Month: April 2021

The Bigotry of the Literati

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 19, 2021
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This showed up in the feed on Mises.org a few days ago and, even though it was published in the 1950s, it’s still extremely valid today. The video below is a short reading of a section of Mises’s book The Anti-capitalistic Mentality and it’s a good one. Enjoy!

The whole book is available for free from the Mises Institute at https://mises.org/library/anti-capitalistic-mentality. They also have a print version, if that’s more your style. All of the print books I’ve gotten from Mises have been very good quality, especially hardcovers.

Update: Video now also available on YouTube.

Political Video Link

Saving Great Books and Media

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 18, 2021
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I was listening to an episode of the Tom Woods show a few days ago and they said something that got me thinking about dealing with the rising tide of censorship going forward. Basically, I’m worried that the forces of political correctness and hecklers’ vetoes may be making more progress than we believe.

Therefore, I propose that people interested in great works, be they books or other media, start thinking seriously about preserving these works against those who would destroy them in order to eliminate inconvenient thoughts and ideas.

Check out the video!

Update: Video now also available on YouTube.

Economics Video Link

What the Labor Unionists Won’t Tell You

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 18, 2021
No Comments on What the Labor Unionists Won’t Tell You

It’s very common these days for people defending labor unions and their tactics to act as if labor unions are a free-market phenomenon in the United States. In fact, labor unions have massive state privileges and their supporters won’t tell you about them. They ignore these privileges and act as if they are merely voluntary organizations.

As you might expect, even a cursory examination of labor law in the United States shows this narrative is completely false. The privileges and special treatments that labor unions receive from the state are very significant, and any economist worth his or her salt will tell you so.

I decided to make a video about some of these privileges and give some details and additional sources for anyone interested in learning more.

Enjoy!

Links for more info:
Forgotten Facts of American Labor History, by Tom Woods
https://mises.org/library/forgotten-facts-american-labor-history

Paper by Morgan O. Reynolds in J. Libertarian Studies
https://cdn.mises.org/6_3_3_0.pdf

Episode 1019 of the Tom Woods Show:
https://www.tomwoods.com/1019

Update: This video is now also available on YouTube.

Video Link

OCD Is No Joke, But Neither Is Spiraling Into Insanity

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 5, 2021
No Comments on OCD Is No Joke, But Neither Is Spiraling Into Insanity

I use FireFox at work a lot and it has that Pocket thing that puts up semi-random articles whenever I open a new tab. One day, it gave me a link to an article whose author argues that OCD shouldn’t be made fun of or referenced in pop culture because she has OCD and it makes her uncomfortable. She draws exactly the wrong conclusions. It’s ridiculous.

The article can be found at https://thewalrus.ca/ocd-is-not-a-joke/

I also reference a video I did with a friend a while back where some girl trying to get her Ph.D. does something similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUG1kUoVV2M

Political Video Link

Heckling Elizabeth Warren

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 5, 2021
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One of America’s worst senators thinks she’s above being heckled. How wrong she is.

Political Video Link

Nothing Social About Distancing: A COVID Rant

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 5, 2021
No Comments on Nothing Social About Distancing: A COVID Rant

The whole COVID situation has really got me riled. I thought I’d try writing a little rant about the issues with masks, lockdowns, and cowardice.

Video Link

Common-sense Limitations on Humor

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 4, 2021
No Comments on Common-sense Limitations on Humor

Clearly there must be limits on jokes. In this video I describe my common-sense limitations on what can and cannot be made into a joke.

Economics Video Link

Happy Birthday, Murray!

Murray Rothbard, a great economic thinker of the 20th century and a strong philosophical influence on anarchism, was born on March 2nd, 1926. Here’s a short video where I talk a little bit about his influence and legacy.

Political Video Link

Talking About Media Companies: A Modest Proposal

Post author By The Marginal Non-Hermit
Post date April 4, 2021
No Comments on Talking About Media Companies: A Modest Proposal

Labeling seems like it’s being used as a weapon by the left. Any and every media personality or collective that isn’t hard left gets called “far right.” Why shouldn’t the right and libertarians call them out?

Economics Video Link

On Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises is one of my great personal heroes and one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. He was an excellent writer, and his tone is something I wish I could emulate. He is at once elevated, persuasive, and readable. Here’s a few minutes of me talking about Mises and reading a few choice quotes from his book Socialism.

Update: Also available on YouTube.