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]
|
When people cite experts, be careful So the idea this letter represents mainstream economics must be challenged. When Sky is reporting it without an alternative viewpoint, it can mislead the public. But this also shows something interesting about the political left. People across the political spectrum like to appeal to the authority of “experts” to improve credibility. But for the left, this is crucial. Unlike supporters of markets, left-wing interventionists believe experts can direct economic activity for us. Building up the idea that “experts” support these interventions and believe they work is therefore of critical importance to obtaining public acceptance.
– Ryan Bourne, Institute of Economic Affairs.
|
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.
|
Its physics fault. They gave experts a good name.
Danny Blanchflower couldn’t find his arse with both hands. He is in the Paul Krugman class of economists: wrong about everything, all the time. But as the writer states, even these losers are not endorsing Jeremy Corbyn’s insane Citizen Smith style economic ramblings. The fact is that he never expected to garner the votes of enough MPs even to stand. That he did only shows that the Labour Party has a death wish. I can’t wait.
I hate the Beeb’s slyly-biased news coverage with a passion, but Sky News is a close second. Except it comes with more typos.
Need I quote the definition of an expert? “Someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing at all”.
Just this,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBiIIzpPEtM
Hey, why am i awaiting mods? I’m not that bad am I?
Expert, a jet under pressure.
Hey, stop picking on experts! They’re the ones who warned us about global warming! Without our resident climate expert, Tim Flannery, we Sydneysiders would not have the half-built desalination plant to help us through our …rainless… winters… Forget I said anything, o.k.?
Regional! Et tu ??!!!
*Ee-e-e-www!!!* 😉
Nicholas, yes — and before that they warned us about global cooling (although I was busy with the baby at the time and couldn’t get too into the whole thing). And they’ve been warning us that we’re virtually at peak planetary carrying capacity ever since Malthus, and every day it gets worse.
But heck, as they say, “It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it….”
Nick,
Kindly do not drag such vulgar sites as the Toob into the elevated discourse and Ye Olde Samizdatistas’ Pub ‘n’ Grub. It provokes the non-existent Smite-Bot.
But by all means bring Henry’s Cat with you when you do. At Samizdata, the more Cool Cats the merrier!
And *sniffle* we lost our smited cats … nothing to look at now but a boring old “Your comment is awaiting moderation” message. 🙁 🙁
[But I saved them on my own machine. *cackle*] 😉
Nothing wrong with expertise – although I can do complex plumbing, its a hell of a lot smarter to get an expert to do it (especially cos he’s a relative of my wife so comes free…).
But to assume an expert is correct is to assume expertise equals perfect knowledge, which speaking as an expert (in our very limited sphere of history and one professional area) is not the case – I know parameters, possibilities and even some facts, but I don’t know answers, as if I did I would be an expert on the next set of questions instead…
The left’s obsession with experts is simply the requirement they seem to consistently have to have a leader or oracle – a teacher if you will – and do not have to think for themselves (or rather, since the activists on the left are not that self-effacing, so that they can ‘interpret’ the teachings and the mass of people can be told not to think differently…). It’s rather difficult to demand people blindly give you power if you insist they look at the facts.
Expertise is frequently defined by the statists as someone who has a credential that they (the statists) find to be impressive. Lots of initials after a name, certificates from “acredited universities”, professional licenses issued by professional societies, licenses that are issued by the state. The EU is the leader here, but it is working its way into the US. If you don’t have a credential, then you are not credible and can be ignored. If your university does not support the latest victim fad, it can become un-accredited, and its certificates become worthless. By controlling academia, the government and the media they control all the credentials and therefore all the experts. It is essentially a return to the feudal system of guilds. So much for marching into the future.
Very neat.
Julie near Chicago,
Thankyou.
To call me a cunt would be a compliment.
To describe supporters of Mr Corbyn’s ravings as “economists” is absurd.
To give no alternative view point to these degenerates is doubly absurd.
“Sky News” is useless – it is does not offer alternative viewpoint to the BBC.
It is basically just BBC leftism – but a bit “dumbed down”.
True government regulations do not allow it to be anything else but leftist – something like Fox News would actually be unlawful in Britain (conservative talk radio would be even more unlawful).
But this does not alter the point that Sky News serves no valid purpose.
At least this was my view of it when I last watched it – which, I admit, was quite some time ago.