The Gus Van Horn FAQ
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
This FAQ has been replaced by a newer version.
The blog is closing in on its sixth month. I'm still writing. I am also still enjoying it. Since I plan to be doing this for the foreseeable future, and I've actually gotten a few questions from time to time, it's time to create the first ...
Note: Some of this material is from the old "Gus Van Horn Pseudo-FAQ," but much of it is new. I plan to make this accessible via permalink to the main page of the blog and update it as necessary. It will be closed to comments. If you've a concern, question, or suggestion, please email me.
1. Are you the Gus Van Horn I went to school with?
2. Neat! You're the guy from that pot luck dinner/party!
3. Ooh! I you sound just like _______ !
4. What is the "Gus Van Horn Circle of Trust?"
5. How do I join?
6. That sounds burdensome! What are the benefits?
7. Why would I join?
8. How did you come up with your pseudonym?
9. Why do you sign all your posts "CAV?" Aren't your initials "GVH?"
10. Do you have a photographic memory?
11. Why don't you write under your real name?
12. One day, you're attacking the religious right and the next, you're ripping the Democrats a new "deal." Why are you so inconsistent?
13. Oh! So you're a Libertarian?
14. What are you, then?
15. What right have you to mock the Houston Atheist Society or insult a nice man like Michael Medved?
16. What are your blog policies?
17. Why do you link to so-and-so?
18. Why do you use the antiquated spelling "Moslem?"
19. What's with the occasional submarine posts?
1. Are you the Gus Van Horn I went to school with?
No. This is my pseudonym. See also question 11.
2. Neat! You're the guy from that pot luck dinner/party!
I may or may not be. See question 4.
3. Ooh! I you sound just like _______ !
If you're about to guess who I am, please refrain from doing so publicly. Aside from the fact that this is my choice, I write under a pseudonym for some very good personal and professional reasons. And no, I do not feel free to elaborate upon them here Thanks in advance for not speculating publicly on my identity.
If you wish, you may email me with your speculation, but I will not necessarily tell you that you are correct or incorrect. Do not take this personally.
It might help to consider this from my point of view. Imagine that you maintain a web site and receive mail from total strangers around the country. Most are very nice people, but some really, really hate you. You wish to remain anonymous and get an email. Its author may or may not be who he says he is, but for some reason, he wants to know who you are. What would you do?
4. What is the "Gus Van Horn Circle of Trust?"
This is a secret society consisting of all people who know my real name and the fact that I write under this pseudonym.
Of course, I ripped this term off from Meet the Parents, one of my favorite comedies. Robert De Niro's character reminds me a little of what I might be like if I were getting ready to marry off a daughter!
5. How do I join?
Well, the club is not actively seeking members, but there are two ways. (I deliberately keep this group small to protect my anonymity from innocent slips of the tongue.)
(1) From time to time, I may decide to admit people, but I am very circumspect about such things. Part of this stems from my own absent-mindedness. I see myself getting ready to sign an email with my actual name and not "Gus" frequently enough without multiplying the odds by sharing the information.
(2) There is enough biographical information scattered about here for someone who knows me well to figure out who I am. But since you had to read this material to figure that out, you have automatically become a member whether you want to be or not! What a deal! Please see question 4 if you skipped to this.
6. That sounds burdensome! What are the benefits?
You get to help keep one of my favorite running jokes going indefinitely. You will also earn my gratitude for keeping your mouth shut. This is a secret society!
7. Why would I join?
Beats me.
8. How did you come up with your pseudonym?
Most of the story is explained in my first post. I don't know how we came up with "Gus." We all find it a funny-sounding name. (My real first name is funnier!) The "Van Horn" comes from a mental association of mine. Since I'm a supposed to be a"trial lawyer from West Texas," a map of West Texas once showed up in my mind's eye. There is a town called "Van Horn" off of I-10 out there and that name was in the center of this image, but as a county name. (The county in which the name appeared was actually Jeff Davis, though. In defense of my oddball recollection, the town of Van Horn is at least close to that county!) So that became the last name. (When I have some time to kill, I'll add a map here. Neither Google Maps nor Mapquest shows county lines.)
9. Why do you sign all your posts "CAV?" Aren't your initials "GVH?"
It's for Caesar Augustus Van Horn, of which "Van Horn" is a last name. See the link in question 8 above. But since I use "Gus," which is short for "Augustus," other people often end up using "GVH." My real name is somewhat quirky, but it isn't that hard to deal with. Leave it to me to come up with a pseudonym that is even more cumbersome than my real name!
10. Do you have a photographic memory?
No. Just a fascination with maps.
11. Why don't you write under your real name?
I started out with some ambivalence about becoming a blogger and an opinion writer and decided that using a pen name would give me an easy way to back out. As of this writing, I suspect that I'll be plying my craft for quite a while. Nevertheless, though I am not well-known, I have learned that there are other benefits to the cloak of anonymity. The main one is that with the ease of searching the internet, it would be extremely easy for people I don't necessarily want reading my blog to find it. There are some other advantages that I choose not to elaborate upon, but there is one other fact that N.Z. Bear points out: Once I reveal my actual name, there's no going back. (See also question 1.)
12. One day, you're attacking the religious right and the next, you're ripping the Democrats a new "deal." Why are you so inconsistent?
I am actually quite consistent. It is the Republicans, who want you to keep your money, but forfeit your mind to religion, who are inconsistent. And the Democrats, who want you to have a few personal liberties, but no property, and very little else.
13. Oh! So you're a Libertarian?
Not with a capital L. That party is hardly a friend of liberty, given that their lack of a coherent philosophical approach makes them unable even to define the term. Peter Schwartz wrote a devastating critique of Libertarianism in a tract called Libertarianism: the Perversion of Liberty some time ago. As far as I can tell, the article is unavailable from the Internet, except for purchase. I'd like to recommend it as it does a good job of showing the practical consequences of what the Libertarians try to do. They want pretend that a concept as sophisticated and controversial as freedom is whatever anyone, no matter how mindless, wants it to be. I discuss this problem in some detail here. But the Schwartz critique is still far more exhaustive and devastating.
14. What are you, then?
I consider myself an Objectivist, but have no official connection with ARI. As Ayn Rand put it when asked whether she could describe her philosophy while standing on one foot, this philosophy takes the following positions in each of its four branches: metaphysics: objective reality, epistemology: reason, ethics: self-interest, and politics: capitalism.
In normal conversation, I've variously described my politics with the following imperfect shorthand terms: small-L libertarian, secular Republican, fiscal conservative/social liberal, and laissez-faire capitalist.
15. What right have you to mock the Houston Atheist Society or insult a nice man like Michael Medved?
Freedom of speech.
On a less flippant note, I will not hesitate to point out major philosophical errors that threaten to cloud further the already muddied waters of intellectual discourse. In the case of the HAS, we have an organization that holds itself out as pro-secularist, but undercuts the cause by (1) running an unprofessional web site that potentially insults random Christians who might actually favor separation of church and state, and (2) advocates all kinds of positions that really have nothing to do with keeping our government out of religious affairs. In the case of Michael Medved, he not only insulted atheists by implying that they all agree with Michael Moore, he did the truth a disservice in doing so. If man is, as Aristotle says, the "rational animal" and Medved argues as if he has been lobotomized, then he surely deserves the scare quotes I used in this post. Truth and justice demanded them, too.
I have them, but choose not to reveal them unless absolutely necessary. This is because such policies play a role similar to psychological boundaries. As such, I have found that people who are possessed of class and common courtesy really don't need to be told what I expect. Conversely, it is generally the people who have to be told about such issues who will ignore what I have to say or deliberately flout it anyway. So why give them ideas?
17. Why do you link to so-and-so?
Because I find the link interesting, important, or worth keeping an eye on for some other reason. Links to other web pages do not necessarily constitute endorsements.
18. Why do you use the antiquated spelling "Moslem?"
Because I'm old enough to remember when this was the "correct" spelling. I also remember when we bombed Tripoli and there were at least eight spellings of "Qaddafi." These are both Arabic terms and are merely transliterations of a language that can't keep track of its own vowels anyway! And, to top it off, "Muslim" strikes me as political correctness, especially when I hear some condescending, sanctimonious, and very American-looking apologist for Islamofascism on Fox News hypercorrectly beating me over the head with "Moooossleem" every five seconds. Since his religion says I should be summarily executed anyway, I'll spell it how I damn well please. When they stop insisting I convert, submit, or die, I'll revisit this Earth-shattering issue.
For that matter, it will be a cold day in Hell before I use the term "African-American" for "black", "BCE" for "BC", "god" for "God", or "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," although HH is just fine if it includes Christmas and New Year's or Boxing Day, or whatever else. Oh yeah. And I'm part American Indian, unlike Ward "Cherokee" Churchill. "Indian" will also do nicely. (And I'd use these terms even if I weren't.)
I use proper English grammar. This means I use masculine pronouns generically, among other things.
I oppose multiculturalism and I find attempts to dictate how I speak and write repugnant, so I ignore them. This movement opposes Western civilization, which I value. The fight back starts with preserving the integrity of my native tongue.
19. What's with the occasional submarine posts?
I was once a submariner. I was an officer aboard a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine.
-- CAV
Updates
3-25-07: Added note on version 2.0 to head of post.
