From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Aug 14 2002 - 08:02:36 MDT
From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>
>>Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
>> I, too, am amazed that people who strongly argue anarchist,
>> libertarian, and individual causes are so willing to chuck them
>> out the window. I can only assume that they never really
>> believed or understood these concepts in the first place.
>Humans often compartmentalize their thinking, using one set of
>rules in one context and another one in another. And heightened
>emotional arousal tends to make people react using the oldest rule
>set. So if these "fair weather libertarians" started out by being
>taught that the only power that can do foreign policy and protect
>the citizens is the government which also always does it right. So
>when under pressure this underlying assumption reappears,
>regardless of the inconsistency with other libertarian beliefs in
>other contexts. Add to this the nationalist association between
>oneself and one's nation (and their values). Any criticism of the
>activities of the government is easily mixed up with criticism of
>the nation which in turn is viewed as an attack on oneself and
>one's highest values.
>Enough psychoanalysis for today.
Besides being inaccurate this is just plain rude.
>This thread is unfortunately degenerating into the usual flamewar.
>I really wish we had a email header tag "Amygdala: off" making the
>reader turn off his or her amygdala during reading and responding
>to the thread.
It needn't have, if people could have stuck to facts and addressing
the issues.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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