What a powerful piece. I wholeheartedly agree as I have been a firebrand atheist for quite some time now (over 20 years). It's only been more recent that I've come to the conclusion that statism is in fact a religion and try my best to enlighten people (mostly coworkers that think I'm crazy for sure) to the monstrosities that the state embellishes and afflicts not only on own citizens, but the rest of the world.
Hi Eric "...try my best to enlighten people..." may not be the best strategy. Generally, people don't seem to like someone else to "enlighten" them. - It's an ego thing. They may accept a bit of "enlightening" from one of their tv heroes for example, but don't expect much effect from your lowly efforts.
I am sure that you use such magical tools as logic, reason, evidence and all sorts of other good stuff in your heroic endevours.
However, consider that, your idea of "statism being a problem", in the sense that it hinders the upward direction of the progress of living standards for average Joe, is not an "intellectual" problem that may be meaningfully challenged by the aforementioned weapons of argumentation, (reason, logic etc).
It seems to be more a "psychological" problem. You may wish to consider that people's brains have been damaged by a decade or two of statist indoctrination within the compulsory child prisons that most people are forced to attend during their "formative years"
If your co-workers seem to ".....think you are crazy....", then it may be that your tactics of persuasion that you are currently using are not working too well. Maybe you'd find it more productive to restrict your conversations to just asking questions of your workmates. Questions structured in a way that should lead them to logical conclusions or to obvious contradictions. i.e. you have to think about how to structure your questions etc.
i.e. socratic method and all that...
However, this would only be productive on someone that is in a condition that permits the consideration of an alternative view of the world, in the first place. i.e. Some people are just not ready to consider that their world view may be a bit skewed or distorted in some way. (Every one of us has some degree of distortion of objective reality).
There are plenty of previous, self confessed, "hard line commies" out there who have travelled the road to what we might consider a more reasoned outlook on the make up of human society and stuff etc. For most people, it may just be a matter of timing, that would determine whether they can be open to alternative views etc.
With religious people, remember that it wasn't reason and logic that got them into their current condition of belief, is it reasonable to expect logic and reason to get them out of it?
Good to see that you appreciated the Larken Rose video. I reckon he is a very smart cool dude and is pretty skilled at expressing what he wants to say.
I only rely to your comment to suggest that you be a little careful with your workmates. It's ok that they think you are a little crazy, but don't push it until they actually dislike you. You have to work with them, after all, and you may not want to make your life harder than it is, just because of a bit of mistimed comment or argument etc. - Cheers
What a powerful piece. I wholeheartedly agree as I have been a firebrand atheist for quite some time now (over 20 years). It's only been more recent that I've come to the conclusion that statism is in fact a religion and try my best to enlighten people (mostly coworkers that think I'm crazy for sure) to the monstrosities that the state embellishes and afflicts not only on own citizens, but the rest of the world.
Hi Eric "...try my best to enlighten people..." may not be the best strategy. Generally, people don't seem to like someone else to "enlighten" them. - It's an ego thing. They may accept a bit of "enlightening" from one of their tv heroes for example, but don't expect much effect from your lowly efforts.
I am sure that you use such magical tools as logic, reason, evidence and all sorts of other good stuff in your heroic endevours.
However, consider that, your idea of "statism being a problem", in the sense that it hinders the upward direction of the progress of living standards for average Joe, is not an "intellectual" problem that may be meaningfully challenged by the aforementioned weapons of argumentation, (reason, logic etc).
It seems to be more a "psychological" problem. You may wish to consider that people's brains have been damaged by a decade or two of statist indoctrination within the compulsory child prisons that most people are forced to attend during their "formative years"
If your co-workers seem to ".....think you are crazy....", then it may be that your tactics of persuasion that you are currently using are not working too well. Maybe you'd find it more productive to restrict your conversations to just asking questions of your workmates. Questions structured in a way that should lead them to logical conclusions or to obvious contradictions. i.e. you have to think about how to structure your questions etc.
i.e. socratic method and all that...
However, this would only be productive on someone that is in a condition that permits the consideration of an alternative view of the world, in the first place. i.e. Some people are just not ready to consider that their world view may be a bit skewed or distorted in some way. (Every one of us has some degree of distortion of objective reality).
There are plenty of previous, self confessed, "hard line commies" out there who have travelled the road to what we might consider a more reasoned outlook on the make up of human society and stuff etc. For most people, it may just be a matter of timing, that would determine whether they can be open to alternative views etc.
With religious people, remember that it wasn't reason and logic that got them into their current condition of belief, is it reasonable to expect logic and reason to get them out of it?
Good to see that you appreciated the Larken Rose video. I reckon he is a very smart cool dude and is pretty skilled at expressing what he wants to say.
I only rely to your comment to suggest that you be a little careful with your workmates. It's ok that they think you are a little crazy, but don't push it until they actually dislike you. You have to work with them, after all, and you may not want to make your life harder than it is, just because of a bit of mistimed comment or argument etc. - Cheers
Interesting
I will follow you to see your future posts!
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