“How despotism destroys the human sense of duty and responsibility, together with the people who try to fulfill them, may be seen from the unforgettable example of the White Rose in Munich, that close circle of students and one teacher who in the winter of 1942-43 put up posters calling for resistance to Hitler’s war.”
Tag: humanity
Bioethics: Tuskegee vs. COVID
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Bioethics is to ethics as astrology is to astronomy. If bioethicists had previously prevented a hundred Tuskegees from happening, COVID would still have turned the existence of their entire profession into a net negative for humanity. Verily, we would be better off if their field had never existed.
Socialism Doesn’t Work
Last week, I reported on two myths about socialism. My new video covers three more.
MLK, Jr.’s Libertarian Movement, Labor Day, Spanking, & the Social Contract (28m) – Episode 455
Episode 455 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: why Martin Luther King, Jr. and the fight for civil rights was a libertarian movement; where wages came from and why they have been a blessing for humanity; why spanking is unintelligent, lazy, selfish, and unnecessary; and the central problem in social contract theory and a more accurate way to formulate it (as a peace treaty in a threat game).
Families, Not the Government, Should Regulate Big Tech
Here are five ideas for turning action into agency regarding Big Tech and social media.
Jim C. Returns, Surviving 2020, Living is Learning, & TV Recommendations (56m) – Episode 450
Episode 450 welcomes back Jim Carigan to chat with Skyler on the following topics: surviving 2020 in Kentucky; living is learning; facial hair; memorable years in his life comparable to 2020; his Yankee mom and Dixiecrat dad; comparing mask mandates to the Vietnam War draft; recent attention on Federal spending; long term view of the effects of money inflation; 80% of humanity are meat puppets, 80% of the remaining have screwed themselves up, and the remaining 4% of humanity are “with it”, and even they disagree among themselves about good and evil; television show recommendations: PBS’s “Line of Separation”, HBO’s “Chernobyl”, Netflix’s “The Crown”, and Prime Video’s “The Expanse”; and more.
My Hands Are Clean
Suppose someone accuses me of being a pickpocket. I respond, “I have picked no pockets, therefore I am not a pickpocket.” My accuser could naturally retort, “Oh yes you are, I have video evidence of you picking pockets on three separate occasions.” What would you think, though, if my accuser instead declared, “There’s a lot of pickpocketing in the world. You’ve personally done nothing to stop it. That makes you a pickpocket!”
Liberty Quotes: Bertrand Russell, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Mahaffy, Mahatma Gandhi (28m) – Episode 446
Episode 446 has Skyler giving his commentary on a quote by Bertrand Russell on the idea that some questions and opinions aren’t open to discussion; by Thomas Jefferson on disobeying unjust laws; by Francis Mahaffy on the concept of “social justice” and the damage it does to justice; and by Mahatma Gandhi on the inhumanity that is the use of coercion.
Reflections on the Yucatan
Socialist and nationalist revolutionaries are Latin America’s most successful criminal gangs, augmenting sheer brutality with fanatical ideology. The average person in these countries, however, craves tranquility and opportunity. Revolutionaries are a handful of wolves who make daily life hell, all the while vainly promising a heaven-on-earth that never comes.
Thankful, 2020 Edition
This year, the words of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation ring especially true: “I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged …” It’s been a rough year, hasn’t it?