So I may have been a bit optimistic in saying I was back, work went a bit busy and then there was a holiday. This involved a lot of beer and a reminder that local police can be lovely people and apply common sense and a blind eye when given the chance. So I’ve rather missed all of the nonsense that was the Census – I shall fill it in with the aid of a beer or three later just so I can honestly claim it was all to my best knowledge and belief.
In the meantime I’d like to heartily recommend my holiday reading “Bad thoughts – a guide to clear thinking” by Jamie Whyte. It’s a wonderful guide to bogus reasoning and crimes against logic as illustrated by many of our glorious leaders.
He deftly dismantles pretty much every prohibitionist argument by pointing out that those in favour of that which the prohibitionists would ban consider that people “doing more of it” is actually a good thing, and that the prohibitionists also tend to ignore the benefits of the cost benefit analysis (usually “it’s fun”), taking the example of cocaine:
“They will acknowledge some benefits of legalisation, such as removing the criminal element from drug-trading, but never do they count as a benefit the increase in pleasure caused by increased cocaine-snorting. Yet that is the whole point of legalising it. If you don’t count what makes people want to do something , the cons will always out weigh the pros. Consider kissing. If you set aside the fact that people enjoy it, then there isn’t much to be said in it’s favour – it is just a good way of spreading germs. Ban it!”
Another particularly fun bit is his section on shocking statistics where he observes that the three billion made by the greedy bastards at Barclays in 2002 actually only represents a return of 15%. I really can’t recommend this book enough, both for the observations it makes, the style in which it’s written and the wonderful examples*.
Still whilst we’re on the subject of clear thoughts, and misconceptions may I also point you towards two articles over at Cracked.com? Firstly there is a worrying list of “important things we’re running out of” (oil is possibly the least of our trouble if we’re even running out of it) and then there’s a run down of “Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help”.
Enjoy.
* I’m really not on commission I did just enjoy the book a lot
