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Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

My Buddy — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:56:09 GMT

Whoops, she left. Guess we will never be enlightened as to how the world can be turned into an anarcho-syndicalist paradise.

Yes, this video was not her argument. However, she is setting up false premises. It is like if a physics professor giving a lecture started by saying that there is no such thing as gravity, or if a math teacher claimed that integers don't exist. It isn't neccesary to see what else they have to offer, because the premises of their theories are FALSE.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

boniek — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:22:01 GMT

"This video is no longer available because the uploader has closed their YouTube account."

Too bad.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Michael J Green — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:13:48 GMT

So, capitalism is to be blamed and denounced for the many people today that listen to hip-hop and Lady Gaga over Miles Davis... but what about 30-60 years ago, when more people were listening to Miles Davis? Don't we have "capitalism" to thank for that? As Paul Cantor likes to point out, it's hard to characterize capitalism/the market as a poor judge and sponsor of talent, when it made Charles Dickens the most successful novelist of the 19th century.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Eric080 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:51:05 GMT

I agree with you William, but there was some identifiable points in the video that could constitute, or take the form of, an argument. If her "set-up" video is flawed, I think the mechanics video will be a little off-key. But I think the rest of her videos will not rely on attacking capitalism but rather trying to show the logistics of anarcho-syndicalism (I think she's a syndicalist anyway).

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Libertyandlife — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:33:05 GMT

She opposes anything that sounds bad to her, too bad she doesn't care about consistency.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

William — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:00:36 GMT

Her entire argument could be refuted using just quotations from Human Action, or even Socialism.

Once again, she didn't make an argument. She was trying to show context and set terms. She said she would cover the mechanics of things in her next video.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

AdrianHealey — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:13:55 GMT

Have you debated the aveage anarcho-communist hack?
I mean; if all the anarcho-communist hacks had her brain, it would have been awesome and interesting.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Isaac "Izzy" Marmolejo — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:01:59 GMT

When your argument cannot stand against a book written decades ago, that is a bad sign.

what do you mean by that?

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

My Buddy — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:53:23 GMT

This is extremely rambling and isn't an especially powerful argument.

She says that people make irrational decisions, yet isn't showing what an irrational decision is outside of what SHE considers to be irrational. She constantly treats Capitalism as Corporatism. She criticizes the Capitalist economic system on basis of her opinions as to what is rational and what is not, and furthermore doesn't even provide a plausable alternative.

I don't see how she is any better than the average anarcho-communist hack. Her entire argument could be refuted using just quotations from Human Action, or even Socialism. When your argument cannot stand against a book written decades ago, that is a bad sign.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

AdrianHealey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:59:19 GMT

I could actually do that. :p I'm not that good with all the drawings and stuff, but I could do that.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Eric080 — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:40:52 GMT

@Adrian, I was just wondering since you said you'd like to make a rebuttal or have a conversation with her. I was thinking a video response back and forth would be interesting to see!

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

AdrianHealey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:47:29 GMT

Eric080:

Kinda, I was just wondering if you uploaded original content or not.

Not really. I've got some in Dutch on my facebook. :p Why?

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

AdrianHealey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:46:30 GMT

For the record; I'm not saying she is world's best economist. I'm saying that her worldview kind a makes sense. Given some assumptions, most of her conclusions follow pretty logically. I'm also impressed by her reasoning concerning market signals. She actually accepts them, but that denounces them. I really think this is one proof that someone smart can be really wrong.

I also like the fact that she says some pretty 'libertarian' (as we look at it) stuff themselves. The only thing she needs, is a better grasp of economics. But all in all; probably the best exposition of the argument I've ever seen.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

Eric080 — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:58:10 GMT

I agree on that score, Nero. Does Wikipedia suck as a resource thanks to its unplanned and uncoordinated nature? I'd say no. It's not 100% reliable, but then again I doubt very many things are. This is an example where the more esoteric elements are best left to those who have a passion or an interest in the subject, like you would probably see on a market.

I think what annoys her most is a) she doesn't view the capitalist as providing anything important to the structure of production (ignoring that you need capital, land, and labor in order to produce anything and not merely land and labor unlike what Proudhon posited) and b) she is against commercialism. You can be anti-materialist and still be a "right"-libertarian. There's nothing contradictory on that score. It stems from a conception of property and if she accepts the idea of property (she may be anti-property, so maybe not), then I don't really understand her beef with property exchanges. It would be like any other type of exchange. If she's not against individual property and she's not advocating the use of force in the form of a State, then it sounds to me more like a complaining about the type of people she's surrounded by and not the political structure.

Re: Anarcho-Capitalism Obliterated on Youtube!

EmperorNero — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:40:58 GMT

What's interesting about this video is her use of the term irrational. She seems to be aware of market signals, but considers them a bad thing because they coordinate society in a way that we don't intend them to. As she puts it, "consumers are not activists". In other words, irrational means "uncontrolled" or "unplanned".