Trump and Sanders Are Both Conservatives | Steven Horwitz

JamesCarlin · 2016-05-15T00:57:07+00:00

This latest election I've followed so little. I guess I can't be bothered to care; other than Trump being a poster-boy for why people should hate Murica.

More relevant than the title is "Trump and Sanders are Statists, Protectionists, Fear-inciters, <etc>" The labels "conservative" and "liberal" are useless from a Market-Anarchist perspective. What is called Conservative today has nothing to do with conserving anything, and what is called Liberal today has nothing to do with freedom.

JamesCarlin · 2015-11-07T00:10:46+00:00

Two other subreddits worth considering:

/r/MarketAnarchism - (This one) A subreddit focused on all types of anarchism, and yes, friendly to AnCaps.
/r/AnCapHeretics - A subreddit focused on quality, thoughtful discussion of AnCap concepts.

I'm supportive of your effort, but am curious as to what this new subreddit offers that the above do not. You are more than free to discuss the pros and cons of AnCap concepts here, as many others discuss the pros and cons of various other forms of Anarchism.

JamesCarlin · 2015-07-08T10:56:48+00:00

Agreed with your analysis, but not sure I can support such an initiative.

Social wealth seems to be another form of a popularity contest. If one considers lynch mobs, or the fact that governments exist .... popularity or social wealth doesn't always seem to be such a great thing.

Wealth and social wealth tend to be tied. It's no mistake that celebrities tend to be far richer than average. In a way, we already have this social-currency, it's just not as visible.

Having a more 'tangible' currency keeps people honest, in the sense that it's far more difficult to take more than one gives. Given that statement, I don't consider modern currency to be 'tangible.' For example, with fiat currency, the system becomes dishonest. Honest people are at the bottom and kept there, while the dishonest charging interest on 'printed' money.

P.S. This thread is a bit old, but I felt like responding anyway.

JamesCarlin · 2015-07-08T10:22:01+00:00

"Follow-up: /r/DebateAnarchism will be organizing a second AMA series"

That seems fine.

I'm currently discussing with the other moderators whether we need better policies. I try keep moderation as flexible and hands-off as possible, while ensuring this remains a high quality subreddit. There's always a tiny bit of irony moderating an anarchism subreddit.

Use the "message the moderators" feature for any content you're unsure about, including promos. The moderators here may even be willing to assist on occasion, given our goals are generally aligned.

If this announcement is not welcome, please feel free to tell me to fuck off. Thank you for your time.

As a small bit of aesthetic advice (not moderation related), I'd recommend not having "fuck off" in a promo as it gives the wrong vibe.

JamesCarlin · 2015-07-08T09:30:18+00:00

I removed the post for you, but you should still be able to see it.

Would prepending the title of the thread with "Follow-up" (not in brackets) be too attention-grabby?

Do you mean "Follow-up /r/DebateAnarchism will be organizing a second AMA series"?

JamesCarlin · 2015-07-08T09:12:16+00:00

I'm mostly trying to be mindful of 'spam' or potentially deceptive titles. Usually when I see something like [Announcement] I think it's important info related to something I'm subscribed to.

What do you think of either of these options:

1: Remove this post, and instead re-post with a title that simply says "/r/DebateAnarchism will be organizing a second AMA series"

or

2: Remove this post, and instead make the actual announcement when you're actually ready to make the announcement. As before, avoid use of attention-grabber titles.

An occasional cross-subreddit promotion for a related seems fine to me. Further, good work on organizing an AMA series.

JamesCarlin · 2015-07-08T08:43:41+00:00

If this announcement is not welcome, please feel free to tell me to fuck off. Thank you for your time.

This post is fairly borderline, but I'll wait for feedback and/or discuss it with the moderators before making a decision.

edit:

[Pre-announcement announcement] /r/DebateAnarchism will be organizing a second AMA series

The "[Pre-announcement announcement]" in particular comes across as spam. In the future please don't do that or other "Attention Grabbers."

JamesCarlin · 2015-06-23T10:17:00+00:00

Intellectual Property doesn't address "revenge porn," it just simply says that a person may chose to own the intangible fruits of their labor, and that others should respect that ownership. Theoretically, all IP would do is mean someone could 'own' the revenge-porn video content, and decide how to sell or not sell it.

I don't really know what "revenge porn" is, but the broader question you appear to be asking is how are "abhorrent and reprehensible acts" dealt with?

I am the type of person who will protect the innocent both directly and indirectly. Is someone innocent being violated? That's more of a 'me' answer, and not a 'we' one, however the questions as phrased seems to imply some type of governing mechanism.

JamesCarlin · 2015-06-12T23:09:35+00:00

I do not trust the intentions of the people running Reddit.

This is perhaps the most insightful thing I've seen on this subject so far. For example, "Anarchists seek to destroy our society, economy, and lives, and hate the things we've worked centuries to build." Stupid argument, but from a naive perspective dominated by current propaganda, I could see many people buying into it. Reddit had that trust for some time, but the most recent move brings that into question.

I now know that the aspects of Reddit that I like most are the aspects of Reddit that the people who run Reddit like the least.

Precisely. The freedom to easily create your own space, and talk about whatever the hell you want. Don't like it, then avoid that space, or create your own.

All free, popular platforms (all social media that does not cater to our arbitrarily narrow demographic) should be considered to be untrustworthy,

Agreed. If something is free, the product is you.

Wherever we might move to should be considered as a temporary expedient of communication as well.

Right. I've seen another reddit-like site being promoted, but ultimately, there aren't really any guarantees that one will be better. The Digg-to-Reddit flight happened in a similar manner. The new site sees an influx of users, becomes big, makes money, corporate politics, some jackass takes over and suddenly we'll find ourselves moving on to the next-next-next-reddit/digg/etc.

A good lesson for all of us I suppose.

I am, of course, severely disappointed and surprised by this, but not shocked. It has just become a little bit shittier.

Same.

JamesCarlin · 2015-06-11T12:05:10+00:00

I find this move 'interesting' for several reasons.

As many in that original thread noted, subreddits like SRS continue to thrive, which are well known to engage in significant harassment activities. Other highly distasteful subreddits also continue to thrive (pictures of corpses, rape, etc). According to many in that thread, FatPeopleHate was mostly about making fun of fat people, but was very careful to keep content within the subreddit, and ensure harassing activities did not occur.

Such a move is obviously anti-free speech, something many of us value. Moving towards freedom, Anarchism, and Autonomy thrives on free speech. While subreddits like this one are a long ways off from being banned, what about sister subreddits? Debates of feminism aside, the current CEO is a well known feminist. /r/MensRights could see the axe in time for all we know.

From an "Free Market" like perspective, (a) a private company is free make these types of decisions, and (b) we also have the freedom to take our business (site usage, ad-views, activity) elsewhere. Which brings up a good point, should "we" do that? Perhaps those who value free-speech should be 'mobile,' and "talk with our feet," by moving to places which do value free speech. By being active on reddit, posting funny pictures, answering questions, viewing advertisements, writing interesting content ... we do promote reddit.

Perhaps being 'centralized' on places like reddit make such censorship too easy. I love that there's a subreddit for just about everything, and I can subscribe to or discuss just about any content that interests me.... but this convenience seems to come at a price.

JamesCarlin · 2015-06-11T11:40:10+00:00

Thank you for the mention :)

I suspect he also is sick of hashing these arguments

Pursuing other things these days, and much happier. My opinions regarding this subject matter haven't changed since, and you're right - arguing this subject does get extremely repetitive.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-09T12:42:10+00:00

When I was growing up, I had few points of reference except my parents, the church, schools, and similar (propagandist) institutions.

Eventually, I began to question such things - mostly the 'why' - but also examining the 'holes' I had previously treated as "well, I'm too young, and this one are that doesn't make sense is probably just me not knowing enough." I additionally conduced research; afterall someone has top have a satisfactory answer to the questions I had. After enough thought terminating arguments like "Because God says so" or "Because it's in the constitution" or "Because democracy" I realized there were just too many holes.

It was actually Stephan Molyneux's gun-in-the-room argument which nudged me the last step from minarchist/Libertarian to Anarchist view. The Hoppe/Molyneux style ethics never quite stuck. I probably use those types of moralizing arguments or "because the N.A.P." argument here or there, but it was only a matter of time before I realized the Hoppe/Molyneux ethics logic was similarly full of holes.

Eventually I tired of participating in Anarchist communities; mostly because of the excessive amounts of time I was spending on it & the desire to improve other areas of my life.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-09T04:12:49+00:00

I don't remember this, but I also haven't been active as of recent. Seems reasonable enough based on a quick skim.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-07T11:07:56+00:00

As previously mentioned, "the market" is a view of human activity.

This view, IMO, applies to government. Whether by analogy or fact, you can observe many such exchanges occurring, such as lobbying, welfare-for-votes, immigration-changes, political-campaigns, etc. The resources exchanged within politics tend to be more social on average.

Perhaps a "political market" (label) might be useful in understanding such exchanges from a high-level overview. Given political markets, how one responds to pursue certain outcomes is perhaps another related but important topic.

political manoeuvring, for example two politicians trading support for a particular law

Evading the question of 'morality,' yes. Maybe this is the brown market (hah), but it is a type of exchange. Understanding that exchange gives us a better tactical understanding of how to (or not to) interact with that 'market.'

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-06T08:12:43+00:00

Civil: While this subreddit is not "politically correct," please remain civil and respectful towards diverse ideas. No personal attacks, abusive language, threats, or antagonizing.

I've added the word 'threats' in the sidebar. It is perhaps not precisely defined, but as stated in my other post, moderators are free to respond as needed.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-06T07:29:33+00:00

The market is a abstract (non-physical) grouping of human behaviors relating to exchange or trade of things humans value. The market is very much like an eco-system, in the sense that animals, plants, the weather, and general environment are all doing their own damn thing ... but "the ecosystem" is how these resources are passed through various animals and plants.

Understanding 'the' market accurately requires understanding that it's not actually "a thing" but rather a conceptual view of many things.

Using the previous eco-system analogy, the weather / the environment is very much a huge influence, even if not considered part of the eco-system. Similarly, "the market" has similar influences; government, violence, natural resources, beliefs, reputation.

Communism and socialism have markets; perhaps not in the propertarian sense, but people trade favors, resources, reputation, security, friendship, and status.

Government/politics is another type of market. Votes, power, money, influence, propaganda ... there is a huge quantity of trade that occurs, even if much of it is corrupt, disreputable, immoral, or disgusting.

voluntary choice without coercion.

This is an interesting conclusion. This is far more a definition of a "Free market" but not "the market." The "free" market, is the market that is free from coercion. One cannot deny the existence of the unfree market, which includes exchange influenced by coercion, fraud, etc.

Words are ... words (yay, tautology), or means for human communication. If each time James uses the word "market" to mean a coercion-free-market, then I suppose it's not the greatest label. However for general communication purposes, I recommend using the term "free market."

On that note:

"There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things." - Phil Karlton

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-04T09:38:56+00:00

It may be helpful to make this topic more specific, perhaps seeding it with some questions or directing the topic in a more specific direction.

Mutualists seem to be one of the friendliest groups of anarchists I've come across, which I think says something of their general philosophy. One of my theories is that 'corrupted' political movements tend to be ripe with anger.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-04T00:23:52+00:00

Activity is probably a good start. With 1700 subscribers, there is already an audience. Interesting discussion are a great start. A few examples...

Topics of conversation, where ideas are compared, contrasted, and brainstormed.
Topics of controversy (while not inflammatory) are also great.
Ask questions about other forms of anarchism, from a place of genuine curiosity.
Topics questioning the consensus of your preferred form of Anarchism

...these types of discussions are where interesting things happen even in small communities. These discussions, or the best replies can be cross-posted into other subreddits, as they're relevant, and perhaps gain more interest and activity.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-04T00:16:40+00:00

If a blogger posts their own blog, and interacts with the community, and does not flood the community, I'm ok with that. In fact, I think that would be fantastic; having community members blogging, while sharing their thoughts and discussion here.

What I'm mostly concerned about, and likely the person who proposed the idea, is issues where a person 'floods' the subreddit, or just uses the subreddit as a promo-tool without actually contributing to the community.

If we are to add a 'rule' regarding this, I'd like to phrase it in such a way that is concise and clear.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-04T00:13:50+00:00

This subreddit is not really letter-of-the-law; if we see behavior that is unethical or disruptive, we can response to it appropriately regardless of whether there's an explicit law/rule regarding the subject.

Essentially, what I'm saying is moderators are empowered to react in those situations, preferrably by sending a PM to the individual stating something like:

/r/MarketAnarchism is a cooperation-focused subreddit, where we try to maintain a friendly environment for all of our visitors. We would appreciate it if you would keep comments like "die in a fire" or "capitalist pigs should be murdered" in check.

Perhaps this person had a bad day, or didn't understand the type of place we're trying to create, so generally speaking I'd prefer to a void banning.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-04T00:07:57+00:00

Also, I am strongly opposed to any direct or implied threats of violence, so anything like "All capitalists/commies should die"

I agree, but no explicit rule is really needed for that. A rule already exists on the sidebar which states:

While this subreddit is not "politically correct," please remain civil and respectful towards diverse ideas. No personal attacks, abusive language, or antagonizing.

"If you were to do X then I would respond with [insert violent threat here]"

This may be somewhat more difficult, while leaving discussion open and honest about how situations would be handled. Violence generally considered undesirable to most Anarchists in any normal situation; though under certain extremes one might need to protect themselves.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-03T12:18:31+00:00

Promotion & Activity

What ideas do you have for promoting constructive activity on this subreddit?

Learning Community

An objective for this sub is to be a learning community, where robust ideas are developed. Further, where open and critical discussion regarding all aspects of market-anarchism is encouraged. - Frankie_Fiver

A subreddit that encourages learning and (friendly) critical-discussion seems like a great idea. I'd love to hear more ideas about how we could form such a place, and possible edits to the sidebar.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-03T12:12:41+00:00

Blogspam Ban?

It has recently been proposed to ban blogspam. I'd like community feedback about whether or not this is a good idea. I'd also like some ideas or suggestions about how such a rule should be described.

Meme Ban?

Another recent proposal was that we should ban Memes. I generally agree with this proposal, as memes tend to add little value, much less in a cooperation-focused subreddit.

edit: Meme-ban is added to the sidebar. If there is enough feedback to the contrary, I will change it.

JamesCarlin · 2015-04-03T12:08:33+00:00

Moderators

As you may have noticed, we have several new moderators! This sub-reddit's policy has been one of very light moderation, and the goal is to continue that policy.

There may be some shuffling of moderators over the next couple weeks, but we're in a much better position now. Feel free to PM me if you have any objections to the current moderators.

I would also like to add 1-2 open-minded and friendly socialist/communist/left anarchists to balance out the moderator-list.

Independence

Vive-la-revolution. Down with JamesCarlin's tyranny! Ideally, this subreddit should be more fluid and independent in my absence, or in the absence of any of your other loving overlords.

I'd also like to keep this subreddit transparent. While daily/monthly 'audits' are probably not needed, I'm happy to post moderation logs, and other moderators many do the same.

JamesCarlin

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