Episode 308 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: the recent Supreme Court of the United States ruling on the Civil Rights Act protecting gay and transgender employees; Colorado signing a new law removing the qualified immunity defense by misbehaving law enforcement; Oklahoma black gun owners march happening today, June 20th; setting up your iPhone or Android to record police interactions; and more.
Author: Skyler J. Collins (Editor)
Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.
How to Stop Overthinking: Stoicism and Control (11m) – Episode 009
Episode 009 looks at an article from MullingMinds.com titled, “How to Stop Overthinking: Stoicism and Control” and written in June 2020. The article explores the advice by Epictetus to worry only about those things which are in our control.
On Civil Liberties
I think that I finally have the concept of “civil liberties” figured out. So long as the state has coercively prohibited a peaceful activity for every race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious belief equally, then civil liberties have not been violated.
Homeschooling Ban, Police “Reform”, Roof Koreans, & Autonomous Zones (25m) – Episode 307
Episode 307 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: Harvard professor Elizabeth Bartholet’s attack on homeschooling; the need to do more than simply reform the police; defending your property like the Roof Koreans in 1992; why your property should be your autonomous zone; and more.
Justifying Military Conscription & Obedience as a Virtue? (15m) – Episode 306
Episode 306 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: an article he wrote in December 2010 titled, “Military Conscription is Never Justified” and an article he wrote in July 2016 titled, “Does ‘Obedience’ Have Any Redeeming Qualities?”
On Qualified Immunity
Of all the things I’m pessimistic on, the abolition of the doctrine of qualified immunity is probably at the top. I do not expect to see any significant progress made on abolishing this horrible statist practice in my lifetime, or the lifetimes of my children.
Contra The Short, Simple Dismissal Of Libertarianism: Liberty (14m) – Episode 305
Episode 305 has Skyler giving his commentary on the subtopic “Liberty” from Mike Huban‘s “The Short, Simple Dismissal of Libertarianism“. He writes, “99% of libertarianism is obviously untrue or unacceptable for one or more of these reasons… How can we know that so easily? Here are some simple principles that make it obvious.”
Alfie Kohn: Happy Kids, Better Relationships (33m)
This episode features an interview of education and parenting researcher, writer, and lecturer Alfie Kohn from 2016 by Neil Sattin of Relationship Alive! When it comes to parenting, rewards and punishments are an easy one-size-fits all approach that lets people go into auto-parenting, but unfortunately does more harm than good. While rewards and punishments may get the short term reactions we are looking for, there is a lot of research and evidence suggesting that this parenting style ultimately damages and holds children back. The alternative is not just the absence of bribes and threats, but an entire complex network of guidelines – the most important being that you let your kids know that you accept them no matter what. With this attitude you can begin to work WITH your child, getting to know their perspective and world, and bring them into decision making. Children learn to make good decisions by making decisions (and learning), rather than learning to follow directions (on making good decisions).
Privilege Binarism, Euphemism, Statesmen, & Genes and Memes (24m) – Episode 304
Episode 304 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: the binarism of so-called privilege fought against by social justice warrior types; the evils of euphemistic language; why “Statesmen” are not respectable; biological knowledge, cultural knowledge, and evolutionary mismatch; and more.
Economics 101: Elasticity of Demand & Wizard’s Seventh Rule: Life is The Future (34m) – Episode 303
Episode 303 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: continuation of the Economics 101 mini-series on the elasticity of demand; continuation of the Wizard’s Rules mini-series, Wizard’s Seventh Rule: “Life is the future, not the past.”; postmodernism; and more.