individualism for the masses

BK Marcus is an amateur political economist with no formal education in the subject.

He works from Charlottesville, Virginia as an editorial consultant for the Ludwig von Mises Institute and managing editor of Mises.org.

He is no longer a house husband, nor a faculty spouse, but he is still a dilettante and a layabout, at least in spirit.

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"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance."

Murray Rothbard

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Benjamin Tucker Marcus
February 19, 2010

serendipity

April 20th, 2007 by bkmarcus



The Calvin & Hobbes strip that gets linked to the most on lowercase liberty is this one:

“self-esteem”

Posted in comics, culture, language | No Comments »

on neighborhood entrepreneurship and Judeo-Christian ritual

April 20th, 2007 by bkmarcus

BK Marcus: Let’s all say hello to our guest blogger iceberg who hails all the way from the tundras of New York City.

iceberg: Hey! Look mom, I’m on lowercase liberty!

BK Marcus: iceberg, so tell me what brings you here?

iceberg: Well, for fear of reprisal, I dare not post this to my own blog since family members are known to visit my blog now and then, and let’s leave it by saying that my folks are often concerned about what I say and how I feel about things. Especially if it involves words containing letters such as G, O, V, E, R, N, M, — well not to get sidetracked, but I just wanted to say that its with great humility when I say that its truly a pleasure to be the first guest blogger to be featured on your esteemed blog.

BK Marcus: We are certainly happy to have you aboard too, comrade. So tell us, what ails you?

iceberg: I fear its the holier-than-thou attitude prevalent in society, and the psychological urge felt needed to reify that baseless superiority. If I may, I’m going to relate one real-life example that I am currently witnessing.

BK Marcus: Sure; what is it?

iceberg: Every Saturday over the past year, my wife and I have witnessed from the vantage of our living room a continual stream of drug transactions taking place right in front of our home; apparently the dealer lives in a walk-up apartment building right across the street from us. I’ve never thought twice about it until once we invited my in-laws over for lunch, which after they noticed the same, have strongly expressed their compunction to have this man violently assaulted and kidnapped for the dastardly crime of making other people happy and accepting their money in exchange.

In the subsequent dialogue with my mother-in-law, she took offense that I dare defend a drug dealer’s right not to be assaulted. Knowing that its probably to difficult to change her heart about the senseless war on chemicals formulations, I made a witty remark saying that her own husband, my father-in-law who by trade is a pharmacist, is himself a drug-dealer.

BK Marcus: So what you are basically trying to say here, is that this smug, undeserving feeling of superiority, can get to the point where someone would actively seek to harm some random stranger in order to be seen as a righteous individual?

iceberg: Exactly! I couldn’t have said, or rather, written that any better than you just did. I just can’t understand the knee-jerk aversion to that friendly neighbor who never offended me in any way. Sure plenty of strangers visit our block for their fix, but why should I let that bother me — because some pompous moron has decided that my neighborhood entrepreneur is a bad man?! Maybe that kind of illogic stuff flies in kindergarten, but come on, let’s be serious and grow out of this puerile tattletaling which helps naught anyone.

BK Marcus: Interesting. Is there anything else you would like to share with our guests?

iceberg: Yes, an interesting note on the etymology of the word "cannabis". According to many etymologists, it comes from the Hebrew words Kanneh Bosem, which translates to "aromatic reeds" or "reeds of balm". This biblical plant was used in the formulation of Shemen Hamish’kha, which literally means "anointing oil" which was used to anoint the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest. Of course it was only a topical application, but the pun remains.

Also, the same oil was used to anoint kings, and eventually, one day it will be used to anoint the messiah, the word derived from an anglicization of Moshiach, or Mashu’akh, which again, literally means "the anointed one".

Even Christianity derives from this- the Greek word for "anointed" is — khrīstos!

I’ll leave it up to you what to make of this alluring synchronicity.

BK Marcus: That the use of cannabis is a fundamental Judeo-Christian ritual to be lauded?? Deal me in, kiddo.

Posted in culture, history, language, metablog, philosophy | 4 Comments »