Ideas matter. More than two
centuries after freedom of speech was enshrined in the First Amendment
to the Constitution, that right is very much in the news. Campus speech
codes, disinvited commencement speakers, jailed performance artists,
exiled leakers, a blogger condemned to a thousand lashes by one of our
closest allies, and the ... MORE
Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wisdom. Show all posts
Steven Pinker: Why Free Speech Is Fundamental
Ideas matter. More than two
centuries after freedom of speech was enshrined in the First Amendment
to the Constitution, that right is very much in the news. Campus speech
codes, disinvited commencement speakers, jailed performance artists,
exiled leakers, a blogger condemned to a thousand lashes by one of our
closest allies, and the ... MORELibertarians: Looking For Results Or Self-Congratulation?
by Sheldon Richman. When I was researching my
recent article on Nathaniel Branden, who died last month, I
came across an
audio file of a talk Branden gave at the 1979 Libertarian Party
national convention in Los Angeles. I was at the convention, but I
don't remember attending the talk. I might have been busy with
other things; on the other hand, I ... MOREWalter E Williams: Embarrassing Economists
The first fundamental law of demand. So as to give some perspective, I'm going to ask readers for their guesses about human behavior before explaining my embarrassment by some of my fellow economists. Suppose the prices of ladies jewelry rose by 100 percent. What would you predict would happen to sales? What about a ... MOREThomas Sowell: Irresponsible Choices
So now we want the first woman president? The latest Gallup poll indicates that 14 percent of the people "moderately disapprove" of Barack Obama's performance as president and 39 percent "strongly disapprove." Since Obama won two presidential elections, chances are that some of those who now "strongly disapprove" of what he ... MOREThomas Sowell: The Media And The Mob Of Ferguson
The bias of the bullet-counters. Casting blame based on skin color should have ended with Jim Crow. Those of us who admit that we were not there and do not know what happened when Michael Brown was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Mo., seem to be in the minority. We all know what has happened since then — and it has been a ... MOREThomas Sowell: Is Thinking Obsolete?
The evidence is mounting. Some have said that we are living in a post-industrial era, while others have said that we are living in a post-racial era. But growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era. Many people in Europe and the Western Hemisphere are staging angry protests against Israel's military action in Gaza. ... MOREThomas Sowell: Poverty And Snow Storms
The exit route is obscured. Many years ago, in upstate New York, there was a lady who was caught
in a fierce snow storm that produced conditions called a "whiteout."
That's when the snow is falling so thick and fast that all you can see
in any direction is just sheer white. This lady wandered around in the
storm, struggling to try to get home, ... MORE
VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Introducing Objectivism
Perhaps the most important philosophic video you will EVER see.
Thomas Sowell: Christmas Books - The Gift Of Clarity
Great winter reads. As Christmas approaches, the shopping mall can become a shopping maul. One of the ways of buying gifts for family and friends, without becoming part of a mob scene in the stores, is to shop on the Internet. However, for many kinds of gifts, you want to be able to see it directly, and perhaps handle it, before you part with your ... MOREIll-Informed Voters Pay Dividends To Democratic Party
by Larry Elder. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is worried. In a recent speech at Boise State, O'Connor said: "Less than one-third of eighth-graders can identify the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence, and it's right there in the name. ... The more I read and the more I listen, the more apparent ... MOREThomas Sowell: Random Thoughts From Wise Thinkers
Not-so-common sense. "We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish." (F.A. Hayek) "Many respectable writers agree that if a man reasonably believes that he is in immediate danger of death or grievous bodily harm from his assailant he may stand his ground and that if he kills him he has not ... MOREWalter E Williams: Profiling
Understanding probability is useful. Police Capt. Louis Renault, played by Claude Rains in the 1942 movie "Casablanca," in the wake of the shooting of a Nazi officer, ordered his men to "round up the usual suspects." Was Renault engaging in some sort of profiling? He may have been, but what is profiling? Let's look at it. We can think of ... MOREReal Americans Don't Trust The Government
by Jonathon Moseley. "Question Authority" was a dominant political theme in the '60s and 70s We're talking about the 1760s and the 1770s, of course -- the American Revolution. Well, sure, the 1960s and the 1970s, too. But our country was founded on the idea "Question Authority" while opposing the King of England in the 1760s and 1770s. ... MORE
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