Lately, I haven’t been able to get through reading anti-capitalist articles without laughing either within or out loud. It’s like reading comic relief because of the abundance of logical fallacies, strange and absurd definitions for capitalism, hateful and envious assertions, and arguments that effectively get destroyed by their authors in the conclusions. Anyone else experience this?
No, it just makes me angry to the point where I try to avoid it. The thing that makes even angrier is when someone represents himself as a defender of capitalism and spews nonsense. These people are the ones who do more damage to the cause of capitalism than any lefty could ever do.
Sometimes it does.
Haven’t read enough tbh. And when I do, I tend to go into critique mode if it’s primary sourced.
Reading already done critiques, i.e Mises Socialism (on the self), or Alexanders Tradition one, I’m sure I will find them hilarious.
Having your first reaction be laughter, is a good place to be I think. I’m sure there is nothing more that pisses off a socialist, than laughing in their face at their proposals. [:)]
I laugh and go blank at the ignorance bestowed upon me.
I recently was conversing with a communist who stated: “I was fascist before I was a communist”. On the subject of economics, when he came to the conclusion I was libertarian, he decided to put forth some “libertarian” economist and named Rand and Friedman. I said the Austrian’s have successfully debunked Keynesian and Marxist theories, and he concluded the same about them (that they debunked the Austrians…didn’t I just say the Austrians debunked them!?). After that he began to claim that since a theory is a theory it’s not factual (to debunk any theories I would put forth on economics, he went ahead and debunked the theory of a theory, and stated that it’s not factual, because it’s a theory, and irrelevant.)
It makes me cry tbh to see people so dumb as to question the supremacy of capitalism over all other systems.[:(]How can people be so stupid? Then I realize that most of us are not like that. It is only elitist college professors who believe such things. They haven’t seen how capitalism really works. Such elitism makes me wanna puke.
I signed up for the communist club at school. The school is getting rid of a hiring policy that prefers non-whites over whites. The communist club here is in protest, calling the removal of a discriminatory policy as discriminatory. (I know it’s not really related to capitalism, but it made me laugh)
You’re kidding right? LMAO [|-)]
Not any more. When you realize that the vast majority actually think this way, it becomes depressing. You try to explain the market system, but their soft heads and shallow logic simply can’t compute simple arguments (why the profit motive actually destroys cartel agreements, for example).
When I read anticapitalist material I laugh.
When I see physical people actually regurgitate such crap, I become infuriated. Less so when I see them on television, but when its someone I see face-to-face I can sometimes enter a blind rage.
Tbh, when ever I read anything you right, I laugh. Your sarcasm amuses me.
Agreed, the lack of the most basic logical skills are depressingly absent among many people. For example, I once cornered my coworker into a position where she said that government was morally justified because the majority of people want government. I told her that if she had lived 200 years ago, she must have favored slavery since it was also supported by a majority.
Her response: “uhhh…what are you talking about? What does slavery 200 years ago have to do with government? You’re comparing 2 totally different things, that doesn’t make any sense at all”
Then, she and another co worker started laughing at me for comparing two things which didn’t make any sense. Talk about missing the point.
This. I used to laugh, but my laughter has since left me. All I can manage to do now is shake my head in dismay, or perhaps the occasional facepalm.
I was just in a debate with a collectivist, attempting to illustrate to him the irony of statist collectivism; the natural occurrence of greed in humans, and how it is neither inherently good nor evil; how capitalism not only acknowledges and recognizes this greed, but manages it in such a way as to be as efficient and productive to society as possible… It was a long, painful debate. He then eventually went on to contend that morality does not exist, at which point I responded by asserting that he may have a clinical psychosis. What a waste of time.
I try to be understanding and open-minded to leftist or statist arguments, but the lunacy they consistently regurgitate is nauseating.
Wow. I don’t know what to say.
Nope, I have plenty of sympathy and understanding in seeing why people feel a certain way about something or the other.
It’s just that it’s human to think there is some centrally enforceably solution to the disparate problems of society and they can be legislated away.
I don’t think it needs to be laughed at, but simply to be slowly observed so as to understand why people feel a certain way about something. And then when you understand those reasons, you let go, and not think any more about it, because it is not in your hands.
The only thing we do here at mises.org is to educate those people willing to listen, and slowly build a strong base among the cream of the lot.
I am grateful to you people for making me understand the fallacy of intellectual property rights and making me see that it’s an encouragement of monopolies. I myself need to be educated on these things just as much as any of those people who don’t believe in capitalism need to be, except I am the one who is listening, so your efforts are better concentrated on ardent students like me. 
Nope.
It depends what you mean by “anti-capitalist material”, that term can mean anything from Krugman’s op-eds to the philosophy of G.A. Cohen. Now, I’ll admit I’ve not read the latter but I don’t think it’s a laughing matter and any serious libertarian philosopher should be inclined to agree. Of course, if you’re reading the work of some journalist who is aiming at a specific audience then yes, some of their rhetoric can be laughable, but libertarians too are guilty of silly rhetoric.
Seriously, discussion can be so much more productive if you afford those who disagree with you the slightest bit of respect by not assuming that they’re stupid or morally corrupt.
Actually, I had in mind articles and papers written by college professor, op-ed writers, college students, and so forth. I didn’t really have in mind manifestos or any deep philosophical works or the like.
Yes. But that’s not that I find their work laughable, instead I find myself laughing for the reasons I mentioned before.
I suppose.
I suppose. However, I’m not sure who’s not affording them the slightest bit of respect by assuming that they are stupid or morally corrupt.
Yep, I read stuff like that all the time!
It’s sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but in my opinion sad-funny things are the funniest kind of funny things.
Lately I’ve been reading lefty cartoons; http://www.leftycartoons.com/
they’re so bad it’s good!
I actually think it’s beneficial for libertarians to read stuff from their critics, it means we understand their position and can destory any misconceptions they have about us straight away ^o^.
This.