“If you are not actively fighting against evil, your apathy is helping evil succeed.” ~ Parrish Miller
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My ten unpopular, non-political opinions
There’s a bit of a trend right now to share unpopular, non-political opinions on Facebook. Here are some of mine. I don’t smoke and never have, but I don’t mind cigarette smoke. I do mind those who complain about it. Nothing ruins food like adding vegetables to it. Especially shredded lettuce… No one wants your…
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Reality: Goods and Services aren’t Free
Goods and services aren’t free because they involve scarce resources. If you want heat, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, internet, and all the other things that make life comfortable and fun, you either have to make them yourself—chop wood and build a fire, dig a well, forage for food, etc.—or you have to trade for them…
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Economics is reality and has been for millennia
I recently had an interesting (and short, because he quickly blocked me) conversation on Facebook with a self-styled “anarcho-primitivist” named Justin Stout. He claimed that “economics is a form of brain damage” and went on to make his case thusly: Nomadic gatherer-hunters produced nothing. A hunter does not produce wild animals. A gatherer does not…
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Your boss doesn’t have authority over you, he’s your trading partner
The employer-employee relationship doesn’t involve authority because it is an ongoing, voluntary trade of labor for goods (typically money) or occasionally services. There is often confusion on this issue because it might appear that when a “boss” tells his employee what to do, he is exercising authority over that employee. Consider this example to help…
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The non-aggression principle is derived from logic and reason
The non-aggression principle (NAP) isn’t some magical or mystical moral code handed down by a deity or discovered in ancient ruins, it’s derived from logic and reason. Individuals can’t all have the right to do whatever they want without there being constant conflict—I can’t have the right to kill you without coming into conflict with…
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Inalienable rights and the non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (NAP) is consistent with the view that rights are inalienable. If we accept that the right to not be aggressed against is inalienable, retribution and punishment are necessarily prohibited. Such a prohibition is consistent with the NAP as these retributive acts are not a direct response to aggression (as is self-defense) but…