[9-5-13: links corrected]
2012-1-19: #118 Get Out of My Way; I'm Trying to Learn (1 of 2)
Brett's experiences with a self taught student. He focuses on the antipathy between authoritarian practices and natural interest in educational settings. Then he gets into a wide ranging discussion of schooling and education (not the same).
Homework:
Kirsten Olson- Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture
2012-1-21: #119 Get Out of My Way; I'm Trying to Learn (2 of 2)
Brett continues the discussion from the previous episode.
2012-1-27: #120 Live Show #1, Hour 1 - The Constitution of No Authority
Gardner Goldsmith of Liberty Conspiracy podcasts joins Brett for this episode. Discussions of the TSA, Rand Paul and some more frank talk about Lysander Spooner on the Constitution, etc.
2012-1-28: #121 (Supplemental): Brett On Anarchast With Jeff Berwick
Jeff Berwick of anarchast.com interviews Brett where he really gets down to principles and how they relate to education, society, politics, etc.
2012-2-3: #122 Gaming and Liberty
Brett's guest is Sydney Roc, the host of Gaming and Liberty Podcast.
2012-2-19: #125 How To Spot A NARC
Brett takes his cue from an NPR This American Life show. Brett focuses on how kids (young adults who can pass for high school kids) are converted into snitches for the police, as well as recruitment efforts for the burgeoning fields associated with law enforcement; America has the largest prison population in the developed world and “criminal justice” and “prison management” are being turned into for profit businesses. Brett's comments about what “open communities” can expect from “weirds” or other antisocial troublemakers are certainly germane to the subjects of this blog.
2012-2-25: #126 Logical Fallacies Series Preview - Two Minutes With Mitt Romney
This is devastating to the Establishment: 20 logical fallacies in just 2 minutes!? From January 16th, 2012, in the South Carolina debate, would Romney have signed the NDAA as written? He replied yes. The crowd booed him. The rest is truly amazing. This is certainly key information; if you listen to none of these podcasts or few of them, this one is worth a listen. A difference between a Republican and a Democrat? Certainly not, all politicians engage in these fallacies. Brett just chose this small 2 minute segment. Notice that the issues would certainly work just fine for President Obama as well, since after all he signed the NDAA.
No wonder E. C. Riegel felt the way he did about politics, politicians and political action. We'll see in this short segment equivocations, appeals to emotions, to patriotism, straw-men, reductions of one's opponent's point of view, fallacies of omition, of composition, appeals to FORCE, etc.; in plain English, anything but the truth, or even any genuine respect for it.
One key issue that strikes us as relevant is that groups of people do NOT have any natural rights, which means that there are absolutely no guarantees of survival for any human institution. That's proven by history so let's get our heads accustomed to this new way of thinking quickly, it will solve many problems down the road. Only individuals have any natural rights and these are certainly not granted by any governments or anyone else as some kinds of favours, they belong to each individual as inherent in being an individual; life, liberty and property, and the right to issue one's own money if one has none is an inalienable right of every human being as an extension to the right to property, and that right does not derive from any government, organization, society or group regardless of pretensions to authority! These as we say have and will come and go.
We mention this because one of the most commonly used fallacies is argument from authority, which can easily be shown to be arbitrary and not based on any certifiable or consistent moral standard except that being the usual; to benefit themselves and their friends at the expense of everyone else, the naked use of power which is FORCE and the worst of all is when they have a monopoly on the use of FORCE. Those are the plain facts, sustained by a candid study of history.
(An example of groups NOT having rights are those who produce and presume to foist unwanted malware on your computer. Your personal computer is an extension of yourself as your personal property, every bit as much as your clothes, shoes, home, car, etc. Somewhere, often in foreign countries; but your own country can't be ruled out, there are people working in some commercial ventures to contrive unethical means of flashing ads across webpages, while you are busy doing something else, something you have chosen to do, or need to do, whatever that is. Clearly, malware is a variety of spam. How it is that anyone would actually buy anything presented to them this way is a mystery. If anything, any truly autonomous minded person would deliberately shun anything advertised in this pushy and obtrusive manner. The plain facts are that malware is trespassing and those engaged in it have no rights whatever. In fact most people wouldn't mind seeing those responsible brought to serious justice, be that vigilante justice -which is after all the basic variety, or any of the more usual kinds. Can we ever expect any government to care enough about malware trespassing to put an end to it? If they were a real protection racket, which they claim to be but obviously aren't very good at it, then they certainly would. You really want to hold your breath?)
We're also noticing how Brett's journey is beginning to coincide with Richard Grove's and the others we've introduced to this forum.
2012-3-6: #127 The Ultimate History Lesson
Then of course, we get to Richard Grove and John Taylor Gatto. The goal is autonomy; the ability to stand as oneself outside the rest of reality so as to be able to see it clearly for oneself. Anarchy and chaos are NOT synonyms. Brett's guest is of course Richard Grove. They have now clearly crossed paths. Peace Revolution Podcasts #41 thru #45 contain the entire interview with Gatto and are linked on this blog through #13.5 .
Homework:
James Billington- Fire in the Minds of Men
George Orwell- Animal Farm
Ray Bradbury- Fahrenheit 451
2012-3-6: #128 Live Show #4, Hour 2 - Primary Sources
Brett news, then Brett and Gardner Goldsmith 2nd hour of a previous radio show. A run down of the subjects, including exactly what I predicted would happen over 20 years ago; the eventual technological convergence of computing, education and entertainment / news; alternatives to college, alternative pathways to pursuits of competency in skills, etc. Primary sources include the original intentions of most of the social sciences developed during the 19th century; John Dewey as prominent in the formation of public education, is used as an example.
2012-3-14: #129 Logical Fallacies Series Preview #2 - A Brief Analysis of KONY 2012
This is a longer than usual episode: perhaps Brett has been learning from Richard Grove. It's really important to get a firm grasp of this material as it's a key piece of the Trivium (Brett is really getting into it now); the middle part, logic. When it is possible to pair away all the logical fallacies and reveal the actual substance (if any) of any argument, one is better prepared to proceed to rhetoric on a topic, issue or subject, whatever it is, all as an essential part of the learning process. Brett uses “very very” a little too much near the beginning, but otherwise material is well presented.
Focus, a movie advocating the overthrow of Joseph Kony of Uganda. Considered a human rights violator, criminal overlord, etc. Kony and his LRA are held guilty of many atrocities. Then there are troops sent there, President Obama sends them forth. But this is all scripted to allow people to feel that they are doing something that matters by supporting government intervention into this problem. Brett speaks some embarrassing facts into the record.
Our interest is just how closely this point of view squares with E. C. Riegel's; avoid asking the government for help, avid politics for a solution, and that includes the state courts; “come out of her, my people”. You have to band together on a completely voluntary basis, exercising your right to trade with each other based on your right to life, liberty and property. Again, no group of people really deserves this right as the sooner a group gets formed, there must be rules to determine how they will deal with each other; the common compact. Ultimate liberty rests with individuals dealing with individuals and is one of the genuine bases for friendship! (How much has THAT among other “goods” been shoved to the side by THEIR commercialism?)
Our interest in these subjects also bears on some fundamental level with mutually accepted understandings during every deal, this is the right of contract and includes the right to EXPLICIT consent, not the usual forms of IMPLICIT consent, government agency entrapment, etc. usually against our will and our rights, and occasionally against our very safety. We'll discuss much of this further in a forthcoming paper on markets. Meanwhile this is an important and informative episode.
2012-3-20: #130 Logic Saves Lives (Introduction) - Empowerment and Self-Defence
Brett gets into the Trivium; logical fallacies are part of the logic part of the thinking process; grammar, logic and rhetoric, in that order. We are used to logic being associated with consistency, therefore one of the logical processes is discovery and discarding of inconsistencies, as part of critical thinking. Everyone does these kinds of things naturally, but as we advance in years and are put through the schools, this ability is gradually stripped away as resistance is worn down, etc. So that we will willingly accept the yoke of collectivism in all its forms. Advertising and political interests are chief actors in this game for your mind, so that you will gradually and willingly outsource your thinking to people who have not even bothered to honestly win your confidence first. Deception and lures to this or that selfish fantasy (think and act just like them, come on join the fun, etc.) are of course part of the deal; being “cool” or “hot” included. Having a clear grasp of logical fallacies is presented as a defence system for your mind, but it can also become part of your own uniquely applied problem solving mechanism.
INTERMISSION
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