tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post6719812654184027390..comments2023-08-29T01:27:13.772-07:00Comments on Magpie's Asymmetric Warfare: Mark Harrison and Whig History.Magpiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-31930936732334407512013-08-13T15:15:29.729-07:002013-08-13T15:15:29.729-07:00Yeah, it's really frustrating when someone is ...Yeah, it's really frustrating when someone is expressly and unapologetically arguing from a position of bad faith. <br /><br />For me, testing one's ideas against those who feel differently represents bettering oneself in the pursuit of the truth (which is why I hold my current set of often-changing opinions, starting from nearly the opposite position a decade ago); for him, it's a waste of time since apparently he's already mastered the entire subject — several of them, in fact! — and has nothing more to learn. <br /><br />I dunno, I just can't get into that mindset.<br /><br />Thanks for understanding, Mags~Hedlundnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-62229060187621461722013-08-13T12:10:15.932-07:002013-08-13T12:10:15.932-07:00@Hedlund, @Anonymous
Guys,
I appreciate your int...@Hedlund, @Anonymous<br /><br />Guys,<br /><br />I appreciate your intentions. But that wasn't such a good idea.<br /><br />At the other hand, actually seeing a charlatan in action, with your own eyes, may be a useful experience.<br /><br />Now you guys see why I say this is a much more insidious problem than an honestly conservative critic?Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-17572612051539935822013-08-13T08:14:11.306-07:002013-08-13T08:14:11.306-07:00Further observations on the above-referenced discu...Further observations on the above-referenced discussion: It went nowhere, as expected; he's got his priors and he'll be damned if he's going to reconsider them for any reason. <br /><br />I would just leave it at that, but the sheer volume of argumentum ad hominem, his utter unwillingness to comprehend the ideas to which he is so zealously opposed, and his need to dehumanize his opponents with epithets like "marxoids"/"marxbots" really seals it for me: Pilkington is an intellectual con artist with whom I shall not engage further.<br /><br />I wish him all the best in life, etc. But seriously, what a contemptible cad.Hedlundnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-78160003524341132012013-08-13T06:46:47.302-07:002013-08-13T06:46:47.302-07:00Magpie, I followed that link you left to Mr. Pilki...Magpie, I followed that link you left to Mr. Pilkington's post. I had a lengthy exchange with him (once again!) in those comments. Though he claims it was not a response to me in particular, it culminated in a new post by him to which I've also responded.<br /><br />Just thought you'd appreciate our sparring match, since I even got him to concede a couple points (albeit in his own unfortunately standoffish and dismissive way).Hedlundnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-65986958986405713702013-08-13T03:32:33.366-07:002013-08-13T03:32:33.366-07:00Reminds me of an article in the NYT about how libe...Reminds me of an article in the NYT about how liberals ruin revolutions: <br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/marxs-lesson-for-the-muslim-brothers.html?pagewanted=all<br /><br />It seems Mao was probably right about liberalism. As you said, you know where you stand with a good conservative<br /><br />- UEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-71736846002824602182013-08-13T02:16:26.439-07:002013-08-13T02:16:26.439-07:00It seems excessive, right? You might be right.
Ho...It seems excessive, right? You might be right.<br /><br />However, trust me in this (or not), there are some very nasty ones among the MMT crowd. <br /><br />Check the message "Steve" left to this professor some time ago, after the professor did a favorable comment to MMT:<br /><br />http://anticap.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/toto-were-not-on-the-gold-standard-anymore/<br /><br />The professor is a Marxist.Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-56287845811330191652013-08-12T04:33:13.581-07:002013-08-12T04:33:13.581-07:00I see your war with Pilkington is ongoing :)
I le...I see your war with Pilkington is ongoing :)<br /><br />I left a comment, anyway. What a tool.Unlearningeconhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687413107325575532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-52332231950713240532013-08-11T17:11:21.368-07:002013-08-11T17:11:21.368-07:00Harrison is a right-winger, he won't change hi...Harrison is a right-winger, he won't change his mind. Ever. It's not a matter of reasoning.<br /><br />The important thing is that he was challenged. There are good arguments against his position. Those with an open mind can see that Harrison's views are not uncontested. Ultimately, it's up to them. Isn't that what democracy is all about? That's all we can do.<br /><br />In a way, someone like Harrison is preferable to the guy you'll see in the link below: Harrison does not pretend to be anything other than a conservative.<br /><br />http://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/joan-robinson-and-the-labor-theory-of-value/<br /><br />Now, a creature like that is a lot worse, because it's insidious, poisonous.<br /><br />For one he pretends to be a "progressive" to attach himself, leech-like, to a growing and vaguely progressive online movement (the online Post-Keynesians and MMTers).<br /><br />I can only imagine his purpose is to share in their growing popularity to gain some personal relevance, while attempting to turn them against the more progressive elements in their mist.<br /><br />And even for the Post-Keynesians and MMTers the guy is ultimately bad news. Because the guy is an ignorant, he must pretend otherwise; but there is only so much pretending one can do before people start noticing and associating all Post-Keynesians and MMTers to that.<br /><br />Check that guy's last comments in the post I linked to:<br /><br />"You seem a little confused. You first statement 'all dogs are mammals' is indeed circular. But the logic behind it is that there is some good reason to catagorise animals we call 'dogs' as 'mammals'. Your second statement is clearly an empirical statement. It is to be assumed that have have examined billybob and concluded that it is a cat."Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-88171810919069955382013-08-11T06:51:51.559-07:002013-08-11T06:51:51.559-07:00Thanks for this. I considered a piece responding t...Thanks for this. I considered a piece responding to Harrison, but I realised it wasn't worth it as he:<br /><br />- Completely ignores the criticisms of capitalism I made, and which you so comprehensively expand on here;<br /><br />- Fails to refute my central point about communist atrocities being clearly explainable by a sort of survivorship bias, while capitalist ones are not;<br /><br />- Simply goes into more detail about communist regimes in accounts which I don't substantially disagree with. Presumably this was to offer up a kind of 'theatre of horror' in order to shock people into disliking communism?<br /><br />- Makes a series of 'corrections' which are questionable. For example, the IMF as a 'responsible aid donor'; the nihilsitic idea that we 'cannot possibly know' what protestors want; claiming that liberal democracies 'separate' economics and political power (lol).Unlearningeconhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687413107325575532noreply@blogger.com