Everyone who shouts #FreeRoss is a statist.
Change my mind.
Discussion
to charge the elect representative for the campaign promises he made and to express discontentment with the current system and its processes can look very similar of the cause is just.
I see that.
However the actions speak louder.
If one wants to see Ross free, one shouldn’t perpetuate institutions that robbed him of his freedom in the first place.
agreed. but how to distinguish between them? who's to say the people shouting for Ross's freedom are not also acting towards undermining those institutions as we know them? meanwhile, it doesn't do Ross any harm to have his plight made public, to get support from the community and putting the current administration under scrutiny.
point stands. If the cause is just, expressing your support for it and charging the institution doesn't look too different.
Let’s agree to agree. I wanted to see Ross free too.
Just as a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day, a politician can occasionally do something right. Should he be worshipped for that? Of course not, but I'm not going to hold it against him when he does something right for once either.
Should your perception of time rely solely on broken clocks though?
There are no other options. There are no good and bad politicians—there is only a greater and lesser evil. And you would have to be insane to vote for evil; any evil. You might be forced to do it, like in Sophie's Choice, but then the vote would not come from within.
Now tell me, how is it related to the #FreeRoss demand? Does it legitimize the evil? Of course not; the evil is (unfortunately) legitimized independently of our individual actions.
Did you read the linked article?
I think it ties the dilemma in a conclusive fashion.
Evil is also always legitimized through our own individual actions.
Since we as individuals always have the choice to stand up, to resist, to raise our voice and to encourage others to follow.
Isn't it apparent? I just don't agree with the shtick about the legitimization of a tyrant. His power already objectively exists; your or mine individual actions are irrelevant. Even with murder, you are not going to break the cycle. The only way is to offer an attractive alternative for the critical mass (on that we would probably agree) that can then delegitimize the tyrant. Freeing Ross in the meantime will not have any impact on the system, but it will have an absolutely crucial impact on him.
Agree!
But the individual actions we take are not irrelevant. Our actions can build the critical mass that delegitimizes the tyrants. I’m working on that every #SaturdayForSatoshi.
I was thinking about a possible analogy. If you were kidnapped and your captor offered you to watch TV on Sunday, you would not become an accomplice or any less of a victim for accepting it.
On the other hand, what you are doing is the alternative, the positive change. It is a Sisyphus-like task—seemingly futile—but you are making a difference. If nothing else I started to follow you because of it.
