Illumination for Everybody

New at Reason: Jesse Walker immanentizes R.A. Wilson.

Comments

[Gordon Shumway]

His "Natural Law or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy" is a libertarian favorite.

[dhex]

TSOG should be a libertarian favorite, but he spends too much time bashing bush for most folks taste, probably. very funny book though.

[Jim Walsh]

"Illuminatus" rocked my world. Wilson is God.
Fnord?

[PapayaSF]

Well, I used to have a lot more respect for the guy, who I've even met on several occasions. I reviewed one of his books and gave it a largely positive review, praising some parts but taking him to task for others. In sum I wrote it was a disappointing book from a fine author that fans will want to read, but newbies should start elsewhere.

A few years later I discovered RAW was publicly attacking me as "vicious" and a "sadist." Pretty much cooled my enthusiasm for his books.

[dhex]

freaklishly, i had a friend say the exact same thing last week...

as my phd in english modernism candidate wife to be has said on occasion, wilson would have been huge if he'd written about less fucking batshit crazy stuff and never mentioned crowley in public.

[Andrew]

The Blogo-sphere is awash with conspiracy theories, of course-- and an array of "facts" to support them. Little of it is edifying, or informs policy debate. That is mostly because the "facts" aren't facts...but really there is a deeper point: facts-- even true facts-- don't play that much of a role in coming to sensible conclusions in a policy debate.

The crude empiricism implied in any conspiracy-mongering is spurious.

[Miltie]

Hey PapayaSF, you wouldn't happen to be Jay Cornell of Gnosis magazine would you?

[Blockhead 523]

A few years later I discovered RAW was publicly attacking me as "vicious" and a "sadist." Pretty much cooled my enthusiasm for his books.

RAW is known to be somewhat bitter about his lack of standing amongst the literary intelligensia, and as a result has occasionally been less than graceful in his reactions to critics. I'm always a little embarrassed for him when he goes off on an anti-critic tear, but OTOH he really been much more of a profound cultural influence than most "important" authors, plus any number of said "important" authors have shamelessly mined RAW's works for ideas with nary a "thanks to" to be found, so I can certainly see his point.

[dhex]

yeah, that davinci code thing, as i said to a friend recently, is illuminatus for squares without a sense of humor. or tolerance for ridiculous hippie flights of fancy.

conspiracy theories are hilarious. even the true ones. especially the true ones.