tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19490962.post829010752592120738..comments2023-12-10T10:06:41.979+00:00Comments on mutations of mortality: Free speechTerry Hamblinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06346629921055055879noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19490962.post-73139916591772314472009-11-01T03:20:33.837+00:002009-11-01T03:20:33.837+00:00Be prepared for more and more of this political co...Be prepared for more and more of this political correctness. You just have to look at the United States. It is racist to celebrate Columbus Day and it has been removed from most state's list of holidays. It has just been removed from California. <br /><br />I wish I could share your optimism, but all indications are that you are just behind the US.<br /><br />I wonder when you will have your first black prime minister.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19490962.post-8288484988384326672009-10-20T15:14:19.631+01:002009-10-20T15:14:19.631+01:00I believe that many, perhaps most, disputes over f...I believe that many, perhaps most, disputes over free speech here in America are really disputes over the use of so-called "public property." Should some group be free to protest at a public place of some kind, etc? Should children be free to pray in public schools being a biggie here, as another example?<br /><br /><br />The solution is to abolish most public property. If you think about it, it's just loot, anyway. The govt seizes wealth from people who produce it and uses it to create things "for all of us," which is what "public property" is.<br /><br />In fact, the whole idea of "public property" is a contradiction, the right of property being a right held by individuals against all others, against the "public."<br /><br />There is a reason for the right of property. People live by producing wealth, and they have the right to use that wealth for themselves. The right to live entails the right to property.<br /><br />So, morally most fights over free speech (and virtually everything else that is "public") are really just squabbles over loot. Such people may as well be train robbers arguing over who has the most "right" to the money they stole.<br /><br />Is my view radical? Yes, but then when and where have conventional beliefs ever been completely or even marginally rational?<br /><br />Here in America shortly after the Revolution was the best of times, I believe--the only time in history when a nation was *founded* on the idea of individual rights.<br /><br />But then I'm an arrogant American who did not vote for Obama.Burkenoreply@blogger.com