It has become progressively apparent to me that it would help new readers, regular readers, visitors, enemies, friends, people I'm generally indifferent about, and myself to provide some "basics" or "ground rules" about Captain Capitalism. Things like "comment policy" or "principles" that we follow here so that i don't have to repeat myself, not to mention I can point to the "policy" and say, "See, there, look there. Now shut up and go away."
So here is a tutorial on the "fundamentals" and "policies" of this here blog and I hope it is of benefit to every one.
Comment Policy
My comment policy has two pillars that govern it - truth and crassness.
I seek the truth. Unlike most other people, I put reality and truth first and then I form my ideology. Not subscribe to an ideology and then try to jam or make up "facts" to support it because I'm a hypocrite. I am MORE than willing to be proved factually wrong. Matter of fact I won't take umbrage, I will thank you for correcting me. My goal is to develop a knowledge of the REAL world and how it works so that I may not only advance myself, but society as well.
This means when it comes to approving posts, your comments and posts better be in line with this goal. If you make nonsequitir statements, ad homenem attacks, intellectually dishonest statements, etc. etc., they simply will not be posted. If I know you're factually wrong, even though you think you're factually right (say for example your communist professor fed you some biased statistics) your post will not be approved. If you engage in flawed logic, either knowingly or unknowningly, it will not be approved. And if you're one of those 20 somethings who thinks they're smarter than they actually are and start your comment with "you probably won't post this," you're right, I'm not gonna.
In short, this first pillar of my comment policy means you must be a mature adult and concerned about the truth. If you are an ideologue, a political operative, or just some dumber that bleep college student who thinks you know everything, there's plenty of other blogs out there that will lie to you and let you believe you're an intelligent adult.
The second pillar is that of crassness and here is where our Manosphere members need a STERN reminder. I will allow RARE instances of cursing or swearing, but ONLY if the cursing and swearing is the ONLY word in the English language that can convey or carry the weight and importance of the point you're trying to make.
For example, a post that will be deleted immediately would be;
"That stupid fuck OBama. What the fuck does that dumbass think he's thinking. Stupid socialist fuck."
A post that would be CONSIDERED is,
"You destroy the industries we're employed in, you tax us to death, you don't stop with the insipid whining about the "pay gap," you divorce us in droves, what the FUCK do you think we're going to do?"
Also banned according to the second pillar of the comment policy are blatantly racial or sexist words. I'm not talking about words that were recently deemed sexist or racist in the past 20 years by race/gender whores trying to whip up their faux case of victimization ("dame" "chicks" "black" "negro" "caucasian", etc.) I'm talking purposefully and blatantly racist terms like "cunt" or "nigger." You will not only not get your post posted, you will be flagged as spam.
That is about all for the comment policy.
The St. Leykis Disclaimer
If you listen to the Tom Leykis show (and you should) you know that he CONSTANTLY has to provide a caveat that he's not talking about "all women" or "all people." The reason he runs into this is because, much like we do here, he is talking about people in general and making observations about these people in general.
Sure enough, some idiot listening to the show will call in all upset because he/she or somebody they know "doesn't do that."
Perfect example is where Tom will say "women spend way more money than men." 10 seconds later he's dealing with some girl from Fresno saying, "You know, I had a boyfriend and I actually spent less than him!"
Understand as St. Leykis says "the exception proves the rule."
We are not here to argue your specific case, and frankly, people contacting me and say, "Well I don't do that, and you're rac/sex/gender/age/ist for saying so" is a weak and intellectually dishonest argument.
Ergo, when I write or a post is made, understand it is never referring to ALL people. And, quite truthfully and honestly, if you do NOT fit into the generalized category or stereotype I am addressing, you should be quite proud because you ARE the exception to the rule. Please listen to what I'm saying and stop trying to look for reasons to feign being insulted.
The Reality Principle
I think I addressed this before in the Comment Policy, but I'll reiterate it here.
I am concerned about reality. The reason why is that most, if not, 100% of our problems we suffer today is because we believed in lies or were just too damn lazy to go and figure out what the truth was. And when we make decisions that are not based in reality or truth, we fail.
Therefore, I don't care about your feelings, I care about truth. I want to get to the bottom of things. Now many of you have been brought up in the past 50 years being lied to and thinking that anybody who disagrees with them is a mean person. Matter of fact, a lot of you have been programmed to knee-jerk into accusations of "ism" because it changes the topic and diverts us from uncovering the truth. But please listen to this and take this in.
You're not hurting me calling me an "ist." Racist, sexist, etc., whatever. You're not hurting me. I don't care anymore. And frankly, less and less people are caring.
Who you are hurting by not having frank, blunt and truthful discussion are the minorities in this country that have been lied to and abused by the various political forces that be.
A perfect example is the accusation I'm a racist and a sexist because in my book "Worthless" I rip apart "Women's Studies" and "Hyphenated American Studies" (Afro, Chicano, Asian, etc. etc.). I rip apart these studies not because I "hate blacks" or "hate women," but because these programs actually HARM minorities and women by giving them a worthless degree with NO increase in job prospects, while loading them up with student debt they can never repay.
Do NOT mistake tough fatherly love (of which there's been a gargantuan lack of in the past 50 years) with something as petty and stupid as racism, sexism or any other "ism."
Typos
I make them. Shut up about them if you see one. Pay attention to message. Though, they make for a good laugh at times.
Financing/Donations
I aim to EARN money from this blog, not just stick my hand out and hope for the best. While I accept donations, there are many items you can purchase from Cappy Cap that will financially benefit me. There are my books, but there is also the link to Amazon. If you click on that link and buy something from Amazon during that browsing session I get a commission. YOU HAVE TO BUY STUFF ANYWAY, might as well do it on Amazon so you get what you want, and I get some commish.
You all think I'm crazy, but this is my retirement plan. I am going to make enough money off of this to retire. At least it's a better plan than a 401k, IRA or social security.
Guest Posts
If you were like me, you were somewhat reluctant to send larger bloggers your posts in fear you would be perceived as just trying to get some free press.
I am here to help other bloggers to my kind of "eeeehhhh" level of prominence. Not because I'm kind or charitable, but because it benefits us both. If you write GOOD, QUALITY PIECES I WANT you to send them to me. I can't write all the time, so if you got a good one and you don't think it got the attention it should have, please send it to me. ENSURE YOU ABIDE BY MY LANGUAGE/COMMENT POLICY. Nothing PAINS me more than having a brilliant post or comment and I can't approve it or link to it because you used too much cursing.
"Why Did You Delete That Post?"
In an effort to make the blog more "efficient" I'll usually post or link to a post that is short and succinct, but will delete it later, leaving more serious posts. With my recent signing up of Twitter however, I will merely "tweet" these short posts or links and leave the more serious topics for full posting. It is not that I didn't like the post, or I didn't like the author I linked to (and then subsquently deleted the link), just trying to make it so where readers get here, there is nothing but the top shelf posts to read.
12 comments:
"the exception proves the rule."
The word "prove" in this expression is used the same as it's used in "proving grounds."
What this actually means is that the exception tests the rule. You need to double check to make sure it really is a decent rule when you start finding exceptions. Don't use it to mean that a claim is stronger when someone points out an exception; that's just crazy.
okay
Well Cap, it's your campfire and you can do what you want. Here's to your early retirement!
My scholarly opinion is that you don't have to worry about the scolds, the politically correct or anal retentive critics. You are doing yourself a big favour by ignoring those cretins altogether.
You need to worry about bigger things. Make sure your blog doesn't degenerate into an echo chamber. That hasn't been a problem and I say that as a semi-regular reader.
You DO need to worry about variety, IMO. Keep pushing the men's rights and economic common sense - but branch out into other areas too! You need more motorcycle and gun porn, and could concentrate on other manly arts.
You might consider giving up drinking that lighter fluid and taking up a man's spirit such as a good single malt like Highland Park.
;)
Other than that nitpickery you are doing alright.
Regarding Typos and "detonating sperm" well, at least you had a blast doing it! (grins, ducks, and runs)
Ah Mr. Fuller.
You actually remind me of "Fuller" from "A Bridge Too Far."
Always pointing out the truth and making it very clear so that even I have to admit I am wrong at times.
I have a post I'm intending on praxeology. Solely triggered by your explaining it.
Also may have found a girl for you. But she is not religious.
Cpt.
Manners maketh the man, and I am in agreement with your exhortation to be such, and will remain so.
Thanks for the comparison, Captain. Most of the stuff I point out is relatively trivial, and you're right often enough that I'm still reading after something like five years (I noticed I had replied to the "detonating sperm" post back in 2007... didn't think it had been that long, but apparently it has).
Praxeology is interesting stuff. In a field of people pretending to be fortune tellers based mostly on models formed from historical data, the Austrians are fairly unique in rejecting empiricism outright. They take the Lucas critique all the way to the bank. The relatively new dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models at least try to establish microfoundations in an effort to avoid the problems that Lucas pointed out, but that's still not good enough for the Austrians. I really don't know enough about them to comment further on that.
Anyway, looking forward to your post on praxeology. :)
Oh yeah, I forgot that you mentioned something about a girl because I was distracted by my own rambling about economics. This is kind of a recurring theme for me.
I think that pure young women full of faith make for the best sacrifices, but I'll take an atheist if that's all you've got on hand. "KALI-MA!"
I loved your reverse freudian slip of liking girls with "Big Books". That was hilarious.
Ryan, good for you. I was about to post a comment complaining about that misuse of 'the exception that proves the rule'. Too many idiots in real life and the internets use that phrase as a magic bullet against counter-arguments.
There are idiots in every sphere, but that phrase highlights them
"Things like "comment policy" or "principles" that we follow here so that i don't have to repeat myself, not to mention I can point to the "policy" and say, "See, there, look there. Now shut up and go away.""
Like me, you can't stand office politics but there you go building your own politics. Your blog grows, you make a bit of money and you already start bureaucratizing yourself, you barely make enough to sustain yourself and you are already a mini-me version of what you despise the most.
Imagine the corporate credentialist bureaucratic mess you will turn out to be when you really succeed big time.
4508 eaddima
Captain C. In the realm of Ayn Randian Objectivism, eating ice cream with your niece is meaningless, because you will die, she will die, the ice cream will vanish and be excreted tomorrow, everything is temporary, and the chances of you achieving Greatness and being remembered forever are less than 1 in a billion.
In the realm of Objectivism, there is no meaning and the only Objectively rational thing to do is suicide.
But if you walk away from the philosophical fantasy of Objectivism, and enter into the meaningful realm of Subjectivism, then eating ice cream with your niece magically becomes totally meaningful, because she is a alive, and you are alive, and you love her, and she loves you, and the ice cream is tasty, and it's a beautiful day, and it feels good, it's fun, and that's okay and that's enough even if it doesn't last forever and nobody will remember your Greatness a thousand years from now and, who cares?
I was a devout Ayn Randian for a year, as a freshman I read everything in print and got her newsletter, as a sophomore I kept on thinking and began deconstructing Ayn Randianism.
The first (of many) problems with AR is that philosophical Objectivism is objectively impossible. Why?
All perceptions are subjective. All experience is subjective. All emotions and feelings are subjective. All thinking is subjective, processed through the filters of our subjective perceptions, experiences, emotions, and feelings. All memories and dreams are subjective, and all memories are somewhat confabulated. No two people will ever have the same subjective perceptions, experiences, memories, dreams, imaginations, emotions, feelings, and thoughts.
There is a limited realm in which objectivity is possible, mostly in STEM - science, technology, engineering, math, but even the philosophy of math and science holds that all knowledge is tentative, subject to falsification.
"Objective" knowledge is realized by the accumulation of enough empirical evidence so that the idea becomes so generally known and accepted that it is not disputed, and has not been falsified.
I.e., water will wet us, fire will burn, and 2 + 2 = 4.
When we move into Ayn Rand's favorite obsessions, Capitalism and "Collectivism," or Socialism, we are faced with many barriers to Objectivism, because Capitalism and Socialism have so many faces, neither is a single clearly defined or definable "thing," each is a swirling galaxy of ideas, policies, processes, and relationships, each has advantages and detriments, each does good (and bad) things that the other does not, and each does good (and bad) things that the other also does.
The USSR from which AR came was Socialism at its worst, but Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, are living proof that Socialism can co-exist with Civilization, they have no purges and no gulags, they are largely Socialized, but they have among the highest standards of living and statistically happiest people in the world.
Ayn Rand would be horrified!
"Collectivism" works!
Indeed, all high-functioning countries and economies are mixed - Capitasocialist, or Sociocapitalist countries and economies.
"As soon as a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only those traits that favor that theory."
Thomas Jefferson
1787
Ayn Rand formed a theory - Objectivism - and ever after was blinded to all information and every idea that did not favor her theory.
Despite Ayn Rand's dark prophecies and grim warnings, since she began writing America has not collapsed, John Galt is dead in some unmarked grave, there is still Social Security and Medicare and some other collectivist abominations such as SNAP and TANF - food stamps and welfare - and the US GDP has grown from $2 trillion to $20 trillion, by far the wealthiest nation on earth in history.
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