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...
How about a similar related paradox?
ReplyDeleteStatistician Douglas Hubbard regularly advises public sector agencies and private corporations on "decision analysis".
In his conversations, he is amazed to find that a very large number of public sector workers see the private sector as the beacon of efficiency and the public sector as a pit of ineptitude and failure.
And when he speaks to executives in private businesses, he finds they often wish they were like the military or other government-based departments in their analyses and achievements.
Race?
ReplyDeleteStaten Island has bigger white population.
Than my neighborhood? (I am comparing SI to my neighborhood, not to Brooklyn.)
DeleteIn any case, I think everyone of these liberal entrepreneurs that I know is white.
Another paradox: America's most successful private schools (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.) tend to be more liberal than your average state school.
ReplyDeleteI saw a gay couple at Chick-fil-A today.
ReplyDelete