Totalitarians and authoritarians of all stripes have a very common tendency to redefine words to suit their purposes, often mid-argument! This tactic is extremely dangerous and it is vital to identify it quickly (especially if used mid-argument), call it out promptly, and fight back. If you accede all definitions to your opponent, don’t be surprised if they win.
Also available at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/never-cede-linguistic-ground:2
It occurred to me suddenly that there is a significant downside to co-opting psychological terminology for the purposes of “social justice.” Just watch the video, I guess.
Also available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/drawbacks-psych-terminology:c
Scott Horton may be the best, most knowledgeable guy we libertarians have on foreign policy. I recently read his new book, “Enough Already,” and it’s a firehose of information about America’s foreign adventures over the last few decades.
There is a huge amount of extremely detailed information and analysis in this book, but at the same time, there are a few small issues that I wanted to bring up. Watch the review and see what you think.
Also available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/book-review-enough-already:c
Thoughts and musings on the Declaration of Independence, made on July 4th, 2021. Available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/independence-day-2021:2
The word “competition” gets a really bad reputation from a lot of directions these days. However, much of that reputation comes from the fact that the term “competition” in economics doesn’t have all of the implications it does in plain English. This allows anti-market forces to associate a wide variety of contemptible behavior under the umbrella of “competition,” while papering over the fact that many of the negative elements associated with competition are actually not included in the economic definition of competition.
It seems like economics has this problem in a variety of places, where they come up with terms that use preexisting English words with specific connotations. “Perfect” competition is another example of this, where “perfect” in the context of economics means “adhering to the model” as opposed to “morally righteous” or “correct.”
Check out my video for more! Also available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/rehabilitating-competition:d
Update: The video is now also available on YouTube.
I heard about an article in the New Criterion a while back and did a little bit of examination and discussion of the article in a short video. The article is called “Leninthink,” and is written by Gary Saul Morson. It talks about the system of thought Lenin pushed as he reigned terror on the people of the newly formed Soviet Union.
Leninism, and, frankly, socialism of any type, are extremely dangerous and destructive ideologies, and it is important for any freedom-loving person to learn about these pernicious systems of thought, to better grapple with them and identify elements of them in modern political discourse.
My video is also available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/leninthink-article-discussion:5
Update: The video is now also available on YouTube.
There was a nice little article by the great Robert P. Murphy on mises.org the other day, so I decided to do a reading of it. The reading is licensed under a Creative Commons License, per the requirements of the license.
The marginal revolution in economics was a major step forward in the late 1800s that helped solve some serious problems in the field, especially around the concept of value. Dr. Murphy’s article is a concise explanation of what it means to look at an economic problem “on the margins,” so go have a listen!
Also available on Odysee at https://odysee.com/@MarginalNonHermit:3/reading-what-does-marginality-mean:3