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This Is What Governments Do
2008-04-02 20:52:00
If you can stomach the last half of this video, you are a grade-A, certifiable sociopath. This is what governments do:(YouTube link)Toward the end of watching this video, I was sobbing uncontrollably and wondered, "What the hell is wrong with me?" The answer came to my mind like a laser in the dark: "Not a thing. Not a single fucking thing." And I let myself feel it some more, because burying rage, hatred, and fear inside yourself doesn't make it go away, but only makes you a raging, hateful, and fearful person.This is what governments do: They find a problem, point guns at people, and call it the final solution to that problem. "Want mail service? Give us your money. No seriously, [poke of gun in the ribs] give us your money." And then they write laws and point guns at anybody who tries to compete with their 'service.'At least the mugger doesn't tell you it's for your own good. "I'm stealing this money to open a bakery for you to enjoy, you see?" Implicit is that you wanted a...
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Facebook "Political Views" Liberated!
2008-03-31 08:08:00
I didn't notice until just now, but back on March 5th, Facebook announced that they were opening up the "political views" field on user profiles to a free-form field. Previously there had only been a drop-down menu of limited choices, including various degrees of "liberal" and "conservative," along with "libertarian," and "apathetic," thrown in for good measure. As an anarcho-capitalist, I originally labeled myself as libertarian, but later simply chose to be unlisted for the category of "political views," in the name of accuracy.Now it's wide open, so you can type in whatever you want. As you begin to type, it'll even auto-complete with other things people have typed in already. When I typed in "A-N-A-R-C-H-I-S-T," it gave up on me someplace halfway through the word, when it realized I wasn't trying to claim I was some sort of hyper-political 16th century Anabaptist. After making sure I had spelled it right, I clicked on my newly claimed political view only to find that there i...
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Cure For Depression?
2008-03-31 02:22:00
I wonder what the psychological community would think of this treatment method (or if something similar has already been tried) for depression: Watching videos of babies laughing. The one below is my favorite, but the related videos show that there are lots of babies out there with great laughs. I have marked some of them as "favorites" on my YouTube account. In the event that I have a bad day, I just watch the videos and laugh along. I'm not exactly your typical example of a major depressive, but it works for me when I'm feeling a little sad. I wonder if it would work for someone feeling a lot sad...
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On Truth: The Tyranny of Illusion
2008-03-25 16:18:00
Want a free groundbreaking book? Click here. Want to be king for a day, and dictate what one of my blog posts should be about? Read on.For a short time, an influential new philosophy text is available in .pdf form for free! Stefan Molyneux, who is generally generous with his books in the first place, (he has a standing offer to give them away to people who simply can't afford them at the moment) has authorized the distribution of On Truth : The Tyranny of Illusion in a "give away like free philosophical candy" manner. On Truth... is no candy, though. For many it's a bitter philosophical pill which brings tough decisions to the forefront of their personal lives. It remains, however, written completely with the non-philosopher in mind. After all, philosophy actually supposed to help everybody, right?It's already one of the most influential books in my life, and I just read it a few months ago. I would recommend it to anyone with an even remote interest in living a happier life. If y...

The Philoso-Physician
2008-03-14 20:08:00
The internet's most popular philosophy podcast now has a brand spanking new tool to create customized podcast feeds tailored to your needs! Stefan Molyneux, host of Freedomain Radio, has put together a web-based wizard called the Philoso-Physician . It exists to "diagnose" your philosophical needs and desires through a short series of questions.You can either choose to narrow your search in the Philoso-Physician through choosing from a series of questions or a series of categories. With each option you choose broad samples at first, and then are asked to narrow the field within each broad option you chose. And it's all check -boxes. Click, click, click, done. The best part (in my opinion) is that the final page not only shows you the results of your "check-up" with the Philoso-Physician with a short description and link to each podcast that fits your requests, but it also can e-mail you a link to a custom .xml feed for all of those podcasts. For those of you who don't speak geek, ...

I Love and Want To Have Sex With The Flag of the United States of America
2008-03-13 07:51:00
I love my country more than life itself, and you can't say anything to change my mind. You can tell me the president is an idiot, you can say the armed forces are a mindless killing machine, you can say democracy is just a suggestion box for slaves; none of it will derail me from my unwavering belief that America is right and good and backed by this world's one true Christian God. My proof? Our nation's most important symbol, the American Flag. Just look at it:How can you want to look at anything else for the rest of your life? Really. I have my bedroom decorated with fifty-seven American Flags: one for each state, and one for each future state (Puerto Rico, Iraq, Syria, Iran, China, North Korea, and The Canadas). Such an enduring and empowering symbol is beyond comparison to anything else in the history of existence. Some would have the Constitution as our Great Godly Nation's most important symbol, but that's ridiculous. The Constitution and its values are changeable, and imm...
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What the Hell is Philosophy?
2008-03-11 04:43:00
The Meaning of Philosophy Part 1 - Philosophy, What Is It Good For? (Absolutely Somethin') As I mentioned in a recent post, I think it's time for me to put together an introductory philosophy series. I hope to make the series engaging and entertaining. This first post will cover what philosophy actually is. I didn't even begin to know the answer to this question until I was in college, and even then found the answer somewhat lacking.Alright, quit stalling. What the hell is philosophy?Ok. I'll get straight to the point. To me, philosophy is nothing more or less than the active pursuit of happiness through the study of truth and falsehood, and the subsequent application of that study to your life.Yeah, but isn't that just psychology?That's a good question, but philosophy is different from psychology in practice. Psychology is the study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses. Psychological study and treatment is certainly massively helpful in removing certain barriers to ...
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Join Satan?
2008-03-08 22:44:00
My wireless network went out today, but another one was right there waiting in the wings to help me out:I mean, I had to sign over my soul, but at least now I can check my Facebook!
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Hakuna Matata: Problem-Free Philosophy?
2008-03-06 22:47:00
Have you seen Disney's animated feature The Lion King? It's a pretty good story, and you should take a look if you've never had the chance. Maybe you could watch it with a kid if you feel strange about watching it alone...but you'll need to be prepared to explain a few things about the philosophical meaning to more inquisitive children afterward.In The Lion King, several cartoon animals face the types of problems that come up each and every day on the African Savannah. Death, food shortage, lion pride politics, romance, annoying bird assistants, the conflicts are nearly endless. With so much going on in the story, the writers developed a vibrant underlying philosophical ecosystem as active as the one present in the variety of animals in the film. In this post I only have time for a cursory view of the highlighted philosophy from the movie, the philosophy of Hakuna Matata. (Though I may re-visit this film in the future. I'm finding it chock full of philosophical interestingness!...
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Betta Fish Nation, or; I Am SO Fucking Smart
2008-03-06 00:23:00
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Ben FranklinMy brain came up with an analogy between modern western civilization and fish one night a while back when I was half asleep. It seemed sleek, pithy, and clever at the time, so I updated my Twitter account's status with it: "Giving up liberty for safety is for the beta fish. They are pretty, but stupid, and eat poop with their food. I am not a beta fish." A 140 character limit certainly forces an economy of words, but you get the idea. It struck me as classically clever--the sort of thing I could use to quote myself without remorse. The combination of a libertarian quote by Ben Franklin and a reference to a popular pet fish seemed deliciously referential, like an episode of Family Guy. I decided I would write an article comparing Betta fish to my idea of the average American neo-con statist; the sort of person who is happy to trade out their (and every...
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When You Say It Like That...
2008-02-20 04:23:00
TheoryAnyone who defends a position with the statement, "Well, when you say it like that..." either has an indefensible position, or hasn't thought their position through. Those with consistent logic based on evidence will not use this defense.PracticeExample OneMe to the Santa Claus Believer: So you believe in a fat man who constantly wears a red suit and has an army of elves to make toys for him. You believe that once a year, he distributes these toys from a magical sleigh flown by eight magical reindeer, and that he enters homes through the chimney, eats cookies and drinks some milk...all this at millions of homes worldwide in the space of one evening. He does this with absolutely no sense of self-interest. When he's not spending one night a year in worldwide charity, he's chilling at his home at the North Pole. Nobody has ever actually seen the real Santa Claus, though many of his "helpers" seem to pop up at malls just before Christmas each year. Am I getting it right so far?...

Contact Me
2008-02-18 07:50:00
Name:Email:Message:
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We Are Not Born Small
2008-02-12 23:05:00
What was carved on our foreheads that says "Cannot grow?" What was carved on our foreheads that says "Stay small - Stay little - Don't attract attention - Don't offend - Don't upset people - Don't contradict - Don't confront?" I don't believe that that's carved on my god damned DNA, and I don't believe that that's carved on your DNA either. I think that's just frightened people boxing us in because they're small, and I've had it with that...I've had it with that.There is nothing in our DNA that says we cannot speak the truth because people will get upset. So they get upset, so what? So what? You don't want to go to your grave--I don't--I don't want to go to my grave saying to myself, "Well, I didn't ruffle too many feathers. People liked me. They didn't know me well, and I certainly didn't reveal my true self to them...didn't even know what it was. But I got along. I sort of passed through life like a javelin into a still pond with barely a ripple. That is my leg...
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In the Beautiful Brains of Children: God vs. Einstein
2008-02-12 14:10:00
Here's a short video of kids responding to the question, "What does God look like?" You can see from their responses that it's akin to asking the question "What color is a unicorn?"(YouTube video link)I find kids to be amazing and fascinating creatures of logic. They're so dang smart, it puts most adults to shame. I think the video above is amazingly telling of the abuse inherent in religious instruction. The kids at the beginning of the video are completely honest. When asked "What does God look like?" they respond that they don't know, or that they don't understand the question.They have to be pressured to even answer such a nonsensical question. This is because children who are subjected to religious instruction are never asked whether or not God exists. They're told he does exist as an objective and solid fact. They're forcefully told it's true over and over again because there's not any way to arrive at belief in God through rational observation. Someone schooled in ev...
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Effective Protest: A Letter
2008-02-07 23:23:00
Here is a letter I wrote to be included in a college newspaper of a liberal arts school near where I live. It's about an anti-war protest they had that I believe to have had no effect-to a negative effect compared to what they intended. The letter was too long to fit into their "letters" section, and there wasn't enough time for me to rewrite before a deadline. The letter became outdated for their school paper, but I think it still has some value in showing how misguided the will of a mob can be. Plus, it's satire. What man could withhold a work of satire from publication and still call himself moral? No man at all. No man at all...Dear Macalester College students:I got some details of your recent protest/walkout/strike against the war in Iraq from a few of your classmates, and found some interesting parallels to a protest I had recently organized. I wanted to help you avoid certain disaster with your protest, but I've been dealing with an annoying arson court case. I haven't b...
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An Unfortunate Philosophical History (Now With Happy Ending)
2008-02-06 23:09:00
When I was a senior in college, I had to write a final paper. The idea was that we'd choose a topic of study that had likely been covered before and then find an interesting or new interpretation of that idea. With the discipline of philosophy, this is a lot like trying to write a fresh and exciting episode of Friends about Ross and Rachel's complicated relationship. There's not much left for territory unless you expand into completely new ideas or study one idea in depth. I decided to study an idea in depth: The idea that being living proof was the best possible argument for your ethical system. It wasn't a complicated or ultra-specific idea, like some of the other students had chosen, but it was problematic to my adviser, all the same.ME: I'd like to explore the idea that a system of ethics is invalid if it cannot be lived, and that actually living according to the logical consequences of your ethics is the best proof for its validity.PROF: OK. I'm not quite sure what you me...
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Post number ones are never interesting...
2008-02-06 19:29:00
...Until now! Oh wait, no. This one probably won't be too terribly interesting either. I'd just like to offer a bit of background before I get into all the this and that of my ideas. My name is Jason McLaughlin. I'm currently 26 years old and I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. In college, I majored in literature and philosophy. This qualifies me to write a blog on my thoughts and ideas. The diploma certifies me to do little else (like make millions of dollars), I've found. I'm not explaining my education to give you a reason to trust everything I say, but just so that you can feel a bit more comfortable lending me your brain if you haven't pursued a similar course of study. After college, my senioritis continued for a year or two. I've picked philosophy back up in the past couple of years, and found some amazing new ideas that we didn't seem to touch on in enough (or any) detail while I was in college. It turned out to be exactly the sort of stuff I was trying to study, b...
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