Rothbard I am dissapoint

[Libertyandlife]

Gotta say for a Jewish anarchist this is absurd:

http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2010/07/murray-rothbard-lew-rockwell-and.html

[Praetyre]

Ron Paul is racist

Even assuming every word of that hit-piece is true, what does it have to do with the Holocaust? Anyway, let’s take this apart; Bell Curve: I think the suppression of scientific knowledge and politically motivated censorship (such as the hoo-haa over James Watson’s mere mention of African IQ, even though it’s entirely possible the cause of such a difference is down to diet and nutrition) should be a subject of concern for classical liberals and libertarians. The counter-egalitarian point is just…

[DanielMuffinburg]

An explanation of why it is absurd would benefit this thread.

[Merlin]

Libertarians are incapable of being a racist, because racism is a collectivist idea.

Did Ron Paul actually say that? It’s very short-sighted as an idea. Racism is a ‘collectivist’ idea just as much as statistics is a ‘collectivist’ discipline.

[nirgrahamUK]

He’s right though. Someone that hates all of an ethnic group is not considering the merits of the individual’s that compose those groups

[Merlin]

@nirgrahamUK

He’s right though. Someone that hates all of an ethnic group is not considering the merits of the individual’s that compose those groups

I’m sure that many (most?) racists would think along those lines, but I do not think that racism has evolved to that purpose. What racism is designed (has emerged) to do is to say: “Look, a sizable minority of Ruthenians are cheats, while most are good people. You cannot tell the cheating Ruthenians form the rest at first sight. So, the frequency of cheating Ruthenias and the damage they can do is such that it if you just avoid all transactions with Ruthenians you’ll gain more than you’ll loose. So, avoid Ruthenians!”

This has nothing to do with expressing a judgment of all Ruthenians, but of finding a useful proxy (which works even if many people do not realize that). I see nothing collectivist in here, just good evolved old common sense.

[Autolykos]

@Merlin

I’m sure that many (most?) racists would think along those lines, but I do not think that racism has evolved to that purpose. What racism is designed (has emerged) to do is to say: “Look, a sizable minority of Ruthenians are cheats, while most are good people. You cannot tell the cheating Ruthenians form the rest at first sight. So, the frequency of cheating Ruthenias and the damage they can do is such that it if you just avoid all transactions with Ruthenians you’ll gain more than you’ll loose. So, avoid Ruthenians!”

This has nothing to do with expressing a judgment of all Ruthenians, but of finding a useful proxy (which works even if many people do not realize that). I see nothing collectivist in here, just good evolved old common sense.

Then again, if a sizable minority of Ruthenians are cheats, then one has a better-than-even chance of running into a good Ruthenian. So it doesn’t follow that one should then avoid all Ruthenians, as one won’t be cheated by them on average.

Furthermore, even this illogical attitude is not what I’d call “racism”. What I call “racism” is just a form of groupthink, where the groups under consideration are delineated by physical attributes that are purported to be “racial”.

[Chyd3nius]

When Rothbard was young, he tried to make an alliance with Anti-War Left, but it failed. When he was old, he tried to make an alliance with Anti-War Right. He died before it failed, but Rockwell was with him in trying to make that alliance, and he stopped it when it failed.

[Merlin]

@Autolykos

Then again, if a sizable minority of Ruthenians are cheats, then one has a better-than-even chance of running into a good Ruthenian. So it doesn’t follow that one should then avoid all Ruthenians, as one won’t be cheated by them on average.

Sure, but that is not the whole story, for the few bad Ruthenians will cost you more than the many good ones. Its just the same principle that leads to city drivers being charged more than country drivers on their insurance. Most drivers (city or country) won’t have an accident, but the few city accidents are costlier and more frequent than country ones, thus if you charge every city friver more you gain moe than you loose.

@Autolykos

Furthermore, even this illogical attitude is not what I’d call “racism”. What I call “racism” is just a form of groupthink, where the groups under consideration are delineated by physical attributes that are purported to be “racial”.

So, wheren’t the Nazis racists, since they could not tell the jews apart from any physical sign, but had to relly on church statistics?

Racisms, as I see it, is just applying certain characteristics to a large group and treating each and every single member as having that characteristic. Its augmenting one’s personal knowledge of the guy by ‘statistical’ tests of others in the group we assign him.