Harrison Bergeron was prophetic

The 1961 short story, Harrison Bergeron, imagines a future where everyone is equal. No one is allowed to be smarter, better looking or more physically able / talented than anyone else. People who are too pretty, smart, etc., are required to wear handicaps designed to bring them down a notch or three.

I may have mentioned this once before, but I just saw an article that reminded me ….

Years ago, I was speaking with a professional colleague who believed that the government should compensate her for the extra money she had to spend on rent.

Her argument went like this. If she was a man, she could live in a cheaper area of town, because she wouldn’t be as likely to get attacked. But as a woman, she had to live in the safer areas of town. This was, in effect, a tax on women, so the government should give her a deduction, or rent assistance, or something.

I didn’t have the sense to ask her at the time, but I obviously should have asked her for the limiting principle.

Should the short get a tax deduction? How about the ugly? Studies consistently show that taller and more attractive people make more money.

Imagine the bureaucracy you could create on the back of such a principle. In addition to tall privilege and hot privilege, you’d have “raised in a two-parent home” privilege. “Your mother was not on crack” privilege.” “You grew up where there were stores with fresh vegetables in reasonable walking distance” privilege.

There’s no end to what you could justify once you accept the idea that the government should make everyone equal.

Well done, Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Why Joe Rogan and I sat down and talked — for more than 3 hours

Some think the way to deal with people who disagree with you is to cut them off. “I don’t even want to talk to them, they’re so crazy.”

De-platform them. Make them a pariah. Promote the idea that to even listen to them is a sin.

That’s a mistake, and it makes the culture ugly and intolerant.

I don’t know much about Dr. Gupta, but it was a good thing for him sit down for a chat with Joe Rogan.

It was also a good thing for Joe Rogan to call out CNN for its ridiculous attack on Rogan, and to ask Dr. Gupta how he feels about that.