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Joss Whedon Is a Bully and a Coward See the relevant video here.
I dislike both Obama and Romney as presidential candidates. I love the short-lived science fiction series, “Firefly.” But Joss Whedon — the creator of that show, one of my all-time favorites — is an idiot in this political video. Apparently, to him, “compassion” (“car[ing] about each other”) — whether in the form of health care, education, social services, or any other area of life — consists of being a bully and a thief. Worse, he is a cowardly bully and thief, at that, hiding behind the government to obscure his goal of stealing my money, my life, and my property. He seeks to use the government to force me to do what he wants and to stop me from doing what I want. How arrogant. How disgusting. Like most who refuse to use persuasion to accomplish their ends, who refuse to respect my personal autonomy, who refuse to acknowledge my right to live my life the way I want, who deny I own my life, own my property, own my self, Whedon prefers to enforce his will at the point of a gun. But he is too cowardly to wield the gun himself. He has said he “dislikes” guns. But he has no qualms about wanting the government and its guns to do what he does not have the guts to do himself. I would like to see him show up at my doorstep and try to take my money himself. He would not fare very well. But as I said, he’s too much of a coward to deal with me face-to-face and to declare that he has a right to my life; to proclaim that he has a right to rob me and decide how to spend the money that I earned with my life, my time, my effort; to admit that he is a petty thug and would-be dictator who possesses a specious “right” to be generous with other people’s lives. Anyone who wants the government to take my money without my permission or to have the government force me to act as that person wants rather than according to my own decisions is out to control me and and my material possessions. But Whedon can stand proudly with all the other statists and collectivists of every stripe, knowing that — like them — he is too delusional, too much of a sanctimonious coward, to admit his immorality in trying to rob his peaceful fellow citizens by proxy, forcing everyone else to fund what he thinks is important. He can give away his own millions, if he wants. But he has zero right to a cent of my money or to a second of my life. Unlike him, I am not a slave and have no desire to be a slaver. I have no itch to coerce other people to do what they would not do voluntarily and in mutual agreement with their fellow citizens. In this video, Joss Whedon reveals himself as the closet tyrant, the bully, the cur he is deep in his heart. Frack him.
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Don't Get Me Started! This space will include my observations on various issues that don't warrant an entire essay or article. ** Don't forget to take The Freedom Quiz. (See Gold Standard Defenders list here.) **
 Freedom Requires That We... • Defend Property Rights • Accept the Peaceful, Personal Choices of Others • Use Persuasion, Not Force to Achieve Our Goals • Engage Only in Voluntary Social Interactions • Realize We Own Our Lives • Act in Our Rational Self-Interest • Enforce the Bill of Rights • Uphold Freedom of Contract and Freedom of Association YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO YOU It’s... • Your Responsibility • Your Decisions • Your Money • Your Life TAKING FREEDOM PERSONALLY If someone stuck a gun in your face and stole your money, would you be upset? If someone broke into your home, would you be perturbed? If someone beat you, would you be dismayed and agitated? When the government engages in legalized theft (taxes and inflation) or regulates you to death, you should be equally angry and disturbed. Don’t be indifferent to the abuses you suffer. YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO YOU. Don’t let anyone dictate how you should live that life. If there is one thing I believe, I believe that I belong to me. I believe this deeply, passionately, wholeheartedly, without reservation or qualification. This nation fought a bloody war that abolished the vile notion that one human being could own another. The citizens of this country even enshrined the principle that no one is the slave or involuntary servant of others by passing the Thirteenth Amendment. As long as people lead their lives peacefully, refusing to threaten or use violence against their neighbors except to defend themselves, I believe their self-ownership must not be limited or denied. I came by the belief that I belong to me — and only to me — by a long process of discovery. For most of my life, I was inundated by the message that the desires and dictates of others took precedence over my own. It’s easy to say “yes.” It can be incredibly difficult to say “no.” Knowing that I belong to me — and only to me — transformed not just my vision of myself but my image of the people around me. Realizing that each individual has his own life to lead, his own mind to follow, his own judgments to make, eliminated any tendency to blame others, to shift the focus from my own bad choices, to seek others to rebuild my life. Even if I did not always agree with the decisions others made, I respected their right to make such choices and to experience the consequences, good or bad. More importantly, because I accepted the fundamental fact that I belong to me — and only to me — I had more respect for myself. Having embraced the joys of self-ownership, I want others to recognize and accept the value of personal responsibility and voluntary interactions. I try to embody the idea that has liberated me. I feel no guilt when I enjoy the results of my hard work, because my money belongs to me — and only to me. I feel no shame when I experience the pleasures of life, because my body and my mind belong to me — and only to me. I feel no unchosen duty to fix the lives of strangers, because their lives do not belong to me, are not mine to fix, nor does my life belong to them: it belongs only to me. I have banished aggression from my world. I have eliminated envy and greed from my thoughts. I have exiled from my soul any desire to control the minds or bodies or property of others. I see no appeal in imposing coercive power over innocent people. I know this because I know with certainty that I belong to me. And that you belong to you. SELF-OWNERSHIP
PROPERTY RIGHTS FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION FREEDOM OF CONTRACT |
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Published when I can. Donations: I operate on the honor system. Since I'm not a ghost, I can't subsist on air. If you believe in value-for-value relationships and enjoy what you have read, pay here: Visa or MasterCard. Donations of any amount are also always appreciated. Submissions: Guest articles welcomed. Contact editor here. Visit Russ Madden's Home Page for more articles, essays, reviews, and fiction. A list of previous Atlas articles is also available there. Advertising welcome. Contact editor for particulars. |
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Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.  |