Excellent talk given by Yaron Brook on free speech,”an issue that goes to the core of what Western Civilization is about.” During this talk Dr. Brook discusses why free speech is fundamental to what separates Western culture, meaning that culture which originated in, but is not limited to, Western Europe during the Enlightenment, from what existed previously and still exists in some parts of the world. As he puts it in the talk, “The protection of speech is the protection of
Category Archives: Video
[Video] Leslie T. Chang: The Voices of China’s Workers
(h/t Yaron Brook for sharing this video via Twitter)
In the fascinating video, journalist Leslie T. Chang talks about some of what she learned spending two years in one of China’s booming mega-cities. In this brief, less than 15 minutes, video she disposes of the idea that we in the West are somehow “exploiting” these workers and explains that they take what we would consider low paying jobs because they are better than their alternatives and give them a chance at a better life.
[Video] Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons
A panel discussion by Dr. Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute and Dr. Daniel Pipes, Director of Middle East Forum, on free speech from 2006, about a year after cartoons critical of Islam were published in Denmark and riots protesting them broke out across the Muslim world.
Dr. Pipes makes the point that this was not really about the cartoons, but the more fundamental question of whether the West will accept some form or aspect of Sharia law. The cartoons were just the
[Video] Religion and Morality
In this presentation from 2006, Dr. Onkar Ghate presents a fascinating discussion on the relationship between religion and morality. He makes the case that the rise in religion is the result in the remnants of the American sense of life seeking some code of absolute moral values in the absence of such values in the secular culture. As Dr. Ghate says:
It [religion] is in large measure a quest by individuals who have been abandoned in a moral desert and think they see in religion an oasis.
Onkar
[Video] Creationism in Camouflage: The Intelligent Design Deception
Keith Lockitch presents a discussion of how the idea of intelligent design is simply a dressed up version of creationism. Even though intelligent design is often expressed in more formal, scientific sounding, language, it is not different in its essentials from the version of creationism based on a biblical version of geology, i.e., the world is only about 6000 years old and was created by some supernatural being. Dr. Lockitch says during the lecture:
The argument from design is not a valid argument
[Video] Morality of War
Yaron Brook gives a passionate talk on applying the morality of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism to the concept of war and how war should be fought. While no philosophy can properly specify tactics, the specific means and methods used in fighting a way, it can provide the basis for deciding from what pool of possibilities these tactics can be drawn from.
In the early part of the talk Yaron discusses “just war theory,” the theory that in part says a country should not go to
Ayn Rand’s Ideas: An Introduction
An excellent introduction to major topics in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism presented by Onkar Ghate from 2003. The video includes a Q&A session with Onkar Ghate and Yaron Brook. Topics include: Individualism vs Collectivism, What are rights?, Proper role of government, Egoism vs Altruism, Ethics, Mysticism vs Reason and more.
The Q&A session is particularly interesting. Many of the folks had challenging questions which resulted in some great answers. I was somewhat surprised
[Video] Neoconservatives vs. America: A Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11
A great talk by Dr. Yaron Brook, given in 2005, in which he discusses the origin of neoconservatives (“leftists who have been mugged by reality”) and how the implementation of their policies after 9/11 have been contrary to actual American interests. The hour long talk is followed by nearly 90 minutes of Q&A with Yaron and Dr. Onkar Ghate.
One quote from Yaron Brook in answering a question about Iran:
When you go into Iran, there are two option. When, If. You go in there and after
[Video] The Rise and Fall of Property Rights in America
The Ayn Rand Institute has been publishing a number of video recently of lectures given on various topics, the most recent being a talk by Adam Mossoff on property rights. In this fascinating talk he discusses how the concept of the right to property arose, reaching its peak in the early to mid 19th century in the United States and how since that time these rights have been protected less and less.
This is an area I have been particularly interested in over the past few years, having come
[Video] Cronyism, Corruption and Government Power
ARI’s Steve Simpson has recently given a number of great talks on the subject of Cronyism, Corruption and Government Power. In this talk, he covers in more depth an issue that I brought up in