisions produce a genetic underclass. The mating preferences of the rich, highly educated and well-nourished could ultimately drive their separation into a genetically distinct group that no longer interbreeds with less fortunate human beings, according to British scientist Oliver Curry. Dr Curry, a research associate in the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science of the London School of Economics, speculated that privileged humans might over tens of thousands of years evolve into a "gracile" subspecies, tall, thin, symmetrical, intelligent and creative. The rest would be shorter and...

There are relatively few individuals today who would not take offence to being called a fascist. This was not always so; for before and during the 1930’s even though Western liberal societies in general rejected philosophies of fascism, the term had nowhere near the stigma that it does today, and many were drawn to the concept. One individual who embraced the ideas of both fascism and liberalism was HG Wells. Before Hitler and Mussolini brought infamy to the term fascism, Wells referred to himself as a “liberal fascist“ and put forward a theory of revolutionary praxis centered around a concept...

On leaving a theater, have you ever been tempted to yell at the other moviegoers, "Hey, guys: Do ya get it? Do you know what this is about?" That's what I wanted to do when the lights came up and the credits started to roll for Michael Bay's just-released sci-fi block-buster "The Island." "Cloning! Embryonic stem cell research! Abortion! Euthanasia!" I wanted to shout. Still, "The Island's" pro-life message is unmistakable. Liberal critics are grumbling about it. Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt complains that "These filmmakers have, perhaps unwittingly, delivered a film certain to give succor to the...

In a July 18 article, columnist John Leo describes how David Koepp, screenplay writer for Stephen Spielberg’s recently released “War of the Worlds,” revealed his intent to draw a parallel between the U.S. military in Iraq, and the movie’s villains, an army of hideous space aliens. Based on a late nineteenth-century science fiction novel by British author H.G. Wells, the original story involved an attack from inhabitants of the planet Mars, whose aim it was to conquer and inhabit the Earth. Transposing the storyline from 1898 London to modern day New York, while still retaining a faithful portrayal of the...

NOTE: This is a vastly expanded and updated version of a prior review from this group, which includes a host of quotes from those behind the film. It came via the group’s e-mail list, where the site itself appears to be down for the moment. WAR OF THE WORLDS: Steven Spielberg and H.G. Wells on Occupations, Empires, and "Current Relevance" Updated Final, SPOILERS New Republican Archive. Movie Reviews. July 11, 2005. (Contact: newrepublicanarchive@juno.com). War of the Worlds is not only a tense portrayal of the terror and horror of war, particularly for those on the losing side of a modern...

War of the Worlds: Steven Spielberg and H.G. Wells on War, Revolutions, Occupations, and Christianity New Republican Archive. Movie Reviews. July 4, 2005. The new Tom Cruise vehicle titled War of the Worlds is not only a tense portrayal of the terror and horror of war, particularly for those on the losing side of a modern one, but also a deeply political film. Director Steven Spielberg has gone to great lengths to "spin" this classic story with contemporary political allegories. What else should we expect from a film directed by Spielberg and co-starring Tim Robbins? Indeed, we should expect nothing...

They came from within: How War of the Worlds anticipated the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard The ominous tagline in early trailers for the alien invasion blockbuster War of the Worlds was "They're Already Here" — but any learned Scientologist could have told you that long ago. As you may have heard, WOTW star Tom Cruise is a 20-year veteran of the Church of Scientology, which reportedly teaches that human beings contain clusters of "body thetans," or spirits, of aliens who died 75 million years ago in an intergalactic purge of overpopulated planets by the evil overlord Xenu. In Scientology-speak,...

Tales of a nation under attack, which recur when public anxiety rises, multiply at theaters and on TV. Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is acutely attuned to the zeitgeist of post-9/11 America. In this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, Earth is still the most desirable piece of real estate in the Milky Way, the envy of the galactic neighborhood. But this retelling of the alien-invasion story, set in modern-day New Jersey rather than Wells' Edwardian London, tacitly acknowledges American fears of an attack on US cities. A principal aspect of the film is the way a nation unites...

According to a reader over at Libertas, David Koepp, the writer of the film, had this to say in an interview with Rue Morgue Magazine, [not available online]: “And now, as we see American adventure abroad’ he (David Koepp} continues ‘in my mind it’s certainly back to it’s original meaning, which is that the Martians in our movie represent American military forces invading the Iraqis, and the futility of the occupation of a faraway land is again the subtext” Koepp also told Newsweek: "I think the whole war [in the movie] is about water," he says. "I figure their planet...

War of the Worldviews H.G. Wells was a sci-fi pioneer, but his political ideas were abominable. If H.G. Wells had not performed poorly on an astronomical physics test and several other exams as a young man, he might have spent the rest of his life as an obscure academic rather than a popular author. He probably would not have written his most famous book, "The War of the Worlds"--a novel that's never gone out of print since its publication in 1898 and that now serves as the inspiration for the Stephen Spielberg film reaching theaters next Wednesday. Those lousy marks...

Stephen Spielberg's film version of The War of the Worlds is the most expensive movie ever made. The product itself is largely irrelevant, but the author of the book upon which it is based is intensely pertinent. Put simply, H.G. Wells was the master writer of the cult of social engineering, providing an intellectual veneer to ideas that would become reality under Hitler, Stalin and their successors. Describing Wells's pernicious ideas and behaviour, George Bernard Shaw wrote: "Multiply the total by 10; square the result. Raise it again to the millionth power and square it again; and you will still...

Did you know that there are two versions of War of the Worlds hitting theaters this year? The Speilberg production is a big budget Hollywood extravaganza staring Tom Cruise. It is set in modern America - "working class New England", and probably only has a passing aquaintence with the book. In other words, big names, big budget, flashy effects and no substance. Enough about THAT! On the other hand, the Pendragon production is a small independent film set in 1890's England. From what little I've seen, it is accurate to the rich detail of Wells' masterpiece. It bills itself asTHE...

Well, it's Black History Month, and I'll bet you haven't heard one thing about George S. Schuyler (1895-1977). George S. Schuyler was, simply, the greatest black journalist this country has ever produced. (Normally, I eschew qualifiers like "greatest black," as opposed to "greatest," period, but this is journalism we're talking about. I will never, in five lifetimes of sitting in newspaper morgues, looking at microfilms of ancient newsprint, be able to read enough to determine who America's greatest journalist was.) From 1924-1966, he bestrode the black press like a colossus. Working for Robert Lee Vann's (1879-1940) Pittsburgh Courier weekly newspaper,...