Roger Bissell Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Is Libertarianism a Sign of Mental Illness?http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/02/25/...mental-illness/ Posted by Daniel J. Mitchellhttp://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell I don't know whether this belongs in the comic-relief category or thefuture-threats category, but the Harvard Law School is having aconference to analyze the "free market mindset."http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keywo...b.tabgroup68722 The basic premise of the conference seems to be that peoplewho believe is limited government are psychologically troubled.The conference schedulehttp://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keywo...=icb.page242685 features presentations such as "How Thinking Like an EconomistUndermines Community" and "Addicted to Incentives: How the Ideology ofSelf Interest Can Be Self-Fulfilling." The most absurd presentation,though, may be the one entitled, "Colossal Failure: The Output Bias ofMarket Economies." According to the description, the author argues thatthe market "delivers excessive levels of consumption." Damn thoseentrepreneurs for creating so much wealth!In the good old days of Soviet dictatorship, the regime classifieddissidents as being mentally ill (after all, only a nutcase would failto see the glories of communism).Now that leftists at Harvard want to portray laissez-faire philosophy asbeing somewhat akin to a mental disorder, maybe the next step will bere-education camps for Cato staff? Maybe the next "stimulus" bill couldinclude a few earmarks for such facilities? I'm keeping my fingerscrossed that I get sent some place warm.Daniel J. Mitchell http://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell *February 25, 2009 @ 11:48 am http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/02/Filed under: General http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/category/general/Tags: free market capitalismhttp://www.cato-at-liberty.org/tag/free-market-capitalism/ , HarvardUniversity http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/tag/harvard-university/ ________________________________From: owner-hmp@lists.law.harvard.edu[mailto:owner-hmp@lists.law.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Julia GegenheimerSent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 5:47 PMTo: hmp@hlssun1.law.harvard.eduSubject: [hmp] Law and Mind Sciences ConferenceHi HMP,This is an event that Brian Aune and I (and many others) are helping toset up, which might be of interest to you. It will bring together anexciting cross-section of experts from many disciplines. Please let meknow if you have any questions. Please come!Thanks!Julia-----------------------------------The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School cordiallyinvites you to attend:The Third Conference on Law and Mind SciencesThe Free Market Mindset: History, Psychology, and Consequenceshttp://law.harvard.edu/conferences/lawmindSaturday, March 7, 2009 * Harvard Law School"I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations,.. . . were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and theirequity in the firms. . . . I found a flaw . . . in the model that Iperceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how theworld works." ~Alan GreenspanWhat was it about free markets that proves so alluring to economists,scholars, and policy-makers alike? THE FREE MARKET MINDSET: History, Psychology, and Consequenceshttp://law.harvard.edu/conferences/lawmind brings together leadingscholars in law, economics, social psychology, and social cognition topresent and discuss their research regarding the historical origins,psychological antecedents, and policy consequences of the free marketmindset. Their work illustrates that the magic of the marketplace ispartially an illusion based on faulty assumptions and outmodedapproaches.Confirmed participants include:Anne Alstott (Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law at Havard Law School),James Cavallero (Executive Director of the Human Rights Program, HarvardLaw School),Christine Desan (Professor of Law, Harvard Law School), Jon Hanson (Alfred Smart Professor of Law, Harvard Law School),Bernard E. Harcourt (Julius Kreeger Professor of Law, professor ofpolitical science, U. Chicago),Sheena Iyengar (Professor, Management Division, Columbia BusinessSchool),Douglas Kysar (Professor of Law, Yale University), Gillian Lester (Sidley Austin Professor of Law at Harvard Law School), Stephen Marglin (Walter S. Barker Chair in the Department of Economics,Harvard University),Jaime Napier (Ph.D student, Social Psychology, New York University),Ben Sachs (Assistant Professor of Law, Harvard Law School),Juliet Schor (Professor of Sociology, Boston College), andBarry Schwartz (Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and SocialAction, Swarthmore College).This event is free and open to the public. For more information and toregister, visit http://law.harvard.edu/conferences/lawmind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Branden Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Of course we all know that a sure proof of mental health is the belief that penalizing ability and rewarding failure is the way to prosperity, and that piling up mountains of debt makes us financially secure.Barbara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Hasn't the Left always offered the idea that people on the right are nuts. I think this is the first time they have had a conference. I have the feeling talk radio is going to have a lot of fun with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybird Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 (edited) Comments withdrawn Edited February 27, 2009 by Greybird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SherryTX Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 The only thing I am shocked about here is that I didn't notice anyone from Berkley participating in this conference on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Harvard is the Berkeley of the East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 (edited) In the era before the Civil War the owners of slaves believed that the urge to flee bondage was a mental illness. They even had a name for it --- drapetomania. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DrapetomaniaSee also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysaethesia_Aethiopica.Dysaethesia_Aethiopica was a sullen or resentful attitude exhibited by some Negro slaves. It means "rascality" and it was believed before the Civil War that whipping rascally Negroes would cure them of the condition. Perhaps the correct treatment for Americans who do not understand that the Government is there to Help Them can be cured by incarceration or water boarding in extreme cases. Obviously, anyone not willing and even enthusiastic about working for The Greater Good is suffering from some kind of pathology. After a good dunking and the administration of psychotropic drugs, the deluded citizen should come to his senses. Ba'al Chatzaf Edited February 28, 2009 by BaalChatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonrobt Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 In the era before the Civil War the owners of slaves believed that the urge to flee bondage was a mental illness. They even had a name for it --- drapetomania. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DrapetomaniaSee also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysaethesia_Aethiopica.Dysaethesia_Aethiopica was a sullen or resentful attitude exhibited by some Negro slaves. It means "rascality" and it was believed before the Civil War that whipping rascally Negroes would cure them of the condition. Perhaps the correct treatment for Americans who do not understand that the Government is there to Help Them can be cured by incarceration or water boarding in extreme cases. Obviously, anyone not willing and even enthusiastic about working for The Greater Good is suffering from some kind of pathology. After a good dunking and the administration of psychotropic drugs, the deluded citizen should come to his senses. Ba'al ChatzafAhh - the Psychiatric Association's dream......;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonrobt Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 One could - and ought to - with equal verve establish a conference which entails that "Socialism is a Disease", with all the same inquiries shifted over to that shoe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMcK Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I scrolled through the schedule and abstracts of your link Roger, especially when one scholar claimed that: " Just as people can become addicted to heroin, they can become addicted to incentives. Looking at modern American society as it is gives us a picture of what people can be, but not of what they must be."Thus the desire to live your life is an addiction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galtgulch Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I scrolled through the schedule and abstracts of your link Roger, especially when one scholar claimed that: " Just as people can become addicted to heroin, they can become addicted to incentives. Looking at modern American society as it is gives us a picture of what people can be, but not of what they must be."Thus the desire to live your life is an addiction?And I thought it was enough to know the Congress was funding research to discover the rectal temperatures of hibernating bears!If this sort of thing which our illustrious representatives deem worthy of attention and implementation worries you let me suggest that you consider joining with your like minded fellow countrymen in an endeavor to enlighten their neighbors and elect people who take the Constitution seriously and are determined to set us free of this madness:www.campaignforliberty.com 105160 members and growing faster each day. 28 Feb 10PM 105170, 1Mar 7AM 105201gulch Edited March 1, 2009 by galtgulch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Harvard is the Berkeley of the East.Chris - I would suggest that it is more correct to state that Berkeley is the Harvard of the West.Bill P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I scrolled through the schedule and abstracts of your link Roger, especially when one scholar claimed that: " Just as people can become addicted to heroin, they can become addicted to incentives. Looking at modern American society as it is gives us a picture of what people can be, but not of what they must be."Thus the desire to live your life is an addiction?And I thought it was enough to know the Congress was funding research to discover the rectal temperatures of hibernating bears!If this sort of thing which our illustrious representatives deem worthy of attention and implementation worries you let me suggest that you consider joining with your like minded fellow countrymen in an endeavor to enlighten their neighbors and elect people who take the Constitution seriously and are determined to set us free of this madness:www.campaignforliberty.com 105160 members and growing faster each day. 28 Feb 10PM 105170gulchYour concern about pork is commendable. I suggest googling "Ron Paul pork" to find lists such as . . .1. $25,000 for the Brazoria County Sheriff to establish a “Children’s Identification and Location Database.”2. $8 million for the marketing of wild American shrimp.3. $2.3 million for shrimp fishing research.4. $3 million to “secure the acquisition of the McGinnes tract, protecting its critical natural resources and helping consolidate refuge inholdings.”5. $5 million to expand the cancer center at Brazosport Hospital.6. $200,000 for the Matagorda Episcopal Health Outreach Program to fund a “National Health Service Corp Scholar.”7. $4.5 million to study the effects of the health risks of vanadium.8. $3 million to test imported shrimp for antibiotics. (Does anyone think there is a big shrimp industry in Paul’s district?)9. $10 million to repair the Galveston railways causeway bridge.10. $1.18 million for “Personalized Medicine in Asthma”11. $100,000 for a “data-driven automated system for nursing students on the Texas Gulf Coast.”12. $257,000 to “prepare graduates from the doctoral program at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing to assume faculty roles in schools for nursing with a deficient number of doctoral level faculty.”13. $1.4 million to buy buses for the Golden Crescent Regional Commission.14. $2 million to buy buses for Galveston.15. $5 million for highway spending.16. $2 million to replace facilities for Galveston bus service.17. $3 million to replace facilities for the Golden Crescent Regional bus facility.18. $2 million to repair the Galveston trolley.19. $2.14 million to renovate the Edna Theater.20. $13 million for I-69 highway project.21. $30 million the Texas Maritime Academy to refurbish a ship.22. $4.5 million to maintain Cedar Bayou. Plus another $9 million23. $15 million for “construction at GIWW Matagorda Bay.” Plus another $5.8 million24. $100,000 to maintain Chocolate Bayou.25. $2.5 million to maintain Double Bayou.at http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/07/r...k-projects.htmlThat's a subset of the pork supported by Ron Paul... Are you outraged about this pork? Or is there a factual refutation of the list?Bill P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Heck, I like pork. Send me some.--Brantplease, no chitlins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Heck, I like pork. Send me some.--Brantplease, no chitlinsAsk Ron Paul. He appears to be a major advocate and distributor...Bill P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Bill P; Gulch is going to upset with you. Ron Paul can do no wrong in Gulch's eyes. The pork Ron Paul gets for his district is one of the distributing things about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Bill P; Gulch is going to upset with you. Ron Paul can do no wrong in Gulch's eyes. The pork Ron Paul gets for his district is one of the distributing things about him.Saint Ron appears to have feet of clay. Both with regard to a willingness to provide for the national defense, and in the area of participating in the "pork process."Bill P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrakusos Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) Comments withdrawnAs this is on RoR, I will just point to my own comments there.Two posts below that, in addenda, I note:If you justify the current system, then you are a conservative. That's the definition. What was the metaphysical complaint of James Taggart? That the world keeps changing.I add here briefly, that the reaction from Cato and others is reflexive. Who is a "conservative?"What defines a "liberal?"What is the status quo? Who justifies it, or "rationalizes" it? Edited March 1, 2009 by Michael E. Marotta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Saint Ron appears to have feet of clay. Both with regard to a willingness to provide for the national defense, and in the area of participating in the "pork process."Bill PSt. Ron also wishes to compel gravid women to give birth. That is something I cannot and will not forgive.Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reidy Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 How is this different from what Rand does in e.g. "The Monument Builders"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 How is this different from what Rand does in e.g. "The Monument Builders"?Reidy - Can you expand a bit on your meaning? What specifically that Rand does in "The Monument Builders" are you referring to? (Yes, I have a copy at hand.)Bill P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reidy Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 In the essay she explains socialism's appeal as a desire for the unearned and goes on from there. It's just one example. Rand expressly believed that she could draw conclusions about people's character from their political beliefs, their artistic tastes or their choice of mate, and she routinely did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonrobt Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keywo...=icb.page242685This is the detailing of abstracts to be used in the conference, and the notions indicated behind considering 'liberty as a disease'...and, when the printed versions are released, one can then tear them apart as to their falsities... Edited March 1, 2009 by anonrobt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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