Definitely some interesting things unfolding over at SeN. The poster called “axelbeingcivil” has dredged up an absolutely reprehensible position taken by one of DCP’s idols during the height of the AIDS epidemic. I.e., that every HIV-positive person should have to be tattooed in order to announce their infected status! Basically, a state-mandated “scarlet letter”! How, I wonder, is this in keeping with Libertarian ideals? But DCP’s further comments are really grotesque:
However, I'll take the bait: Buckley's argument for such tattooing came at a time when HIV seemed to be unstoppable and, overwhelmingly, to be spread via homosexual sex. You can certainly disagree with it, but to describe it as the "branding" of people he despised is a reprehensible caricature. He wanted people who might be about to engage in sex with an HIV-positive person to be able to find that out before they destroyed their health and possibly condemned themselves to death, and he wasn't entirely confident that each and every AIDS carrier would always be willing to share a "Yes, I do have AIDS" card with a potential conquest, or always to answer "Yes" when politely asked about it. An indelible ink tattoo would take self-serving dishonesty out of a potentially lethal equation.
“Self-serving dishonesty”? What, like failing to tell potential converts that Joseph Smith was married to a 14-year-old girl? Or that their 10% donation for life will go into a “rainy day” fund that has been used to skirt tax laws? Does he think that Mormons should be tattooed, so that they can more easily be avoided?
This is one of the more candid and honest posts I’ve seen from Dr. Peterson and I think it genuinely reflects his thinking and who he is. Which is to say: he’s a dyed-in-the-wool fascist who would love to destroy his enemies, take away their rights, and make them suffer in a very public way.
"If, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
