I decided to move some discussion from this post up to the top level here. Specifically, Watoosh wrote: "Well, if violence is defined as initiation of force (which, of course, presupposes certain property rights), then I think Rockwell is correct..." Well, if we define cats as elephants, then many people keep elephants in their house. More seriously, firstly, violence is not usually defined that way. It's defined as, you know, violence, so that, say, someone may respond violently or non-violently to someone who aggresses against them. Otherwise, it would make no sense to say, for instance, "He punched me, but I did not stoop to violence in response." And, secondly, the libertarian usage of "initiation of force" is very offbeat. If I wander onto someone's meadow, most people would not say I had "initiated force" -- I mean, sure, I used "force" against the earth to push off walking, but that's not force directed against...
It gets better. It now looks as though the police have deliberately erased the CCTV tapes.
ReplyDeleteThe story doesn't jive with the eye witness accounts.
ReplyDeleteWhat is "the story" that doesn't "jive" with eyewitness accounts?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it hardly matters -- eyewitnesses are very poor at reporting events like this. For instance, in this example, eyewitnesses agreed that the man was wearing "a heavy coat." But the police had footage showing him lying on the floor of the tube wearing a light denim jacket. And they didn't mention it!