tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post3788817976553441487..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Quick Roundup 211Gus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-58190904175312444972007-07-01T21:20:00.000-06:002007-07-01T21:20:00.000-06:00Really! Well. Needless to say, I am not surprised,...Really! <BR/><BR/>Well. Needless to say, I am not surprised, although I missed it! <BR/><BR/>Loved the music, hated the politics. For the uninitiated, the Adjusters was a ska band that openly espoused socialism.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-40906282316741211942007-07-01T17:47:00.000-06:002007-07-01T17:47:00.000-06:00Yo, Gus, you write: "The episode further reminds ...Yo, Gus, you write: "The episode further reminds me of a book from a few years back titled <I>What's Wrong with Kansas?,</I> whose premise was that America, not having voted itself into socialist slavery long ago, had somehow been duped into voting against its own 'self-interest'."<BR/><BR/>Just a note to make you chuckle--remember that most excellent if most leftist album, <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Before-Revolution-Adjusters/dp/B00000ADHI/" REL="nofollow"><I>Before the Revolution</I></A> by The Adjusters? The author of said screed, Thomas Frank, also penned the "hagiography" in the front of the CD.Adrian Hesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13394227341130065130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-29470543786884675892007-06-26T13:08:00.000-06:002007-06-26T13:08:00.000-06:00The tendency you describe is understandable and --...The tendency you describe is understandable and -- this example will be a funny coincidence coming from me to you, but it is only a coincidence -- reminds me of how some fellow Objectivists seemed to elevate Microsoft from the McDonald's of software to some sort of five-star gourmet restaurant. Around those types, if you weren't wild about Windows, you aroused suspicion.<BR/><BR/>I see it as a well-intentioned (but not well-thought out) form of solidarity. The RIAA are behaving like scumbags in this matter, contrary to any previous good positions they may have taken in the past on intellectual property rights. <BR/><BR/>Likewise, Bill Gates, despite the unjustness of the persecution of Microsoft for antitrust, <A HREF="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/bill_gates_needs_an_econ_cours.html" REL="nofollow">does not understand capitalism</A> (despite his business success). And some former customers of his (like me), despite supporting his property rights, can't stand many of his company's products.<BR/><BR/>In each case, separate issues come into play, but many well-meaning (and busy) people confound them anyway.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-65808441128413025032007-06-26T12:19:00.000-06:002007-06-26T12:19:00.000-06:00re internet radio.There is this tendency I find di...re internet radio.<BR/><BR/>There is this tendency I find disturbing, of many Objectivists and others to put <B>all</B> businessmen on a pedestal, as some sort of virtuous heroes. All government regulation is treated as pure evil and all business as angelic good.<BR/><BR/>The reality is far more complex. All businessmen are <B>NOT</B> archangels: from what I've seen, in today's <B>unfree market</B> you are far more likely to find an Orren Boyle than a Hank Rearden, especially at the top. Case in point: the RIAA bastards.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, government regulation can be the lesser evil (as it clearly is in this case).<BR/><BR/>While one must keep the ultimate goal clear, one must not be so blinded as to consider a temporary bend in the path to be a total reversal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com