G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton G.K. Chesterton was a Catholic writer and political commentator from the United Kingdom. Although far from a household name, he does have a rather notable cult following a specific subsection of the Christian right.
==The Good==
*He was a stern fighter against the imperialism his home nation was engaging in.Why G.K. Chesterton?
*He hated eugenics, even writing an entire book, Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized StateEugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State by G.K. Chesterton specifically to bash the concept.
*He is viewed as the man who rekindled interest in Charles Dickens.Creator / G. K. Chesterton
*He was a stern critic of free market capitalism.
*He called out the prohibitionist movement in the United States.Issues & G.K.’s Answers
==The Bad==
*He opposed giving women the right to vote and allowing them to work outside the home.
*Although he disliked Adolf Hitler, that doesn't mean he didn't support fascists more frequently than anybody should. Specifically, he was known as a supporter of Mussolini,Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell, The Orwell Foundation. and his newspaper openly gave its endorsement to Franco during the Spanish Civil War.Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A & C Black. 2000
===Antisemitism===
Chesterton's history of antisemitism is something that has been documented by several people, although the exact nature of it is up for debate. Christopher Hitchens, writing in The Atlantic notes that it is unfair to call him an antisemite in the sense that it is understand today, but still does argue he comes too close for comfort on many such occasions, as did several of his buddies, specifically noting how often Chesterton seemed to link things he didn't agree with back to the Jews in one way or another:
This occasionally resulted in Chesterton saying the strangest things possible. For example, one particular column from late in his life saw him claiming that Hitler's idea that "a people that is God’s favorite and guided by him in a sense which he does not guide other and lesser peoples" is one he got "from the Jews."G. K. Chesterton on Hitler One could make the case that he was merely attempting to be clever, saying an idea from a famous antisemite is of Jewish origin, however, this put together with all the countless examples of Chesterton attempting to dismiss things he disliked as Jewish certainly makes the charitable option feel a tad strange, to say the least.
Many claims of Chesterton being an antisemite come down to something similar to what was mentioned above. There is always a potential for a sympathetic light — The American Chesterton Society even spent an entire issue of their magazine, Gilbert, exploring what it could look like to defend Chesterton against these accusationsGilbert Volume 12 Number 2&3, November/December 2008 — but the implication is still present and can leave modern readers uncomfortable, a point they even concede:
The FAQ page from the society regarding Chesterton's opinion on the Jewish population makes a similar point, writing:
==Fence lover==
One of the most famous things Chesterton wrote is what has become known as "Chesterton's Fence," an idea that American Chesterton Society says he first wrote in his book 1929 The ThingChesterton's Fence with the following quote:
In practice, this is little more than "everything happens for a reason." Although one should obviously be cautious about engaging in reforms and understand why institutions were created, the job is not on us to understand why a fence was put up so much as it is on the fence to be justified in the first place. It's a shifting burden fallacy, where the critic is expected to both make the argument in favor of something and prove it wrong while the advocate has no such responsibility.
Although this is far from Chesterton's fault, many have misused this through giving examples of people mindlessly tearing down fences which Chesterton said wouldn't apply. One article, for example, notes the infamous Four Pests Campaign in Mao's China as an example of this being violated,Chesterton Fence: Don’t Destroy What You Don’t Understand! but Chesterton specifically said he chose the fence example because it was human made, writing:
Given that ecosystems are not made by man, they can't be applied to this analogy. 
==Dead people should vote==
Long before Donald Trump was warning about the non-existent issue of dead people voting for Joe Biden,Evidence undermines Trump campaign's claims of dead people voting in Georgia Chesterton was writing in favor of allowing dead people to vote, saying that, at the end of the day, that is what tradition is. Specifically, he wrote:
The issue at hand is that it is near impossible to figure out what those who are dead would think of the issues that face civilization today because, you know, they're dead. Those in the United States are all too familiar with the various debates about what the Founding Fathers would think about America today and what their thoughts on contemporary issues would be. To use one of the more contentious examples, if they would have supported gun control today is highly debated, with some saying they wouldOpinion: Founding Fathers would want gun control today and others saying they wouldn't.According to the Founders, all federal gun restrictions are unconstitutional To use Chesterton's metaphor, attempting to give these men the right to vote on modern issues would result in them filling out a ballot that would be near impossible for us in the modern day to understand.
It should also be noted that, on occasion, traditions are based on objective falsehoods. An old wives' tale, for example, is "an often traditional belief that is not based on fact,"old wives tales and several of them have been proven wrong.14 Popular Old Wives Tales That Are Totally Fake Some of them, such as that you should "starve a fever," are actually rather counterproductive to what you're supposed to do and even possibly dangerous.True or False: “Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever” – Separating Myth from Fact
==Orwell on Chesterton==
The worst aspects of Chesterton are not something that can easily be found through his writings, instead one needs to take a step back and look at the big picture in order to figure out what kind of man he truly was. George Orwell did exactly that in his essay "Notes on Nationalism," where he wrote the following about the man in question:
==External links==
*Works by and about G. K. Chesterton on Wikisource
==References==
Category:Antifeminism
Category:Antisemites
Category:Authors
Category:British people
Category:Catholics
Category:Christian apologists
Category:Political pundits
Category:Sexists