Friday, 29 January 2016
Monday, 25 January 2016
#LibertarianismSoWhite
Why are the majority of Libertarians white men? Is it a conspiracy? Actually, there are socio-biological reasons and, if you will give me a moment, it is necessary to flesh them out.
Co-author of The 10,000 Year Explosion, Gregory Cochran, has commented on the latest data suggesting that Europeans are the 'fusion' of three peoples—blue-eyed, dark-skinned Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, Anatolian farmers, and Indo-Europeans from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe (Southern Russia, basically). He notes that, in Northern Europe, the Indo-Europeans eradicated the Anatolian farmers. In the South, they simply imposed their language and swung their weight about but, nevertheless, their nomadic movement (having been the first to domesticate and purpose-breed horses) allowed for those increasingly intelligent peasant farmers, who were tied to the land, to create trade routes. The mixture of these two peoples formed more K-selective, highly intellectual Greek communities with that new x-factor of individual audacity and the libertarian spirit of the Indo-Europeans (especially in the Ionians).
It would of course be some time for the nomadic, utterly Indo-European northerners to settle into more bourgeois lifestyles which would eventually create the most peaceful, powerful and prosperous societies, particularly the Dutch/Anglospheric groups who have inevitably come to dominate innovation in the vast majority of human endeavours (see
The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce by Deirdre McCloskey). They would possess all that was great about the ancient, mediterranean West but more so - the full-blooded Faustian spirit of the Indo-Europeans and ever-increasing IQ's necessitated by bourgeois K-strategizing, optimized by even harsher winters. The absence of enough of these socio-biological traits is arguably the reason the Romans did not achieve the Industrial Revolution; possessing them in greater abundance, however, led to societies with high average IQ's, just under East Asians, but with a significantly higher level of testosterone, increasing creativity and tenacity, and creating cultures which socialize towards individualism and competition, particularly against the imposition of authority. Having a higher percentage of people with these self-asserting and self-affirming traits is what caused the West to recurringly fight against authorities and their centralization. Indeed, there are too many revolutions, competing bodies and movements to limit the inevitable expansions of the Leviathan State to mention. The self-empowering ideals of Classical Liberalism only sprouted in the West and thus many white, male Libertarians take this unique socio-biological habitat in which it exists very seriously.
This is perhaps the ultimate reason that many Libertarians do not favour open borders; they think it would be better for the cause of liberty to oppose waves of mass immigration by peoples who have different evolutionary and cultural backgrounds, that is, social environments not favouring the natural development of Classical Liberalism, let alone Libertarianism. Especially when Europe has received unprecedented numbers of peoples from Conservative Muslim areas. That politico-religious ideology is necessarily opposed to Liberal Islam's favouring of western, liberal political values, regarding Islam as a moderating cultural technology (e.g. the Golden Rule promotes reciprocity).
But discussion of the Libertarian debate on immigration shall be for another time. For now, there is no debate as to why Libertarians are mostly white and almost entirely in European-origin countries, and there is absolutely no way that the Oscars are racist. Neither am I, in case you were thinking of asking...
Co-author of The 10,000 Year Explosion, Gregory Cochran, has commented on the latest data suggesting that Europeans are the 'fusion' of three peoples—blue-eyed, dark-skinned Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, Anatolian farmers, and Indo-Europeans from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe (Southern Russia, basically). He notes that, in Northern Europe, the Indo-Europeans eradicated the Anatolian farmers. In the South, they simply imposed their language and swung their weight about but, nevertheless, their nomadic movement (having been the first to domesticate and purpose-breed horses) allowed for those increasingly intelligent peasant farmers, who were tied to the land, to create trade routes. The mixture of these two peoples formed more K-selective, highly intellectual Greek communities with that new x-factor of individual audacity and the libertarian spirit of the Indo-Europeans (especially in the Ionians).
It would of course be some time for the nomadic, utterly Indo-European northerners to settle into more bourgeois lifestyles which would eventually create the most peaceful, powerful and prosperous societies, particularly the Dutch/Anglospheric groups who have inevitably come to dominate innovation in the vast majority of human endeavours (see
The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce by Deirdre McCloskey). They would possess all that was great about the ancient, mediterranean West but more so - the full-blooded Faustian spirit of the Indo-Europeans and ever-increasing IQ's necessitated by bourgeois K-strategizing, optimized by even harsher winters. The absence of enough of these socio-biological traits is arguably the reason the Romans did not achieve the Industrial Revolution; possessing them in greater abundance, however, led to societies with high average IQ's, just under East Asians, but with a significantly higher level of testosterone, increasing creativity and tenacity, and creating cultures which socialize towards individualism and competition, particularly against the imposition of authority. Having a higher percentage of people with these self-asserting and self-affirming traits is what caused the West to recurringly fight against authorities and their centralization. Indeed, there are too many revolutions, competing bodies and movements to limit the inevitable expansions of the Leviathan State to mention. The self-empowering ideals of Classical Liberalism only sprouted in the West and thus many white, male Libertarians take this unique socio-biological habitat in which it exists very seriously.
This is perhaps the ultimate reason that many Libertarians do not favour open borders; they think it would be better for the cause of liberty to oppose waves of mass immigration by peoples who have different evolutionary and cultural backgrounds, that is, social environments not favouring the natural development of Classical Liberalism, let alone Libertarianism. Especially when Europe has received unprecedented numbers of peoples from Conservative Muslim areas. That politico-religious ideology is necessarily opposed to Liberal Islam's favouring of western, liberal political values, regarding Islam as a moderating cultural technology (e.g. the Golden Rule promotes reciprocity).
But discussion of the Libertarian debate on immigration shall be for another time. For now, there is no debate as to why Libertarians are mostly white and almost entirely in European-origin countries, and there is absolutely no way that the Oscars are racist. Neither am I, in case you were thinking of asking...
Monday, 18 January 2016
What I Love/Hate About the Left and the Right
The political spectrum is not like the autistic spectrum, we are not all on it. As an Austro-Libertarian (or Anarcho-Capitalist), it is apparent that we are stood apart from the tumultuous scales, eyes ticking and tocking about like a tennis audience. The scales represent little more than aggression; the red vs blue is merely the equilibrium reached between those interest groups able to wield money and influence. Naturally, there are some Libertarians who think we need to jump on one side of the scales or other, hoping this might throw off a few poor, lost souls. I cannot judge them (where their intentions are pure) but I prefer to shout for attention from the sidelines - 'Those with ears to hear...'
So, what exactly do I have to shout about? Certainly, the Left and the Right each have some good values to fight about; yet, the Left is philosophically unsound at its foundation and the Right, methodologically. Will either side give, even a little? Not to each other, if human history has anything to say, but perhaps some might listen to reason.
Here are my thoughts:
So, what exactly do I have to shout about? Certainly, the Left and the Right each have some good values to fight about; yet, the Left is philosophically unsound at its foundation and the Right, methodologically. Will either side give, even a little? Not to each other, if human history has anything to say, but perhaps some might listen to reason.
Here are my thoughts:
What I love/hate about Marxism
What I love/hate about Conservatism
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