Books I Haven't Read II: Man vs. the Welfare State

[_Tarski]

This thread is, happily, perhaps the single best example of just the catastrophic intellectual deterioration represented by the Left and the institutions of society it controls, and the degree to which human beings, created in God's image and endowed with intellect and free will, can become drone-like automatons who actually openly and self consciously revel in their own self contained ignorance and anti-intellectualism, and see in it a sign of intellectual and moral superiority.

Then, they speak of burning books with which they disagree and who's contents they have never read and do not understand.

The Morlocks walk among us while the drones bring honey to the hive.

But at least its all out in the open now. At least here.

"automatons who actually openly and self consciously...."
LOL




Oh, and speaking of "drone" does anyone else hear think that our (unpaid neocon worker bee) Droopy's emissions are becoming so repetitive and monomaniacal as to be aptly described as a sort of drone?

drone dron·ing
Definition of DRONE
intransitive verb
1a : to make a sustained deep murmuring, humming, or buzzing sound <droning bees>

[_Some Schmo]

Oh, and speaking of "drone" does anyone else hear think that our (unpaid neocon worker bee) Droopy's emissions are becoming so repetitive and monomaniacal as to be aptly described as a sort of drone?

Yes. The only difference is that a bee's droning activity serves a valuable purpose.

[_Gadianton]

Check out this gem,

But “Atlas Shrugged” is not merely a novel. It is also—or may I
say: first of all—a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society,
a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled “intellectuals”
and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies
adopted by governments and political parties. It is a devastating
exposure of the “moral cannibals,” the “gigolos of science” and of
the “academic prattle” of the makers of the “anti-industrial revolution.”
You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told
them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions
which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who
are better than you.

Holy cow, Droopy, do you agree with Mises here? Are you a devout disciple of Rand as well?

I wonder if Mises had -- you know -- those kinds of interests in Rand. Do you think they ever fantasized about each other in that way, Droopy?

Does your buddy Sowell think that Mises and Rand were humble respecters of the common man? If people need to make their own choices and you and Sowell celebrate this, then it's interesting that "the masses" rely on a single person, Ayn Rand, to dispense to them the reality of their inferiority. Recall that according to Rand, Rand was the most intelligent person who had ever been born, and it seems that Mises is generally in agreement here.

Oh no, Ayn Rand wasn't like those socialists who that they knew best how a person should think and behave. She wasn't one of the "Anointed" was she?

[_The Dude]

Oh, and speaking of "drone" does anyone else hear think that our (unpaid neocon worker bee) Droopy's emissions are becoming so repetitive and monomaniacal as to be aptly described as a sort of drone?

There are chatbot programs designed to prattle on incoherently as long as people are reading/listening, but "Droopy" is turned up a notch into what is better described as a rant-bot. A rantbot with a certain political tang. Why Gadianton likes playing with it is anyone's guess.

[_Gadianton]

Actually Dude, that's not the way I see it at all. Droopy is the one toying with me. As he likes to say, he comes here to "kick the ant hill" and then trot off laughing.

[_Droopy]

I don't like to see solid libertarian ideas mixed together with conservatism.

Then you would have to be in opposition to contemporary conservatism, because that's exactly what it is.

If Reaganomics failed, they failed because right wingers reject smaller government on a fundamental level.

But Reganomics didn't fail, a patently false claim that can be easily demonstrated as false with a little empirical factual knowledge of the era.

Droopy, if you are a right winger and oppose the "left", you are a statist.
You do not favor a smaller government, or less intervention, you merely wish to control the weapon of coercion against those you hate.

This is an unintelligible claim (and the "hate" aspect is pure fluff) from a conservative perspective, and bespeaks gross ignorance of both the history and intellectual pedigree of the movement. This kind of statement can only come from what I term a "strong" libertarian (near anarchist) position, which is, indeed, outside the modern conservative mindset, as well as that of the Founders.

[_Droopy]

I think it was a chatroom encounter. The short of it is: Droopy doesn't engage ideas often, just links people or ideas to other people or ideas he finds distasteful and considers the matter settled. Dean Robbers asked Droopy for a list of books that he considered most important to understanding conservative views. Now Dean Robbers is employing Droopy’s own style against his cherished literature to prove a point.

In other words, stak, you yourself are one of the very intellectual hacks around here who has ignored the reams of idea engagement I've been vainly trying to insert into this environment since this board's inception, while concentrating mainly upon anti-Mormon and anti-conservativfe snark and denigration, and who them sees others as mirror images of himself.

We do then, it is true, to see the world more as we are than as it is.

[_Droopy]

Check out this gem,

But “Atlas Shrugged” is not merely a novel. It is also—or may I
say: first of all—a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society,
a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled “intellectuals”
and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies
adopted by governments and political parties. It is a devastating
exposure of the “moral cannibals,” the “gigolos of science” and of
the “academic prattle” of the makers of the “anti-industrial revolution.”
You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told
them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions
which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who
are better than you.

Holy cow, Droopy, do you agree with Mises here? Are you a devout disciple of Rand as well?

I wonder if Mises had -- you know -- those kinds of interests in Rand. Do you think they ever fantasized about each other in that way, Droopy?

Does your buddy Sowell think that Mises and Rand were humble respecters of the common man? If people need to make their own choices and you and Sowell celebrate this, then it's interesting that "the masses" rely on a single person, Ayn Rand, to dispense to them the reality of their inferiority. Recall that according to Rand, Rand was the most intelligent person who had ever been born, and it seems that Mises is generally in agreement here.

Oh no, Ayn Rand wasn't like those socialists who that they knew best how a person should think and behave. She wasn't one of the "Anointed" was she?

As, per what you have made clear here, you have very likely never read a single, solitary book by either Rand or Mises, and probably any other conservative or libertarian intellectual, you have no way or background context with which to criticize either, nor, apparently, the simply intellectual integrity or depth to analyze the statements of Mises here with any degree of balance or understanding of the way in which the philosophies of both played off of each other in some senses, and were incompatible in others (Rand's philosophy is devastating to the Left in many respects, but is largely self defeating in others, and because of those self defeating aspects, is not compatible with modern conservatism).

You are, like most of the other surface film leftist here, not up to it.

[_Gadianton]

Rand's philosophy is devastating to the Left in many respects, but is largely self defeating in others,

Hold on there Droopy, you aren't allowed to do this per your own rules.

[_The Dude]

Actually Dude, that's not the way I see it at all. Droopy is the one toying with me. As he likes to say, he comes here to "kick the ant hill" and then trot off laughing.

Yes, I didn't notice that's what was happening but now that you mention it, it is clear as day.