If I am attacking the theft and coercion behind some things, don’t take it as an attack on you for using those things–unless you start being nasty in defense of the status quo and making it about some tangent that buzzes your bonnet.
Tag: children
Stories Told to Scare Children
When I was a kid, my parents told me several times about kids my age who met with tragedy–while doing whatever it was they didn’t want me to do. What a coincidence!
Social Norms, Moral Judgments, and Irrational Parenting
Our current norm of extreme protection of children has become, unfortunately, not just a social norm, but a moral norm. If you don’t watch your child (or have some other responsible guard watching) every minute, you are, in the eyes of many people, doing something immoral. How can we change this crippling social norm and get back to common sense?
Childhood is a Lifelong Burden
You have to forgive those who reared you so you can move forward and decide, on your own terms, what kind of person you are going to be. Then they cease to matter.
In Praise of Immigrants
Three new technologies of the last 20 years made America’s economy great again: the iPhone, Google search, and horizontal drilling and fracturing. All came from first-generation immigrants.
A Critique of Stefan Molyneux’s Discussion with Stephan Kinsella on Schooling
One of my strategies in sniffing out unequal or one sided relationships is to always shift the players around. Lets say a politician asked the question “How do you manage the behavior of the people?” Your response would likely be something like “Who are you? I am not your subject to be managed!” Of course you are probably thinking, well this is the difference between a young child who lacks experience and mental capabilities and an adult. I would somewhat agree, but also have strong disagreement. There is a little bit more subtlety at work.
Defending a Free Nation
Most societies, at least in this century, handle the problem of national defense by having a large, well-armed, permanent military force, run by a centralized government, funded by taxation, and often (though not always) manned by conscription. Is this a solution that a free nation can or should follow?
Are Intellectual Communities Harmful?
Though intellectual communities have the ability to share information and provide support for the people who are a part of them, I believe there is a stronger counterbalancing negative force of group think and an infrastructure for individual interests to poison a whole field of study. This is why the term “scientific consensus” is so dangerous. In effect, it is merely pushing for group think.
How Far Should You Develop a Relationship with People You Disagree With?
My wife and I are incredibly social people and we are able to attract plenty of friends who do share similar and complimentary ideas on the world, and respect within relationships. If I was unable to harvest great relationships, I probably would not hold the views I have today.
Don’t Be Afraid of Hard Work
It’s easy for people to make the fallacious leap from “hard work isn’t everything” to “hard work isn’t anything.” We may very well be a culture guilty of working too much, but that doesn’t mean we should abandon the idea that there’s such a thing as working too little.