tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post3262239237659225911..comments2023-08-20T11:07:28.396+01:00Comments on Freeborn John: Rational self interestPeter Risdonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17792275403997179926noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-17716110954547250112009-06-19T18:01:50.984+01:002009-06-19T18:01:50.984+01:00“Do you have any prejudices you’re willing to ackn...“Do you have any prejudices you’re willing to acknowledge?” Yes, Norm, I tend to assume that elderly Marxists were once Stalinist bootlickers keen to betray western civilisation.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-19437827126719212242009-06-19T15:37:12.468+01:002009-06-19T15:37:12.468+01:00"However it works, I’m guessing Mr Yglesias i..."However it works, I’m guessing Mr Yglesias is immune to any morally corrosive effects."<br /><br />I'd be willing to up that guess to a wager.Peter Risdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17792275403997179926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-63843594189058837282009-06-19T15:31:54.081+01:002009-06-19T15:31:54.081+01:00“I doubt he’d say he dislikes bakers, or potters, ...“I doubt he’d say he dislikes bakers, or potters, or publishers. Well, as a writer he might dislike publishers. But all are businesspeople.”<br /><br />Maybe there’s some unspecified point at which making money becomes distilled evil. Perhaps it occurs around a certain (again, unspecified) level of success. Or maybe it only applies to certain trades. It’s all very mysterious. However it works, I’m guessing Mr Yglesias is immune to any morally corrosive effects. <br /><br />“The disdain of a lefty blogger for commerce seems to me to be similar to the distaste felt by a celibate priest for sex.”<br /><br />Pieties, both.David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-36261286494840710642009-06-19T15:20:35.335+01:002009-06-19T15:20:35.335+01:00That's possible, TDK, though the Smith quote i...That's possible, TDK, though the Smith quote is so well known that seeing self-interest or selfishness next to benevolence, people tend to think of Smith.Peter Risdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17792275403997179926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-28108234389647926872009-06-19T15:06:55.998+01:002009-06-19T15:06:55.998+01:00Perhaps he's thinking of Ayn Rand who was more...Perhaps he's thinking of Ayn Rand who was more explicit than Adam Smith on the <a href="http://www.objectivistcenter.org/objectivism/faqs/jraibley_faq-virtue-selfishness.asp" rel="nofollow">virtues of "selfishness"</a>TDKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-11861807041420828132009-06-19T14:57:33.514+01:002009-06-19T14:57:33.514+01:00Nobody earns wealth, David. They win it, inherit i...Nobody earns wealth, David. They win it, inherit it or, if they are businesspeople, snatch it from the bleeding lips of infants.<br /><br />I assume Norm is asking about the respondent's reaction to a very sudden change in wealth. Yglesias' attitude is harder to understand. I doubt he'd say he dislikes bakers, or potters, or publishers. Well, as a writer he might dislike publishers. But all are businesspeople. <br /><br />The disdain of a lefty blogger for commerce seems to me to be similar to the distaste felt by a celibate priest for sex.Peter Risdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17792275403997179926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12471112.post-4983517176790444322009-06-19T14:26:09.187+01:002009-06-19T14:26:09.187+01:00Yglesias’ reply to the question, “Do you have any ...Yglesias’ reply to the question, “Do you have any prejudices you’re willing to acknowledge?” is also noteworthy. I think it says more than he realises: <br /><br />“I don’t like businesspeople.” <br /><br />I’m not quite sure how this avowed dislike of commerce (or of the people who engage in it) squares with his later reply to this: “How, if at all, would you change your life were you suddenly to win or inherit an enormously large sum of money?” <br /><br />“I’d travel more and buy some more expensive stuff.”<br /><br />And now I’m wondering why Norm only mentions winning or inheriting money as options. If <i>earning</i> wealth suddenly were included as an option, the answers might be more revealing.David Thompsonhttp://davidthompson.typepad.com/noreply@blogger.com