Part 10 in the survey series, A Renegade History Course. This is a live discussion with historian Thaddeus Russell, the author of A Renegade History of the United States. Thaddeus addresses questions and objections from the audience regarding our previous shows. Carlos Morales (http://www.truthovercomfort.net/) and Wes Bertrand (http://www.completeliberty.com/) are the co-hosts.
Discussed Today:
Most of the discussion in the second half of the Q&A is built off Ali's question:
"My opinion is that stealing is always bad practice because of the golden rule of property rights (or the NAP) regardless of how big the group is you’re stealing from, how many handouts they receive from the state, or whether you get caught doing it.
Thadeus claimed that his only problem with stealing is in cases where it does not serve your self interest in that you may get caught in which case future trade with that person or organization would be impossible or limited. But then he claims its okay steal from large corporations such as Walmart because they receive corporate handouts from the state. Let’s put aside the fact that it’s in Walmart’s self interest to accept these handouts and instead explore which place you’re better off stealing from based purely on self interest: Walmart or your locally-owner corner store.
If you are caught stealing from the small business the only cost is that you can’t shop there. Worst case scenario the word spreads among business owners, you have a poor reputation in this limited sphere of perhaps your town, and you have to move to another town. If you get caught stealing from a large chain like Walmart and tarnish your reputation with them you are worse off than in the other example because Walmart is everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are, if you’re blacklisted by Walmart you are arguably much worse off than if you can no longer shop at Bob’s discount beverages. So by Thadeus’s logic, wouldn’t you be better off stealing from small businesses because of their limited influence than a big corporation like Walmart?"
We also return to the objectivism vs. relativism debate, and we then touch on academia, parenting and Stefan Molyneux.
Listener Questions we didn't address:
View Here
Video:
Bumper Music:
"The Roof Is On Fire" Rock Master Scott and The Dynamic Three
"Dictaphones Lament" Tycho
Look Closer:
Thaddeus Russell's Site - www.thaddeusrussell.com
Previous School Sucks Show With Thaddeus Russell - http://schoolsucksproject.com/category/podcast/a-renegade-history-cours…