Education v. Moronism

[j_b]

Oh good lord. Expressing a preference for Pinochet over Allende doesn't constitute a fondness for authoritarianism any more than a preference for Batista over Castro would have, Nicholas II over Lenin, etc - particularly when qualified by the correct observation that the policies that he instituted would ultimately undermine his rule in a way that Allende's, like Castro's, would not. Had he been asked, I'm fairly certain that he would have expressed a preference for the Reign of Louis XIV over of that of Robespierre for many of the same reasons. Expressing a preference for the lesser of two evils doesn't qualify as an endorsement of evil any more than saying that you'd rather have hepatitis than HIV would qualify as pro-hepatitis advocacy.

 

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about (or you believe your own propaganda) because Allende was as far from being an authoritarian as can be whereas Hayek did favor a bloody fascist dictatorship installed at gunpoint over democratic rule. Your long listing of irrelevant analogies doesn't change any of it and further points out your lack of understanding that process determines the outcome much more surely than any professed allegiance to "freedom" or whatever. Your comment placed in context amounts to an apology for any human right abuse, and shows that despite all of your rhetoric about choice, you are as blind as any ideologue can be.

 

He also correctly observed that in the long run the structure of the institutional protections for individual rights in a given country were far more important safegaurds of life and liberty than the terms that the regime in question used to describe itself. This should hardly be shocking to anyone who lived through the previous century and compared the fate of the people in constitutional monarchies to those unfortunate enough to find themselves in one of the various "People's Republics" that blighted the globe.

 

of course, never mind the widespread practice of murdering and torturing political opponents for a least 15 years (which could have lasted much longer as the 40 year reign of Franco shows). Dictators with diverse ideologies have no use for constitutional guarantees. Stalin and Pol Pot also promised a radiant future.

[marc_leclerc]

I am not alone

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2217582729

[Choada_Boy]

Your lack of solitude makes you no less of a Moron.

[tvashtarkatena]

Because it takes a village...of idiots.

[ivan]

"For in dealing with a crowd of women, at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety, and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be arouse without myths and marvels. For thunderbolt, aegis, trident, torches, snakes, thyrsulances - arms of the gods - are myths, and so is the entire ancient theology. But the founders of states gave sanction to these things as bugbears wherewith the scare the simple-minded. Now, since this is the nature of mythology, and since it has come to have its place in the social and civil scheme of life as well in the history of actual facts, the ancients clung to their system of education for children and applied it up to the age of maturity, and by means of poetry they believed that they could satisfactorily discipline every period of life. But now, after a long time, the writing of history and the present-day philosophy have come to the front. Philosophy, however, is for the few, whereas poetry is more useful to the people at large"

 

uh, isn't the gibbon quote more comprehensible?

 

"The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful."

[JayB]

"For in dealing with a crowd of women, at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety, and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be arouse without myths and marvels. For thunderbolt, aegis, trident, torches, snakes, thyrsulances - arms of the gods - are myths, and so is the entire ancient theology. But the founders of states gave sanction to these things as bugbears wherewith the scare the simple-minded. Now, since this is the nature of mythology, and since it has come to have its place in the social and civil scheme of life as well in the history of actual facts, the ancients clung to their system of education for children and applied it up to the age of maturity, and by means of poetry they believed that they could satisfactorily discipline every period of life. But now, after a long time, the writing of history and the present-day philosophy have come to the front. Philosophy, however, is for the few, whereas poetry is more useful to the people at large"

 

uh, isn't the gibbon quote more comprehensible?

 

"The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful."

 

Yeah - but the guy I quoted died in like 23 A.D. and it seemed like tossing a quote from 2000 years ago would be germane to the question of what had changed in the past 2000 years.

 

Seems like the more interesting question is why religious faith that has little more in the way of logical, empirical, or moral content to recommend it over the long-dead beliefs that inspired folks to worship Poseidon and co. has persisted since then.

 

 

 

 

[ivan]

 

Seems like the more interesting question is why religious faith that has little more in the way of logical, empirical, or moral content to recommend it over the long-dead beliefs that inspired folks to worship Poseidon and co.

 

 

 

the newer religions just co-opted the old ones - posedion worship didn't dissappear, it was just transformed - the 20/21st century cults of personality are just another point on that continium