Stone Pigs

Posted By Alan Partis on January 26, 2013

I want to make the argument that the natural state of man, as with the natural state of all plants and animals, is unrestrained freedom.  I classify this as a stone pig; an undeniable underlying truth.  Still, this fact seems to be lost on many people. 

Allow me to invoke this thought: there are no dolphins (by which I mean the typical bottlenose dolphin — Flipper) in prison.  Dolphins are thought by many people to be sentient beings.  Self-aware social animals.  There are also people who believe dolphins posses intelligence that surpasses human intellect.  There is no doubt that dolphins communicate in complex ways with sound, behavior, and perhaps visual cues.  What we know of dolphin society is probably sketchy, at best, but has shown many advanced concepts.  Individual dolphins have unique personalities: some are more friendly than others, some more shy, passive, aggressive, etc.  Similar personality traits to humans.  And, like humans, they must surely have individuals all across the spectrum … including those with anti-social tendencies and even what we would call criminals.  Yes, I just made the claim that there are bad dolphins (there is no doubt that right now, some of my Miami readers who are football fans, are acutely aware they are at the epicenter for some cosmic force — perhaps similar to the forces at work in the so-called Bermuda Triangle — that acts as a magnet for these sub-par mammals).  It is simple logic that draws us to this unavoidable conclusion: if all dolphins are not identical, then a spectrum of variation must exist spanning from good to bad.  Good dolphins.  Bad dolphins.  Criminal dolphins.  Dolphins that steal tuna.  Dolphins that hunt and kill for sport.  Dolphins that kill other dolphins.  Dolphin rapists. 

Yet, in all our explorations of the oceans where we find dolphins living, we find singing dolphins, but no dolphin Sing Sing. 

Now, I like to think of myself as intelligent, and I know a lot of things, but I don’t know what dolphin society does with their anti-social members who don’t know, or want to practice, the Golden Rule; who don’t understand that social advancements come from voluntary cooperation.  Perhaps good dolphins shun bad dolphins.  Maybe the bad ones are exiled to the arctic (dolphin Siberia) to fend for themselves against orca.  Maybe they are sent to Australia.  Perhaps they are killed.  What I do know is they are not incarcerated. 

Even those who might be shunned or exiled have no fences or barriers restricting their movement and activities.  Consequently, good dolphins must remain vigilant and either defend themselves, or accept the violations of their liberties.  I think their choice is clear: self defense is the natural way that individual freedom is maintained. 

I think, by now, it’s clear where I’m going with this: I’m making the case for the morality of self defense and consequently the immorality of taking away someone else’s ability for self defense.  While it is perfectly acceptable, and expected, for an individual to choose how they wish to defend themselves, or not, it is not acceptable for one to impose restraints on the choices others have available to them.

The natural state of man is freedom and that includes the freedom to make one’s own choices and to own the consequences. 

Category: Liberty, Stone Pigs
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