I was really cranked today when I read on Facebook that some useful idiot was quoted as saying that he was happy to pay taxes for public education so he didn’t have to live in a society of idiots! Whaa-a-a-a-aattt? Has this guy watched television any time since 1950? Does he think that reality shows,…
Author: Kilgore Forelle
Bad Ideas
Nobody asked but … Lily Tomlin posed the difficulty, “I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.” The same could be said about a jillion bad ideas. United Nations? Allying with Joseph Stalin? The TSA? The NSA? The Iraq War. Don’t you worry that the current incarnation of…
An Everything-Voluntary Celebration
Nobody asked but … I celebrate every day voluntarily. I celebrated the 4th of July because it was a gorgeous day. But everyone celebrates the 4th, voluntarily, usually for one of four reasons: vicarious collectivism, admiration, the excellence of one’s life on a grand midsummer day, or the thrill of activity. Then I think this…
Labels on People are the Worst Words of All
Nobody asked but … I am noticing now that some of my Facebook friends are beginning to make declarations of independence from abstractions. Yesterday, I read where a man was going to start unfriending everyone who had “Voluntaryist” in their facebook handle. Being a voluntaryist myself (among other things), I have two reactions — 1)…
Words Poorly Used #44 — Declaration of Independence
There can hardly be a thing more futile than to declare one’s independence. If you are truly independent then a declaration is unneeded. If you are not independent then mere words cannot change that miserable condition. Furthermore, there is no legal means of achieving independence via a declaration. If you are a part of a…
Explanations Unexplained
Nobody asked but … Libertarianism (small el) is not an offer. It is not a license or permit made available by a ruling class. The only unavoidable truth of libertarianism is that it is not a thing designed for one person by another or by a group of others. The idea of a “Libertarian” “Party”…
Words Poorly Used #43 — Luxury
I have been living on the farm for 10 years now, and I have had such a wonderful decade that congress would outlaw it if they knew about it. But I have also had a purple big toe nail for practically all of that time. Every time it appears that it has finally grown out,…
The Bottleneck
Nobody asked but … The brain can process thoughts in a volume that is orders of magnitude beyond what we can process vocally. The spoken communication is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. And, yes, freeing oneself from seeking to control what others process may be the greatest freedom. The brain can process…
Individual
Nobody asked but … Individual means a thing indivisible, undividable. No two entities can occupy the same time and space. Every individual thing is unique, if for no other difference than the difference in time and space. If two things did occupy the same time and space, they could not be separate things. They are…
Words Poorly Used #42 — Interpretation II
As we noted with religious institutions, which are far more voluntary than state institutions, the power flows to those who write the book, choose the language for the book, and appoint the attendants of the book. An even greater power flows to the oligarchy operating through the institution of the state, which is purportedly there…