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"The god of the market-worshipers that celebrate the glories of turbo-capitalism is Adam Smith, but theirs is a devotion that crucially depends on not reading h
by stefco_ 10y ago
"The god of the market-worshipers that celebrate the glories of turbo-capitalism is Adam Smith, but theirs is a devotion that crucially depends on not reading him."
I found this amusing. It seems that fanatical devotion to dogmatic source texts is always predicated on not having read the source text to begin with. (Thinking the words in your head without digesting their meaning does not qualify as reading IMO.)
- M_Grey 10y agoThat kind of thing is the basis of a lot of crazy orthodoxies. For example Jehovah's Witnesses are often encouraged not to read the bible, but to read JW bibles or writings instead. It's incredibly easy to control people when you make insularity a virtue, and they buy into it.
- hkmurakami 10y agoA somewhat OT anecdote: I met one of my good friends in SF serrindipitously because... he was reading Wealth of Nations next to me at the cafe bar and I struck up a conversation with him about it. And perhaps naturally, he's as far from dogmatic devotion as one can get.
- zeckalpha 10y agoIn fact, he warned of this very thing. No one listens.
- dredmorbius 10y agoWhere, specifically? (Genuinely curious, as I, too, strongly advocate actually reading Smith: https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/4cyroa/adam_smiths_lost_legacy_or_why_you_should_read/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/4cyroa/adam_sm...)