Government is evil...

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Originally Posted by Bolton Midnight

So was Ian Brady or Fred West evil or just misunderstood?

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I wasn't aware that was the only choice available.

Victims of society were they, just needed breast feeding when bairns?

People are generally more complex than simply being 'bad' or 'good'.

Am sure their victims agree................

maybe they were thinking to themselves 'now I wonder why he is shoving that massive spike up my VJ whilst his missus bashes my head with a hammer they're not all bad as Fred kindly changed that lightbulb for me lastnight'

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Originally Posted by Malbec

Sorry Rudy but you're artificially choosing what is acceptable to discuss and what is not.

If you are going to discuss the merits of government then it is only natural, even essential to discuss alternative systems. This could be the comparison of government with the lack of government (ie anarchy) or public vs private sector.

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If we are to discuss an alternative in general to government in general, that would not be the private sector. That would be the society itself. A self-regulating and self-governing society, that is. In such a society the central governmentonly takes care of a few selected things (diplomacy, defense, some communications, taxation to support the abovemtnioned) and that's it.

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Originally Posted by Rollo

"government" includes the administration and policy direction of power and wealth; the private sector very much engages in this.

If Rudy chooses to describe "government" as "evil" then, is this a reflection on how he sees human nature generally?

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There is a lot of evil in human nature in the shape of lust, violence greed and other dark instincts. Correct me if I'm wrong. Those who want to be in power and govern others tend to live by those instincts a lot more than an average Joe. I.e. giving them more power is cultivating evil. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by Rudy Tamasz

There is a lot of evil in human nature in the shape of lust, violence greed and other dark instincts. Correct me if I'm wrong. Those who want to be in power and govern others tend to live by those instincts a lot more than an average Joe. I.e. giving them more power is cultivating evil. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

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Why your obsession with this word 'evil'?

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

Why your obsession with this word 'evil'?

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There's a jewellry store close to my office that is called ИВЕЛ. The name is completely meaningless in Russian, but it sounds very close to "evil" in English. I pass it by every now and then and here you go.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

I wasn't aware that was the only choice available.

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You come across as naive with comments like that, they are just two examples. Why don't you just answer the question - a simple yes or no would have done.

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Originally Posted by Rudy Tamasz

If we are to discuss an alternative in general to government in general, that would not be the private sector. That would be the society itself. A self-regulating and self-governing society, that is. In such a society the central governmentonly takes care of a few selected things (diplomacy, defense, some communications, taxation to support the abovemtnioned) and that's it.

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What you describe is still a government albeit cut down, not society governing itself. But at least you've made your libertarian agenda clear.

BTW earlier you complained that government only acts to cut down on human rights. Can you expand further on this? What kind of human rights are you talking about? The kind that was enshrined by the rebel American government in 1776? Or maybe you're thinking about the rights declared by the French government in 1789. Perhaps you're thinking about the more informal unwritten guaranteed rights given by the British government in the mid 17th century.

How does government only cutting down on human rights go with the massive expansion of liberties in East Europe after the fall in the Berlin wall enacted by those governments? How about the fall of Apartheid, also with new rights given to blacks by the South African government?

Perhaps you could then consider that your arguments are just a tiny bit simplistic.