Green on the Outside, Red on the Inside
Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 01 Aug 2001 14:29:04 GMT
Damaged Justice -
Friday, July 27, 2001 - A different excerpt from the Politechbot
story below. Unusual behavior by a defendent. Warning, very strong
language. Also some words from a Bob Schulz detractor. I have never
met Mr. Schulz, but I used to listen to his radio program on the way
home from work. If not sincere, he is a damn good actor. I'd vote for
sincere. On the minus side, he is a definite believer in
government. He has no complaints with the income tax, per se. His only
beef is that government should follow its constitution. If someone can
prove to him that the income tax is legal, he'll likely stop
complaining. As I remember, the holocaust was legal. Those Germans are
good at dotting I's and crossing T's. Even if you believe in
government, non-initiation of force belongs in the first paragraph of
every constitution, as a non-rescindable first principle.
Politechbot - Cato's Aaron Lucas replies to FBI investigation, globalization - Sure to make some watermelons wet their drawers. Hehe. [MfM]
I'm breaking my rule this time not only because of the volume of responses I've received, but because of the vehemence of my detractors. Indeed, the anti-globalization faithful seem to thrive on rage (or "righteous anger," as the Rukus Society training manual puts it). Even for basically sensible folks like Thomas Leavitt, light-hearted insults become "slander" and "a deliberate attempt to create a false idea of [the Rukus Society's] mission and purpose, due to their extraordinary effectiveness" (snicker). And here I thought I was merely poking fun at silly people who do silly things like hang themselves from billboards, march with oversized puppets, or chain themselves to trees. Sometimes ridicule is directed at the ridiculous and isn't part of a broader smear campaign based on fear. Clearly the tight underwear crowd needs to lighten up.
None of this is meant to imply that Leavitt isn't a smart guy. After all, he founded a Web company and is a friend of yours--how dumb could he be? His response--which I think you distributed on Politech--was among the more thoughtful and substantive I received, which is why I'm taking the time to address his points. It's perplexing to me that sharp fellows like Mr. Leavitt buy into the anti-globalization nonsense, but that's a different story.
On the other hand, not everyone in the "movement" is a deep thinker. Quite the contrary. When they're not worrying about fluoridation or metal strips in dollar bills, Leavitt's ideological allies are fatuously cursing the evil--and greedy, don't forget "greedy"--corporations that allegedly force them to buy hormone-saturated burgers, high-top basketball shoes, and Michael Jackson action figures. (Actually, the critics are too clever to have fallen for corporate mind control tricks themselves, but they fret that everyone else has been duped.) Such behavior is not indicative of great minds at work.
On the other other hand, it's unfair for me to say that everybody on the anti-globalization scene is a crank. Obviously, that's not true. But you'll forgive me if I don't go searching for pearls among swine. I'm not going to apologize for calling protestors nut-jobs or lunatics or snot-nosed crybabies because that's what *most* of them are. I hate to break it to the Rukus Society, but the world just doesn't take you that seriously. And well the world should not. To the extent that there is any economic scholarship associated with the anti-globalization movement, it's limited to laughably inaccurate "research" papers (sneer quotes mandatory) published by activist groups and a few isolated professors in academia, many of who's work was long ago discredited. There are, of course, some legitimate issues to be discussed, but few, if any, serious points have been raised by people in "the movement."
Vin Suprynowicz - His white scarf streaming out behind ... - part of The Libertarian series. Like me, Vin has received offers of a percentage of some African millionaire's millions if only he'll help them get the money out of the country. American bank account info or personal visit requested. Section 419 of the Nigerian penal code apparently addresses exactly this kind of fraud as does Operation 4-1-9 of the U.S. Secret Service. Vin replied in kind to one of these offers. Hehe.
