From: cl836@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Geoff Stark)
Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism
Subject: Collectivist Quotes
Date: 24 Jan 1993 23:59:37 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: cl836@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Geoff Stark)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


As part of our daily ritual of self torture, my wife an I read
the newspaper in search of some glimmer of hope for this self-
less socialist world.  (I must admit that Sandy (my wife) reads
more of the paper than I do.  I often skip to the comics. :-) )

We clip out letters or articles that REALLY offend our
objective moral ethic and have been saving them as examples of
the media's (sorry for generalizing) tendency to spurn
individuals who achieve or think for themselves.   Call it our
'Catalogue of Collectivist Quips'.

Does anybody else do anything similar?  It need not be newspapers
or even media.  For example, we have included most of the text of
the Charlottetown Accord. (The Canadian government's latest
attempt to entrench statist dogma in our constitution -
thankfully shot down by a national plebiscite last October)

I'll include some examples, but I would like to know if other
localities have the same media/governmental bias towards statism,
altruism and the end of individual freedom.  I think it would be
helpful to see examples of this material in
alt.philosophy.objectivism.

Any brackets [] are mine.
-----
"The wages of some people are getting out of hand.  Of those
receiving wages, welfare and provincial welfare are the lowest. 
Since the welfare people are working for the government their
income should be doubled, since without them the doctors, nurses,
mental health and welfare officers and other would have no income
at all." - Winnipeg Free Press, Nov 13, 1992 - letters to the
editor (by Wolodimir Starowoytow)

 [The provincial welfare system does not include any demands that
the recipients work.  In fact they lose welfare income if they
receive any other income at all.  You can double wages all you
want but it won't double production and real wealth.] 
-----
"Canadians and their governments are [financially] committed
[read- taxes] to the vitality and development of official
language minority communities throughout Canada"

[ie. If one person wants to have french services in an area of
english majority - then the government (our taxes) will have to
pay for the translation]

"Canadians are committed to a respect for individual and
collective human rights and freedoms of all people"
            - Preamble to the Charlottetown Accord, Aug 28, 1992

[What the hell is a 'collective right'?  If an individual is the
smallest unit that can have 'rights' then what point is there in
protecting 'collective rights'.  This implies that certain groups
of people have greater rights by virtue of their inclusion in a
group.]
-----
"Provinces should have exclusive jurisdiction over cultural
matters within the province...The federal government should
retain responsibility for national cultural institutions,
including grants and contributions delivered by these
institutions" - more Charlottetown Accord material

     [Whoa! Scary stuff! - presented by a Conservative (right)
government and ratified by our Liberal (left) and New Democratic
Parties (far left)].

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Live for yourself- there's no one else | Geoff Stark            |
more worth living for                  | gstark@mona.muug.mb.ca |
Begging hands and Bleeding hearts will |                        |
only cry out for more                  --------------------------
        - "Anthem" - Lyrics by Neil Peart of RUSH
Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism