Tag: paternalism

1,702 words

Part 6 of 14 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 7 here)

Socrates the Pugilist

After Socrates outlines why he thinks that rhetoric is not an art but rather merely a “knack” for pandering and corrupting, he apologizes for lapsing into speech-making, but he explains that it was necessary because Polus was incapable of answering short questions. (more…)

40 words / 44:38

To listen in a player, click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”

Greg Johnson is joined by Rob Freeman (Kievsky) to discuss a number of topics including:

• Munchausen by Proxy and cat lady politics
• Pathological altruism, pet hoarding, co-dependent enabling as clues to the liberal mind
• Freedom, paternalism, and self-actualization
• Parenting, homeschooling, and self-improvement

(more…)

2,484 words

Over the past years, I’ve made some efforts to keep fit and educate myself in the manly arts. So far, I’ve been able to slim down, quit smoking, quit porn, moderate my caffeine and alcohol intake, (more…)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

626 words

Spanish translation here

Paternalism means treating people like children. Children lack the maturity and wisdom to make their own decisions. Thus they need parents — or people playing the paternal role — to tell them what to do and, on occasion, to force them to do it.

Most people have no problem with paternalism when dealing with actual children, as well as the retarded, the senile, and the insane. (more…)

2,924 words

Translated by G. A. Malvicini

We have already had the occasion to point to the illusoriness of the claim that modern man, in general, has achieved an autonomy and self-consciousness he previously lacked. This illusion can in part be explained by the fact that attention today is primarily directed towards external conditions, to the disappearance of certain material limits to the freedom of the individual — (more…)

6,423 words

Part 3 of 3

Editor’s Note:

What follows is the transcript by V. S. of Michael Enoch’s Between Two Lampshades interview with Greg Johnson on The Right Stuff. You can listen to it here. 

GJ: There’s another argument that I want to make about laissez-faire capitalism: (more…)

649 words

English original here

Paternalismo significa tratar a la gente como niños. Los niños carecen de madurez y sabiduría para tomar sus propias decisiones. Por lo tanto necesitan padres – o gente que ejerza el rol paternal – que les diga que hacer y, en ocasiones, forzarlos a hacerlo.

La mayoría de la gente no tiene problema con el paternalismo cuando trata con niños, tanto como con retardados, seniles o insanos. (more…)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

626 words

Spanish translation here

Paternalism means treating people like children. Children lack the maturity and wisdom to make their own decisions. Thus they need parents — or people playing the paternal role — to tell them what to do and, on occasion, to force them to do it.

Most people have no problem with paternalism when dealing with actual children, as well as the retarded, the senile, and the insane. (more…)

824 words

In the British Medical Journal (# 7108, September 6, 1997, p. 563) there’s an article entitled “Thousands of women sterilized in Sweden without consent.” The Swedish government is investigating why thousands of women were forcibly sterilized on eugenic grounds from the 1930s to the 1970s. (more…)

1,335 words

Joss Whedon’s 2005 film Serenity is the sequel to his short-lived 2002 science fiction series Firefly. Even though only 14 episodes of Firefly were shot, and their quality is somewhat uneven, it is one of the best science-fiction series ever and showed enormous promise. Whedon, who also created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dollhouse, is one of tvland’s most versatile and compelling storytellers, effortlessly combining comedy, satire, and farce with extremely moving drama.  (more…)

647 words

Whenever I tell people I favor eugenics they tell me that the state shouldn’t have such power. One thing that’s overlooked is that it already does. As Herrnstein and Murray wrote in The Bell Curve:

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