“Unity” is usually a message to merely shut you up and to get you to go along with bullshit. It is a message of social intimidation. Once a person and/or their values can be justified in defining the group, they perpetuate their power by telling everyone that unity is doing what authority wants. It is perpetuated by those with power and dim people looking to merely get along, and is used to otherize dissent. It is used to make people look at dissenters as disunifiers and for people to make them outcasts.
Tag: war
Autonomous Individualism
Until I heard Professor Ryan, I was in danger of mislabeling myself. For the past year, I have been confused because I have not been aware of failing to be a voluntaryist, many longtime friends seemed to be going down a garden path, and by implication I was being called unpleasant things since I was taking care of myself. In other words, I was wearing a mask when it seemed prudent.
America in Transition: Two Things Donald Trump Can Do to Burnish His Legacy
If Joe Biden is locked in as the next president of the United States, Donald Trump has more than two months remaining in office. During that time, there are several steps he can and should take to burnish his legacy and set himself up to be remembered more kindly than his first four years and ten months in office might otherwise merit. Here are two of them.
November 3: D-Day in the War to End the War on Drugs
The conventional wisdom of the last hundred years or so: The US government can and should decide what we may eat, drink, smoke, inject, or otherwise ingest. It can and should kidnap and cage us if we disobey, and if its restrictions kill us with adulterated or unduly strong black market products, it’s our own fault for not doing as we’re told.
Costs are Worth Living in Liberty
The continuing hysteria over COVID-19 reminds me of the website warning of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO). The website correctly points out that DHMO is found in all our food, sometimes as an additive; we’ve all been exposed. It’s found in many dangerous compounds and in cancerous tumors. It kills thousands yearly.
A Sad Process to Watch
When the lockdowns were imposed last spring in the USA (slightly later in Mexico), the rationale was to flatten the curve so that hospitals would not be overwhelmed. It was acknowledged then, if only implicitly, that lockdowns would not eliminate COVID-19 or keep it from spreading.
5 Economic Principles My Kids Learned on Halloween
Halloween is the perfect holiday for children to discover the humanity of trade. Trick-or-treating may be the main attraction, but the spontaneous candy swap negotiations that occur afterwards are often just as enjoyable and help children learn important economic principles.
How to Stop Bullying
Bullying is a strategy that results from certain psychological incentives and coercive institutions. There is a reason it is highly prevalent in coercive atmospheres (school, prison), but very rare in freely associated atmospheres (business).
SpaceX’s Declaration of Space Independence is Just Common Sense
Sooner or later, absent some kind of mass extinction event, humankind will establish itself there: On the Moon. On Mars. Among the asteroids. Someday even on planets orbiting distant stars.
Trick-or-Treating Bans Are the Scariest Part of Halloween in 2020
Halloween is creepy this year and it has nothing to do with the costumes and face paint. Several cities and counties have placed an outright ban on children’s trick-or-treating due to COVID-19 fears, while others are strongly urging families to forgo the practice.