Mondays with Murray: Rothbard On The UCSB Killings
"Call it fate. Call it luck. Call it kharma. I believe that everything happens for a reason." - Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ghostbusters, 1984Not only is that a line from fellow Lions of Liberty contributor Brian McWilliams' favorite scene involving drinking in a movie (for more interesting tidbits like that, and a touch of topical discussion from a libertarian viewpoint, check out our Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor! podcast), but it's also relevant to this post. Just as I had finished reading John Odermatt's latest edition of Felony Friday, which argued against blaming "society" for the recent killings at UC Santa Barbara, it seems fate may have intervened in my quest to write this weekly column. I randomly opened up my copy of Rothbard's For a New Liberty
Society was not to blame and guns were not to blame for the tragedy at UCSB. Elliot Roger was to blame. In order to progress as a society we must stop using irrational behavior as a basis to regulate rational behavior. All groups and individuals will be much better off, once this truth is understood.
Murray Rothbard expands on this faulty concept of "society" in For a New Liberty
The individualist view of "society" has been summed up in the phrase: "Society" is everyone but yourself. Put thus bluntly, this analysis can be used to consider those cases where "society" is treated, not only as a superhero with super-rights, but as a super villain on whose shoulders massive blame is placed. Consider the typical view that not the individual criminal, but "society", is responsible for his crime. Take, for example, the case where Smith robs or murders Jones. The "old -fashioned" view is that Smith is responsible for his act. The modern liberal counters that "society" is responsible. This sounds both sophisticated and humanitarian, until we apply the individualist perspective. Then we see that what liberals are really saying is that everyone but Smith, including of course the victim Jones, is responsible for the crime. Put bluntly, almost everyone would recognize the absurdity of this position. But conjuring up the fictive entity of "society" obfuscates this process. As the sociologist Arnold W. Green puts it: "It would follow, then, that if society is responsible for crime, and criminals are not responsible for crime, only those members of society who do not commit crime can be held responsible for crime. Nonsense this obvious can be circumvented only by conjuring up society as devil, as evil being apart from people and what they do"
It's a pretty ridiculous concept when you really say it out loud, isn't it?"Society" is nothing more than a collection of individuals, each of which has control over his or her actions (Alex Jones brainwashing conspiracies aside). There were certainly many factors that played into Rogers' killing spree - details we are not privy to regarding his upbringing and possible medications he was taking could certainly be factors influencing his horrific actions. But the idea of "society" or even some element of "society" being responsible is a fallacious notion that doesn't hold up to rational review.Only individuals act. It's possible that individuals other than Elliot Rogers influenced his actions through various means, but even in that case it is Mr. Rogers and those individuals who should be the focus of blame, not some esoteric concept of "society."Check out the full Mondays with Murray archive!BONUS! Here's the full scene with the Bill Murray quote above from Ghostbusters, which features some dialogue that libertarians will likely appreciate.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!http://youtu.be/RjzC1Dgh17A
