We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Naomi Klein is left bleeding on the canvas This reviewer plainly does not care much for Naomi Klein, scourge of the supposed evils of global capitalism. I plodded through some of her writings once just to see what the fuss was about and the economic illiteracy of this woman surprised even a jaundiced observer like me. She has achieved the rare feat of making the late JK Galbraith look like a great sage by comparison, which is quite a feat, given that many of his predictions were wrong, although he was a witty writer at times, which I suspect explains a lot of his appeal. And yet it is all such a shame: I think we free marketeers need to be challenged by high-class criticisms in order to sharpen our own defence of the market order; the problem is that if the anti-capitalist types out there become self-parodies, we can fall into a sense of false security. It never fails to surprise me just how bad a lot of anti-market writing often is.
On the issue of anti-capitalism, this old gem by Ludwig von Mises is a must-read, as fresh now as when he wrote it decades ago.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Indeed. Sadly, there’s a certain type which makes great play of decrying modern methods, while using them very effectively.
No Logo may have sucked as an economics text, but it was packaged with some of the best graphics/branding I’ve seen in years.
My thoughts exactly, other rob (the richest seam of such types being the music industry, of course). I wonder if any of her many fans appreciate the irony.
For samizdatistas not familiar with Robert Fulford (and I expect most outside of Canada aren’t), he’s well worth reading. A liberal in a country brimming with Liberals (case matters).
Klein is enamored with cooperatives and other socialist models but she somehow has never gotten around to living in one. After all, if private property and free trade have so destroyed her native Canada while Chavez is implementing the Holy Grail, why isn’t she packing her things for Caracas?
Why?