Yesterday on Alex O'Connor, author Philip Pullman continued his long, losing battle against C.S. Lewis and Narnia (A filthy lie!) A quick GeekyStoics rebuttal to some nonsense about The Magician's Nephew.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Pullman missing the point of a story for children is pretty funny

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics weird to positon his view as a defense of children. As if children can somehow HAVE the power to save their sick parents

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Yeah, like I get where he's coming from; easy sell 'who wouldn't want to do everything to try and save a loved one'. But as you say, the context of the situation, the deeper issues; and just the path that relativism can lead you down are all working against him and his point

What a selfrightous annoying old prick. God I hate moral utilitarians. The point is not "there is a cruel test and if you pass your mother will be healed" the point is "you are not supposed to be good for the benefits" He has a 3rd world boomer mentality. Theft is good because I get from it what I want. The only problem with theft is that you may getp unished, the only sin of a thief is being stupid enough to get caught. He sounds like those indian exchange students living in Canada proudly taalking about how they don't pay for grocieries by stealing stuff from charities. His entire worldview is based on the idea that people will keep making great things for him to steal. Men with his philosophy would have never moved humanity past the stone age.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics I mostly agree, especially since Pullman literally lies about what actually happens in Magicians Nephew, but I disagree about the assertion that death is natural. It is a great unnatural evil, the primary result of the fall.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics fair enough! That is one way to look at it

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics CS Lewis was himself the boy with the dying mother. He touches on these moments in his own life, that so profoundly shaped him, in the Magician’s Nephew. When one understands this, the passages show their true power. He is “not one who jests at scars who never knew pain”

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Exactly

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Moral relativists have to discredit and deliberately misread the themes C.S Lewis presents because they cannot stand the idea that good and evil exist— and are illuminated to us *because* of God.

@mvpompa @CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics It’s my favorite Narnia book ❤️ I hope Netflix doesn’t mess it up

@mvpompa @CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Likewise!

@WesleyLHuff @CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Philip Pullman is a filthy liar. It doesn't sound like he's even read the book himself. But like most angry atheists he's mad at something knows nothing about.

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@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics I enjoyed this breakdown, thanks for it!

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics my pleasure

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics If Pullman read the book, he forgot the details.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics The Chronicles of Narnia are written for literal children, who seem fully capable of understanding the message in them. Philip Pullman is either so dumb or so caught in his own webs that he wrote an entire series to criticize the themes he doesn't understand.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics All I know is that Pullman couldn't hold my interest through 3 children's books during the pandemic when I had nothing better to do, so I'd say Lewis is the winner by default lol

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Watched for interest in C.S. Lewis, followed for the FMA reference.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics 💪💪💪

@PhilipDBunn @CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics C.S. Lewis has etched his books into history. Philip Pullman and all of his books will collapse under the weight of their own absurdity and skepticism.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics I love The Magician's Nephew. It's my favorite of the Narnia stories. I wish I had any faith that this new adaptation would be faithful, but I don't.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics CS Lewis was based and correct.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics I wonder what his preferred moral would’ve been? Accept dubious deals with unknown strings attached, from duplicitous individuals?

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics I enjoyed the Golden Compass. I thought it was well written and engaging. Then I read the sequel and it was trash. So bad it ruined the 1st book for me.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics It's also an allagorical moral test. Kids aren't robots. They're smart enough to understand it's not literally translational to reality. If any of them were faced with that scenario in real life, they're not going to go 'durr kid in book didn't steal to save mother, so I won't'.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Why would Pullman not see this deeper meaning? Certainly he knows who is suggesting to digory that he take this apple?! And he fails to mention it offers eternal life... Great analysis here. Love the references to modern Day myths (Indiana Jones and Star Wars)

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics You completely dodged the core of Pullman’s critique in the video, that the "right" apple is a reward for obedience. Your point only works if there’s no second apple and the cost of refusing to take the first is the death of the mother.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics As the Potter books progressed, I commented to an English prof how clever they were. I was admonished and told I should read more serious works by Pullman. I enjoyed the Golden Compass and Subtle Knife.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Did Pullman even finish reading the book?? Aslan literally gives Digory the apple.

This analysis is genuinely stupendous. I remember that passage about the mother not liking it and thinking that it isn’t good enough to do things just because they might make me or someone else feel better, or so that I wouldn’t be lonely even if it felt nice to be something like a saviour. Lewis teaches us about the differences between kindness, goodness and righteousness. He is an excellent writer.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics Digory knows regret. He rang the bell that released the witch.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics My only correction would be that Narnia actually is religious propaganda and that is a good thing.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics The classic hope pilled Lewis vs the black pilled pessimist Pullman. CS Lewis’s faith based tests can seem cruel to the man who prides himself a realist and think he’s formed his own moral compass.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics This is excellent! Thank you!

@GeekyStoics You bet!

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics No one cares what a fake pretentious jew has say with a british accent

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics This guy made Satan the star/hero of his series, I'll take CS over that any day.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics What drives me nuts is it's obvious he's never read the book because he gets it wrong He's just shit up To justify his point of view I have read it and have never saw what he's talking about

@WesleyLHuff @CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics What is wrong with that guy?…You know at the end of Magicians Nephew, how the magician cannot bear to hear Aslan sing…. It’s like that.

@CosmicSkeptic @GeekyStoics It is stupid when guys like Pullman dump on those that helped build the house they live in. If he appreciates the importance of Narnia books while saying he disagreed with Lewis' worldview, I would say, "Fair enough." He just nitpicks.