Tag: politics
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How slippery are slippery slopes
Both left and right are slippery slopes because they’re based in personality and instinct. That instinct is persistent; it’s not confined to a specific concern that arises gets resolved. So it keeps working on whatever the conditions are and never really knows when to stop. Absent the balancing pull of the opposition party, it inevitably…
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Control vs license
Since authoritarianism tracks with disgust sensitivity, anything that is viewed as a disease will essentially predict authoritarianism. The degree to which something is viewed as a contagion (not only the degree to which it literally is a contagion) will determine the balance between authoritarianism and libertarianism. It all comes down to a matrix of control…
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A letter to my representatives
Hello, I just wanted to register a concern about Bill SB-182. I think it’s worth remembering that part of what caused people to lose faith in and stop feeling safe in institutions like the catholic church (as well as some workplaces) was the tendency to have a different system of law inside them. So crimes…
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Politics and power
Why argue that all motivations an action are power? So you can apply power. People seek a moral justification for the application of force in service of the causes they desire to advance. They want moral authority to act. Civilizations differ mostly in what they take for granted. That’s where the real differences lie. In…
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Discrimination
The idea of discrimination is a tough one to crack. People use the word pejoratively, and use it specifically as a justification for the enactment of legal powers and penalties against organizations and individuals. In a purely common sense manner, though, there is no such thing as outlawing discrimination. All thought, all value assignment, all…
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On John McWhorter
https://youtu.be/-D9LZdjnxKk I love John. I adore him and I think he’s a genius. He’s one of my favorite people to listen to. He’s so articulate and kind. And he has a good sense of when something has gone wrong, and seeks to correct it. He has a clear idea of what black America shouldn’t do…
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Landlords’ and renters’ rights
https://youtu.be/mQPsSGf9hfk To flip the argument just given, the renters also don’t have to live at that specific location. There’s no God-given right to be able to live in someone else’s property rent free. And assuming the obligations of a renter is part of the responsibility you take on when you sign a contract and become…
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A final letter to KXYZ
You have lost me as a viewer permanently. This special is not news, this is political re-education. These “bias” trainings have not been shown to be effective, in fact there is a great deal of evidence that they cause and perpetuate the problems they intend to address. They are not based in a well-grounded or…
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Creating false demand, with an aside on evil
In response to the idea that markets are distorted because suppliers have created artificial demand that didn’t exist. From this discussion. https://youtu.be/ndehWd9N9Z4 This is the wrong way of viewing things entirely. You cannot literally create demand. You can hijack it, you can confuse it, you can subvert it, you can alter it, you can divert…
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From a letter to a newspaper
As a news organization, the positions of any given national politician should not be characterized as an attack on people. Words aren’t attacks on people, they are statements of positions. We can agree and disagree with words, statements, and positions. They can be analyzed and falsified. But half the problem that prevents any kind of…
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