I recently remarked: “Appealing to your identity is a reason to discount what you say, not a reason to pay extra attention.” Why do I believe this?
Tag: world
The Insidious Wiles of Foreign Influence: Trump, Bin Salman, and Netanyahu
Even if the Saudi monarchy or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular did not murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi, that regime is an especially evil one in both its domestic and international conduct. To see that, one need only consider the horrendous Saudi war against the people of Yemen, with the backing of the U.S. government starting with Barack Obama.
For Most Americans, U.S. Defense and Foreign Affairs Take Place in a Parallel Universe
They don’t have to smell the smoke and the decomposing bodies. They don’t have to hide in holes while their homes are demolished by bombs, rockets, and artillery. Because they have so little first-hand experience, they are vulnerable to being bamboozled by what their leaders tell them about what’s going on halfway around the world.
The Guide to Insecurities You’ve Been Waiting For
We often use the term “insecure” to negatively label a person who doubts themselves, but in truth, no one is free from feeling insecure. We feel self-doubt, we feel anger that stems from a feeling of insecurity, we feel fear and groundlessness and frustration. All of this comes from the insecurity of the uncertainty of life. And none of it is a problem.
You’re Not Educated until You Can Make People Better
The best way to produce wholly functional, wholly capable of enhancing life, people is to challenge them to take on real responsibilities that will help them realize how little their education matters if it can’t be translated into creating value and solving problems.
Landsharks
It may take an hour-and-a-half of your time, but if you want to know about rent-seeking, I cannot recommend a better resource. Today, I have been listening to the this lecture by Dr. Robert Higgs. And it has struck me that the principal occupation of humankind is piracy.
If You Want to Be Truthful, Build Something (or Someone)
When we think of truthful people, we typically think about those who aren’t afraid to tell us about the unpleasant things we need to hear. These are the “facts don’t care about your feelings” types. But truthfulness also equals “here’s what’s right with my world and this is how I will build on that.”
Victory Against Evil Is Never Final
I was talking with some church friends last night about the frustrating cycle of history found in the Biblical stories. People turn to violence and injustice and fall to violence and injustice again and again, cycle after cycle. It’s really depressing. If you look more broadly, you can find the same cycle of failure and redemption and new failure in stories and in history. We see the same evils coming back again and again. And there is no guarantee that good done now will obviously last forever.
The Taylor Series
The concept of a Taylor Series is the idea that no matter how chaotic something, taken as a whole, might be, there are parts of it that are well behaved. Then taken as a whole again, a collection of well behaved parts, the whole something is well behaved.
The IMF Fears Cryptocurrency; It Should
The International Monetary Fund refers to cryptocurrency only once in its 215-page World Economic Outlook for October 2018, but that reference is telling: “Continued rapid growth of crypto assets could create new vulnerabilities in the international financial system.”