Miscellaneous observations

Better my own path to Hell than someone else's path to Heaven.

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Hating things that are popular doesn't make a person sophisticated.

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I accept no man as my equal who does not accept women as his equals.

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If you claim to support free expression even for people you disagree with, but in every actual specific case that comes up you find some excuse for doing otherwise (calling it "incitement" or "hate speech" or whatever), then you are not a supporter of free expression.

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People in groups are almost always stupider than those same persons as individuals.  Our worst instincts express themselves quickly and easily in mob action -- we evolved that way -- but introspection and contemplation are always and inherently individual, inward states.  They can never be shared, much less collective.

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Personal freedom -- control over one’s own body and immediate possessions, and the right of self-defense -- is more important than freedom in more abstract senses.

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There are more than a hundred times as many Muslims in the world as Jews, but going by their respective contributions to science and culture in modern times, one would think it was the other way round.

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The range of human cultures that exist, or have existed, is only a very narrow part of the full spectrum of human cultures that could exist.

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I will not tolerate being lectured on morality by people who eat meat.

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Liberal Christians shouldn't tell me to be more tolerant of Christianity.  They should tell other Christians to be more tolerant of me.

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I don't actually support this, but one could make a case that people who advocate censorship -- "hate speech" laws, or whatever other kind of restrictions on free speech -- should simply be prohibited from saying or writing anything in defense of their position.  It's no different from what they want to do to others.

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Taking any holy book as being eternal and absolute truth traps you at whatever stage of scientific and moral development had been reached by its authors.  Fundamentalist Christians are stuck with creationism, homophobia, archaic female roles, etc because that is what the Bible's authors knew.  Even if a new religion were founded today, accepting all of 2025's scientific knowledge and moral values as part of its dogma, within a century or two it would be outdated because that dogma could not assimilate the further progress made since its foundation.

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You do not owe any loyalty to a political party.  It's their job to win your vote by showing that they will enact policies to serve your interests -- as you, not they, define those interests.

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A person who knows only one language is like a person who has only one eye.  You still see everything, but all the depth is missing.

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Economic mismanagement isn't a victimless crime.  Recessions kill.  Higher unemployment leads to increases in things like alcoholism, domestic violence, and suicide.  Those whose policies lead to mass layoffs have blood on their hands.

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I never worry about being a burden on society.  Society has been one hell of a burden on me.