Tag: anarcho-capitalism

Compassion in arguments: A lesson for political nuts – Episode 183

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Seeing others’ humanity for greater communication

Many fools have wasted many hours arguing with people on the Internet, myself included. If you are passionate about politics, or some other controversial subject, you’ve probably got yourself into some awkward conversations. If you’re a real hard case, you might have even incited such conversations on purpose. For arguers, those interactions are enjoyable, an exercise in intellect or rhetoric. For others, they’re emotionally taxing, and can even end friendships. When a discussion becomes an argument, you start to view the people you’re talking to as objects, and that’s especially common on the Internet, when you can’t see their faces.

It’s truly a shame when people stop being friends because of a disagreement over politics, dividing ourselves, removing the possibility of human connection in favour of an abstraction, or even a politician whom you’ll never meet. We can always make the decision to see the humanity in people, recognising their consciousness even in moments of disagreement.

In customer service, you learn to handle people even when they’re emotional, and many of the lessons of customer service can apply in our everyday communications – seeking to understand before seeking to be understood, paraphrasing to confirm comprehension, apologising more than is normally expected, finding common ground with our fellow humans, and being grateful for friendly interactions.

In this episode, Kurt describes how feeling compassion during your arguments can quickly transform them into discussions, discovering more about the perspectives of others, and using understanding to be more persuasive. Join us in another heart-opening episode of… The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

People are more important than ideas – Episode 177

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Bitcoin, Dash and digital currency for beginners – Episode 181

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The Story: The dream of cryptocurrency and what to do about it

Most people hear the word “Bitcoin”, they don’t think much of it, or they think only about drug markets on shady parts of the web. Bitcoin, Dash and digital currency in general are similar to the Internet itself in some ways. If you can think back to 1995, you might remember people saying how the Internet was full of paedophiles, pornography and other undesireable material – a place for nerd and perverts, but certainly not for regular people. Today, almost everyone who has the resources to access the Internet uses it on a regular basis, from shopkeepers in London to monks in rural Thailand. A technology which was once only for a few, quickly became a necessity for everyone.

Free digital currency – currency not controlled by any government – may be the greatest breakthrough in monetary technology since coins were first minted. However, just as with the Internet, the benefits are not obvious to most, unless they have a need to escape the restrictions of normal money. Farmers in Argentina use these currencies to escape the will of banks telling them how to grow and what to grow. Activist organisations such as Wikileaks use it to accept payments when governments try to block them. Impoverished Venezuelans use it to smuggle in food to feed their families, as the national currency collapses before their eyes. If you want to send money across the world cheaply, or to find a way to save money so it isn’t eroded by inflation, or you have a desire to see a better world where everyone has a chance to live comfortably, could a currency such as Dash or Bitcoin help you?

In this episode, Kurt discusses the dream, the highest ideals of digital currency – ending war and providing a means for the masses to escape poverty and reach prosperity, removing power from central banks and holding governments accountable to the public they are supposed to serve. He also gives an overview of how to acquire Dash or Bitcoin, some pitfalls to avoid losing your money, and some ways you can earn this currency.

Join us in an industry-disrupting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this video or podcast is to be construed as financial advice.

The Eps:

Dash vs Bitcoin – Which will reach mass adoption first?

Bitcoin vs Dash – Ridiculous comments about Dash

Why Amanda B. Johnson loves Dash

The Links:

Dashforce News

Travelling using Dash by Joël Valenzuela

Dash Nation Slack or Dash Nation on Discord

What is Bitcoin? video

Where to spend Dash

Spend Bitcoins

Purse.io – buy Amazon gift cards

Bitcart – buy Amazon gift cards

Coinmarketcap

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

People are more important than ideas – Episode 177

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The Story: Human connection trumps ideology

If you are passionate about something, it’s normal to speak out about it, and as a consequence, you can find yourself in debates or heated discussions in what would otherwise be polite company. In the worst case scenario, you might even get carried away, start talking over your companions or even calling them names.

In the heat of the moment, defending a humanitarian ideal, you might forget that there are humans right in front of you, with whom you have the opportunity to make a real human connection. The real tragedy is when you allow your political beliefs to interfere with your friendships, sacrificing something real and present for something abstract and distant. It can even tear families apart, and it can even be used deliberately by powerful people to do so – separating Republicans from Democrats, Labor from Liberal, ancoms from ancaps, Venezuelans who wear 7 stars from those who wear 8 stars.

After a bit of travelling, my friend David Robison wrote: “Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE whom I have talked with is willing to have a conversation. Left, right, up, down, doesn’t matter. If you simply approach them and demonstrate basic levels of respect as a human being they will sit with you and share their ideas, thoughts, concerns. All they want is to be UNDERSTOOD. You don’t have to agree, they just want to explain where they’re coming from and they want you to understand it.”

Understanding and being understood are things that are always available to us. Real human connection is always available to us. Feel free to debate, be controversial and contradict. But remember that we all want similar things – to be comfortable, to be understood, to be loved.

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Kurt Robinson Raps “False Flag” at Anarchapulco 2017

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This is a track about how large governments like to threaten, scare and even murder the people they are supposed to represent, in order to achieve political, military or imperial goals. The video is from my performance at Anarchapulco 2017. If the audio isn’t clear enough, you can also listen to this version I recorded in my bedroom years ago.

Thanks Again to Doug Scribner, Ryan Herbison, Dan Dicks of Press For Truth, Nathan Freeman, and everyone who made this event possible.

Lyrics

if you want people to accept anything
first they’ve got to believe it’s for their benefit
if you can scare them, strike fear in their hearts
then you can start cutting their freedoms apart

they’re lonely, afraid, need leadership
show them you’ll be shepherd to their sheep again
give them the motivation which they surely lack
show them they need you with a false flag

nero wanted to rebuild Rome in his image
and turn the populace against the Christians
he took a torch to realise his fiery vision
playing the lyre for anyone who would listen

1915, Lusitania cruised the Irish Sea
100 Americans on her, loose & free
Germany warned, we know you have ammo on board
US ignored, it got torpedoed and torn

Times said Germany took the day off to applaud
perfect excuse to enter the First World War

1933 february
Nazis built a fire at parliament’s feet
hitler issued a decree, saying we’re under attack
that was his version of the PATRIOT act

six years later, Gleiwitz radio station
Himmler’s operation, set up the Polish invasion
SS troops in Polish uniforms, stormed the building
Found the Polish sympathiser and killed him

Broadcast some hate speech in their supposed language
Left the body as evidence for the cameras

40, mccollum wrote a memo, strategies and all
on how to lead Japan to an overt act of war
FDR fired the admiral wanting to leave Hawai’i
He knew if they stayed they did it suicidally
Then the Japs attacked at Pearl Harbour
Sending the boys home with caps on their caskets
doing exactly what it was sure to do
that’s how the US got into World War Deuce

Now 9/11 might have been a fine deception
you have an opinion what happened, i won’t question
the next day they passed the Act, hardly had to write it down
500 pages, they just had it lying around

if you want people to accept anything
first they’ve got to believe it’s for their benefit
if you can scare them, strike fear in their hearts
then you can start cutting their freedoms apart

they’re lonely, afraid, need leadership
show them you’ll be shepherd to their sheep again
give them the motivation which they surely lack
show them they need you with a false flag

Kurt Robinson Raps – “Free” Verse

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freedom of movement and a free life
free love & compassion can free minds
free thinking your thoughts can be free
free association and freedom of speech

free to be emotional free to be calm
the right to self defence free to bear arms
while the kids demand a free education
shit ain’t free, you must be freebasin

i know you heard this one it’s some deep stuff
there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch
free mp3s downloaded we handle
i’ll steal the beat for this track a free sample

monogamy polyamory and free lovin
live your whole life think you’re in a free country
constitutional republic as long as it lasted
abolish gov. for a strong free market

wander through the hotel get free wifi
free your imagination through your mind’s eye
make freedom so common it seems boring
i forgot my clean underwear i’m freeballin

none of those phony laws you should believe in
victimless crime spree derrick j freeman
drug dealin free enterprise you can be the boss
and that reminds me man – free ross!

Without government, wouldn’t warlords take over?

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If you believe government is needed, and someone suggests that it isn’t, you might be rather distressed. You might start to picture bands of rogues roving the land without cease, raping and stealing. In the minds of many statists, this fear is so real that it seems certain. But of course, little is certain in life, and we can no more say for sure that warlords will take over than we can say that they won’t. However, we can at least begin to estimate the likelihood.

If you’re like most people, it’s almost certain that you are threatened by group of people which claims to help you, a group which takes your money without asking first. Just as we can’t be sure that warlords won’t take over in a stateless society, it’s not certain that this violent group won’t grow larger, to expand to a level of control where many are fearful and even people with friends in high places can be destroyed without anyone being punished. In fact, such a case is much more likely to be found in a society with a state, than a society without a state, as the power structures are already there. In a stateless society, if these structures form, they’re likely to be smaller. It’s easier to go from 8 to 10 than it is to go from 0 to 10.

warlordsmight8eb17.jpg
To get to a society that has no rulers, first there has to be a cultural change. People have to learn to do things without the help of their rulers, and instead depend on each other. The less they can solve problems on their own and working in teams, the more chance they have to be seduced by a person offering easy answers, or threatened by someone who comes along with a few guns and a few demands. If certain states vanished tomorrow, there would be a 99% chance that warlords would take over. However, the more the people learn to support each other, and the more people love liberty, the less chance a tyrant has of taking hold. The tragedy is, the more people cling to these concerns about warlords, the less people who learn to love liberty.

In the end, the reason cling onto these ideas is because of a deep-seated fear. People want to feel like everything is under control, even if it’s by a someone who, in their hearts, they know is a devil. Their fear leads them to fearmonger, spilling endless “what if” cases, none of which can be allayed by logic alone. As I said, nothing in life is certain. Yet, by embracing our uncertainty, and our fears, we can learn to overcome them. It’s scary to stand at the edge of darkness, not knowing what lies within. It takes heart to put your foot over that threshold, yet, that is the only way that humans grow – by putting ourselves in realms where nothing is sure, but everything is possible. Screw your courage to the sticking place, and feel just for a moment, what it would mean to be free.

Captains of our own destinies

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With most of the world raving about the presidential election in the US, it can seem that your fate rests in the hands of a sociopath who thousands of miles away. The truth is, unless you’re being harassed by bureaucrats or police officers every day, you probably still have a lot of freedom in your life. Every breath and every step is an act of liberty, so choose them wisely.

Watch the full episode here: 2016 election: The two clown show.

How does it feel to be free?

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To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

How does it feel to be free?

When you know that nobody can make demands of you. When you know that you are the greatest authority in your life. When you know you get to choose what you can do, and others can choose what is right for them. How does it feel to be free?

When you can travel the world without asking permission, without having to pay to pass an imaginary line. When the skies and the world are open like a great big adventure. When you can cross a continent, without having to prove to anybody who you are. When your face is your passport. How does it feel to be free?

When you can work for whom you like, and whoever likes can work for you, in the way you both choose. When you know your life is your own responsibility, and you know it’s your responsibility to take care of those around you. When you never say “Someone (else) should do something about it.” How does it feel to be free?

When your projects grow like spearmint on a wild and open plain. When you don’t need a licence to innovate. When you know you can make it, because the evidence is all around you. How does it feel to be free?

When everyone you love, you do so not because you’ve been trained to do so, not because you’ve been forced to do so, but because you choose it. When everything you hold dear sits in that purest place of your heart. When your beliefs are aligned with your spirit. How does it feel to be free?

How does it feel? That’s how you should feel.

Cover image modified and used under Creative Commons – https://moyanbrenn.com/