In the domain of “Augustinian devils” (“the hard sciences”) I’m not a contrarian at all, but in the domain of “Manichean devils” I’m a contrarian in that I’m sometimes a conspiracy theorist. The primary conspiracies are the ones that result from omnipresent top-down ordering of society, which are aided by a complete lack of comprehension of political organization.
It seems fairly well settled, for example, that the origination of the United States’ central bank (the Federal Reserve System), was a well-planned conspiracy that orchestrated control in a manner perfected by the active Rothschild legacy’s London representatives. Less controversially, throughout every political season, there are microcosms of conspiracy that are eventually well-known to the participants of “both sides” (or, more realistically, “all sides”). I wait until I have at least some evidence, since low-functioning brains are regularly conspiracy-believers about things that clearly (or very probably) contain no conspiracy. However, in dealing with Manicheaen devils, I am always open to the idea of a conspiracy that goes beyond the mundane and expected “honorable” strategic levels. (If I wasn’t open to this idea, I’d have to conclude that libertarians, even rational minarchists such as EY, don’t want liberty, or else they would have it. Admittedly, the other alternative would be for the universe itself to be malevolent.)
In the prior senses, I’m a “conspiracy theorist” (who has seen the direct inner workings of a conspiracy previously thought by rational people not to exist). So, when one comes up against a powerful group of well-financed sociopaths who have well-trained killers in their employ (such as in Stalin’s Russia), what is the “rational” course of action? I guess it would have to be to be quiet, and try not to attract enough attention that killing you is of a greater benefit to your enemies than the minor cost it would incur. …Or to cast the sociopaths from their positions of power. The two are mutually exclusive, and a failure at one is a failure in the other.
In any case, that’s my contrarianism with the people of LW, especially those who invoke “Godwin’s Law” and ask that we all remain calm and dispassionate as the cattle cars go by (or, in the USA, as the “for theft” prisons are built and crammed full of innocent people). BTW: It’s appropriate to criticize the prisons as “for theft” rather than profit, and to criticize traffic ticket writing as “stealing” rather than “revenue generation.” We don’t call it “revenue generation” when an armed robber points a gun in someone’s face.
That’s the situation our republic is currently in. I wouldn’t be the least surprised if the sociopaths who have made America into a big prison are dominant on this board, and have been so since the very beginning. Their strategy is to encourage time-wasting ideas that don’t directly threaten them. Only direct, concerted attack (politically, or physically) threatens them. All other things are totally “safe” and not only allowed, encouraged. This is because a physically weak but otherwise philosophically pure political enemy is the greatest blessing in the world: such enemies help you divide your opposition into cowards and ineffectual idiots. The Libertarian Party is mostly in the latter camp, but the few operatives who are needed to keep it under control can clearly see which is which.
In the domain of “Augustinian devils” (“the hard sciences”) I’m not a contrarian at all, but in the domain of “Manichean devils” I’m a contrarian in that I’m sometimes a conspiracy theorist. The primary conspiracies are the ones that result from omnipresent top-down ordering of society, which are aided by a complete lack of comprehension of political organization.
It seems fairly well settled, for example, that the origination of the United States’ central bank (the Federal Reserve System), was a well-planned conspiracy that orchestrated control in a manner perfected by the active Rothschild legacy’s London representatives. Less controversially, throughout every political season, there are microcosms of conspiracy that are eventually well-known to the participants of “both sides” (or, more realistically, “all sides”). I wait until I have at least some evidence, since low-functioning brains are regularly conspiracy-believers about things that clearly (or very probably) contain no conspiracy. However, in dealing with Manicheaen devils, I am always open to the idea of a conspiracy that goes beyond the mundane and expected “honorable” strategic levels. (If I wasn’t open to this idea, I’d have to conclude that libertarians, even rational minarchists such as EY, don’t want liberty, or else they would have it. Admittedly, the other alternative would be for the universe itself to be malevolent.)
In the prior senses, I’m a “conspiracy theorist” (who has seen the direct inner workings of a conspiracy previously thought by rational people not to exist). So, when one comes up against a powerful group of well-financed sociopaths who have well-trained killers in their employ (such as in Stalin’s Russia), what is the “rational” course of action? I guess it would have to be to be quiet, and try not to attract enough attention that killing you is of a greater benefit to your enemies than the minor cost it would incur. …Or to cast the sociopaths from their positions of power. The two are mutually exclusive, and a failure at one is a failure in the other.
In any case, that’s my contrarianism with the people of LW, especially those who invoke “Godwin’s Law” and ask that we all remain calm and dispassionate as the cattle cars go by (or, in the USA, as the “for theft” prisons are built and crammed full of innocent people). BTW: It’s appropriate to criticize the prisons as “for theft” rather than profit, and to criticize traffic ticket writing as “stealing” rather than “revenue generation.” We don’t call it “revenue generation” when an armed robber points a gun in someone’s face.
That’s the situation our republic is currently in. I wouldn’t be the least surprised if the sociopaths who have made America into a big prison are dominant on this board, and have been so since the very beginning. Their strategy is to encourage time-wasting ideas that don’t directly threaten them. Only direct, concerted attack (politically, or physically) threatens them. All other things are totally “safe” and not only allowed, encouraged. This is because a physically weak but otherwise philosophically pure political enemy is the greatest blessing in the world: such enemies help you divide your opposition into cowards and ineffectual idiots. The Libertarian Party is mostly in the latter camp, but the few operatives who are needed to keep it under control can clearly see which is which.
Orwell was right.