Monday, January 07, 2013

Personal names and the Nanny State (e.g, Iceland)

Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, among others, have offical rules about what one can name their child.  This mother in Iceland gave her newborn daughter a name that the government says is a masculine one and she cannot use it.  She is listed as "girl" on official documents.  The rationale is to protect children from the embarrassment of having an unuusal name.  Welcome to the Nanny State mentality.   Many on the left look to Europe as the model for government.  Anyone who loves liberty would find this outrageous.  Maybe they need to re-think this if they really care about human autonomy in personal matters that really harm no one.

6 comments:

  1. I doubt they would like government support for some churches that IIRC, still exists in Europe. I came to the conclusion that the left many of the things they accuse the right of. But then, it works both ways. The pre election propaganda wars left me disillusioned, and the post spree murder culture war even more so. Between the anti Mormon bigotry spewed by many progressive talking heads (often the same people who called out Glenn Beck out on his anti Muslim rants) and the what amounts to hate speech directed at gun owners (but if you read between the lines, it seems more like rural working class in general). I found the hypocrisy and dishonesty unbearable that I can't seriously describe myself as either a liberal or progressive. Not a conservative either. Both seem to have its share of authoritarians but just have different "others".

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  2. GEJ:
    Thanks for the comment. I have long been disgusted by the hypocrisy of both the left and the right. Power, vote buying, getting re-elected and ideological dominance are the real goals. Distaste for both the left and right led me to an independent creation of a philosophy. I later concluded that my philosophy was similar to that of libertarianism. Because I reject much of various libertarianisms (anarcho-capitalism, objectivism, and others) I call my philosophy "cautious libertarianism." My biggest objection to libertarianism is that it fails to address the wrongs of corporate America and the threats to the individual human being. See My Philosophy" on this blog. I'd be interested in your reaction.

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    1. It seems pretty much where I am at as well, with Jesse Ventura and you. Like I said, two things that opened my eyes the most was the anti Mormon bigotry leading up to the election, and anti rural bigotry all the time. Sometimes anti working class as well. If you go on some progressive websites, they rant about "rural working class voting against their best interest because of guns and gays." It doesn't occur to them, they have a lot of classists just like the right has a lot of racists. Of course, the right has classists too, just not as open about it. I came to the conclusion that rural working class doesn't vote Democratic for the same reason African Americans, even socially conservative ones, don't vote Republican.

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  3. Thanks for your insightful comments. I assume you are referring, in part to Obama's famous disparaging comments about religion and guns. Too many people, media types, and politicians, don't think about issues. They have knee-jerk reactions. Many people feel they must support left-wing political correctness. Too many on the right, support their own knee-jerk version of right-wing political correctness. Politicans generally only care about winning, bashing their enemies and pursuing their ideology. Hypocrisy is rampant and propgagande predominates the media and politics. The Right is no better than the Left. That's why I (and I assume you) reject them.

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  4. Partly Obama's "guns and religion" but mostly anti Mormon rants from progressive talking heads.

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  5. GEJ:
    Thanks for the comments. I a I found the rants offensive also. It's refelctive of the deep polarization and the win-at-any-cost mentality. The ends justify the means for these folks. The rants also reflect the Left's dislike or religion. I fear for 1st Amend. freedom of religion if Obama puts more folks on the S.Ct. (I couldn't think of it at the time, but the Obama remarks have been labeled "Bittergate.")

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