Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

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If we somehow criminalize taunting, scorn & ridicule like we have bullying, then the only incivility left as a club to beat our fellow human beings will be... Shunning, which is Constitutionally protected by our Freedom of Association. Humans are social animals, it's built into our DNA, and most people have it bad, so-much-so that we always tend to travel in packs, and loners are considered odd, even sociopathic. Often the only weapon people have in relationships is control over their company: those they like, they associate with courteously, and those for whom they are trying to modify behavior are shunned. To be rejected by your peers is devastating. Children are especially vulnerable to shunning because once isolated outside their home, they have no place to go. Shunning will continue to be the most effective weapon for controlling human behavior that a so-called “civil” society has at its disposal.

Shunning also plays well with self-interest; it's a way of gate-keeping, of limiting access, of maintaining the status quo. Why do jobs require references? Why do professional organizations require a sponsor? This shunning strategy, of course, bumps against two of the requirements of a Liberty society: first of which is to respect your allies, and second; it's a way of hoarding opportunity. Social contracts will weaken at the same rate as shunning becomes more prevalent & accepted.