Dennis Hackethal’s Blog

My blog about philosophy, coding, and anything else that interests me.

Tweets

An archive of my tweets and retweets through . They may be formatted slightly differently than on Twitter. API access has since gotten prohibitively expensive – I don't know whether or when I'll be able to update this archive.

But in case I will, you can subscribe via RSS – without a Twitter account. Rationale

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DorfGinger @falibilista @bnielson01 @DoqxaScott

So they can hire security companies. It’s really not that difficult.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @michaelmalice:
We’ve all forgotten that a judge struck down the plane mask mandate and the blue-pilled lost their shit and Biden said h…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @michaelmalice:
WHITE PILL
In the last decade the gun-rights side has shifted from “I need guns to keep my home safe from criminals” to…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@gregisenberg

Programming is incredibly fun.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @chillywillers:
Wow shocking result pic.twitter.com/B0wntzGnAv

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @michaelmalice:
Since then your entire population has been imprisoned in their homes relatively easily

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @ben_brechtken:
Wann endlich in Deutschland? pic.twitter.com/EBuBkhI4Gn

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@VariantenGra

‘Donnerwetter!’

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Government exploitation of poverty is built on an altruistic lie: youtube.com/watch?v=7RFlPm…

Again, problems are soluble. Poor people can be helped without robbing others.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

‘But government helps those less fortunate’ is the statists’ oldest trick in the book. The government helps people poorly, if at all, crowds out free-market help, and creates the illusion that without government, poor people would be lost.

blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/libertar…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Similar to how some of the worst parents have some of the best intentions.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

In dennis’ picture of all this, powerful governments conspire to make people pay taxes […].

No. I have mentioned the concept of benevolent authority. Conspiracies happen rarely – most politicians believe they’re doing what’s right and necessary.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

“When you taxes though”

You keep missing words and making typos. You should proofread your tweets before sending them. Discussions are difficult enough without such errors.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I think you’re using ‘irrationality’ wrong. I do think there are some people who gladly pay taxes btw (in fact I know at least one), but regardless it’s disgusting to force even one person who doesn’t.

Now you’re trying exceptionally hard to make theft work.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

There is freedom to be found yet, all you gotta do is leave civilization! twitter.com/jchalupa_/stat…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

By services I mean the maintenance of infrastructure, or the policing of areas.

Sure

But as you point out with the African jungle or Antarctica, there are places you could go to avoid governments.

lolol

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@mgoldingmd @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Private arbiters are already a thing used with some frequency, no?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

They won’t let you stop paying taxes by renouncing their ‘services’. You have to pay them even if you never use their services. And unless you want to live in the African jungle or Antarctica, I really don’t know anywhere you could go where you’d pay truly no taxes whatsoever.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

First there’s the cases where he institutions tolerate that people not pay taxes, and have even evolved to accommodate it and support people in situations where they can’t afford to pay them.

your slave masters sound very generous

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

It’s not meant as an insult, and it is an argument.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Taxes are used to finance your precious institutions. Taxes are violently obtained. (Yes, yes, some people don’t mind paying them, but think about what happens once they DO mind and refuse.) So whatever solutions such institutions bring about have blood in their past.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I, on the other hand, find them absolutely disgusting, which you interpret as exaggeration. It’s a difference in attitude.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

We can keep arguing specifics but I think the main difference between us is that you’re not as disgusted by violence and coercion as you should be. You wish to accommodate them, at least to some degree, because ‘institutions’.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I JUST said institutions are financed with blood money so they can’t possibly solve problems without violence.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Solving interpersonally, meaning actual positive-sum transactions, is what happens in markets – in politics there’s always some loser somewhere.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Not to mention that ~all of these grand institutions, including courts, are financed using blood money.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Psychologically I agree – I thought of just that point yesterday and failed to mention it – but there’s still a conflict between taxation and man’s natural rights, be he aware of his rights or not.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Sometimes, but poorly, and rarely. Most of the time they steamroll, and it takes years to correct an error (courts are sloooow), with much more steamrolling happening in the meantime (see covid policies, for example).

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Well, only if I’m right. But GIVEN that I’m wrong it should, again, be easy to meet Logan’s and my challenge.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

TCS definition of coercion: web.archive.org/web/2019032822…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

So it’s not quite as simple as the ‘inversion’ of consent, since the absence of consent does not necessarily imply coercion. For example, if nobody has asked you about X but you also don’t mind X at all, you haven’t consented but you also aren’t being coerced.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

My conception of coercion is the TCS one: the enacting of one idea while there’s still a conflicting one present in one’s mind.

Or, across minds, one idea steamrolling over others without solving the conflict interpersonally first.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

That’s been the case so far, but if the statists are right and there really is a convincing one, it should be easy to find, and it would automatically come with an explanation for why lack of knowledge isn’t the only factor.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

Gut reflektierte Kommentare zu meinen Artikeln, so wie dieser, gefallen mir immer besonders gut: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/wer-soll…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

What do you mean by “medal”?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I think you’d be surprised how many such examples people give routinely (roads, healthcare, etc).

In any case, just because you haven’t been able to change my mind doesn’t mean I won’t.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@mgoldingmd @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

One person’s thief is another’s freedom fighter.

How does that work?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Chipkin and I already wrote about how to change our minds a while back: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/libertar…

If you’re not trying to make theft work, what are you doing?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I take it “garning” = ‘gaining’
I don’t know what you mean by “medal”.

Are you referring to this tweet of yours? twitter.com/jchalupa_/stat…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@astateofEmily

A German’s pro-gun-control opinion, given their past.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@AxelBuchmuller

Also Eigentum wegnehmen, um Eigentum zu schützen? Das passt doch irgendwie nicht zusammen.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

RT @aginnt:
Seriously these people are addicted to hysteria. pic.twitter.com/ByiuAhXjCq

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

still sounds like you’re working hard to make theft work

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

you should state in simple, plain english, what you think my conception of coercion is, so that we can correct it

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

yes, well, again, you’re arguing against something i’m not arguing for, because i think the child has a right not to be beaten no matter what the political institutions in its country say.

nor would i ever suggest that protecting children is coercion against parents.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@DorfGinger @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

And you laying into me in the Telegram chat and calling me a ‘dweeb’ was also unrelated?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I don’t know why you’re working so hard to make theft work. You don’t stand to gain anything from that.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

But let’s assume the government is this all-knowing, all-wise, Santa Claus organization, and whatever it touches works out beautifully. Well that still doesn’t make theft okay.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

What’s less well known is that in many of these areas, there used to be free-market services that had already developed the knowledge, but then government crowds them out and eventually monopolizes the sector. Afterwards people can’t imagine it being any other way.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

You claim the government does well in the areas you mention. But it’s also well known it usually fucks up everything it touches, and that its ‘services’ could be better provided by the market.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Your tweets once more claim contradictions where there are none. The concept of benevolent authoritarians is well known. I never claimed that our politicians enjoy coercing their subjects.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@DorfGinger @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Wait, are you still mad at me for calling out your misquote of me weeks (months?!) ago?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

“have their kids go to a school”

the “have” sounds like the parent making that decision, whether the child likes it or not, so yea that’d be coercive, too

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

But yes for large parts of our lives we do “live in hellish nightmares of societies drowned in tyrannical coercion”. Def for the first ~18 years. For some, much longer.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I have already said that delegation to a lawyer is legitimate. So you should have already realized that you don’t know what I understand coercion to be.

People def can consent to surgery and power of attorney. With kids it depends on whether they want to go to school or not.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Why don’t people bother with that?

Because they’re brainwashed into loving authoritarianism and neglecting their own preferences from a young age: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/the-true…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I take property and other rights seriously and make no exceptions.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Well, you did speak of “[p]eople who aren’t concerned with this issue and take it for granted as legitimate […].”

And no I’m not exaggerating. I’m just not willing to make any accommodations for the crimes committed by politicians on a daily basis.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@bnielson01 @BTC_SNEK @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

Your definition of ‘coercion’ is easy-to-vary and arbitrary.

I use the TCS definition. Why is it easy to vary and arbitrary?

You don’t acknowledge your own coercion.

Which is?

That’s why you get it wrong so often.

When? Quotes?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@bnielson01 @BTC_SNEK @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

1) Leaving one’s country is not easily feasible for most.
2) The government rules territory despite not owning said territory, which differs greatly from other geographical contracts.
3) If you do want to leave you need to get a passport, which you can only get from the govt.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

So something isn’t an imposition unless many people consider it one?

Why should the immorality of evil depend on people recognizing it as such?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@BTC_SNEK @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

Yeah. Jose seems to think traditions can’t be impositions! And that just because there are some people who don’t mind paying taxes, nobody should mind. Complete non sequiturs, both of them.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Now, before you say ‘but by voting you consent to their representing you’, let me preemptively address that and point you to the link @BTC_SNEK had shared, in which Spooner explains why that can’t be the case: praxeology.net/LS-NT-6.htm

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Delegation is a legit concept, which is why our ‘representatives’ like to invoke it to justify their crimes. I’ve never asked to be represented by any politician — that representation is instead hoisted on me by force.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@WorriedDenizen @bnielson01 @DoqxaScott

No, you’re worse than Scott, because as far as I know he doesn’t tyrannize kids for work, let alone expect others to feel sorry for him because he allegedly hasn’t been able to find another job. 🎻

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

.@Karl_Lauterbach ist ein Tyrann.

„In den frühen Phasen einer Epidemie muss hart und früh reagiert werden.“

Weil das ja auch bei Corona so gut geklappt hat, ne? twitter.com/marcfriedrich7…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@PR0GRAMMERHUM0R

‘Need 20+ years’ experience and PhD in computer science.’

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

What are you doing for freedom today? twitter.com/CommunistTerro…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@BTC_SNEK @bnielson01 @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

One of the great things about the West is that people can openly exchange and even endorse such texts without fear of retribution from the political establishment.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Can you steelman the argument that taxes are theft?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Speak for yourself. It’s what I mean.

I’m curious then, do you enjoy bending over for your government daddy? If not, maybe you’re wrong about that; maybe that’s not what we mean by rape.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@BTC_SNEK @bnielson01 @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

If [those alive during the founding of America] had intended to bind their posterity to live under [the constitution], they should have said that their objective was, not “to secure to them the blessings of liberty,” but to make slaves of them […].

🔥

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Like, what impact does that have on the immorality of theft?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

What do I care if others would agree?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Maybe. I could see some people preferring getting ass raped once a year over having half their income stolen. I wouldn’t, but some people might.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Coercion is a real political problem. And we can entertain counterfactuals to help us see factuals more clearly.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Not living in that world, you easily see that it would be abhorrent. That’s what taxes look like to me in our world.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

It’s a counterfactual, yes. But you could imagine a world in which politicians advocate rape, for whatever concocted reasons, and with the same ‘democratic’ justifications.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

It was a hypothetical.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@BTC_SNEK @bnielson01 @jchalupa_ @DoqxaScott

I’ve had these conversations with Bruce before. My impression at the time was that he doesn’t understand what coercion is. See the comments here: blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/governme…

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Why? Because taxes are used to finance the government and the ‘democratically determined’ budget whereas rape could not be used for such a thing?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Again, it’s possible and desirable to live in a world without violence. There’s no defending the violence committed by pointing to its congressional/parliamentary approval.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Sadly, these upsides are heavily outweighed by the massive scale of the crimes committed against citizens every day.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

This gang of robbers is slightly better than other criminals in that it is somewhat receptive to criticism and will offer a somewhat independent court (though also financed by blood money) to hear your grievances.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

If people join the government they become part of the biggest gang of robbers. They’ll get paid in blood money. If you take that notion seriously, you won’t ever want to become part of the government. It’s why I could never be a politician.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

It’s not just a prejudice. You just don’t seem to want to take my arguments seriously; think them all the way through; give them a chance.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@bnielson01 @DoqxaScott

I’ll tell you right now that I may be mistaken. Not feeling like talking to someone specific doesn’t make me dogmatic. There’ll be other, better people who will point out my mistakes anyway.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

‘But every election all parties agree some amount of raping is necessary and good, and people vote for those parties to be in power. Not wanting to get raped is just a philosophy, I don’t think it accurately depicts people’ relationship with their government.‘

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Just replace ‘tax’ with ‘rape’ or something else that’s less controversially bad and you should see my point. It’s amazing how much people will bend over backward to justify violence in the name of ‘liberal democracy’.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@JimiSommer

You don’t seem to understand what libertarianism is about.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@bnielson01 @DoqxaScott

Nah, I don’t particularly enjoy discussing with Scott. If that makes me someone who doesn’t believe in criticism, so be it.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

Because the UK government extorts money from its subjects at the threat of insurmountable violence.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

you view our political institutions as fundamentally getting their way by force

Don’t they?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

and free people organize in governments

There are no free people, not in the US or anywhere else in the West, let alone the rest of the world afaik. Except maybe those who earn more in taxes than is stolen from them.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

I don’t see why the knowledge of our institutions couldn’t live on in a free society, in which people are of course free to organize btw.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

oh, to be clear, i’m not saying that’s what libertarianism is. i’m saying libertarianism is the expression of these ideas in politics, when taken seriously.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

What do you think libertarianism is?

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

That life in society truly is possible without violence; that all evils are due to a lack of knowledge; that error detection and correction work best in a free market.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

@jchalupa_ @BTC_SNEK @DoqxaScott

that doesn’t strike me as an initiation of force. it’s the terrorist cell that initiates force by planning something. planning is enough – they don’t actually need to be successful in their execution.

@dchackethal · · Show · Open on Twitter

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