January 2012
2 posts
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December 2011
2 posts
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“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the “transcendent” and all who...”
– Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001)
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November 2011
3 posts
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October 2011
5 posts
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“I find myself more and more relying for a solution to our problems on the...”
– John Maynard Keynes, ten days before he died
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“We don’t want to do business with the government because they make bombs...”
– Steve Jobs (in the 1970s)
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“Conspiracies are much more fun than the truth of the matter, which is that the...”
– Steve Jobs, Excerpts from an Oral History (Smithsonian, 1995)
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The Skeleton of Marxism
All of Marx’s important prophecies have turned out to be false.
First, he predicted growing class polarization and the disappearance of the middle class in societies based on a market economy. Karl Kautsky rightly stressed that if this prediction were wrong, the entire Marxist theory would be in ruins. It is clear that this prediction has proved to be wrong; rather, the opposite is the case....
September 2011
3 posts
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August 2011
1 post
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July 2011
5 posts
mariocnes asked: you are so hot i lvoe it
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If you could eliminate one race, which race would...
Me? 800 meter dash. It’s a grueling nightmare: the perfect storm of maxing out speed and gut wrenching endurance.
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Humans are superior animals. Viva speciesism.
Human beings are unique. You are not mere animals. People are special.
True…
We tend to (correctly) identify
“intellect”
“ethics”
“planning”
“second-order desires”
“complex written language”
“art”
“theory of mind”
and other characteristics as categorically distinguishing homo sapiens from...
June 2011
2 posts
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May 2011
39 posts
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libertarian movie review: The Way Back (2010)
Peter Weir’s The Way Back reminds us of something that has been unfortunately neglected in American film: the incredible human tragedy of 20th century communism. Here we see the stupid cruelty of the Soviet state, the slave labor of the Siberian gulag, and finally an attempt to escape on foot to India. This is a quality production whose libertarian themes are unambiguous and unapologetic....
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“Liberty is the most precious possession of all mankind. Food and water are...”
– Victor Hugo
Here, the French novelist and author of Les Misérables (1862) eloquently expresses what we’d today call the deontological libertarian sentiment: freedom for freedom’s sake.
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“A criticism that can be brought against everything ought not be brought against...”
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Americans, please stop using "liberal" as a...
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1. Statist
Modern day supporter of political slavery; a secular State-Worshiper; Member of the cult of the State; An irrational, immoral, collectivist parasite which leeches off the productive private sector at the point of a gun, while attempting to justify such behavior through invalid, unethical arguments. Uses statist law (oppressive edicts backed by criminal violence) to intimidate and run...
Jajaja gracias, Mexican. I remember when I was aware of only 20 or so libertarian tumblrs and yours was the most well-known and consistent, after fringeelements maybe. Times have changed. I’ve lost count of libertarian tumblrs, but it’s well over 1000 now.
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On libertarian interventionism
Libertarian interventionism means advocating intervention (usually military) for the purposes of defeating especially statist, totalitarian, and violent governments around the world. I.E. for giving people more freedom. It’s similar to humanitarian intervention, which is the same for alleviating any mass human tragedy (e.g. using the US military to aid in Haiti relief).
I don’t...
Good to hear it.
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Peter Hitchens vs. Christopher Hitchens
Hah I assume you mean Christopher Hitchens? Peter Hitchens is Christopher’s brother. It’s pretty interesting to look at how the two brothers differ given that they’re both prominent (and quite good) political writers.
Peter and Christopher both started as Marxist socialists within the New Left movement in 1960s England. Christopher moved to the United States and gradually...
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More young libertarians
Thankyou, ma’am. There are more young libertarians all the time, as libertarianism is growing fast and rising in social status among the 15-25 age group. So I expect more like me will exist and more do exist than we realize.
Anyway, I think I’ve followed you a few times as you’ve gotten new names. I remember kindracantspell.
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How could we get from here to human freedom? 30...
I’ve been asked many times how we can (or could or should) transition from our current political organization (nation-states) to a libertarian post-state society. This is my if I ran the world plan for a transition. It’s what I would try to do if I controlled the American federal government. The end goal is that you get 100,000 dollars!
In the simplest formulation, this is what I...
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“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the “transcendent”...”
– Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001)
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Yeah, I suspect Hitchens is more well-known these days as a prominent atheist (and anti-theist) than a political writer or journalist. Seems unfortunate to me as I think his work as a political writer and journalist is of much higher quality and note than his stuff on religion.
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"Nature vs. Nurture" debates are nonsense, see...
One of the most pernicious misconceptions in cognitive science is the belief in a dichotomy between nature and nurture.
Many psychologists, linguists and social scientists, along with the popular press, continue to treat nature and nurture as combatting ideologies, rather than complementary perspectives. For such people, the idea that something is both “innate” and...
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The political evolution of Christopher Hitchens...
Christopher Hitchens, more than any other single intellectual, has influenced me. I first came across Hitchens during the Iraq war debate in the early 2000s. I was in my last years of high school (class of ‘05) and then starting at college in Connecticut. At the time, I was something of a leftist, a “social democrat” or “libertarian socialist.” I had read Chomsky,...