Afterword to The Net Delusion

An example of secular intransigence that may give readers a sense of how religious people feel when their beliefs are criticized. (And an important health warning...)

from the page: "It's hard to say which is more disturbing in Patrick Cockburn's recent analysis of America’s warmongering toward Iran: his portrait of wily Jews manipulating and "bamboozling" the American power elite into acting against their own interests and good intentions; or the 'Amos and Andy' echoes in the image of a Negro President too dumb to know he's being played by wicked Hebrews. In any case, it is an astounding -- and dismaying -- performance from a writer who has long been one of the very best in delineating the operations of empire in the Middle East... Unlike Cockburn -- and the innumerable progressive apologists for Obama -- I have the fullest respect for the president's intellect and his powers of perception. I think it is deeply insulting to him to say that he is not aware of the true impact of his policies, both in foreign and domestic affairs. Yes. That is indeed the case. The glaringly obvious aim of American policy toward Iran is regime change..."

The Fireplace Delusion

"The free-market is predicated upon win-win negotiations." -- "Is government inherently evil? 'Government' is just one category of the initiation of force. The initiation of force is evil." -- "It's a logical fallacy [Post hoc ergo propter hoc] to say that because the government does it, if the government doesn't do it, it won't get done." -- "Saying you give money to the IRS is like saying you make love to your rapist. It's a contradiction in terms. It's like saying you're being charitable to the man who is robbing you." -- "Representatives are not accountable to voters. Do you have a contract with your political representative?" -- "You don't need a government for people to get together and make decisions." -- "If you live in a world of words you can manipulate your fantasies in any way you want. The Matrix is language. 'Government should be held accountable for its actions.' An imaginary entity should be held accountable in some imaginary, undescribed way for the actions which itself as an imaginary entity it can't even take since the 'government' doesn't exist and cannot act."

'...the US is bankrupt and on the verge of complete collapse. If the US government defaults by going bankrupt and refusing to pay its debts we would see turmoil and a deflationary depression that would make the 1930s look like Disneyland. Granted, if the government stayed out of the way it would be a brief, harsh depression... but it would be so dramatic and terrifying to most people that they'd likely call for the most dictatorial of all politicians to "fix it" which would only make it go from weeks or months to lasting years and decades. Alternatively, if they continue to print dollars to paper over the ongoing default then we will soon go into hyperinflation, which is even worse, and we could be headed for a few years, or more, of a Mad Max style environment in the US. In either case, I'd rather see someone like Obama sit there and be president when they have to announce there is no more Social Security and Medicaid or when the US dollar becomes worthless. My nightmare is that Ron Paul becomes president and a few months later the US collapses and the powers-that-be convince people that the reason it all collapsed was because of his free-market policies and we enter into a deeply dictatorial form of communism in the US.'

Enjoy this Classic Wondermark, originally published in black & white on November 16, 2004!

Confidential to Mom: it’s a joke

'Amateur surgery always ends in a bloodbath...' -- "Begging the mafia to solve the problem of crime is a futile, ridiculous and embarrassing thing to do."

tags: 2+2=5 repetitioncompulsion statism government democracy delusion StefanMolyneux