Unvalanced

The loudest argument I hear for circumcision is people arguing (incorrectly) that it has health benefits (it does, but it also have risks, and the risks negate the benefits). But another argument I hear is that everybody who they meet who is against circumcision has mental health problems, the implication being that mental health problems -cause- the issue with circumcision. Circumcision doesn't bother me because I don't like the way it looks.  It doesn't even really bother me that I don't experience sexual pleasure.  Circumcision bothers me because of what it says about other people's attitude towards me.  It bothers me because it means I

Anarcho-capitalism is often considered a cousin to minarchism - but it has one crucial difference which is precisely the difference between minarchism and capitalism: Anarcho-capitalists reject the doctrine of collective self-defense. Indeed, they necessarily reject the doctrine of self-defense entirely, as anywhere violence is encountered, the party that wins, wins; there is no agency which can be granted the function of determining whether the party that won was in the wrong or in the right, because that agency, granted that it had the right of arbitration which necessarily would require it possess the right to enforce that arbitration, wou

Sins are that which one recognizes as sins.  Even absent Christianity, absent God, absent any religion, we still find heaven and hell - a life spent in regret and self-revulsion, or a life spent in satisfaction and self-contention. A short life, or an eternal one, our life is determined by whether we do that which we think is good, or that which we think is evil - a man who thinks he has done evil will be miserable and self-loathing.  A man who thinks he has done good will be proud of himself - unless pride is a sin, in which case he will never escape his guilt. The ideal moral system does not construe as evil that is necessary to living, n

Stagflation is the critical flaw in Keynesian economics. Keynes believed it could not happen. Effectively, stagflation is what happens when government starts increasing its spending during a depression - prices start rising (inflation), and the depression isn't reversed, partly because rising prices discourage additional spending. A more complicated, in-depth explanation would take a block of text you wouldn't care to wander through. In short, Keynesian economics relies upon the idea that inflation is strongly associated with economic growth, and that if government engages in inflationary economic activities, it will spur economic growth. Th

Friendship. What does friendship mean? What makes somebody a friend, as opposed to an acquaintance? Are you friends with somebody merely because you know them well?  Doesn't that make everybody who reads an auto bibliography friends with the author? Are friends merely people you have a good time with? Friendship has been on my mind a lot lately, because of a problem I'm dealing with with an individual who has been my only serious friend for the past three years.  This individual - well, it's between us, so I will simply explain it as that I was lied to, basically because my friend was afraid of hurting me with the truth. Now, this is a

The ultimate canvas is the human form - the ultimate tools, the human mind.  We each are granted but a single canvas to paint upon, to produce a masterpiece or to produce garbage.  Some are granted superior canvas, or superior tools, with which to produce either masterpiece or garbage.  But each has the opportunity to paint as they will.  To sculpt what they will.  A laugh line here - a hard muscular line there.  Softness in the right place. Or in the wrong. Not all must appreciate the same aesthetic qualities.  It is up to each of us to decide what to do with what we are granted, what qualities to pursue. But it is an act of greatest negl

I am selfish. Too selfish to drop a dollar in a beggar's cap, too selfish to care about the homeless on the street, too selfish to have any desire to help drug addicts come clean, too selfish to help a disadvantaged person live a normal life. These are characteristics of a selfish person. My selfishness runs deeper than that, however. I am too selfish to want to rule the world, no matter the benefits it brings me - for I want my life to be mine and mine alone. I am too selfish to lie - for I would not settle for being somebody other than me, for living a life besides the one I am living. I am too selfish to steal - for I want to know tha