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@thesotiris in March 2025

@thesotiris

The dumbest objections against statelessness #5 "You use government services, therefore you’re a hypocrite!" Government enthusiasts tend to show their relishing of their own enslavement with this smug snarky comment, which they imagine a checkmate case-closed smoking gun for their state worship: *“You can’t be a voluntaryist if you use government services. If you believe a centralized coercive government should not exist, then you shouldn’t use any of the government’s roads…

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The military is gay [Part 2]: Homo-erotic undertones of the uniformed gimp All the machismo and bravado associated with the military are just propaganda to lure in insecure unmanly males in desperate need of proving themselves as men because they are not. Real men don’t need the external validation of good-boy stars on gay gimp suits, nor the cringe-worthy military performances begging for cheap applause by impressionable jolly morons. Welcome to another rant on the gayness…

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Muh optimism: Why we must embrace our doom The first step towards strength is admitting you’re weak. The initial requirement before improvement is first admitting you are up the creek without a paddle. Otherwise, you are not motivated to work, as you surrender to the mercy of your environment. Granted, we do not have much control over our environment. But that little control we do have may be enough to save us. But to seize control, we must first shed our narcissistic…

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On suicide: The instinctive resentment against those who opt out of life Ever since Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington ended his life in 2017, I couldn’t shake the public display of vitriol spewed against him by certain individuals, including his own friend, Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. After hearing of Chester’s suicide, Brian took to Facebook to share his take on the matter: *“Honestly, Chester’s an old friend who we’ve hung with many times, and I have friends…

@thesotiris

You are a slave: The vast majority of your income goes to taxes, and you don't even know it Slaves have the vast majority of their labour forcefully taken from them; they are forced - under the threat of violence - to essentially work for others. Defining slavery If most of your income goes to someone other than you without you voluntarily making that choice, then you essentially work for that someone more than you work for yourself; against your will no less. You are a…

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The dumbest objections against statelessness #6 "Who will enforce contracts in the absence of government?" The wild assumption that agreements between people would never be honoured without a central monopoly of violence to enforce them reveals a concerning scarcity of understanding of reality, if not a crippling over-dependence on imagined parent figures. When you argue for statelessness without knowing you argue for statelessness… *“But who will enforce contracts?” he said…

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Need versus Want: The 'why' of desire We tend to use the terms ‘*want*’ and ‘*need*’ interchangeably, assuming they mean the same thing. They don’t. They both generally refer to things we desire but they have different, often conflicting drivers. What you *want* and what you *need* comes from a completely different source and place. Your desire for the things you *want* is driven by completely different motivations and self-positioning than the desire for the things you…

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The dumbest arguments against statelessness #7 "How will justice be served in the absence of a government?" How “justice” is defined is up to the collective values of the society that seeks it. It’s *what* people want, *how many* people want it, and *how much* they want it - meaning, how much skin in the game they are willing to have in its application. It is not up to soulless, corrupt, atherosclerotic politicians or government bureaucrats to arbitrarily decide what should…

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Law vs. Bullshit Law: A vital distinction People insist on deluding themselves that we somehow “need government” to supposedly safeguard our most **basic interests**, such as the **protection of property** and **bodily integrity**. Most people understand that all the rest (infrastructure, healthcare, education, etc.) can be provided by voluntary initiatives, better and cheaper than by the corrupt middleman of government.…

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The shaming fallacy [Part 2]: Unnecessary abuse from desperately weak convictions Sanctimonious moralists and smug pontificators take to the internet to promote shaming as a “last stand for morality,” or - more accurately - a desperate attempt to push their brand of desired behaviour as if theirs were the one and only. So convinced and self-assured are they of their moral superiority that they are willing to stoop to the level of emotional blackmail (shaming)… And all this…

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Free Markets = Peace: Competition, Incentive, and Humility When you are **more valuable to others as an empowered trading partner than as a conquered slave**, you guarantee peace as much as possible with him and with every other individual or group. Let’s see how this works. Humans are driven by self-interest. This is neither good nor bad; it is what it is. Those who pretend to be self-sacrificial altruists are selling you something or they love playing the role of the…

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No religion represents God: The bliss of faith and the curse of skepticism I separate the existence of God from organised religions. I “believe” (not “know”) there is a higher plane of existence - a Creator of this reality. But what I do know is that all religions are arbitrary and false interpretations of this “God” because they can’t be otherwise. This is why I call myself areligious and not an atheist. Perhaps also because many atheists tend to be the most devout fanatics…

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Freedom mindset: An outlook of humility, gratitude, and non-entitlement Freedom is the default state of human existence. Elaborate systems of violent enforcement of arbitrary values and nonsensical objectives are outside of the default. To want to achieve something - with the humility to understand that you are not owed it - grants you peace of mind knowing that nobody owes you those things; you have to earn them from people, and offer them enough value in return so that…