tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post4574854164934355448..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Quick Roundup 270Gus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-73397022447088187922007-11-13T15:40:00.000-06:002007-11-13T15:40:00.000-06:00Thanks for that one, Jim. I must say that this pos...Thanks for that one, Jim. <BR/><BR/>I must say that this post has drawn some of the most interesting comments....Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-59146094984279991442007-11-13T13:30:00.000-06:002007-11-13T13:30:00.000-06:00Interesting, I checked one of the other hits to my...Interesting, I checked one of the other hits to my search for Reagan's epitaph, and this one went to the Claremont Institute, a conservative think-tank of sorts.<BR/><BR/>They too noticed the liberal quality of Reagan's parting quote, and engage in some quiet damage control <A HREF="http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1062/article_detail.asp" REL="nofollow">here</A>, attempting first to paint it as "optimism", and then attempting to divorce it from its liberal source (but not from the American Revolution, whose origin in the Enlightenment the conservatives consistenly deny without grounds.)<BR/><BR/>IMO they do not succeed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-84502812751060367672007-11-13T13:10:00.000-06:002007-11-13T13:10:00.000-06:00Very interesting, and well-timed, too!Very interesting, and well-timed, too!Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-28713303861376494192007-11-13T13:01:00.000-06:002007-11-13T13:01:00.000-06:00Here's another slab(!) of irony for you. Consider...Here's another slab(!) of irony for you. Consider this following statement:<BR/><BR/>"I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."<BR/><BR/>There is no mistaking that this statement is directly antithetical to the essence of the "amnation.com" post that John linked. It is <B>clearly</B> a statement that belongs not to conservatism in any manner whatsoever, but to the Enlightenment which conservatives loathe.<BR/><BR/>Whose statement is it?<BR/><BR/>It is Ronald Reagan's epitaph.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-39243842729222722052007-11-13T06:40:00.000-06:002007-11-13T06:40:00.000-06:00If you think that there is no fundamental differen...If you think that there is no fundamental difference between intelligent humans and dogs, all I have to say to you is this: Speak (or yelp) for yourself.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-56766303598248899022007-11-13T03:57:00.000-06:002007-11-13T03:57:00.000-06:00All domestic dogs are CANIS FAMILIARIS. Dog breed...All domestic dogs are CANIS FAMILIARIS. Dog breeds do not exist as all dogs have 99% of their DNA the same. All dogs are equally violent and equally trainable. The link between dog DNA and dog trainability/performace is unconfirmed. With sufficient training, poodles can consistently kill pit bulls. Your local police prefer poodles for K-9 dogs. Greyhounds train harder in order to outrun dachshunds; dachshunds that attempt to catch greyhounds are accused by their fellow dachshunds of "acting greyhound…". Chihuahuas make good hunting dogs; they are also good for herding sheep. Given a proper environment and nurturing, and given SUFFICIENT MONEY, the DOG ACHIEVEMENT GAP can be eliminated----------------All humans are HOMO SAPIENS: humans are EXEMPT from the fundamental rules of BIOLOGY.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-61823518869997250662007-11-12T23:28:00.000-06:002007-11-12T23:28:00.000-06:00In addition to the taint of racism, the religious ...In addition to the taint of racism, the religious conservatives see the battle against Islam as a war between religions as opposed to a war to defend the secular West against religion.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-86022813608752763062007-11-12T23:01:00.000-06:002007-11-12T23:01:00.000-06:00I hate to belabor the point about the racism which...I hate to belabor the point about the racism which is entrenched on the far Right but here is another example of it coming from Europe. On LGF, Charles Johnson has been attacked for his decision to oppose European far right groups that have historic connections to the Nazis. The cultural conservatives are lambasting Johnson and calling him a sellout because these far right groups are also anti-Islam. But Johnson, rightly, knows enough not to fight one brand of fascism by aligning himself with another. Here is one of many LGF links dealing with this:<BR/><BR/>http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/<BR/>?entry=27894_Interviewed_by_Tom_Paine&only<BR/><BR/>The reason I chose it is because Johnson has a quote from the European group in question and it illustrates perfectly the racism inherent in this "racialist" or so-called "scientific racism" conservative position:<BR/><BR/>"...[snip]the American blacks’ mean IQ of 85, and not racism, is the cause of their underepresentation in the upper echelons of government, business and the professions."<BR/><BR/>In Europe the true conservatives are white-power type nationalists. In America they are Christian, racialist, anti-immigrant nationalists. Not only do we have to worry about the growing neo-Stalinism of the Left but of a growing religious nationalism from the Right. <BR/><BR/>John KimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-88081928489408421212007-11-12T22:53:00.000-06:002007-11-12T22:53:00.000-06:00Oh, nice!I like how in the preceding paragraph, th...Oh, nice!<BR/><BR/>I like how in the preceding paragraph, the author equivocates between "unaided reason" and throwing out all tradition and accumulated knowledge -- so he can then sneak religion into the list of things that reason would supposedly do away with.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-71719763157652894862007-11-12T22:40:00.000-06:002007-11-12T22:40:00.000-06:00Jim May writes:"The conservatives, for their part,...Jim May writes:<BR/><BR/>"The conservatives, for their part, trumpet such differences because they reject tabula rasa entirely, as one of the Enlightenment's "errors". In their view, evil is innate in human nature (the "Original Sin" premise), and it must be suppressed by society and its traditions."<BR/><BR/>This is 100% accurate right down to the very wording (Jim knows his stuff). I recently have been reading a number of cultural conservative sites and this argument is made over and over. I am posting a link to one such conservative commentator who sums up this "traditionalist" (his term) conservative view nicely. It reveals the corrupt essence of Conservatism right down to its core metaphysics.<BR/><BR/>http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/006255.html<BR/><BR/>A taste:<BR/><BR/>"It is also a conservative (and Jewish and Christian) truism that human beings, while capable of good, are inclined toward evil, which also leads to the conclusion that a moral society cannot be built on each man's unaided faculties. To live virtuous lives, men require sources of moral guidance that come from outside themselves. Rousseau believed that human beings are naturally good. Jefferson believed that if men were left in complete freedom, they would naturally live in harmony with their fellow citizens. These are liberal or libertarian ideas. They are not conservative ideas."<BR/><BR/>John KimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-14758598287791818382007-11-12T21:53:00.000-06:002007-11-12T21:53:00.000-06:00"While the left's paranoia does indeed expose the ..."While the left's paranoia does indeed expose the pretense to science as noted by Kyle, that itself is due to something deeper -- the rank-and-file left's fear of discovering just how very nearly identical to their professed worst enemy -- the racist -- they really are."<BR/><BR/>Indeed.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-8221660523137682252007-11-12T21:48:00.000-06:002007-11-12T21:48:00.000-06:00While the left's paranoia does indeed expose the p...While the left's paranoia does indeed expose the pretense to science as noted by Kyle, that itself is due to something deeper -- the rank-and-file left's fear of discovering just how very nearly identical to their professed worst enemy -- the racist -- they really are. Because of their false concept of human nature as infinitely malleable, they reject the "nature" version of determinism in favor of the "nurture" version -- substituting culture for race. (The ongoing repatriation of racism, particularly anti-Semitism, to the Left worldwide is proof of how insignificant that substitution is when the rubber meets the road.)<BR/><BR/>The Left is openly hostile to the notion of metaphysical givens about a person, because that threatens and refutes their false version of "<I>tabula rasa</I>". As I explain <A HREF="http://www.altyna.com/blogarch/2005_09_01_archive.html#112647600938925966" REL="nofollow">here</A>, the Left's concept of "<I>tabula rasa</I>" is that the individual is infinitely malleable, a product of "social forces" beyond his control.<BR/><BR/>The conservatives, for their part, trumpet such differences because they reject <I>tabula rasa</I> entirely, as one of the Enlightenment's "errors". In their view, evil is innate in human nature (the "Original Sin" premise), and it must be suppressed by society and its traditions. When you hear people reacting to some particular instance of evil by saying that "people are just bastards" or by otherwise expressing pessimism about <I>mankind</I>, it's the conservative premise you are hearing.<BR/><BR/>Under Objectivism, "<I>tabula rasa</I>" means that while the slate is blank -- there is nothing written on it at birth -- the slate itself still has identity, and is not mutable! You cannot write past the edge, for example, nor can you write on it with air or dynamite. The slate must be take care of, kept away from fire etc. -- it has specific, objective requirements determined by its nature, in order to continue functioning as a slate.<BR/><BR/>The <B>nature</B> of the slate sets the boundaries *within which* we are free to write what we decide. Our identity *as individuals* is written by each of us individually, upon the slate of human nature which we are given. <BR/><BR/>That the slate varies from individual to individual -- some are bigger or smaller, some have different colors, and there are variances in how well they take the writing -- does not alter our moral responsibility for what we are nonetheless able to write on it.<BR/><BR/>The slate is not a malleable blob with no shape and no identity, as the Left sees it -- nor does it come pre-written with uneraseable things<I>for which you are still morally liable</I>, as the conservatives believe.<BR/><BR/>Ayn Rand expressed this principle succinctly: <B>"Man is a being of self-made soul".</B> The Left and the conservatives are both deathly afraid of what that phrase identifies; they loathe what we Objectivists love the most about being human and being alive, this most awesome of adult responsibilities: self-authorship.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-21598192089155696902007-11-12T19:32:00.000-06:002007-11-12T19:32:00.000-06:00John,Very interesting observations. Thanks for pos...John,<BR/><BR/>Very interesting observations. Thanks for posting them.<BR/><BR/>The hypocrisy WRT when to use science reminds me indirectly of how often white supremacists are basically trailer trash. The phenomenon of lower class whites being racist has long precedence in the South, but still. If you're going to be "supreme", shouldn't you act like it?<BR/><BR/>I suspect that some racists are oblivious to the hypocrisy of using genetics and to the irony of white supremacist trailer trash for the same reason that they are racist to begin with: They want a shortcut to knowledge.<BR/><BR/>After a lifetime of taking shortcuts, they just don't think too well....<BR/><BR/>Kyle,<BR/><BR/>Yes. A "teachable moment". That's a good way to think of it.<BR/><BR/>GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-61836347524869761602007-11-12T15:58:00.000-06:002007-11-12T15:58:00.000-06:00People are frustratingly resistant to drawing the ...People are frustratingly resistant to drawing the right conclusions from these kinds of disasters. If Mugabe's disaster in Zimbabwe didn't convince them that forced economic collectivism leads to disaster (and it didn't), I'm not hopeful that Venezuela will do so.<BR/><BR/>Just as no amount of practical demonstration of the efficacy of freedom is sufficient without a defense of egoism, no amount of practical disaster from collectivism will be sufficient without a repudiation of altruism. So Gus is right -- this needs to be taken as an opportunity to illustrate the moral point. Stealing a phrase from the left, this is a "teachable moment" in business ethics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-74951762432455944922007-11-12T15:51:00.000-06:002007-11-12T15:51:00.000-06:00"I haven't followed the link, but it is clear from..."I haven't followed the link, but it is clear from the article that some racists will employ any genetic differences that come up as "evidence" to bolster their views if they haven't done so already."<BR/><BR/>This is rampant in the ranks of the cultural conservatives. I keep up with a number of these writers and sites and they relentlessly trot out IQ scores that show blacks 15 or so points behind on average and then they draw the conclusion that blacks do not have the same "civilizational abilities" as whites. And of course they deify Richard Lynn** and use him to "prove" that blacks are inferior as a group. <BR/><BR/>They also combine this with statistics of black on white rape and black on white crime. These stats show black crime rates far, far greater than whites. But the conclusion they draw is not that it is the welfare state and multi-culturalist philosophy which is ultimately to blame. No, they take the welfare state as a given. They conclude that blacks and other non-whites are not capable of living in peaceful civilization. And the ultimate payoff for them is to then scream their heads off for immigration control which is their ultimate obsession. Some of these conservatives also want racial separation. <BR/><BR/>These cultural conservatives (mostly Christian) believe that Western Civilization is defined by whiteness and Christianity. Throw in a hatred of sexual expression, homosexuality, woman's liberation, an extreme hatred of classical liberalism and a *murderous* hatred of Darwin and that is the social/religious/cultural conservative movement. It is conservatism at its ugliest. <BR/><BR/>And to think Objectivists are lumped under the same "conservative big tent" as these people.<BR/><BR/>John Kim<BR/><BR/>** Its fascinating how these conservatives use a scientist like Lynn and scientific methodology to argue that science proves the inferiority of blacks but they will condemn Darwin and evolutionary science which shows the evolution of species over time (that would interfere with their creator). Of course they have a bunch of Sophistic "arguments" to defend this but it is pure hypocrisy nonetheless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-55838365700007103092007-11-12T12:10:00.000-06:002007-11-12T12:10:00.000-06:00Well, they'd have to give up Robin Hood as a moral...Well, they'd have to give up Robin Hood as a moral ideal to be fully able to do that, but Chavez's little disaster will destroy the pretense that he's stealing from "the rich" -- at least until some clever altruist cooks up a way to blame it on America anyway.<BR/><BR/>I have a visceral hatred for Chavez, but his inevitable collapse, however fun to watch, really just represents an *opportunity* to make the case against altruism-collectivism. So smile when he falls, but go on the offensive, too.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-75777117688465766002007-11-12T11:47:00.000-06:002007-11-12T11:47:00.000-06:00Of course, I don't would prefer a world in which p...Of course, I don't would prefer a world in which people don't suffer, but I have a particular hatred for that git Chavez and I am dancing a little gig over Venezuela's failing economy. We all knew it wouldn't last long and I am happy to see them getting what they deserve.<BR/><BR/>Now if only people in the US would wake up and realize that all that discount heating oil from Venezuela is discounted because it's stolen. Maybe they wouldn't think so highly of Chavez as a philanthropist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-16631176621311232192007-11-12T10:47:00.000-06:002007-11-12T10:47:00.000-06:00That is an excellent point, and perhaps its best e...That is an excellent point, and perhaps its best example is the common assertion in the past that communism was a "scientific" system.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-47372069471663074162007-11-12T10:41:00.000-06:002007-11-12T10:41:00.000-06:00Such paranoia also illustrates one other thing the...Such paranoia also illustrates one other thing the left has abandoned -- the mantle of scientific inquiry. Science means you follow the facts wherever they lead. The left has now decisively rejected this. They like research that supports their political agenda (e.g. stem cell funding) while blocking and objecting to research that threatens to upset that agenda.<BR/><BR/>The obvious conclusion to draw is that the left only pretends to value science when it serves their politics. This point is worth emphasizing whenever the left tries to pose as the defender of science in the face of religious assault.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com