I am firmly resolved; you are pig-headedly stubborn

Reader comment on: Squadron Versus Koch

Submitted by Harry Binswanger (United States), Aug 13, 2017 08:32

My title refers to the subjectivity of people who cannot conceive of honest disagreement.

Squadron cannot conceive of the fact that the Koch brothers advocate for certain things because they are convinced that those things are morally right. And good for everyone.

Moreover, consider that what the Koch brothers advocate is simply freedom. They (and I) want the government to stop coercing innocent people, to stop interfering with voluntary trades, to respect people's right to act on their own judgment, accoriding to their own standards of value.

If freedom is what makes the Koch brothers rich, then that means people are casting their "dollar votes" for what the Koch brothers are producing. Logically, then, Squadron's complaint is not with the Koch brothers' attempt to preserve the freedom of the buying public; his complaint is with that public. They should be buying what Squadron wants them to buy. They should be forced to obey Squadron's conception of the good.

Am I, in this line of argument, doing the very thing I accuse Squadron of doing? Am I saying: Squadron is pushing his obviously false propaganda because he wants certain things (power)? No, I am saying that Squadron has accepted certain (reprehensible) ideas. He was taught them in his education (e.g., he went to Yale), and he didn't think critically, so he bought into "what every right-thinking person knows."

Both sides can drop the Ad Hominems: it's all about the ideas.


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Other reader comments on this item

Title By Date
⇒ I am firmly resolved; you are pig-headedly stubborn [239 words]Harry BinswangerAug 13, 2017 08:32
Evidence? [17 words]Irwin ChusidAug 10, 2017 19:15
With apologies to John Huston [15 words]Andrew TerhuneAug 10, 2017 21:47

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