[augustulus]

you don’t have to justify your assertions to me or anyone else, but make sure you can justify them to yourself. have a think about what you said and see how deeply you can support it. you don’t have to reply. you don’t even have to bluster and make accusations. just try and think about it slowly and unemotionally in your own head.

what agenda were you referring to?

who is being deceitful?

what are they trying to hide?

what were the primary tenets of Friedman’s capitalist philosophy?

don’t answer to me, just make sure you have solid answers for yourself

[mannykannot]

I don't have to justify them to myself or anyone else, because they are figments of your imagination that have no basis in anything at all. In all the articles and comments I have written anywhere, I have never before received any response so unhinged from what I actually wrote.

[augustulus]

some people learn to justify their opinions. some people learn to bluster and accuse and talk about how many articles they’ve written

are you denying that you claimed this form of capitalism doesn’t prioritise profit above all else?

are you denying that you made the accusation that some people who disagree with that are lying? you’re aware of what the word deceitful means, I’m sure

are you denying you claimed those people are lying to serve some agenda?

if you want to check your answers, those are all things you said in your comment

[mannykannot]

> if you want to check your answers, those are all things you said in your comment.

This is utter nonsense, as is obvious to anyone who can read. It is telling that you have not explained how you arrived at these ridiculous conclusions.

[augustulus]

my friend, anyone can come to these conclusions by reading your literal words:

>capitalism is not the simple proposition that profit justifies anything, even if some people sometimes suggest that it is

>in order to advance their agenda

>in a rather deceitful manner

so by very clear implication:

>capitalism doesn’t prioritise profit over everything else

>people say otherwise because they have an agenda

>those same people push their agenda with lies (deceit)

just a stab in the dark, but is all this very dramatic bluster and outrage simply because you levelled your accusation at people GP agrees with rather than at GP directly? did you expect a level of plausible deniability because of that? is that why you’re so angry?

if you’re so unable to say what that deceit or agenda is, why did you say it at all? were you trying to sound “in the know” or smart?

[mannykannot]

So now you have finally come to realize that you need to explain how you arrived at your allegation, and let's recall what that was:

> What I’m reading here is “you’re wrong and lying or lied to because of an ‘agenda’” and that’s it.

Where "you're" means GP, i.e. Bermion, the person to whom I was replying. So where did you get the notion that I was saying these things about Bermion? From your latest post, it appears that you think that in the statement "capitalism is not the simple proposition that profit justifies anything, even if some people sometimes suggest that it is...", the "some people" must refer to Bermion, but that does not follow, and Bermion is not even a particularly good fit, having not said anything so simplistic.

In fact, it is referring to a group of people tacitly referred to in Bermion's comment - those who go along with the view that "in a way, this is the 'right' thing to do in a capitalist society", a group in which Bermion clearly does not belong. It is not uncommon to find people implying, and even saying outright, that capitalism is just the proposition that profit justifies anything (sometimes, for example, in the guise of the claim that a board's only duty is to maximize profits by whatever works), and when it is being claimed by someone who knows better, in the hope of influencing other people in a way that benefits the claimant in some way, then that is duplicitous (which is not a synonym for lying, even though it may involve it.)

Next time you are thinking of making a wild allegation, do yourself a favor and check beforehand whether you have grabbed the wrong end of the stick.

[augustulus]

whether or not your accusation directly refers to GP is irrelevant

if you read your own quote, it says “lying or lied to”. I included the “lied to” because I knew you would try and sneak out of it like this, and yet you did it anyway because you appear to emotionally struggle with light criticism and questions, never mind justifying your thoughts

normal people, people who aren’t embarrassed and afraid to defend their thoughts, don’t get angry and bluster and start on about unhingedness and ‘I’ve written so many articles’ and all these quite amusing attempts at condescension and outrage. they just defend their thoughts. they say what agenda they’re referring to. they say who is lying. they don’t get angry that a person asking them questions didn’t accept their pre-emptive excuse

you’re still accusing people who disagree with you of dishonestly pushing an agenda. you’re still accusing people of lying. and you still refuse to justify those accusations. just because you made who you were accusing slightly fuzzy doesn’t mean you automatically get away with anything