【金句】Thomas Sowell - One of the most dangerous trends of our times is making the truth socially...

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One of the most dangerous trends of our times is making the truth socially unacceptable, or even illegal, with 'hate speech' laws.

我們時代最危險的趨勢之一是透過「仇恨言論」法律，讓真相在社會上變得不可接受，甚至是非法。

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Random thoughts on the passing scene:

Even squirrels know enough to store nuts, so that they will have something to eat when food gets scarce. But the welfare state has spawned a whole class of people who spend everything they get when times are good, and look to others to provide for their food and other basic needs when times turn bad.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution prescribes "equal protection of the laws" to all Americans. But what does that mean, if the President of the United States can arbitrarily grant waivers, so that A, B and C have to obey the laws but X, Y and Z do not — as with both ObamaCare and the immigration laws?

Two reports came out in the same week. One was from the Pentagon, saying that, in just a few years, Iran will be able to produce not only a nuclear bomb but a missile capable of carrying it to the United States. The other report said that the American Olympic team has uniforms made in China. This latter report received far more attention, both in Congress and in the media.

People who lament gridlock in Washington, and express the pious hope that Democrats and Republicans would put aside their partisan conflicts, and cooperate to help the economy recover, implicitly assume that what the economy needs is more meddling by politicians, which is what brought on economic disaster in the first place. (Skeptics can read "The Housing Boom and Bust.")

Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as "racists."

One of the arguments for Medicare is that the elderly don't want to be a burden to their children. Apparently it is all right to be a burden to other people's children, who are paying taxes.

Those who talk as if more people going to college is automatically a Good Thing seldom show much interest in what actually goes on at college — including far less time spent by students studying than in the past, and a proliferation of courses promoting a sense of grievance, entitlement or advanced navel-gazing and breast-beating.

One of the most dangerous trends of our times is making the truth socially unacceptable, or even illegal, with "hate speech" laws. It is supposed to be terrible, for example, to call an illegal alien an "illegal alien" or to call an Islamic terrorist an "Islamic terrorist." When the media refer to "undocumented" workers or to violence committed by "militants," who is kidding whom — and why?

After the charismatic — and disastrous — Woodrow Wilson presidency, the voters did not elect another president in the next decade who could be considered the least bit charismatic. Let us hope that history repeats itself.

For more than two centuries, the U.S. military never had a public celebration of anybody's sex life — until the recent "gay pride" event under the Obama administration. Here, as elsewhere, the gay political agenda is not equality but privilege.

Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Then he proceeded to generate fear among businesses for years on end, with both his anti-business rhetoric and his anti-business policies. Barack Obama is repeating the same approach and getting the same results — namely, an agonizingly slow economic recovery, as investors hang on to their money, instead of risking it in a hostile political environment.

If we wake up some morning and find some American cities in radioactive ruins, courtesy of a nuclear Iran, nobody is going to care whether the president who lets this happen is the first black president or the last WASP president. But, in the meantime, many people will keep on voting for symbolism, as if an election is a popularity contest, like choosing a college's Homecoming Queen or Parade Marshal.

There seems to be something "liberating" about ignorance — especially when you don't even know enough to realize how little you know. Thus an administration loaded with people who have never run any business is gung-ho to tell businesses what to do, as well as gung-ho to tell the medical profession what to do, lenders whom to lend to, and the military how to fight wars.

對時事的隨想：

即使松鼠也知道要儲存堅果，這樣在食物稀缺時才有東西可以吃。但福利國家卻產生了一整類的人，他們在好時光時花光所有錢，當時勢變壞時，卻指望他人提供食物和其他基本需求。

憲法第十四修正案規定所有美國人都享有「法律的平等保護」。但如果美國總統可以任意授予豁免權，讓A、B、C必須遵守法律，但X、Y、Z卻不必—正如奧巴馬醫改和移民法所示—那麼這意味著什麼？

同一週內發表了兩份報告。一份來自五角大樓，稱伊朗將在幾年內不僅能夠生產核彈，還能生產能夠攜帶核彈攻擊美國的導彈。另一份報告稱美國奧運隊制服在中國製造。後者在國會和媒體中獲得了遠更多的關注。

有些人對華盛頓的僵局感到遺憾，並表達了虔誠的希望，即民主黨人和共和黨人能放下黨派衝突，合作幫助經濟復蘇，他們隱含地假設經濟需要的更多是政治家的干預，而這正是導致經濟災難的根本原因。（懷疑者可以閱讀《住房繁榮與崩盤》）。

種族主義並不死，但它處於生命支持狀態—由政治家、種族煽動者和通過譴責他人為「種族主義者」而獲得優越感的人們維持著。

醫保的其中一個論據是老年人不希望成為子女的負擔。顯然，成為其他人的子女負擔是可以的，因為他們在納稅。

那些談論更多人上大學自動是一件好事的人，很少對大學裡實際發生的事情感興趣—包括學生花在學習上的時間遠少於過去，以及推廣怨恨感、特權感或先進的自我反省與自責課程的激增。

我們時代最危險的趨勢之一是通過「仇恨言論」法律，讓真相在社會上變得不可接受，甚至是非法。據說，將非法移民稱為「非法移民」或將伊斯蘭恐怖分子稱為「伊斯蘭恐怖分子」是可怕的。當媒體將非法移民稱為「無證」工人，或將暴力行為歸咎於「激進分子」時，他們在騙誰？為什麼？

在富有魅力但災難性的伍德羅·威爾遜總統任期之後，選民在接下來的十年裡沒有選出另一個有魅力的總統。讓我們希望歷史重演。

兩個多世紀以來，美國軍隊從未公開慶祝任何人的性生活—直到奧巴馬政府時期的「同性戀自豪」活動。在這裡，就像在其他地方一樣，同性戀的政治議程並非平等，而是特權。

富蘭克林·D·羅斯福曾著名地說：「我們除了恐懼本身之外，沒有什麼可怕的。」然後他通過反商業的言論和政策，在多年內在企業中製造恐懼。巴拉克·奧巴馬正在重複同樣的方法，並得到同樣的結果—即經濟復蘇痛苦地緩慢，因為投資者在敵對的政治環境中，寧願保留資金，也不願冒險。

如果我們有一天早上醒來，發現一些美國城市已經變成放射性廢墟，感謝伊朗的核武器，沒有人會在意讓這種情況發生的總統是第一位黑人總統還是最後一位盎格魯-撒克遜總統。但同時，許多人會繼續投票給象徵性，好像選舉是一個受歡迎的比賽，像選擇大學的主場女王或遊行指揮一樣。

無知似乎有「解放」的感覺—尤其當你甚至不知道自己知道得太少時。因此，一個從未經營過任何企業的政府，熱衷於告訴企業該做什麼，以及熱衷於告訴醫療界該做什麼，貸款人該借給誰，軍隊該如何打仗。

Free Speech相關影片

Why Free Speech is the Antidote to Ignorance and Corruption | Cambridge | EP 240

youtu.be/Twc6T19tap4