From Internet Archive:
Speaking only for himself, J. Morton Spindle, Jr. suggests that it’s not always nice to be nice.
The “Benevolent Rape” Scene?
Being a Judicious Inquiry into the Proper
Parameters of Benevolence as Manifested in the
So-called “Rape” Scene of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead
by J. Morton Spindle, Jr.
(First published on TDO September 28, 1999) [continue reading…]
Update:
Dunno, maybe. He seems a nice guy in person but under the surface all these Randroids are they same.
They want to prance around and preach condescendingly to us about things we already know and act like Rand discovered common sense–and the facts is they are mini-statists and…— Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella) December 6, 2025
Dunno, maybe. He seems a nice guy in person but under the surface all these Randroids are they same. They want to prance around and preach condescendingly to us about things we already know and act like Rand discovered common sense–and the facts is they are mini-statists and support IP and have a very confused understanding of property rights. They use stupid, hoary metaphors and idiosyncratic terms and definitions that sound cultish; they run around talking about “Miss Rand” and “achieving value,” whatever the hell that means. They support taxation stephankinsella.com/2016/05/david- stephankinsella.com/2025/07/the-po, they support one-world government stephankinsella.com/2009/09/object stephankinsella.com/2009/09/rand-o, they support legislation if it is the only way to get IP c4sif.org/2022/08/letter, they support fascist IP and IP terrorism c4sif.org/2022/04/on-the, they support war and nuking Arabs and others stephankinsella.com/2007/12/centra ari.aynrand.org/issues/foreign , they think retarded babies should be aborted stephankinsella.com/2009/07/object stephankinsella.com/2009/12/randia, they think it was fine to murder and steal from Indians stephankinsella.com/2024/12/rand-o, they worship the centralized-statist Constitution, they hate charity, children, fun, humor stephankinsella.com/2009/07/peikof. They are pathetic, cartoonish children stephankinsella.com/2010/01/object. They should be grateful we principled anti-state libertarians even deign to speak with them despite all this, but they are too puffed up and weird to have humility. I refuse to pretend they are not what they are and they can’t stand that. The saving grace of the retarded Galambosians was they took their IP views so seriously that almost none of their stupid views are available online.
I’ve noted before [archived link] Randians’ bizarre practice of “officially” “breaking” with one another (other comments on this).
Now some Objectivists who actually have a sense of humor have made up an “Official Solo Schism Form Letter”. Funny stuff. The letter is lampooning Objectivist nobody Diana Mertz Hsieh, who felt compelled to Officially, Publicly Break with a former Objectivist friend, the brilliant Chris Sciabarra (who is a decent, sincere, honest person who did not deserve to be treated like this), and to justify it by printing his private correspondence to her and a set of charges to any normal person would appear very bizarre (strange for a Randian, eh?). One of many critiques of Hsieh’s dishonorable actions is found here; another. [continue reading…]
This is a wonderful article announcing the opening of the Mises Institute’s iTunes U:
The Mises Institute is pleased to announce that the multimedia content on Mises.org — many thousands of hours of audio and video — is now available through iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com).
iTunes U carries lectures from top academic minds on every topic, freely available, elegantly organized, and beautifully presented. Users enjoy easy access to material ranging from ancient-language studies to particle physics.
This shows what can be done with the open-information vision and mentality. A few great quotes excerpted below. Not only that, the Mises Institute multimedia files on its iTunes U page include lectures criticizing intellectual property, and free-market material criticizing monopoly in general.
Also appearing on Mises Daily today is my article “Fifteen Minutes that Changed Libertarian Publishing,” about the genesis of Libertarian Papers, another open-information project of the heroic Mises Institute. “Fifteen Minutes that Changed Libertarian Publishing” (2)
Rand said big business is America’s most persecuted minority, or something like that. Bah. They are in bed with the state big-time. As reported in Tech Firms Aim to Change Copyright Act, [continue reading…]
While scanning files a while back in the process of going paperless, I came across a one-page Reading List, “Suggested by C. H. Murphy, Jr., to El Dorado High School students during National Library Week, April, 1964. I can’t remember where I got it, but reviewing it, we can see the times certainly have changed. Most college kinds now have not read much of the material listed on it. But at least they have advanced video games and cell phones. The text of Murphy’s list is below (with hyperlinks added where possible).
For more, see my post The Greatest Libertarian Books.
READING LlST
Suggested by C. H. Murphy, Jr., to El Dorado High School students during National Library Week, April, 1964
[LRC cross-post]
From 2005:
A Swedish libertarian buddy, Johan Ridenfeldt, pointed me to this article (in Swedish), which describes libertarian (liberal) arguments against intellectual property, and also includes a review of the debate in Nyliberalen (The Neoliberal). He wrote, “I find this very positive. I’m involved (somewhat) in politics, and I have noticed that most of the libertarian young ones agree with us on IP [i.e., that it is problematic and unlibertarian]. This was not the case when I first started quoting you back when your Against IP article was in draft [in 2000 or so]. I used to post and recommend your working paper draft, and back then I was pretty alone in my views.”
I have noticed a similar trend. The younger, Internet generation seems to be much more receptive to the notion that there are no property rights in information and ideas. Whether this is because they are more open minded, more libertarian, or anti-big-business, I am not sure. I have noticed that most of the older types are much more resistant to challenges to IP.Coda: Jim Newland writes:
Sheesh, Stephan. I’m an old fogey and even I know the answer to this one. It’s because they’ve grown up in the digital era, with its easily traded and downloaded electronic files. The impossibility of actually owning an idea or anything else nonmaterial is brought into sharp focus with the ubiquity of the internet. For instance, in the case of videogame pirates, they ask how they can be accused of stealing something when the original product remains with its original owner. This starts them thinking about the whole idea of intellectual property and the notion that one can somehow own something as ephemeral as a thought.
And a college student writes,
The reason is actually pretty simple. The RIAA just sued my roommate and about 10 other kids here at [my college]. The younger generation is anti-IP because we love free file sharing and hate getting sued.
Karen, your post called to mind Fun Fair Positive Soccer, a kids’ soccer league near Houston, that one of my friends is involved in. Personally I’ve always despised the way too many parents at little league games etc. go completely bonkers, yelling from the stands, ruthlessly making it into some life or death competition, etc. [continue reading…]
In a previous post, I noted the arbitrariness of copyright law in prohibiting editing a DVD to take out objectionable scenes, when presumably it would be legal to accomplish the same thing by other means–e.g., as I pointed out in a legal forum, by providing instructions to users to use to program a special DVD player that edits out the bad scenes “on the fly” in the user’s home. [continue reading…]
Propaganda cartoon produced by Harding University, Searcy, Arkansas, 1948, warning of the dangers of socialism–which is refers to obliquely as “isms”. It’s a bizarre combination of pretty explicit anti-communist, anti-statist messages, plus a decent–if airbrushed–promotion of an idealized version of American capitalism, mixed in with endorsement of maionstream welfarism (unions, right to strike, etc.). (Google video version.)
[LRC cross-post]
The beginnings of my love-affair with Apple–I’m not a complete fan-boi! Squee!
Lew, given some email I’ve received from Mac cultists who for some reason took my post as Apple bashing, let me make sure I am clear that I’ve never been an Apple basher and my post was not meant to engage in this at all. I’m in complete agreement with what you say. Our family has three iPods and I recently got a MacBook for my wife. I’ve long been an admirer of Apple’s beautiful and clean design (for some reason I group in my mind companies like Apple, Bose, and Google). Even their packaging and boxes are beautiful (funny video mocking how Microsoft would have done the iPod packaging design). I’m tempted to go Mac myself and may.
I also like Apple’s triumph in the silly trademark lawsuit with Apple records, and how they come as close to the line as possible with FTC “made in XXX country regulations” which require them to label their products as “made in China”–their label and packaging states this, but states it boldly and proudly, along wiht: “designed by Apple in California.” Not designed in America–but in California. I love that. (Annoying Mac cultist geeks now, that’s another story.) I also like the ads–they are brilliantly done and funny. As the article I linked notes, the Apple
campaign is a marvel of clarity and simplicity. No slogans. No video effects. No voice-overs. And lots of clean, white space. It’s like a bath of cool mineral water when these ads come on after a string of garish, jam-packed spots for other products.
But the author put his finger on some things about the ads I had noticed. One was that the PC guy is very likable and funny (and as the author notes–aren’t nerds the “new cool”?). Even in the ad where the smart hipster is teaching the affable dweeb how to use “touche’” properly, the Mac guy does come off as just a bit condescending, and the PC guy as the one you sort of want to identify with.
Now usually the use of the term “mean-spirited”–usually trotted out by leftists who attack positions based on their emotions–makes my trigger finger itchy. But this piece in Slate about the Mac v. PC television ads is brilliant.
Recently Walter Block was on a TV show run by black power advocates. He thought they were going to discuss the Katrina hurricane disaster in New Orleans, but the discussion ended up focusing on racism and a variety of other issues.
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See also Walter Block, Second Guest Appearance on “Our Story” (missing media)
It is one of the most surreal and fascinating viewing experiences I’ve had in a long time. I literally spit my bourbon out on my laptop 3 times. Such as when Walter had to answer the question about the turbo-diesel Chrysler; or the be-doo-ragged guy who insisted North Korea was doing better than South Korea–you can’t be sure whether the guy is just confused, or whether that is actually his view. Walter is so into ideas, and so sincere, he’s actually having a serious intellectual conversation with these guys–and it’s kind of interesting, as much as they fumble around and are uninformed by the kind of academic and economic and political theories Block just unabashedly hurls at them, they are somewhat sincere and earnest, and for the most part really listening to him, unlike most “normal” “mainstream” audiences or hosts. What a great video! Just fast forward past the first 15 minutes or so until Block starts talking.
These and other Block TV and radio appearances and debates can be found here. In addition to the one linked above, Block also highly recommends the one on WalMart and also his debate with Richard Epstein.
[LRC cross-post]
Someone found Part 2 for me; see below.
Stephan Kinsella is a libertarian writer and retired patent attorney in Houston, Texas. He has published widely on various areas of libertarian legal theory and on legal topics such as intellectual property law and international law. His publications include Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Papinian Press, 2023), Against Intellectual Property (Mises Institute, 2008), International Investment, Political Risk, and Dispute Resolution: A Practitioner’s Guide (Oxford, 2020), and The Universal Principles of Liberty (2025).
My Failed Libertarian Speaking Hiatus; Memories of Mises Institute and Other Events, 1988–20192025
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