Moral reasoning is hard. It’s so hard, in fact, that most people do little moral reasoning. Instead, as Daniel Kahneman would expect, they perform a mental substitution. Rather than wonder, “What’s morally right?,” they ask, “What’s socially acceptable?” In decent societies, this seems fairly harmless. When your society is even selectively evil, however, the substitution is disastrous. Strictly following standard social norms in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, or Maoist China is murder. Which brings us to a pressing question: How do you know whether your society is evil?
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
American Gun Ownership: The Positive Impacts of Law-Abiding Citizens Owning Firearms
It’s no secret that mainstream press coverage of gun ownership in the United States tends to be in favor of gun control – especially when those reporting on the topic are not firearm owners themselves. Journalists focus on how many people are killed by guns, how many children get their hands on improperly stored firearms, and how many deranged individuals go on shooting sprees.
Free Daniel McAdams
It seems like a trivial thing, Daniel McAdams’ getting banned, for life, from Twitter for using “retarded” in language attempting to describe Sean Hannity. But it is more than a ripple on the pond.
Kids Aren’t Stupid
A bunch of people are clamoring to ban vaping, ostensibly because young people are doing it and it’s bad for their health. Young people aren’t stupid. They know it’s not good for their health. Neither are sugar, caffeine, alcohol, sitting around all day, or school. Driving a car dramatically increases chance of death or injury. They know all this too. And, just like all humans, they choose a level of risk they are comfortable with.
Mao Is Murder
Mao Zedong’s most famous aphorism could well be, “Revolution is not a dinner party.” But perhaps he should have said, “Revolution is a dinner party where the main course is human flesh.” Here’s one gripping episode from Frank Dikötter’s The Tragedy of Liberation.
Do the Math
Have you come to the conclusion that we, the people, are innumerate? If not, how do you account for the fantasy of voting or the illusion of government education? One of the major goals of government schooling is the cultivation and advancement of innumeracy. Another major goal, of course, is illiteracy.
Entangling Alliances Make For Forever Wars
In March of 2018, US president Donald Trump promised “we’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon.” That December, he issued an order to begin withdrawing US troops. Apparently the order never got executed. Most of a year later, US forces remain.
Teaching Lies
I have a problem with anyone who teaches children incorrect information. When it’s intentional, that’s worse.
What Liberty Allows for and What it Demands
Liberty allows for recklessness, but it demands accepting its consequences; it does not repress vices, but it encourages the development of virtues; it tolerates diversity, but it excludes it from ventures based on unanimity; and it does not condemn self-love, but it flourishes in the love of one’s neighbor.
Anarchist Colonization of Mars
I was on a recent episode of the Anarchy Bang podcast with the topic being Anarchist Colonization of Mars. Here are the pieces that I wrote for the intro and the editorial for this episode.