tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post5265382951411196426..comments2024-03-13T02:17:39.644-07:00Comments on Restating the Obvious: Seeing the lightHarry Eagarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-19233516653901256282014-11-12T20:30:30.566-08:002014-11-12T20:30:30.566-08:00What was he then?
He was the state, which made T...<i>What was he then? </i><br /><br />He was the state, which made The Congo Free State a government enterprise.<br /><br />Therefore, he was a communist.<br /><br /><i>Christianity and Islam. </i><br /><br />Since when has Christianity aimed to impose its theology on non-Christians?<br /><br />As opposed to, say, Communism, a universalizing salvationist religion, or Islam.Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-68548331022347948152014-11-11T16:33:13.416-08:002014-11-11T16:33:13.416-08:00You don't think Leopold with his bonds and his...You don't think Leopold with his bonds and his P&Ls and investment contracts was a capitalist? What was he then?<br /><br />Hint: not a socialist. It was the Socialists who were his main critics in Belgium.<br /><br />Name 2 universalizing salvationist monotheims: Christianity and Islam.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-63382373242899912492014-11-06T18:35:09.814-08:002014-11-06T18:35:09.814-08:00It is not quite clear that capitalism, if left as ...<i>It is not quite clear that capitalism, if left as free to itself as religion has been at times, would not be just as bad. We have an example that suggests it would be as bad as religion: </i><br /><br />Only you would equate King Leopold with capitalism.<br /><br /><i>That is exactly what universalizing salvationist monotheisms do. </i><br /><br />Name two.<br /><br />It is also what universalizing salvationist materialistic religions <i>did</i> (and a few of their fundamentalist adherents still do) until reality bit, hard.<br /><br />Too bad about the hecatombs.Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-67976928622383706172014-11-01T11:33:33.052-07:002014-11-01T11:33:33.052-07:00He certainly did:
'Let me explain. If you are...He certainly did:<br /><br />'Let me explain. If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise."<br /><br />That is exactly what universalizing salvationist monotheisms do. <br /><br />It is not quite clear that capitalism, if left as free to itself as religion has been at times, would not be just as bad. We have an example that suggests it would be as bad as religion:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414866611&sr=1-1&keywords=king+leopold%27s+ghost+a+story+of+greed+terror+and+heroism+in+colonial+africa<br /><br />Fixating on marxism is a form of self-deception. And Berlin was capable of cruelty in his antimarxism:<br /><br />http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n18/frances-stonorsaunders/the-writer-and-the-valetHarry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-63277615700534648072014-10-31T09:46:19.411-07:002014-10-31T09:46:19.411-07:00Isaiah Berlin gets it.<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/oct/23/message-21st-century/" rel="nofollow">Isaiah Berlin gets it</a>.Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-1472449336458435762014-10-30T14:45:03.697-07:002014-10-30T14:45:03.697-07:00But not nearly as many as either capitalism or Chr...<i> But not nearly as many as either capitalism or Christianity. </i><br /><br />Two problems with that: it is, unsurprisingly, substantiation free; and, there is that pesky thing called time you have completely ignored.Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-55231385874430084182014-10-29T20:52:35.646-07:002014-10-29T20:52:35.646-07:00But not nearly as many as either capitalism or Chr...But not nearly as many as either capitalism or Christianity. Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-19567082170337265942014-10-29T15:58:42.175-07:002014-10-29T15:58:42.175-07:00"... while universalizing salvationist monoth..."... while universalizing salvationist monotheism <b>is</b> a formula for endless war."<br /><br />Bollocks. Pure, unadulterated, bollocks. (Pro-tip: tense matters; highlighting added to emphasize what should already be glaringly apparent.)<br /><br />How you can manage to elide the historical truth underlying what Bret said is impossible to imagine. Socialism -- and no amount of shouting "squirrel!" will let the variant called "communism" wriggle free -- is the most anti-human, and therefore murderous, theology ever to defile the light of day.<br /><br />Socialism has killed more people than even Islamists could hope for.<br /><br />Hey Skipperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10798930502187234974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-43952088310999143092014-10-21T09:05:04.217-07:002014-10-21T09:05:04.217-07:00Yeah, all that murder and oppression in Denmark.
...Yeah, all that murder and oppression in Denmark.<br /><br />Even on a merely political level, if you think aggressive war is a really bad idea, then socialism doesn't even make a mark, while universalizing salvationist monotheism is a formula for endless war.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666208467022745303.post-7106981610784758652014-10-20T23:08:30.338-07:002014-10-20T23:08:30.338-07:00Not nearly as bad as socialism.Not nearly as bad as socialism.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.com