"Haven't they suffered enough?" - H.S.

I hope this doesn't offend anybody, but I find it hysterical. As Sullivan says, it's not an Onion headline.

The American Scene

So I'm digging this blog. A link to a provocative, and I believe accurate, post.

Manzi

Manzi's article here is right on point. I was impressed by the nuance of his reasoning and by the dexterity with which he teased apart two nearly overlapping concepts over the course of his article.

What surprised me a bit, then, for such a clever thinker, was that his final paragraph seems to be completely irrational. In it, he cites human slavery as the sort of moral problem that might upend Libertarian thinking. But how can slavery fit at all in a Libertarian framework, since the human slaves themselves possess no liberty? (Letting alone the political and moral problems, slavery in and of itself causes huge market distortions for the labor market, as much a reason to be rid of it as any, from a Libertarian point of view.)

For a man as obviously intelligent as Manzi, this lapse in logic is perplexing. Would love for him to further elaborate in case it is I who is missing something.


In the mean time, I offer this playful post as a truly Libertarian notion of slavery, influenced by recent acquaintances I have found who are deeply embedded in the sexual bondage community. While presently I find this lifestyle to be somewhat out of my reach, I have been fortunate enough to meet with folks who are embedded in it who have opened my mind to new and surprising values in the perverse and scandalous. For further elaboration, I can do no better than to direct my reader here.


In any event, it is a pleasure to have discovered Mr. Manzi (by way of Andrew Sullivan's hiatus), and I shall look forward to keeping up with his work over time.