Why Is Socialism Oppressive?

Lord Acton and F.A. Hayek have inspired the two most popular explanations for the crimes of actually-existing socialism. While Acton never lived to see socialists gain power, their behavior seems to perfectly illustrate his aphorism that, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." For all their idealism, even socialists will do bad things if left unchecked. Hayek, with the benefit of hindsight, suggested a slightly different explanation: Under socialism, "the worst get on top." On this theory, the idealistic founders of socialism were gradually pushed out by brutal cynics as their movement's power increased.

Richter's novel advances a very different explanation for socialism's "moral decay": The movement was born bad. While the early socialists were indeed "idealists," their ideal was totalitarian. Their overriding goals were to engineer a new society and a New Socialist Man. If this meant treating workers like slaves - depriving them of the freedom to choose their occupation or location, forbidding them to quit, splitting up families without their consent, and imposing draconian punishments on dissenters - so be it.

Bryan Caplan, "The Writing on the Wall" [Foreword to Pictures of a Socialistic Future by Eugen Richter] (p. ix; references omitted)

Spot the Moment When Self-Censorship Kicks in

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.

Charlotte: It's scary.

Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.

Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.

Bob: Your life as you know it . . . is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk . . . and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.

Sofia Coppola [screenwriter], Lost in Translation

Today Begins the Part of the World Cup Which Brings the Penalty Shootouts

The pair first walked on court on Tuesday, and Isner – who hit 112 aces in the match – secured a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68 triumph to bring the curtain down on one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of the All England Club.

Press Association, "John Isner wins marathon match with Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon" (via)

Lösungsansatz: Alcopops

"Er hätte schon längst nicht eine Livree, die es im Schloß nicht gibt, aber einen Anzug vom Amt bekommen sollen, es ist ihm auch zugesichert worden, aber in dieser Hinsicht ist man im Schloß sehr langsam, und das Schlimme ist, daß man niemals weiß, was diese Langsamkeit bedeutet; sie kann bedeuten, daß die Sache im Amtsgang ist, sie kann aber auch bedeuten, daß der Amtsgang noch gar nicht begonnen hat, daß man also zum Beispiel Barnabas immer noch erst erproben will, sie kann aber schließlich auch bedeuten, daß der Amtsgang schon beendet ist, man aus irgendwelchen Gründen die Zusicherung zurückgezogen hat und Barnabas den Anzug niemals bekommt. Genaueres kann man darüber nicht erfahren oder erst nach langer Zeit. Es ist hier die Redensart, vielleicht kennst du sie: Amtliche Entscheidungen sind scheu wie junge Mädchen."

Franz Kafka, Das Schloß (Fünfzehntes Kapitel)

In Fairness, That's Not the Only Process by Which Stereotypes Can Come about

Exceptions don’t disprove tendencies. In fact, when exceptions are famous for their exceptionality, that’s evidence for the pattern. Unfortunately, in an intellectual climate where pointing out that a generalization is a "stereotype" (i.e., many people have noticed it) is consider[ed] a crushing refutation of its truthfulness, few grasp these logical rules.

Steve Sailer, "What The Flotilla Furor Says About America’s Jewish Elite"

Click on the Link If You Don't Get the Joke

15 min: [...] I guess the players know that defeat means almost certain elimination at the group stage, and thus that a draw might suit both parties. I wonder if Algeria could play out a mutually convenient stalemate without dying of irony.

Simon Burnton, "World Cup 2010: Algeria v Slovenia - as it happened"

Reading this Tomorrow Would Have Been Good Enough

The obsession with current events is relentless. We are made to feel that at any point, somewhere in the globe, something may occur to sweep away old certainties, something that, if we failed to learn about it instantaneously, could leave us wholly unable to comprehend ourselves or our fellows.

Alain de Botton, "Distraction-Concentration"

Calls for a Diagram

I am intrigued when a good friend does not hit it off with a different good friend of mine. I try to figure out what I like about person three that my other good friend doesn't; what side of me is brought out in person three. There is actually a decent amount of self-knowledge that emerges from such a thought exercise.

Ben Casnocha, "Assorted Musings"

An Introduction to Postmodern Fiction

En route to Ocean City he sat in the back seat of the family car with his brother Peter, age fifteen, and Magda G----, age fourteen, a pretty girl, an exquisite young lady, who lived not far from them on B---- Street in the town of D-----, Maryland. Initials, blanks, or both were often substituted for proper names in nineteenth-century fiction to enhance the illusion of reality. It is as if the author felt it necessary to delete the names for reasons of tact or legal liability. Interestingly, as with other aspects of realism it is an illusion that is being enhanced, by purely artificial means. Is it likely, does it violate the principle of verisimilitude, that a thirteen-year-old boy could make such a sophisticated observation?

John Barth, "Lost in the Funhouse"