RashyNullPlanet

From Wendy McElroy’s place:

If protection rackets represent organized crime at its smoothest, then war making and state making—quintessential protection rackets with the advantage of legitimacy…

There are a few critical words missing there. This is how it should read:

“If protection rackets represent organized crime at its smoothest, then war making and state making—quintessential protection rackets with the advantage of the appearance of legitimacy… ”

Don’t ever give an inch to such shoddy language. If war making and state making are truly legitimate activities, then what’s the point of the rest of the article?

Kyle’s “Cutting God in Half” reminded me of this draft of mine that’s been sitting idle for more than a year:

I tend to look at things as “either, or.”

For instance, a woman is either pregnant, or she isn’t. A man is either dead, or he isn’t.

“Either, or” is usually my first test to sort out right from wrong.

Interactions between humans are either voluntary or they’re not. There is no in-between. When you buy something, that’s a voluntary interaction with the seller. When someone steals something from you, that’s an involuntary interaction between you and the thief.

There are only two ways for me, and everyone else, to get something from someone else: trade for it, or steal it.

There are only two ways for me, and everyone else, to interact with other humans: reason or force.

I’ll draw a line on Kyle’s Paper: “gnaws at my life.”