In a sense theres less to be mistrustful of in a libertarian society, except that theres really not much keeping your neighbor from murdering you and taking your stuff.
There's really not much keeping your neighbor from doing that now. And there's nothing that would stop people in a libertarian society from choosing to cooperate to protect themselves from violence.
Obamacare is fascism, because that, cronyism, crony capitalism, oligarchism, and corporatism are more or less synonymous with the practice of mutual support between state policy makers and executives of preferred corporations. Considering that the individual mandate is a huge boon to health insurance corporations, Obamacare certainly qualifies.
But when the army nationalizes an industry, as in Phreakiture's example, that's not economic fascism, that's socialism. It's probably confusing because the right wing talk radio echo chamber has been shouting "Socialism!!!1!!1!!!" for the last five years for everything Obama does whether it's really socialism or not.
Never under estimate the power of "a free an unfettered marketplace" to encourage rapacious companies to live well by screwing the consumer.
One of the many ways that higher education is not a free market is that most students pay for books with easily borrowed money. The distorting effect that guaranteed federal grants and loans have on the prices of everything in academia can scarcely be overstated, and the ludicrous cost of textbooks is one of these ways.
Otherwise I thought your analysis was great. And I'm with you, existing commercial publishers can all go die in a fire. Open educational resources for the win!
Since the site can't handle coverage of all major genres, it seems more reasonable that we all do exactly what those non-entertainment-stereotypical nerds do -- get news directly related to tech (including movie technology, of course) here on Slashdot, get our entertainment boost on another decent site.
That's one option. Another is that those of us who've been here a long time can keep our home, and new people who don't like the site for which they've signed up can discuss the movies they like better on a site that better matches their interests.
Seeing it on DVD won't make you like Sandra Bullock better but it will greatly diminish the amazing immersive experience of this particular movie. Seriously, see it on the largest screen you can find and see it in 3-D (and I'm usually a 3-D hater). You won't be sorry.
I wasn't necessarily agreeing with you, but at least I was listening to you, until this.
Somalia is not a libertarian society, and equating it with the libertarian ideal is an intellectually dishonest rhetorical tactic meant to conceal rather than reveal. Now, you can say we libertarians are wrong that markets can provide infrastructure, and fair enough if you do, but our ideal is no better represented by the overlapping collection of theocrats, warlords, and the occasional functioning republic that makes up today's Somalia any more than the progressive ideal is represented by Cuba or North Korea.
By the way, the belief that healthcare can only be provided by government or by employers is a false dichotomy. Better than either if people simply pay out of pocket for routine expenses and maintain insurance only for catastrophic, unplanned expenses, just as they do for gas and oil changes vs. collisions.
I think it's more that (other than janitors) men have more or less disappeared from most elementary schools in the last generation. There's a strong emphasis on protecting, and not at all one on letting kids learn "the hard way" from mistakes. Everything is supposed to be cooperative, and nothing is supposed to be competitive. There's a place for that, sure, but when that's the only ethos then things are seriously out of balance.
On the other hand, if we're not able to do something to survive these sorts of things by a million years from now, I doubt another 999 million will help.
Bears are scared of you, at least sort of. If you see one in the forest, conventional wisdom is to shout at it so it knows you're there, because it will usually avoid you. And yes, I have done this. (Well, I sang loudly at it, but same difference.)
That's true. On the other hand, there's nowhere that's shitty and stateless either, unless you count Antarctica. I say we let hardcore libertarians have a ten mile square stateless area and see what happens.
Slashdot Mirror
In a sense theres less to be mistrustful of in a libertarian society, except that theres really not much keeping your neighbor from murdering you and taking your stuff.
There's really not much keeping your neighbor from doing that now. And there's nothing that would stop people in a libertarian society from choosing to cooperate to protect themselves from violence.
the problems that resulted in the creation of state currencies
You mean, the problem that private currencies make it harder for politicians and bankers to steal from everyone?
That's okay. "Insightful" usually just means "I agree" anyway.
This is like living in a state that only has state-owned liquor stores and asking, "But without government, who will sell booze?"
Frankly, we need something to hold in check the various sociopathic assholes that from time to time attack other people.
Right, that's the whole point of this thing.
Obamacare is fascism, because that, cronyism, crony capitalism, oligarchism, and corporatism are more or less synonymous with the practice of mutual support between state policy makers and executives of preferred corporations. Considering that the individual mandate is a huge boon to health insurance corporations, Obamacare certainly qualifies.
But when the army nationalizes an industry, as in Phreakiture's example, that's not economic fascism, that's socialism. It's probably confusing because the right wing talk radio echo chamber has been shouting "Socialism!!!1!!1!!!" for the last five years for everything Obama does whether it's really socialism or not.
Agreed. I just hope no one counters with the suggestion that the rigged-as-a-three-masted-schooner electoral system qualifies.
But please don't let facts get in the way of your anti-capitalist parade.
He didn't say anything anti-capitalist. And I'm a capitalist, so I think I'd have noticed.
I but then you can't really get more conservative than an English public school.
There's a madrassah joke in there somewhere. But I take your point.
Never under estimate the power of "a free an unfettered marketplace" to encourage rapacious companies to live well by screwing the consumer.
One of the many ways that higher education is not a free market is that most students pay for books with easily borrowed money. The distorting effect that guaranteed federal grants and loans have on the prices of everything in academia can scarcely be overstated, and the ludicrous cost of textbooks is one of these ways.
Otherwise I thought your analysis was great. And I'm with you, existing commercial publishers can all go die in a fire. Open educational resources for the win!
It's silly to discard the input of people who HAVE experienced things.
Thank you! Especially since in this case I was saying that usually I agree with the 3-D naysayers, but that Gravity is a singular exception.
Since the site can't handle coverage of all major genres, it seems more reasonable that we all do exactly what those non-entertainment-stereotypical nerds do -- get news directly related to tech (including movie technology, of course) here on Slashdot, get our entertainment boost on another decent site.
That's one option. Another is that those of us who've been here a long time can keep our home, and new people who don't like the site for which they've signed up can discuss the movies they like better on a site that better matches their interests.
Apparently Guinan still has some work to do to get you to understand humor.
Seeing it on DVD won't make you like Sandra Bullock better but it will greatly diminish the amazing immersive experience of this particular movie. Seriously, see it on the largest screen you can find and see it in 3-D (and I'm usually a 3-D hater). You won't be sorry.
BTW: what does this Thor movie have to do with nerds? Serious question, I did not see it and before today I've never heard of it.
You're asking that about a movie based on a comic book full of sci-fi and fantasy elements? Seriously?
Somalia
I wasn't necessarily agreeing with you, but at least I was listening to you, until this.
Somalia is not a libertarian society, and equating it with the libertarian ideal is an intellectually dishonest rhetorical tactic meant to conceal rather than reveal. Now, you can say we libertarians are wrong that markets can provide infrastructure, and fair enough if you do, but our ideal is no better represented by the overlapping collection of theocrats, warlords, and the occasional functioning republic that makes up today's Somalia any more than the progressive ideal is represented by Cuba or North Korea.
By the way, the belief that healthcare can only be provided by government or by employers is a false dichotomy. Better than either if people simply pay out of pocket for routine expenses and maintain insurance only for catastrophic, unplanned expenses, just as they do for gas and oil changes vs. collisions.
I think it's more that (other than janitors) men have more or less disappeared from most elementary schools in the last generation. There's a strong emphasis on protecting, and not at all one on letting kids learn "the hard way" from mistakes. Everything is supposed to be cooperative, and nothing is supposed to be competitive. There's a place for that, sure, but when that's the only ethos then things are seriously out of balance.
"We humans enjoy not having knives inside of us." ...except Wolverine!
On the other hand, if we're not able to do something to survive these sorts of things by a million years from now, I doubt another 999 million will help.
In a surprise announcement, Google said they were relocating the entire company to Antigua....
Bears are scared of you, at least sort of. If you see one in the forest, conventional wisdom is to shout at it so it knows you're there, because it will usually avoid you. And yes, I have done this. (Well, I sang loudly at it, but same difference.)
Right, I meant Cantonese as opposed to Mandarin.
Except that she wasn't an anarcho-capitalist, so she'd probably have found a way to call this sort of thing "anti-life" or something.
That's true. On the other hand, there's nowhere that's shitty and stateless either, unless you count Antarctica. I say we let hardcore libertarians have a ten mile square stateless area and see what happens.
Did you seriously say Cantonese?