Just this past Friday, we went to war with heavy reliance on the fact that we are susceptible to the bandwagon effect. We might also refer to this as “monkey see, monkey do” (while adding the cautionary “monkey get in trouble, too.”) We humans can’t seem to resist the spin and flash of a circus bandwagon.
Tag: government
Political Means and Economic Means
There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man…is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one’s own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others… I propose… to call one’s own labor and the equivalent exchange of one’s own labor for the labor of others, the “economic means”… while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the “political means.”
Politics without Romance? Yes and No
Notice how, today, appointments to the Supreme Court elicit such fierce politicking. (Indeed, this heated wrangling has been the case for a long time.) Such would not be the case if there were no judicial law making. All sides expect it, however, and act accordingly.
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.
Militaries Exist to Create Enemies
Authoritarian empires need enemies, need conflict, need violence, in order to have an excuse to exist. The purpose of “government” militaries is not to defeat enemies, but to create them.
Being Scared of the Unknown
A lot of people’s fear about the idea of a stateless society isn’t even about a lack of “government,” so much as it is a fear of “something-that’s-not-familiar-to-me.” Most of the questions about “how will this work?” just come from people having a hard time picturing something they’ve never seen.
Police Culture Poisons the Individual
While a good guy could become a cop, the culture poisons the individual. The incentives of government, monopolies, unions and feeling camaraderie with others in the same culture all concentrate themselves into a situation that cops must be immoral and indecent to remain cops.
“Diversity”
Recognizing the disastrous nature of forced diversity isn’t justification for government “borders,” though, because forced division is just as harmful as forced diversity. Government’s involvement can turn any idea into garbage.
A Dumb Cultural Narrative
No longer are people concerned with overt racism nor dignity of the individual. Today we are focused on the original sin of whites, the covert racism that leads to inequality of results, victim/predator narratives, cultural appropriation, etc.
I Reject the Right of the Government to Choose My Friends and Enemies for Me
From time immemorial, the reigning myth of rule has been that the rulers provide a quid pro quo: in exchange for the people’s submission and payment of tribute, the rulers protect the people from the enemies who lurk “out there.” The promise was often unfulfilled, however.