Re: Our Responsibility to Those in Need

From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sun Jul 29 2001 - 10:59:53 MDT


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Olga Bourlin wrote:
>
> Mike:
> > Olinka's Law?
>
> That's my pet Russian name. Hehehe ...
>
> > I, and many others think the second option is pluperfectly wonderful. We
> > don't automatically distrust other individuals (or themselves) who are
> > not shielded by the mantle of the state from responsibility for their
> > actions. Collateral damage only exists for those who insist on
> > parasitizing on others without permission.
>
> Oh, dear, I was afraid you'd say something like that. Even Ayn Rand was
> afraid of anarchism because, she said (words to this effect) "I can't trust
> other people the way I trust myself." Parasitizing, ouch!

Ayn, as you might recall, was Russian as well, and escaped during the
Russian Revolution. I don't know exactly why, but it seems to me that
the classic Russian paranoia and xenophobia, which I think originated in
the mongol oppression, is a significant problem for a person to overcome
for them to properly assimilate into the high trust anglosphere society.

Of course, I don't think that Ayn was the be all and end all of
libertarian thought. I think that she's a bit pedantic and demonstrates
a classically Russian demagogery in her prosecution of Objectivist
thought.



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