RE: John Yoo and self-exemption
Hello Dr Block,
After reading your exchange (https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/is-murder-ever-justified-no-is-it-sometimes-heroic-yes/) regarding John Yoo, should he not be held to his own standards? If he can support brutalizing a child, couldn’t a case be made for destroying his ability to speak and teach, so as to prevent his interpretation of the Constitution and government from spreading?
I would say no, and offer a quote from Nietzsche about fighting monsters, and of course, “tu ne cade malis, sed contra audentior ito”, but I doubt John Yoo considers existence with any degree of empathy. Perhaps that is the difference between an individual and an authoritarian.
Sincerely,
Jim Lloyd
Dear Jim:
Morally, Yoo should be held to those standards. But, legally, he’s committed no crime. Made no threats. So, I don’t think it would be justified to use any sort of violence against him.
I think it would be a punishable crime to crush a child’s testicles if it stops a gigantic terrorist attack. (but I think it would be heroic to do so to save millions of lives, including those of other children.)
In saying this, I’m in roughly the same position as Yoo.
Here are some of my publications on this intriguing issue:
Block, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011
Block, Walter E. 2001. “Jonah Goldberg and the Libertarian Axiom on Non-Aggression.” June 28; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig/block1.html
Block, Walter E. 2002. “Radical Privatization and other Libertarian Conundrums,” The International Journal of Politics and Ethics, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 165-175; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/radical_privatization.pdf (murder park)
Block, Walter E. 2003. “The Non-Aggression Axiom of Libertarianism,” February 17; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html
(15th floor flagpole)
Block, Walter E. 2004. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part I” Reason Papers, Vol. 27, Fall, pp. 117-133;
http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf
Block, Walter E. 2006. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part II” Reason Papers, Vol. 28, Spring, pp. 85-109; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/28/rp_28_7.pdf; (death penalty justified, net taxpayer, ruling class analysis p. 87)
Block, Walter E. 2010. “Response to Jakobsson on human body shields.” Libertarian Papers. http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-25.pdf
Block, Walter E. 2011. “The Human Body Shield,” Journal of Libertarian Studies; Vol. 22, pp. 625-630; http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_30.pdf
Best regards,
Walter
2:40 am on June 27, 2020
