Popular youtube channel critical of ACism & Stefan

[Ferm5]

Here is the video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/StormCloudsGathering/

I had never heard of this guy or the channel, but apparently he's popular. He's got 60,000 subscribers on youtube. His name is Aaron Hawkins. From his channel, I gather that's he's some sort of minarchist.

 

In the video, he specifically cites one of Stefan's videos and argues against it. The video already has 400 comments in the first 3 hours after being published. ACism is going mainstream I guess.

Just thought you guys may want to know about the video. Could be a good debate for Stefan. Larken Rose already found the video and has been defending non-aggression in the comments section, along with other people.

[Arius]

Problem 1: The video's narrator mistakes the lack of a formalized government for the lack of a government

Problem 2: He discusses the lack of a criminal justice system in a free society, as-if there's a working model right now.

Problem 3:  If you listen carefully, the narrator keeps saying "no rules".  A common misrepresentation of most Anarcho- positions.

Problem 4:  The narrator proposes a monopoly could exist without a state.

Problem 5: "Improper waste disposal and slave labor save the company money". These are both Commons problems which arise from socializing the costs of either waste disposal or labor.

Problem 6: "It assumes individuals will base their long-term purchasing decisions on rational self interest...which, unfortunately, is not true".  That's almost a quote from Leviathan

Problem 7:  Narrator mentions BP oil spill as-if that's somehow related to a free market.

Problem 8: "Businesses can be quite ruthless, even when regulated and held somewhat in check.  But when they have nothing holding them back"...The presentation had degraded to a savage beating of strawmen by this point.

Problem 9: The narrator compares Blackwater in the Green zone to a DRO.

Problem 10: The narrator discusses a mafia arising to control a free society.

Problem 11: The narrator doesn't seem to understand that the state subsidizes organized crime.  In fact, the state creates and maintains all black markets.

Problem 12: "Businesses and government are virtually identical" (As-if all businesses are, and must be, authoritarian hierarchies)

Problem 13: "Take away the restraints and there's nothing to prevent a business from enslaving its employees"

Problem 14: "We can look at...rural Africa"

Problem 15: "Anarcho-Capitalism will inherently turn into a state"..."If you go down that route, it may take a long to get back to having a society as free as we have now"...Oh, the doublethink is strong with this one.

Problem 16: "In a completely unregulated business environment..."

problem 17: "Consensus-based decision making"....Careful.  He almost said "Democracy".

 

 

Nothing new here.

 

 

 

[masonman]

Yeah I've been watching these lately and they have made me really reconsider a lot of his videos. He makes great criticisms of the state, and he pays a lot of lip service to the NAP, but I don't think he actually understands that when he says anarcho-capitalism has big issues since there are no overarching rules, he seems to be missing the point that enforcing those rules would be inherently AGAINST THE NAP.

[PatrickC]

There is actually a very civilised Google Hangout discussion Aaron has with Shanklin and a long term FDR listener. Can't recall his name or link the video, as work doesn’t allow YT access.

They go through a lot of these arguments in quite detail. It seems to hinge around the 'human nature' argument. It occurred to me that his YT name is 'StormCloudsGathering'.Not that unusual when you consider he has a somewhat dystopic view of the world from his earlier videos. This view of the world I think helps embolden his 'human nature' argument.

[MarkIX]

I think his statement of the AC position at the start was pretty much as I have been led to understand it. I don't think his critisisms are valid as any spectrum of rules is going to be generated by people and it has been demonstrated that interlocking rules spectra are possible even under the overpowering influence of the state, eg eBay industrial remediation services , club memberships etc. I believe that AC has other fundamental flaws relating to the posibility of perpetual and exclusive land claims.