Democracy in Chains Author Nancy MacLean Calls Autism a Leading Cause of Libertarianism - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Robby Soave:
February 13, 2018 - "Nancy MacLean, the Duke University historian who wrote Democracy in Chains, the deeply conspiratorial and much-criticized biography of public choice economist James Buchanan, told an audience in New York last week that Buchanan and other early leaders of the limited-government movement 'seem to be on the autism spectrum.'
"According to MacLean, there is a connection between autism and libertarianism, and that connection is not feeling 'solidarity or empathy', and having 'kind of difficult human relationships sometimes'...."
"This decidedly unempathetic assertion was MacLean's answer to a question from the audience at NYC's Unitarian Church of All Souls: 'Where do [Buchanan's] motivations lie? Are they ones of personal greed? It seems like it's a little grander, is it malevolence?'.... MacLean thanked the audience member for his 'profound question.' Then she confides in a low tone, 'I didn't put this in the book but I'll say it here' and goes on to explain:
"'I've discussed how ableist people like MacLean use autism as a slur, but I don't think we've ever been accused of being the source of malevolent ideologies before,' wrote Troy Earl Camplin, who blogs about living with Asperger's syndrome and having an autistic son. 'If I lived anywhere near Duke University, I would be outside the History Department tomorrow protesting her'...
"In case there was any doubt about what she meant, another audience member asked whether Buchanan's ideas were spreading 'to other universities and so that we've got this constant flow of libertarians, autistic libertarians.' MacLean smiles and chuckles."
Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/13/democracy-in-chains-author-nancy-maclean
'via Blog this'
February 13, 2018 - "Nancy MacLean, the Duke University historian who wrote Democracy in Chains, the deeply conspiratorial and much-criticized biography of public choice economist James Buchanan, told an audience in New York last week that Buchanan and other early leaders of the limited-government movement 'seem to be on the autism spectrum.'
"According to MacLean, there is a connection between autism and libertarianism, and that connection is not feeling 'solidarity or empathy', and having 'kind of difficult human relationships sometimes'...."
"This decidedly unempathetic assertion was MacLean's answer to a question from the audience at NYC's Unitarian Church of All Souls: 'Where do [Buchanan's] motivations lie? Are they ones of personal greed? It seems like it's a little grander, is it malevolence?'.... MacLean thanked the audience member for his 'profound question.' Then she confides in a low tone, 'I didn't put this in the book but I'll say it here' and goes on to explain:
It's striking to me how many of the architects of this cause seem to be on the autism spectrum. People who don't feel solidarity or empathy with others, and who have kind of difficult human relationships sometimes...."MacLean is making two not-necessarily-related claims here: 1) that Buchanan's autism made him unsuitable for politics, spurning his opposition to government, and 2) autistic people are less empathetic, which is why callous, unfeeling libertarianism appeals to them.....
Buchanan's own parents wanted him to go into politics and have a political career.... Part of me, since you've asked me in the way you have, part of me feels like there was this some kind of wound in him that he couldn't be this political figure, and then he made it his mission to kind of debunk the whole of politics to show that no one who was in it was good. But I don't know....
"'I've discussed how ableist people like MacLean use autism as a slur, but I don't think we've ever been accused of being the source of malevolent ideologies before,' wrote Troy Earl Camplin, who blogs about living with Asperger's syndrome and having an autistic son. 'If I lived anywhere near Duke University, I would be outside the History Department tomorrow protesting her'...
"In case there was any doubt about what she meant, another audience member asked whether Buchanan's ideas were spreading 'to other universities and so that we've got this constant flow of libertarians, autistic libertarians.' MacLean smiles and chuckles."
Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/13/democracy-in-chains-author-nancy-maclean
'via Blog this'
Empathy never saved a life; empathy never fed the hungry.
ReplyDeleteOnly reasoned and pragmatic actions do either of those things.
I wrote a post about the immorality of unexamined compassion:
http://zorkhun.com/wp/2017/08/13/2353/
but I am afraid the argument will never get across to the feeling people.