Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Wednesday, February 21. 2018

Tyranny


Should we blame tyranny on evil tyrants, or on ourselves? And what about self-tyranny?


Pirkowski considers the Peterson view of human nature:  Emergent Tyranny: The Seed of Human Suffering Within Us All - Confront your demons before they destroy that which you love most.


I have never been convinced that Freedom is a common or powerful human aspiration.  A noble one, probably, but there are many things most people care about more. Freedom is scary. There are reasons people will cling to external and internal tyrannies.


A minority of Americans were in favor of the War of Independence. 

Posted by The Barrister in Politics at 16:32 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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Free will is the gift and curse of God. While Adam and Eve is allegorical, it is still a very true story. We ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To know that there is evil is to know there is a choice. Freedom to choose comes with being responsible for your choice. That is truly what scares most people about freedom, responsibility.
#1 Ken in NH on 2018-02-21 17:44 (Reply)
That's better than what I was going to say.

If you are near Goffstown, connect with me for beer night every other Tuesday
#1.1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2018-02-21 21:10 (Reply)
Another issue is that people have not been taught to think. That involves real education; which people do not receive anywhere in the world.

If people understood their own motives better, they would not shrink away from freedom. Two good books to read on this are "I'm OK, You're OK", by Harris, and "Escape from Freedom" by Fromm.

The point being that happiness is achievable, if you know what you're doing. There is no reason to a life of quiet desperation.
#2 Ron Liebermann on 2018-02-21 21:07 (Reply)
I have never been convinced that Freedom is a common or powerful human aspiration.

It is for me. But then I'm a "Heinleinian" libertarian which holds, among other things, that most people value freedom less than I do.
#3 Abelard Lindsey on 2018-02-21 21:12 (Reply)
Freedom isn't important until someone is allowed to hitch you to their plow.
#4 indyjonesouthere on 2018-02-22 00:00 (Reply)
A minority of Americans were in favor of the War of Independence.
----------------------------------------------------------

The colonists had more freedom, less taxation, and less government oppression than we routinely endure now.
#5 Jim on 2018-02-22 13:05 (Reply)

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