We try to be classy over here at UNR SFL, but sometimes you’re just dealing with issues too weird to put politely. So for those of you with weak constitutions, perhaps this post isn’t for you. For the rest of us though, let us dive into those regions where, though the sun may not shine, the government always seems to have an interest.
The Crap Stuff
Is there any reason we would want to protect the rights of coprophagists?
This work of art is called ‘Declared Void’ by Carey Young (2005). It’s just a a drawn line and some text but it says infinitely more with all the surrounding implications for liberty.
I for one would love to see ‘declared voids’ become the norm. Whole swaths cleared of America by the voluntary actions of consenting adults. Isn’t that a concept? Agreeing to the rules of a game before you play it and no longer playing it if you no longer agree to? Wouldn’t it just be nice to give real liberty a chance?
In George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm, animals revolt against humans to establish a better society for themselves. They do so with fierce passion and optimism for what they believe in and seek to create a wonderful animal utopia. As such they develop a series of Seven Commandments:
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
In order to make their philosophy more digestible to the masses they develop the simple phrase “Four legs good, two legs bad” to embody that animals represent what is good about nature and that people (and all their habits) represent that which is bad.
The reason I bring this up is not just because I needed to get from toes to the much more interesting lower torso bits, but to emphasize how easily the rhetoric of political debate can become so simple and un-nuanced. Saying people are “pro-choice” or “pro-life,” for instance, says absolutely nothing about their position for or against abortion. Similarly, once you find out someone’s label (whether it be Democrat, Republican, liberal, libertarian, conservative, Marxist, Socialist, anarchist) you tend to pigeon hole and start to apply filters to their views, opinions, and arguments. The language of politics becomes a barrier over which political philosophy must overcome.
And hence, the Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad mentality has everything to do with the views we’ll discuss on the sanctity of human life. We must realize that this conversation will be faceted and nuanced and full of subtlety. If we simple dismiss the opinions of those who are Democrats or anarchists or Whatevers we limit the conversation and thus our own knowledge. What matters in debate is that we all arrive at the truth, not that we learn that truth from any particular labeled person.
Two legs, four legs, it ultimately doesn’t matter, so long as we all walk down that path toward truth together.
Since we’re going to be addressing so many topics in the up-coming meeting (on life, the body, and the State) I thought I would provide us a little structure by giving examples of how society, culture, and government affect the sanctity of human life and morph the human form. We’ll start at the toes and work our way up to the head showcasing examples of where ‘self’ and ‘others’ come smashing together.
This first example is the infamous foot binding of China. Chinese women, at a very early age, have their feet bound (quite painfully) for cultural and symbolic reasons. The only question you should ask yourself while watching this video is: Should this be legally permissible to do this to a child?
I am absolutely enraptured by the beautiful, straightforward, and powerful way the former Prime Minister of England is able to defend classical liberalism. In these series of clips you can see her topple smug socialists, destroy the fallacy of self-sufficient governments, and rally for the globalization of free trade. How anyone could be opposed to free markets, free trade, and free societies after hearing such clear arguments is utterly beyond me.
Our next meeting, The Sanctity of Human Life, is going to be great. Might as well get the debate started with this short clip from Stossel exploring the issue of legal prostitution:
One of the last refuges for the necessity of government is the necessity of roads. Usually to explain why such an opinion is flawed takes a narrowed and exact argument which is generally not possible in the rough and tumble world of debates with real people. However, if you’ve got a spare thirty minutes lying around here’s an excellent example of a proposal to privatize roadways by Walter Block.
The best thing about Block’s arguing style is that he always starts from first principles and mercilessly applies logic to the situation until he arrives at the conclusion. The weight of evidence and reason should compel any unbiased observer to his position more often than not.
