Most smart people aren’t doing what I’m doing. Shouldn’t I be worried? Only slightly. Even smart people are prone to herding and hysteria. I’ve now spent three months listening to smart defenders of the conventional view. Their herding and hysteria are hard to miss. Granted, non-smart contrarians sound even worse. But smart contrarians make the most sense of all.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Time to Stop Messing Around and Strike at the Root of Police Violence
It’s tempting to believe that protest marches, violent confrontations, looting, burning, and riots can change police behavior, or perhaps that they COULD change that behavior if applied frequently and vigorously enough. That kind of widespread delusion is, as Thoreau put it, “a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root,” with predictable results.
Looters, Cops, and Other Scum
The urban riots over a nasty legislation enforcement goon’s act of murder are turning into bad guy vs. bad guy. As it stands, I can’t support either side nor can I care what happens to the thugs on either side.
What I’m Thinking
1. Getting people to be rational about politics is an uphill battle during the best of times. During a global hysteria, it’s hopeless. 2. Due to this doleful realization, I refrained from discussing the lockdown when it first emerged. The best course, I deemed, was to wait for readers to simmer down. 3. Since many have now simmered down, here’s what I was thinking three months ago.
Trump’s “Free Speech” Doctrine: Never, Ever, Ever Mention He’s a Liar
On May 28, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order on “Preventing Online Censorship.” From the title and the document respectively we can draw to two lessons. First: Never, ever, ever believe the title of a government document.
On Police Brutality II
Society needs antitrust enforcement against the police and their bosses, the state. At some point this monopoly goes too far and ends up shooting itself in the foot, but make no mistake, the police are not your friend, nor are they your protector.
Laughter Killed the Devil
Evil is self-serious. Oppressors and statists can only live by fear. Fear is the only thing they have. If they are not feared, they are nothing. They are a threat only to the extent people fear them as such. There is nothing – nothing – done by the state and the dictators who run it that can be done if people do not fear them.
Too Terrified to Talk About It
In absolute terms, most people remain terrified of coronavirus, so it’s hardly surprising that sexual harassment worries them less. The fact that sexual harassment accusations actually worry the average respondent even more than coronavirus, however, suggests that most workers really are living in fear during normal times.
On Stoicism III
A thought occurred to me recently that I attribute to my study and practice of Stoicism. I drive all around a small metro downtown area (Salt Lake City) for six hours a day delivering food. I am often stopped at a green light by a homeless person walking more or less swiftly across my path.
Market Needs Freedom to Flourish
The world’s economy is being damaged by this pandemic, or, more accurately, it’s being damaged by government reactions to the pandemic. The damage is adding up; getting worse with time. The only questions are: How bad is the damage going to be? And how long will it take to recover? I don’t know the answers;…