Bretigne Shaffer's Truth and Fiction

Fiction and commentary about the beauty of civilization and the evils of the coercive state
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  • Bretigne Shaffer

Speechless in 2017 Jan 20, 2017

I find myself a little speechless. It cannot be that all of these people only see evil when it wears the other team’s uniform. It cannot be that they are more upset by offensive speech than by a man claiming the right to kill any human being on earth at his whim. These things simply cannot be.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote34 5

Why I Won’t Be Voting: The Real Reason Libertarians Don’t Matter Oct 16, 2016

It occurs to me that there is something fundamentally disempowering about pursuing a solution that requires a majority of a population to go along with you. If your solution requires getting that many people to do what you are doing, then you don’t have a lot of power there. To me, it makes more sense to pursue solutions where I do have some power.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote25 22

Urban Yogini Accurately Predicts the Democratic National Convention of 2016: Aug 2, 2016

How did this happen? I wrote this nearly three years ago, and yet it seems to describe precisely what happened at last week's Democratic National Convention. Anyway, it's the only explanation I can come up with:

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote3 0

No, I Don’t Support the Troops May 31, 2016

If you own a business that offers discounts to members of the military, then I have a problem with you. If you put a “support the troops” bumper sticker on your car, I have a problem with you. Because all of these things contribute to the mindless glorification of killing and dying for the state. All of these things help to support a cultural machinery that exists for the purpose of turning my son — and maybe yours — into cannon fodder. And yes, I have a problem with that.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote60 25

Must We Choose Between Mob Justice and the Police State? Mar 3, 2016

Imagine how different things might have been, had black Americans been able to have their own police forces, competing with and challenging white police forces. The idea is not new. Economists such as Murray Rothbard, David Friedman and others have outlined in painstaking detail how non-monopoly systems of protection and defense might work, and indeed how they have worked in the past.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote21 10

Private Protection Co. Puts Govt. Police to Shame Feb 25, 2016

"I create prosperous outcomes over and over again, without lawsuits, without injuries, without death, no killing unarmed people," says Brown. "These deaths are avoidable. These deaths that you're hearing about... they ARE avoidable."

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote15 6

Don’t Let the Group Do Your Thinking for You Feb 16, 2016

Perhaps most worrying, I saw how it allowed the members of my group to believe that anything - really, anything - could be considered acceptable, even good and decent, as long as the rest of the group thought it so.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote9 0

Elections and Nothingness Feb 16, 2016

Never mind that the voting merry-go-round doesn’t offer any non-statist solutions to these problems. That politicians are always and only called upon to act. To “do something!” This is not only the politicians’ fault. It is endemic to our culture: We respect those who are seen to be “doing something”. We respect action. We do not so much respect sitting quietly and contemplating.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote6 1

What Twitter Should Do Feb 11, 2016

All of Twitter’s users are different - they have different tastes, different interests, different capabilities, different levels of tolerance for words and ideas that are different from their own... and different thresholds for being offended. The dilemma is this: How does Twitter satisfy its users’ desire for free and open communication (kind of its core business), while also protecting its users from having their feelings hurt so badly that they no longer want to engage or be in the Twitter verse?

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote7 4

Urban Yogini is Here! Dec 12, 2015

Urban Yogini tells the story of a young woman who is transformed into a superhero who is prohibited from using violence. When she's not practicing yoga, she spends her time fighting police brutality and other - mostly - crimes committed by those in authority. And when she's not doing that, she's hiding from those in authority who have labelled her a terrorist.

By Bretigne Shaffer Vote4 0

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