It’s funny to see the “left/right” slant debate in the comments. I thought we were past that. Who cares what Team each statement is a soldier for? They’re all pretty good examples of the noncentral fallacy, and the further discussion about Schelling fences addressed almost all of my few objections while reading them. I’ve actually had those “taxation is theft” and “imprisonment is kidnapping” conversations with people, because they’ve never even considered the similarities.
My only remaining objection is that the word “racism” has gotten overloaded, but to me, affirmative action is central to systemic racism. The defining feature of the category is collective judgement based on race (rather than individual merit), and affirmative action fits. When I object to it emotionally, I am not objecting because I’m using the same emotions I have towards the actions of the KKK, I’m objecting because I’m disgusted when race makes its way into law.
It’s funny to see the “left/right” slant debate in the comments. I thought we were past that. Who cares what Team each statement is a soldier for? They’re all pretty good examples of the noncentral fallacy, and the further discussion about Schelling fences addressed almost all of my few objections while reading them. I’ve actually had those “taxation is theft” and “imprisonment is kidnapping” conversations with people, because they’ve never even considered the similarities.
My only remaining objection is that the word “racism” has gotten overloaded, but to me, affirmative action is central to systemic racism. The defining feature of the category is collective judgement based on race (rather than individual merit), and affirmative action fits. When I object to it emotionally, I am not objecting because I’m using the same emotions I have towards the actions of the KKK, I’m objecting because I’m disgusted when race makes its way into law.