Britannia Radio

World Without Men: The Forgotten Novel of Totalitarian Lesbiocracy by Charles Eric Maine

From the desk of Thomas F. Bertonneau on Tue, 2010-08-17 13:12

The blurb on the thirty-five cent Ace paperback likens Charles Eric Maine’s 1958 novel World without Men to George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’sBrave New World. Ordinarily – and in consideration of the genre and the lurid cover – one would regard such a comparison skeptically. Nevertheless, while not rising to the artistic level of the Orwell and Huxley masterpieces, World without Men merits being rescued from the large catalogue of 1950s paperback throwaways, not least because of Maine’s vision of an ideological dystopia is based on criticism, not of socialism or communism per se nor of technocracy per se, but rather of feminism. Maine saw in the nascent feminism of his day (the immediate postwar period) a dehumanizing and destructive force, tending towards totalitarianism, which had the potential to deform society in radical, unnatural ways. Maine grasped that feminism – the dogmatic delusion that women are morally and intellectually superior to men – derived its fundamental premises from hatred of, not respect for, the natural order; he grasped also that feminism entailed a fantastic rebellion against sexual dimorphism, which therefore also entailed a total rejection of inherited morality.

continue reading

» login or register to post comments | 732 reads

Misunderstood Promises

From the desk of George Handlery on Sat, 2010-08-14 13:34

1. After a delay of several decades, Comrade Duch has been convicted. The man was one of

participants of Communist Cambodia’s efforts to commit self-genocide. Today everybody condemns Duch. His party affiliation, which is as relevant for the crime as, is his person, however, gets little mention. Except perhaps that, the talk is about “stone-age Communism. The term implies an excuse. It insinuates that people such as Duch have somehow abandoned the real humanistic party line. Accepting the killer’s condemnation has a related reason. It helps to avoid the kind of look in the mirror that would bring the past and its record back.

continue reading

» login or register to post comments | 784 reads

The Dangers Of An Excessive Economic Role Of The State

From the desk of George Handlery on Sat, 2010-08-07 13:22

This time, Duly Noted places the economic role of the state in it into its focal point. This warrants an affirmation of the writer’s own position. The state is not a necessarily a negative force with regard to the economy or basic freedoms. Admittedly, modern dictatorship can only unfold once its operators grab control of national states and economies. Equally true is that democracy presupposes a properly regulated state. The issue then is the limit imposed upon state power and the scope of its activities in areas in which its role can be constructive. Essentially then, the dispute with the Statist is about the exact role to be assigned to the state and the extent of the power that should be delegated to it. Therefore, the negative references to the “state” do not stem from a fundamental opposition to it. The reservations merely reflect the dangers inherent in an excessive role of the state. This comes about when that role is paired with the ability of special interest groups to kidnap the state to serve their interests.

continue reading