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...
"Is there anything more shitty than shit?"
ReplyDeleteWhen put this way ...well, adjectives are fun.
Odd that even blog commenters who call America shit choose to live there. Copraphagous perhaps.
ReplyDeleteAre you serious? You seem to be taking some charity with your conclusions. Did I call America "shit" or America "shitty"? Nope.
DeleteWhat I did do was point out the grammatical and linguistic functions at work, and I used a different word to illustrate this relationship. IOW, I was pointing out how the relationship between an adjective and an object noun aren't always clear, that there is a lot of subjectivity between them, depending upon how the words are used.
In your mind, because I replaced the word "America" with "shit", that must necessarily mean that I think "America=shit" or "American=shitty". In reality, all I did was choose a word in order to better illustrate the grammar at hand.
And just to be clear--since we're talking about grammar and definitions--I have absolutely no problems with nations, continents, cultures, governments, peoples, or anything else of that like. My primary objection is against the state (i.e. a monopoly over the aforementioned things). If you can somehow equate "America" with the "state" without the use of adjectives or propositions, then I might give you my ear on this subject. Until then ...
Did I mention your name Joseph Fetz? I believe you just drew a natural conclusion from the juxtaposition of short, epigrammatic comments. As did I.
ReplyDeleteYou just showed me that you're entirely full of it. Congrats and goodbye.
DeleteWell I guess the answer to Dylan's question is....blowin' in the wind?
ReplyDelete