CCTelander
08-28-2009, 03:18 AM
Another excellent article by one of our own.
Because That's How They Roll
by Rob Sandwell
Thesemindz@hotmail.com
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise
I had a woman threaten to shoot me recently.
I was at work, and I was engaged in a discussion with one of my coworkers on the comparative morality of dog fighting versus a government prohibition on the same behavior. My position was that this was a private property issue, and while I find dog fighting eminently reprehensible, and could not stand the thought of my own beloved pet being subjected to such inhumane treatment, the state has no legitimate authority to dictate private use of private property, and that allowing them to do so is to sanction far more violence than would ever be perpetrated by those engaging in the proscribed activity in the first place.
My coworker's position was that those animals he finds personally appealing should be spared those evils which he finds personally offensive. Which is essentially to state simply, "I like puppies," and imagine that somehow resolves the issue.
He wanted to pigeonhole my position as simply playing devil's advocate, but I informed him that no, I wasn't arguing merely as an intellectual exercise, but that instead I held a consistent principled position and was upholding it. That's when another coworker chimed in with, "well, he's consistent, even if he is illogical."
This is what passes for civil political discourse. Ad hominem attacks and subjectivity. I pointed out that there was nothing illogical about my position. The same coworker then asked me why I was so hung up on the concept of the individual, after all, what of those philosophies which hold the individual and the group as equal, or even hold the group as superior to the individual? I stated in no uncertain terms that such beliefs are intrinsically evil because any belief system which would subsume the needs and desires of the individual to the needs and desires of the group is slavery on its face.
And that's when a female coworker of mine said that if she had a gun, she would shoot me.
Read the rest here:
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle533-20090823-05.html
Because That's How They Roll
by Rob Sandwell
Thesemindz@hotmail.com
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise
I had a woman threaten to shoot me recently.
I was at work, and I was engaged in a discussion with one of my coworkers on the comparative morality of dog fighting versus a government prohibition on the same behavior. My position was that this was a private property issue, and while I find dog fighting eminently reprehensible, and could not stand the thought of my own beloved pet being subjected to such inhumane treatment, the state has no legitimate authority to dictate private use of private property, and that allowing them to do so is to sanction far more violence than would ever be perpetrated by those engaging in the proscribed activity in the first place.
My coworker's position was that those animals he finds personally appealing should be spared those evils which he finds personally offensive. Which is essentially to state simply, "I like puppies," and imagine that somehow resolves the issue.
He wanted to pigeonhole my position as simply playing devil's advocate, but I informed him that no, I wasn't arguing merely as an intellectual exercise, but that instead I held a consistent principled position and was upholding it. That's when another coworker chimed in with, "well, he's consistent, even if he is illogical."
This is what passes for civil political discourse. Ad hominem attacks and subjectivity. I pointed out that there was nothing illogical about my position. The same coworker then asked me why I was so hung up on the concept of the individual, after all, what of those philosophies which hold the individual and the group as equal, or even hold the group as superior to the individual? I stated in no uncertain terms that such beliefs are intrinsically evil because any belief system which would subsume the needs and desires of the individual to the needs and desires of the group is slavery on its face.
And that's when a female coworker of mine said that if she had a gun, she would shoot me.
Read the rest here:
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle533-20090823-05.html