What’s worse than fake news? The news that you don’t see. Remember the “memory hole” in the novel 1984? We suffer from a kind of “news blackout” which heavily influences what we think we know. Many of us also, because of our own choices, see a very limited slice of the news which is available.
Author: Papa Libertarian
A Deficit of Proper Language
The words and phrases we use shape our thoughts. Bad language can lead to bad policy decisions. Daniel B. Klein and Donald J. Boudreaux take aim at a deeply misleading phrase: “trade deficits.”
To Suppress Natural Curiosity–Or Not?
“My 5 year old son keeps asking to do more math, and I have to keep explaining to him that school is over, and it’s summer vacation now!” Sorry, but you’re doing home education wrong. Anytime anyone, of any age, expresses an interest in math, I’m happy to oblige.
You Are Your Own Worst Critic
Over the past forty years of striving to make computers do what I want, I have gained a few hard-won truths. One is that we can be very poor critics of own ideas. We love those ideas; we poured our own blood, sweat and tears into them. Of course they must be right; of course the computer must have misunderstood what we intended to happen.
Against War: Standards
The drone strikes in the Middle East, and the Tomahawk missile strikes in Syria, are cases in point. A drone strike is not a sniper bullet, killing a particular guilty person; it lays waste to that person’s home, to their neighbors, to the people across the street who may be trying to help the wounded and dying. It is an atrocity; it should be loudly denounced as a war crime, not praised. Nor can we be certain of the quality of the evidence which led to the strike in the first place.
Makework Expands To Fill Time
Why are school lessons so bad? Perhaps we overlook the most crucial of reasons, discovered by Parkinson: work expands to fill time. Compulsory attendance laws mandate that children attend to something for ever-increasing parts of their lives, under the direction of professional educators, at ever-increasing cost.
Politics Applies To Thee, Not Me
At a standard political hot-air snoozefest, a typical politician was making the usual empty promises that his inspired plan for spending taxpayer dollars would bring huge economic and cultural benefits to the rest of us. Magic Multipliers, right?
In America, TV Watch You
Well, doesn’t it make you feel warm and safe to know that your own government has been working so hard to compromise your computer security? Your cellphone security? Your “smart” TV? In America, TV watch you. Welcome to the sequel to 1984.
May It Please The Crown, Let Our Children Go
One of the most viral posts this year involved a parent humbly begging the Crown for permission to take their child on an educational trip without risking the threat of force. The post reproduced a letter to a parent. The principal who signed that letter thought this highly unfair, since her goals were allegedly aligned with the parents.
Liberty: Enemy of Crony Capitalism
Most people now deeply distrust the government, quite understandably. And many of these same folks have become aware of the extent to which crony capitalism is messing up their lives. Up to this point, libertarians such as myself can only say “welcome to the club.” But here is where things oft go awry.