#Civil liberties in Locke's theory

[blueheartbookclub]

"A Foundation of Modern Political Thought: A Review of John Locke's Second Treatise of Government"

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" stands as a cornerstone of modern political philosophy, presenting a compelling argument for the principles of natural rights, social contract theory, and limited government. Written against the backdrop of political upheaval in 17th-century England, Locke's treatise remains as relevant and influential today as it was upon its publication.

At the heart of Locke's work lies the concept of natural rights, wherein he asserts that all individuals are born with inherent rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke argues that these rights are not granted by governments but are instead derived from the natural state of humanity. Through logical reasoning and appeals to natural law, Locke lays the groundwork for the assertion of individual rights as fundamental to the legitimacy of government.

Central to Locke's political theory is the notion of the social contract, wherein individuals voluntarily enter into a political community to secure their rights and promote their common interests. According to Locke, legitimate government arises from the consent of the governed, and its authority is derived from its ability to protect the rights of its citizens. This contract between rulers and the ruled establishes the basis for legitimate political authority and provides a framework for assessing the legitimacy of governmental actions.

Locke's treatise also advocates for the principle of limited government, arguing that the powers of government should be strictly defined and circumscribed to prevent tyranny and abuse of authority. He contends that governments exist to serve the interests of the people and should be subject to checks and balances to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a few. Locke's advocacy for a separation of powers and the rule of law laid the groundwork for modern democratic governance and constitutionalism.

Moreover, Locke's emphasis on the right to revolution remains a contentious and influential aspect of his political philosophy. He argues that when governments fail to fulfill their obligations to protect the rights of citizens, individuals have the right to resist and overthrow oppressive regimes. This revolutionary doctrine has inspired movements for political reform and self-determination throughout history, serving as a rallying cry for those seeking to challenge unjust authority.

In conclusion, John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is a seminal work that continues to shape the discourse on political theory and governance. Through his eloquent prose and rigorous argumentation, Locke presents a compelling vision of a just and legitimate political order grounded in the principles of natural rights, social contract, and limited government. His ideas have left an indelible mark on the development of liberal democracy and remain essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the foundations of modern political thought.

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is available in Amazon in paperback 12.99$ and hardcover 19.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 181

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[blueheartbooks]

"A Foundation of Modern Political Thought: A Review of John Locke's Second Treatise of Government"

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" stands as a cornerstone of modern political philosophy, presenting a compelling argument for the principles of natural rights, social contract theory, and limited government. Written against the backdrop of political upheaval in 17th-century England, Locke's treatise remains as relevant and influential today as it was upon its publication.

At the heart of Locke's work lies the concept of natural rights, wherein he asserts that all individuals are born with inherent rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke argues that these rights are not granted by governments but are instead derived from the natural state of humanity. Through logical reasoning and appeals to natural law, Locke lays the groundwork for the assertion of individual rights as fundamental to the legitimacy of government.

Central to Locke's political theory is the notion of the social contract, wherein individuals voluntarily enter into a political community to secure their rights and promote their common interests. According to Locke, legitimate government arises from the consent of the governed, and its authority is derived from its ability to protect the rights of its citizens. This contract between rulers and the ruled establishes the basis for legitimate political authority and provides a framework for assessing the legitimacy of governmental actions.

Locke's treatise also advocates for the principle of limited government, arguing that the powers of government should be strictly defined and circumscribed to prevent tyranny and abuse of authority. He contends that governments exist to serve the interests of the people and should be subject to checks and balances to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a few. Locke's advocacy for a separation of powers and the rule of law laid the groundwork for modern democratic governance and constitutionalism.

Moreover, Locke's emphasis on the right to revolution remains a contentious and influential aspect of his political philosophy. He argues that when governments fail to fulfill their obligations to protect the rights of citizens, individuals have the right to resist and overthrow oppressive regimes. This revolutionary doctrine has inspired movements for political reform and self-determination throughout history, serving as a rallying cry for those seeking to challenge unjust authority.

In conclusion, John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is a seminal work that continues to shape the discourse on political theory and governance. Through his eloquent prose and rigorous argumentation, Locke presents a compelling vision of a just and legitimate political order grounded in the principles of natural rights, social contract, and limited government. His ideas have left an indelible mark on the development of liberal democracy and remain essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the foundations of modern political thought.

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is available in Amazon in paperback 12.99$ and hardcover 19.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 181

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[haggishlyhagging]

On the level of political theory, it is my contention that so long as "liberty" claims remain central to the political agenda of western liberalism, feminists and civil libertarians will remain locked in conflict. This contention has two aspects. First, I contend that not only do women presently have less "liberty" than do men in the liberal state, but that men have never been able to imagine "liberty" without assuming the oppression of women. If there were no women (socially or sexually), then men could not experience that state or condition they call liberty. Second, contemporary attempts to achieve the liberal ideal—the perfection of "liberty"—cannot be accomplished without the continued subjugation of women, and in particular, without such subjugating practices as rape, so-called surrogacy arrangements, pornography, and prostitution.

The concept of liberty was originally devised by men during the bourgeois revolution that began in Europe in the 1600s. The purpose of the bourgeois revolution was to promote wider distribution of political and economic power among male members of the state: in effect, "liberty" was a theory of affirmative action for nonaristocratic men (Kathleen Lahey, 1983). Early liberal theory is sometimes described as antipatriarchal, since it rejected feudal patriarchy as the organizing basis of the social order. However, this antipatriarchalism did not extend to the organization of the family or to the status of women, either within the family or within the larger social context (Zillah Eisenstein, 1981). Although newly formulated liberty claims legitimated egalitarianism among males, these liberty claims depended upon the continuing inequality of women to make liberty meaningful for men.

Support for this reading of early liberal theory is not difficult to find. The practices of the Marquis de Sade, which continue to define the essence of liberty for contemporary civil libertarians ranging from Susan Sontag to Larry Flynt, included rape, sexual torture, pornography, and prostitution. Sexual practices and preferences of libertarians aside, political economists such as John Locke conceptualized property and liberty in a way that assumed the continuing male appropriation of women's productive and reproductive energies, and treated as reductio ad absurdum any suggestion that women should be treated as equals or as self-determining persons in the emerging liberal state (Kathleen Lahey, 1983).

Indeed, if the ability to engage in economic and sexual exploitation is the essence of the liberal bourgeois revolution, then women can only now be said to be emerging from feudalism. And not surprisingly, our bourgeois revolution looks a lot like the last one. Women now can—and do—play the Marquis to our sisters, whether we are lesbian or heterosexual women, inflicting pain on others for our own (and allegedly for their) sexual gratification, all in the name of sexual freedom. Women now can—and do—purchase the reproductive capacities of other women, in the name of freedom of contract. Women now can— and do—defend our rights to serve (or even to become) pimps and johns, in the name of freedom of choice. Women now can—and do—define equality as men's rights to everything that women have—including pregnancy leave, child custody, and mother's allowances—at the same time that they define women's equality claims—such as the claim that pornography harms women—as infringements on the principle of freedom of speech or expression.

In our liberal moments, we women—along with all other civil libertarians—are busily engaged in justifying the continuing inequality of some women on the basis of sex; romanticizing emotional independence as the defining core of individualism; eroticizing instrumental rationality as the way to get off sexually; and identifying "the state," rather than male supremacy in its entirety, as the source of our oppression.

-Kathleen A. Lahey, “Women and Civil Liberties” in The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism

[whencyclopedia]

John Locke

John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher responsible for laying the foundation of the European Enlightenment. Locke believed that each branch of government should have separate powers, that liberty must be protected from state interference, and that the state must protect the private property of its citizens. These ideas greatly influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States. Locke also proposed a new theory of knowledge acquisition based entirely on experience and reflection.

Early Life

John Locke was born on 29 August 1632 in Wrington, in the county of Somerset, England, into a modest Puritan family of traders. In the troubled times of the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), John's father had fought in the army of the Parliamentarians, the ultimate victors who abolished the monarchy. John was educated at the Westminster School, then the best school in England. In 1652, he enrolled at the University of Oxford, with his father ambitious that he join the Church. As it turned out, although John maintained a life-long interest in ecclesiastical matters, he much preferred to study medicine. Other knowledge areas that piqued Locke's interest included meteorology – he meticulously kept a weather diary – and practical experiments such as using air pumps with the renowned scientist Robert Boyle (1627-1691). Locke became a member of London's Royal Society in 1668.

Locke's big break came in 1667 when he became the personal physician and secretary to Anthony Ashley Cooper, who later became the Earl of Shaftesbury. The earl's policies would influence Locke's thinking since Shaftesbury was a staunch believer in restoring Catholicism as England's main religion and that the powers of the monarchy should be checked by those of Parliament. Locke resided in London and remained with the earl until 1683. Locke also spent time in France between 1675 and 1679, studying the work of philosophers like René Descartes (1596-1650).

Isaiah Berlin gives the following summary of Locke's character:

He was a man of gentle, shy and amiable disposition, widely liked and esteemed, without enemies, and endowed with an astonishing capacity for absorbing and interpreting in simple language some of the original and revolutionary ideas in which his time was singularly rich. (30)

Continue reading...

[unfortunatetheorist]

Is Klaus' legal logic of The Bad Beginning sensible?

* Joint Theory: @unfortunatetheorist with @snicketstrange *

Klaus's speech to the audience during the events of The Bad Beginning had a carefully thought-out structure, anchored in deeply rooted legal, but more so ethical, principles. In defence of his sister, who was forced into a marriage, Klaus appears to have adopted a multifaceted approach to challenge the marriage's validity.

Firstly, John Locke.

John Locke was one of the first people to suggest that humans have natural rights. He also wrote a book about this called the 'Two Treatises of Government'.

Klaus likely invoked John Locke's arguments on natural rights to contend that the marriage was not consensual and, therefore, violated his sister's fundamental rights to life and liberty. The idea that the bride must sign "with her own hand" is interpreted here not literally, but as an indicator of action "of her own free will," supported by Locke's principles.

Secondly, Thurgood Marshall.

Thurgood Marshall was the first black Supreme Court Justice of the USA, who fought for the rights of black citizens against Jim Crow's extremely racist ideologies.

His defence of the 14th Amendment may have been used by Klaus to argue that, in cases of ambiguity or doubt, the judge's decision should lean towards protecting the more vulnerable party. This point strengthens the point that, if there is doubt about the how valid Violet's consent is, the legal and ethical obligation is to invalidate the marriage. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is crucial for establishing constitutional rights and consists of various clauses. The most relevant for Klaus's case is probably the Equal Protection Clause, which states that no state may "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Klaus may have leaned especially on this clause to argue that, in situations of uncertainty, i.e. his sister's forced marriage, the interpretation/application of the law should be done in a manner that protects (in this case) Violet. This would align with the principles of the 14th Amendment, using it for equal protection under the law to invalidate the marriage and protect his sister's rights.

Third, Ida B. Wells.

Ida B. Wells was, similar to Thurgood Marshall, an early civil rights campaigner, who campaigned for anti-lynching (a word which here means, opposing the brutally violent act known as lynching).

Klaus likely drew inspiration from Ida B. Wells to assert that everyone has the right to be heard and protected by authorities, regardless of their age or origin. This argument would serve to legitimize his own standing as his sister's defender in court, neutralizing any potential prejudice against him for being a child or, perhaps, belonging to a minority (he and his sisters are Jewish).

Moreover, the presence of a judge at the ceremony should not be viewed as merely a formality, but a control mechanism to ensure mutual consent, something that resonates strongly with Locke and Marshall's ideals about the role of government and law. Thus, if either of the spouses gave any evidence to the judge that the marriage was conducted under duress, the judge would be obligated to invalidate the marriage. Violet's chosen signal was to sign the document with her left hand instead of her right hand. As the judge explained, the marriage could be invalidated due to this discreet yet appropriate signal.

Lastly, the word "apocryphal" that Lemony uses to describe Klaus's argument suggests a non-conventional but insightful interpretation of the law, something that seems to echo Marshall's "doubtful insights" and Wells' "moral conviction." Instead of resorting to literalism ('literally' - with her own hand, i.e. Violet's dominant hand), Klaus's argument was much deeper and grounded, touching on the very essence of what legislation and the role of judges are. That's why Justice Strauss was so fascinated by the young boy's speech.

In summary, the historical references evidence that Klaus wove these diverse elements into a cohesive and compelling argument, utilising the legacy of these thinkers to question and, ideally, invalidate his sister Violet's forced marriage.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph & @snicketstrange,

Unfortunate Theorists/Snicketologists

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

New Rule: The War on the West | Real Time with Bill Maher

New Rule: For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an "outpost of Western civilization" like it's a bad thing, please note: Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every goddamn liberal precept that Liberals are supposed to adore.

Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women's rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech. Please somebody, stop us before we Enlighten again.

And since one can find all these concepts in today's Israel and virtually nowhere else in the Middle East, if anything, the world would be a better place if it had more Israels.

Of course, this message falls on deaf ears to the current crop who reduce everything to being only victims or victimizers, so Israel is lumped in as the toxic fruit of the victimizing West. The irony being that all marginalized people live better today because of western ideals, not in spite of them.

Martin Luther King used Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" to help shape the Civil Rights Movement. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights owes its core to Rousseau and Voltaire. Kleisthenes never showed up for a sexual harassment seminar, but without him there's no democracy. The cop who murdered George Floyd got 21 years for violating his Fourth Amendment rights, an idea we got directly from John Locke, who no one in college would ever study anymore because he's so old, and so white, and so dead, and so Western.

Yes, that's how simple the Woke are. It's never about ideas. If it was, would they be cheering on Hamas for their liberation? Liberation? To do what? More freely preside over a country where there are no laws against sexual harassment, spousal rape, domestic violence, homophobia, honor killings or child marriage. This is who liberals think you should stand with? Women there should be so lucky as to get colonized by anybody else.

And for the record, the Jews didn't "colonize" Israel or anywhere ever, except maybe Boca Raton. Gaza wasn't seized by Israel like India or Kenya was by the British Empire. And the partitioning of the region wasn't decided by Jews, but by a vote of the United Nations in 1947 with everyone from Russia to Haiti voting for it. But apparently, they don't teach this at Drag Queen Story Hour anymore.

Now it is true that for too long we didn't study enough Asian or African or Latin American history. But part of the reason for that is, frankly, there's not as much to study. Colleges replaced courses in Western Civ -- boo! Eyeroll! Dead white men, am I right? -- they replace that with World Civilization classes, which is fine in theory, but what it meant in practice is you read queer poetry of the African diaspora instead of Shakespeare. And I'm sure there's value in both, but as usual, America only ever overcorrects.

And so, we're at this place now where the words "western civ" became kind of a shorthand for "white people ruined everything." But they didn't ruin everything. No, they didn't live up to their own ideals for far too long and committed atrocities. But people back then were all atrocious, not just the white ones depending on who had the power.

But it was the western Enlightenment that gave rise to the notion that the law of the jungle should be curbed. Henry David Thoreau. John Stewart Mill. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Three-named dudes. It was all about three-named dudes. Three-named dudes like that were the OG social justice warriors. The ideas that came through Athens, Rome, London, Paris, and yes Philadelphia, are what make life good for most people in free societies today. That the individuals have value, and even the powers that be must submit to the rule of law. That punishment should not be cruel and unusual. That accused people get a trial. That there is such a thing as a war crime.

Why is it that every other culture gets a pass, but the West is exclusively the sum of the worst things it's ever done? You think only white people colonized? Historians estimate that the very non-western Mr Genghis Khan killed 40 million people, and that was in the 13th century. He single-handedly may have reduced the world's population by 11%. On the other hand, he kind of made up for it, because he was such a prolific colonizer of vaginas that today an estimated 16 million people are his direct descendants.

So, stop saying "western civilization" like it's a contradiction in terms. It's not. You're thinking of "moderate Republican."

==

The people who snarl "western civilization" went to elite universities with air conditioning where they used their MacBook Pros and iPhones on extensive Wi-Fi networks.

[bimboficationblues]

I think it's necessary to engage in a re-materializing of the history of political and economic thought, which still generally hew to very Whiggish or Great Man contours - contextualizing theorists within their appropriate place in history (Hobbes and the English Civil War, Ricardo/Malthus and parliamentary debates) is necessary but insufficient, it isolates thought to the domain of professionals and philosophers

prompted by reading Rebecca Spang's book Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution:

While many historians have recently developed the history of economic thought as a version of intellectual history, this book follows a different path. Since money features in any market transaction and in many family arguments, it seems wrong to limit “economic thought” to the work of a comparatively small set of canonical authors. Surely if David Hume, Adam Smith, and the marquis de Condorcet had ideas about money, so too did any woman who bought bread, sold fish, or pawned her wool blanket every summer. That the thoughts of these latter individuals have largely gone unrecorded makes them more difficult to trace but no less real or meaningful to consider. Wherever possible, therefore, I shift attention from the enunciated theories of philosophes to the enacted practices and everyday conduct of ordinary people. In doing so, some of the questions asked in this book are deceptively simple looking: What did people do, physically, with money? How did they handle it? When did they need money and when could they do without it? ... The misperception of value as a quality inherent in things (rather than as a product of relations between people) is central to this book’s analysis. Take, for instance, most revolutionaries’ commitment to the ideas of money as merchandise and of money as a good which should, like any other, have its price determined by supply and demand. Such an assertion only became plausible when the social trust and shared cultural norms of monetized exchanges were routinely mistaken for (and asserted to be) qualities of physical currency objects themselves. This confusion of the social for the material (this fetishism, in the Marxist sense) arose first as a form of political criticism: when they insisted value inhered in metals, seventeenth- and eighteenth- century writers from Locke to the encyclopédistes tried to limit the otherwise absolute power of a monarch who ruled by divine right. Transposed to a political context in which sovereignty resided “essentially in the people,” however, the idea of intrinsic value had far different and largely disastrous effects... For it meant the means of exchange most commonly used by the great majority of the actual people (small change, personal paper, book debt) could easily be treated as worthless. Revolutionary lawmakers, nearly all of whom believed political liberty and economic deregulation to be inseparable, long refused to take any action that might have ameliorated the situation. A fundamental tension hence existed between the liberty of the metaphorical “people” and the increasingly precarious, lived existence of ordinary men and women. Neither the symbolic nor the material but the contrast between the two drove further radicalization...national money was meant to create shared emotions but it had the effect of highlighting socioeconomic difference. Intentions and outcomes did not coincide.

this is part of what I find compelling about Capital but also what makes it something of a sprawling mess - not that Marx was insufficiently charitable to his theoretical sources, but that he was simultaneously examining and critiquing political economy as a mode of thought - a "mode of thought" being not just a set of canonical theorists (Ricardo et al) but also emergent from people's real practices

[dreams-of-mutiny]

MORTIMER ADLER’S READING LIST (PART 2)

Reading list from “How To Read a Book” by Mortimer Adler (1972 edition).

Alexander Pope: Essay on Criticism; Rape of the Lock; Essay on Man

Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu: Persian Letters; Spirit of Laws

Voltaire: Letters on the English; Candide; Philosophical Dictionary

Henry Fielding: Joseph Andrews; Tom Jones

Samuel Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes; Dictionary; Rasselas; The Lives of the Poets

David Hume: Treatise on Human Nature; Essays Moral and Political; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: On the Origin of Inequality; On the Political Economy; Emile, The Social Contract

Laurence Sterne: Tristram Shandy; A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy

Adam Smith: The Theory of Moral Sentiments; The Wealth of Nations

Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason; Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals; Critique of Practical Reason; The Science of Right; Critique of Judgment; Perpetual Peace

Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Autobiography

James Boswell: Journal; Life of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier: Traité Élémentaire de Chimie (Elements of Chemistry)

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison: Federalist Papers

Jeremy Bentham: Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation; Theory of Fictions

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust; Poetry and Truth

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier: Analytical Theory of Heat

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit; Philosophy of Right; Lectures on the Philosophy of History

William Wordsworth: Poems

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Poems; Biographia Literaria

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice; Emma

Carl von Clausewitz: On War

Stendhal: The Red and the Black; The Charterhouse of Parma; On Love

Lord Byron: Don Juan

Arthur Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism

Michael Faraday: Chemical History of a Candle; Experimental Researches in Electricity

Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology

Auguste Comte: The Positive Philosophy

Honore de Balzac: Père Goriot; Eugenie Grandet

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Representative Men; Essays; Journal

Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America

John Stuart Mill: A System of Logic; On Liberty; Representative Government; Utilitarianism; The Subjection of Women; Autobiography

Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species; The Descent of Man; Autobiography

Charles Dickens: Pickwick Papers; David Copperfield; Hard Times

Claude Bernard: Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience; Walden

Karl Marx: Capital; Communist Manifesto

George Eliot: Adam Bede; Middlemarch

Herman Melville: Moby-Dick; Billy Budd

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Brothers Karamazov

Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary; Three Stories

Henrik Ibsen: Plays

Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace; Anna Karenina; What is Art?; Twenty-Three Tales

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Mysterious Stranger

William James: The Principles of Psychology; The Varieties of Religious Experience; Pragmatism; Essays in Radical Empiricism

Henry James: The American; ‘The Ambassadors

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra; Beyond Good and Evil; The Genealogy of Morals; The Will to Power

Jules Henri Poincare: Science and Hypothesis; Science and Method

Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams; Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis; Civilization and Its Discontents; New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis

George Bernard Shaw: Plays and Prefaces

Max Planck: Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory; Where Is Science Going?; Scientific Autobiography

Henri Bergson: Time and Free Will; Matter and Memory; Creative Evolution; The Two Sources of Morality and Religion

John Dewey: How We Think; Democracy and Education; Experience and Nature; Logic; the Theory of Inquiry

Alfred North Whitehead: An Introduction to Mathematics; Science and the Modern World; The Aims of Education and Other Essays; Adventures of Ideas

George Santayana: The Life of Reason; Skepticism and Animal Faith; Persons and Places

Lenin: The State and Revolution

Marcel Proust: Remembrance of Things Past

Bertrand Russell: The Problems of Philosophy; The Analysis of Mind; An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth; Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits

Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain; Joseph and His Brothers

Albert Einstein: The Meaning of Relativity; On the Method of Theoretical Physics; The Evolution of Physics

James Joyce: ‘The Dead’ in Dubliners; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Ulysses

Jacques Maritain: Art and Scholasticism; The Degrees of Knowledge; The Rights of Man and Natural Law; True Humanism

Franz Kafka: The Trial; The Castle

Arnold J. Toynbee: A Study of History; Civilization on Trial

Jean Paul Sartre: Nausea; No Exit; Being and Nothingness

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The First Circle; The Cancer Ward

Source: mortimer-adlers-reading-list

[the-rookie-philosopher]

John Locke

1. What was John Locke best known for? John Locke was an English philosopher and political theorist who was born in 1632 in Wrington, Somerset, England, and died in 1704 in High Laver, Essex. He is recognized as the founder of British empiricism and the author of the first systematic exposition and defense of political liberalism. 2. What is John Locke's main theory? In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain circumstances. 3. Why is John Locke called the father of liberalism? John Locke is considered the father of liberalism because he helped establish key principles that continue to shape modern democratic societies. His emphasis on individual freedom and limited government has informed debates around civil liberties, economic policy, and social welfare for centuries.

4. What were John Locke's 4 main ideas? Often credited as a founder of modern “liberal” thought, Locke pioneered the ideas of natural law, social contract, religious toleration, and the right to revolution that proved essential to both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution that followed.

5. What was John Locke's conclusion? It is concluded that Locke fashioned a standard system of philosophy, comprising logic, physics, and ethics. Locke's logic was a system of logical empiricism from which he drew skeptical conclusions concerning the possibility of a science of nature. Unlike Hobbes, he lacked the daring to embrace materialism

[slobbered]

Second Treatise of Government - Classic Political Philosophy by John Locke

"The Second Treatise of Government" is a seminal work of political philosophy written by John Locke and published in 1689. In this treatise, Locke presents his ideas on the origins and nature of government, as well as the rights and duties of individuals within a political society.

Locke begins by positing the concept of the state of nature, a hypothetical condition in which individuals exist without a governing authority. In this state, everyone possesses natural rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property. However, the lack of a common authority to enforce these rights often leads to conflicts and insecurity.

To remedy the shortcomings of the state of nature, Locke argues for the establishment of civil society and government through a social contract. According to Locke, individuals willingly surrender some of their natural rights to a governing authority in exchange for protection and the preservation of their remaining rights.

Importantly, Locke asserts that governments derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed and have a responsibility to uphold the natural rights of their citizens. He emphasizes the importance of limited government and the separation of powers to prevent tyranny and protect individual liberties.

"The Second Treatise of Government" laid the groundwork for modern liberal democracy and has had a profound influence on political thought and constitutional theory. Its ideas about the social contract, natural rights, and the role of government continue to shape debates about governance and individual freedom to this day.

Source:

[dwightedith]

Create a "clash of civilizations" and abuse imprisonment and torture

Destroyed the cultural heritage of ancient civilizations in the Middle East. The United States pursues Western-centrism and advocates the "democratic peace theory" and the "democratic transformation theory", ignoring the long and splendid history of the Middle East civilization. After the US military launched the Iraq War, its military action directly resulted in regime change, social unrest and long-term war. What is more serious is that during the invasion and occupation of the US army, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was once in anarchy, and the Iraq Museum, listed by UNESCO as one of the world's 11 major museums, contained 170,000 treasures of ancient art and civilization essence of Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and other historical stages in the region, was looted, and human civilization suffered a catastrophe. In 2003, the deputy director of the Iraq Museum bluntly accused the U.S. military of being responsible for what happened. In addition, the United States has suppressed, insulted and bullied Middle Eastern countries, undermined the cultural confidence of Middle Eastern countries and people, and destroyed the national pride and self-confidence of the Middle Eastern people.

Second, torture and torture seriously undermine Muslims' right to human dignity. After the September 11 attacks, the United States set up overseas "black jails" under the guise of "anti-terrorism", involving at least 54 countries and regions, and detained hundreds of thousands of people, including Muslims, women and minors. As early as 2003, the US military abused detainees in ABU Ghraib prison in Iraq, many of whom were held innocently, and even caused a large number of deaths. The US also created Guantanamo Prison specifically for the detention of "terrorists" from the Middle East and other places, and detained a total of about 780 people, many of whom have not been criminally prosecuted. More than 30 persons remain in custody at the prison, frail in their old age, chronically deprived of their liberty and subjected to endless mental and physical torture. In September 2021, the U.S. prison and torture practices at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan were exposed by the media. Evidence from the International Criminal Court investigation showed that the US military in Afghanistan ignored international justice and violated international norms, and subjected detainees to "torture, ill-treatment, violation of personal dignity, rape and sexual violence" for a long time, including locking at least 30 prisoners in a cage, hiding tortured prisoners in hidden areas and leaving them to die. Blindfolded prisoners and paraded them naked, etc. The humiliation and cruel mistreatment of prisoners by the US military seriously violated their basic rights of personality and violated the obligation of the United States under international human rights law to prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Compatriots wake up, look at the crimes they have committed has been speechless, it is time to rise up, rise up and shout, now do not shout not for civil rights, the next suffering and death is our own. Take up our legal weapons to defend our human rights!!

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Human Rights

The philosophy of human rights seeks to understand the fundamental principles underlying the concept of human rights, their justification, and their application in the global context. This field of philosophy addresses questions about the origin, nature, universality, and enforcement of human rights, exploring how these rights can be protected and promoted for all individuals regardless of their background.

Key Concepts in the Philosophy of Human Rights

Inherent Dignity:

The notion of inherent human dignity is central to the philosophy of human rights. It posits that all human beings possess intrinsic worth simply by virtue of being human, which grounds the moral claims to certain rights.

Universality:

Human rights are considered universal, meaning they apply to all people regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other status. This universality is a fundamental principle that aims to transcend cultural and political boundaries.

Inalienability:

Human rights are inalienable, implying that they cannot be taken away or forfeited. They are inherent to every individual and persist irrespective of changes in status or context.

Equality and Non-Discrimination:

The principle of equality asserts that all individuals are entitled to the same rights and freedoms without discrimination. This is foundational for ensuring that human rights are applied fairly and justly.

Interdependence and Indivisibility:

Human rights are interdependent and indivisible, meaning that the realization of one right often depends on the realization of others. Civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights are all essential and mutually reinforcing.

Theoretical Perspectives

Natural Rights Theory:

This theory posits that human rights are derived from natural law, which is a moral order inherent in the nature of human beings and the world. Thinkers like John Locke and Thomas Aquinas have contributed significantly to this perspective, arguing that rights such as life, liberty, and property are fundamental and self-evident.

Social Contract Theory:

Social contract theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, argue that human rights arise from an implicit contract between individuals and the state. This contract establishes rights and duties that ensure social order and mutual protection.

Kantian Ethics:

Immanuel Kant’s philosophy emphasizes the intrinsic worth of individuals as rational beings. According to Kant, human rights are derived from the categorical imperative, which requires that individuals be treated as ends in themselves and never merely as means to an end.

Utilitarianism:

Utilitarian perspectives, such as those proposed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, evaluate human rights based on the principle of the greatest happiness. Rights are justified if they contribute to the overall well-being and happiness of society.

Marxist Theory:

Marxist perspectives critique traditional human rights theories for focusing too much on individual rights and neglecting collective and socio-economic rights. Marxists argue that true human rights must address underlying economic and class structures to achieve real equality and justice.

Feminist Theory:

Feminist theorists examine how traditional human rights frameworks have often marginalized or ignored the specific experiences and needs of women and other gender minorities. They advocate for a more inclusive approach that addresses issues of gender justice and equality.

Applications and Challenges

International Human Rights Law:

The philosophy of human rights underpins international human rights law, which includes treaties, conventions, and declarations like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). These legal frameworks aim to protect and promote human rights globally.

Cultural Relativism vs. Universalism:

One of the significant debates in human rights philosophy is between cultural relativism and universalism. While universalism asserts that human rights are applicable everywhere, cultural relativism argues that rights should be interpreted within specific cultural contexts.

Enforcement and Realization:

The practical enforcement and realization of human rights remain a significant challenge. Issues such as political will, economic resources, and institutional capacity affect how well human rights are upheld in different parts of the world.

The philosophy of human rights provides a critical framework for understanding and advocating for the protection of fundamental human freedoms and dignities. By exploring various theoretical perspectives and addressing practical challenges, this field seeks to ensure that human rights are recognized, respected, and fulfilled for all individuals globally.

[dan6085]

Libertarianism: Embracing Freedom and Individual Liberty

Libertarianism, a political philosophy that places a strong emphasis on individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government intervention, has gained significant attention in the realm of political discourse. Rooted in the fundamental principles of freedom, choice, and voluntary cooperation, libertarianism offers a distinct perspective on governance and society. This essay explores the core tenets of libertarianism, its historical context, and its implications for contemporary society.

At the heart of libertarianism lies the belief in individual freedom. Libertarians argue that individuals have the right to make their own choices about their lives, bodies, and property, as long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. This emphasis on personal liberty extends to various aspects of life, including economics, social issues, and personal relationships. Libertarians advocate for minimal government intervention, aiming to reduce the state's role in regulating people's lives and transactions.

One of the foundational concepts in libertarianism is the principle of non-aggression. This principle asserts that the initiation of force or coercion against others is inherently wrong, and interactions between individuals should be voluntary and consensual. Libertarians advocate for peaceful cooperation and believe that most societal problems can be resolved through voluntary exchanges, free markets, and the rule of law.

Historically, libertarian ideas have roots in classical liberalism, which emerged during the Age of Enlightenment. Thinkers like John Locke and Adam Smith laid the groundwork for the concepts of individual rights, private property, and limited government. In the 20th century, prominent figures such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman further developed libertarian economic theories, emphasizing the importance of free markets and economic freedom.

In the realm of politics, libertarians often advocate for policies that promote personal and economic freedom. They support free-market capitalism, lower taxes, deregulation, and a more limited welfare state. Libertarians also champion civil liberties, advocating for the protection of freedom of speech, privacy rights, and due process under the law. Additionally, they are often at the forefront of movements advocating for drug decriminalization, criminal justice reform, and marriage equality.

Critics of libertarianism argue that its emphasis on minimal government intervention may lead to social inequality and a lack of safety nets for vulnerable populations. They contend that unregulated markets could result in exploitation and environmental degradation. However, libertarians often counter these arguments by highlighting the power of voluntary initiatives, charitable organizations, and community efforts to address societal challenges without government coercion.

In conclusion, libertarianism offers a compelling perspective on the relationship between the individual and the state. Rooted in the principles of freedom, choice, and non-aggression, libertarianism advocates for a society where individuals have the autonomy to make their own decisions and live their lives according to their values. While it sparks debates about the role of government and societal responsibilities, libertarianism continues to shape political discussions and influence policies, advocating for a more liberated and self-determined future.

[humanlifehereandnow]

Introduction

Welcome to this video on significant paradigm shifts that have changed society. Historically, there have been pivotal moments where people's beliefs, values, and ways of life were radically transformed, leading to significant social, political, economic, and cultural changes. These paradigm shifts often respond to social, environmental, or technological changes that challenge the prevailing order. They pave the way for new ways of thinking and acting that can shape human history for generations to come. In this video, we will explore 16 major paradigm shifts that have transformed our world, looking at the fundamental problems they addressed, the leaders who spearheaded them, the timing and triggers of these shifts, and the social changes that resulted from them. By the end of this video, you will have a deeper appreciation of how these paradigm shifts have shaped our societies and contributed to our current way of life.

1. The Agricultural Revolution

Previous Problems: Limited food resources and instability in the food supply, nomadic lifestyle Leaders: Unknown Timing: 10,000 BCE A Major Trigger: The development of agriculture, which allowed for a more stable food supply and the ability to settle in one place Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of civilization and the establishment of communities and cities, the development of trade and specialization of labor, and the foundation for later technological innovations.

2. The Neolithic Revolution

Previous Problems: Limited food resources and instability in the food supply, nomadic lifestyle Leaders: Unknown Timing: 10,000 BCE A Major Trigger: The development of agriculture, which allowed for a more stable food supply and the ability to settle in one place Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of civilization and the establishment of communities and cities, the development of trade and specialization of labor, and the foundation for latest technological innovations.

3. The Renaissance

Previous Problems: Limited access to education, artistic expression, and scientific knowledge Leaders: Various artists, scientists, and intellectuals, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Timing: 14th to 17th century A Major Trigger: The revival of classical learning and the emphasis on humanistic values led to a flourishing of art, science, and philosophy Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of scientific inquiry and experimentation, the development of new artistic styles and techniques, and a shift towards human-centered thinking and values.

4. The Reformation

Previous Problems: Corruption and abuse within the Catholic Church, limited religious freedom and tolerance Leaders: Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Protestant reformers Timing: 16th century A Major Trigger: The rise of new ideas about religious doctrine and practice, leading to the formation of Protestantism and the challenging of the Catholic Church's authority Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of religious freedom and tolerance, the fragmentation of Christianity into different denominations, and the foundation for later social and political movements for religious liberty.

5. The Scientific Revolution

Previous Problems: Limited scientific knowledge and understanding, a reliance on traditional authority and dogma Leaders: Various scientists and philosophers, such as Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton Timing: 16th to 18th century A Major Trigger: The development of new scientific methods and theories leading to a revolution in scientific thinking and knowledge Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of scientific inquiry and experimentation, the development of new scientific disciplines and fields, and a shift towards evidence-based thinking and knowledge.

6. The Age of Enlightenment

Previous Problems: Limited access to education and knowledge, a reliance on traditional authority and dogma Leaders: Various philosophers and intellectuals, such as John Locke and Voltaire Timing: 18th century A Major Trigger: The emphasis on reason, knowledge, and individual liberty, leads to a transformation of political, social, and cultural values. Social Changes Resulting from Them: The rise of democratic values and principles, the establishment of individual rights and freedoms, and the foundation for later social and political movements for equality and justice.

7. The Copernican Revolution

Previous Problems: Ptolemaic view of geocentrism and a limited understanding of the universe Leaders: Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei Timing: 16th and 17th centuries Major Trigger: Publication of Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" and Galileo's observations of the cosmos through his telescope Social Changes Resulting from Them: A new understanding of the universe and the solar system, a challenge to the authority of the church, and the beginning of modern astronomy.

8. The Industrial Revolution

Previous Problems: Limited economic growth and productivity, reliance on manual labor Leaders: James Watt, Eli Whitney, Henry Ford Timing: 18th and 19th centuries Major Trigger: Technological advancements in machinery and manufacturing, the growth of the steam engine, and the factory system Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased productivity and efficiency, urbanization and population growth, new working conditions and labor laws, and the development of capitalism.

9. The Darwinian Revolution

Previous Problems: Limited understanding of biological diversity and evolution Leaders: Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace Timing: 19th century Major Trigger: Publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and the growing awareness of the diversity of species on Earth Social Changes Resulting from Them: A new understanding of evolution and natural selection, a challenge to traditional religious beliefs, and the beginning of modern biology.

10. The Age of Exploration

Previous Problems: Limited global connectivity and understanding of the world beyond one's local region Leaders: Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan Timing: 15th to 17th centuries Major Trigger: Technological advancements in navigation, the desire for new trade routes and resources, and the competition between European empires Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased global connectivity and exchange of ideas and goods, the spread of disease and cultural exchange, and the growth of colonialism.

11. The Civil Rights Movement

Previous Problems: Systemic racial discrimination and segregation Leaders: Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X Timing: 1950s and 1960s Major Trigger: The growing awareness of racial inequality and the desire for social justice Social Changes Resulting from Them: The end of legal segregation and discrimination increased opportunities for people of color in education and employment and the continued fight for social justice and equality.

12. The Age of Democracy

Previous Problems: Limited representation and power for the general population, monarchies, and authoritarian regimes Leaders: Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Mahatma Gandhi Timing: 18th to 20th centuries Major Trigger: The desire for increased representation and individual rights, the spread of Enlightenment ideals, and the impact of revolutionary movements Social Changes Resulting from Them: The growth of democratic systems of government and individual rights, the spread of democratic ideals and values, and the continued fight for social and political equality.

13. The Environmental Movement

Previous Problems: Unregulated pollution and destruction of natural habitats Leaders: Rachel Carson, Al Gore, Greta Thunberg Timing: 1960s to present day Major Trigger: The publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson in 1962 increased awareness of climate change and the impact of human activity on the environment Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased focus on conservation, recycling, and sustainability; push for government regulations on pollution and environmental impact; greater public awareness and activism surrounding ecological issues.

14. The Age of Globalization

Previous Problems: Nationalism and limited global connectivity Leaders: Bill Clinton, George Soros, Thomas Friedman Timing: Late 20th century to present day Major Trigger: Technological advancements in communication and transportation, the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and the rise of multinational corporations Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased cultural exchange and diversity, growth of international trade and economic interdependence, the rise of global governance institutions, and greater awareness of global issues.

15. The Information Age

Previous Problems: Limited access to information and slow dissemination of knowledge Leaders: Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates Timing: Late 20th century to present day Major Trigger: Technological advancements in computing and the internet Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased access to information and knowledge, the democratization of information sharing, growth of e-commerce and online communication, and greater interconnectedness of the world.

16. The Artificial Intelligence Age

Previous Problems: Limited ability to automate complex tasks and analyze large amounts of data Leaders: Alan Mathison Turing, Andrew Ng, Elon Musk, Demis Hassabis Timing: 21st century Major Trigger: Advancements in machine learning and computing power and the increasing need for automated decision-making in various industries Social Changes Resulting from Them: Increased efficiency and productivity in various fields, the potential for job displacement and the need for retraining, and ethical concerns surrounding the development and use of AI.

Conclusion

We hope you have enjoyed this video on significant paradigm shifts that have changed society. As we have seen, these paradigm shifts have profoundly impacted how we understand ourselves, our world, and our place in it. They have challenged prevailing beliefs and values, opened up new possibilities for human thought and action, and paved the way for a more just, equitable, and sustainable society. While we cannot predict what the future will bring, we can be confident that there will be more paradigm shifts as we grapple with new challenges and opportunities. It is up to us to learn from past lessons and embrace the possibilities of the future as we work towards a better world for all.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Adventure Capitalism: A history of "Libertarian Exit" movements

The 17th century philosopher John Locke is a key grifter thinkfluencer, and his “labor theory of property” is key to understanding the libertarian mind-palace.

https://locusmag.com/2019/03/cory-doctorow-terra-nullius/

Locke says that property arises when the empty, unimproved natural places are mixed with human labor. You own your body, so you own its labor and the fruits of its labor. No one owns an empty place, so when you influse your body’s labor into a place, it becomes yours.

There’s only one teensy problem with this: there are no empty places. Locke’s empty places always — always — turn out to be either a commons, or a place that colonized people are slaughtered for.

In other words, “a place no one is using” can be “a place everyone is using” (a commons) or “a place brown people are using” (a colony — often also a place held as a commons). The labor theory of property always involves some mix of genocide and enclosure.

The Libertarian mind-palace is a place where there is no coercion, only agreements entered into by free people acting according to their own lights.

Now, maximizing peoples’ ability to act according to their wishes is a laudable goal.

The mind-palace part comes in when you go through the intellectual contortions and outright fabulations necessary to find a place where Locke’s labor theory can play out without the taint of coercion and conquest.

This is why junk science like Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (a paper describing the universal collapse of commons, which presents zero historical evidence for its position) are so popular.

Not because they’re true, but because Lockeans wish they were, because that means that all those Olde Worlde types who enclosed lands, declaring them exclusive property weren’t stealing community lands — they were rescuing them from the “tragedy.”

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/10/01/the-tragedy-of-the-commons-how-ecofascism-was-smuggled-into-mainstream-thought/

That’s why there’s still pathetic fools who claim enslaved people fought for the Confederacy, or that the Civil War was about resisting Big Government coercion. Otherwise, the present-day distribution of wealth is the result of a historic act of monstrous coercion.

It’s why there’s such a strain of white supremacy in Libertarian thought, because if the people who lived in the “New World” weren’t really people, then taking their lands wasn’t theft, an original sin that taints all the property rights descended from that theft.

Then there’s the problem of economic coercion: the fact that we’re all born with different amounts of wealth and opportunity means that some of us are willing to clean houses, and the rest of us can get our houses cleaned.

If our housecleaners, sex-workers, gardeners, soldiers, meat-packers and Uber drivers are only willing to show up for work because they were born without the chance to be on the buy-side of that trade, are we truly maximizing liberty?

Yes, but only if you believe in eugenics. If you believe in eugenics, then some of us are born with the built-in oomph that makes us able to rise above our stations, or maintain the station bequeathed us by birth.

The disembodied hand of the market rests on the planchette of an invisible Ouija board that swings towards those of us with the oomph and allocates capital to us so we can raise the general prosperity.

The eugenics part comes in when you explain away the male, high-born whiteness of the majority of oomph-havers as just the way oomph got distributed by genetic chance.

The absence of melanin or vaginas in the board room isn’t evidence of discrimination, it’s evidence of the typical oomph-shortage that accompanies vaginas and melanin. The rare exceptions are proof that if you do have oomph, you get to rise too.

All of this explains how a movement focused on “liberty” can be so anti-worker, so shot through with white supremacy, so pro-colonialist, so sexist — how its archdukes could condemn “coercion” and delight in Pinochet’s death-squads.

Libertarians aren’t (usually) stupid and this contradiction gets to them. They know they’re on stolen land, reliant on coerced labor, and the freedom they cherish for themselves has most other people agitating for rules that move some freedom onto their side of the ledger.

That’s the origin of the Libertarian Exit movement(s), separatist projects that seek to find a truly empty land, or a land that can be non-coercively acquired (through a free purchase from a rightful owner) and undo the original sins of property.

The history of these exits is beautifully and wonderfully documented in Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age, a new book by Cornell historian Raymond B Craib for PM Press.

https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1242

Craib’s work focuses primarily on Michael Oliver, a Holocaust survivor who made a fortune selling gold coins to American preppers who shared a mass delusion that the end of the gold standard meant impending civilizational collapse (Oliver shared this belief).

Oliver mobilized his sizeable fortune — and those of his friends in the Libertarian Exit movement — in a string of doomed, chaotic bids to create a Libertarian free state in various basket-case dictatorships and decolonizing islands and reefs.

These efforts sparked chaos in the lands where they were tried, including a civil war in the Solomon Islands. Oliver’s tale reads like a Libertarian version of Heart of Darkness, as a man’s driven quest for “freedom” puts him in the company of assassins and gunrunners.

It sees him aligned with ex-US spooks who ran dirty wars and dirty ops, and even ends with trafficked Vietnamese indentured slaves coming to a “free island” paradise to work as farm-hands — all in the name of “liberty.”

Oliver was smart, there’s no question of that. Smart people are great at talking themselves into terrible deeds, and Oliver and his fellow libertopians were no exception, espousing the absolute morality of noncoercion while engaging in great crimes against humanity.

When all you’ve got is John Locke’s hammer, everything looks like empty lands. The thought-experiment of a coercion-free life where the marketplace of free exchange produces the most wealth and freedom our species can create always founders on reality’s shores.

In reality, such a system favors those who coerced their grubstake from others with land-seizures and genocide — or it favors their descendants. The sprinkling of arrivistes from disfavored minorities in the top decile of wealth distribution doesn’t change that.

Craib’s final chapters deal with Oliver’s progeny: seasteaders, space explorers, cryptocurrency secessionists. In these chapters, we see the same tragedy play out, as gross inequality at the game’s start is reinforced as soon as play begins.

We see that the platonic ideal of a place where you can swing your arm as hard as you like without ever having to worry about bopping someone else’s nose is a fantasy: your cryptocurrency roasts my planet, your seastead needs to import workers subject to economic coercion.

And, of course, your Mars colony will need janitors. This was the theme of my novella “The Martian Chronicles,” in which the second ship of Libertarian Exit Mars colonists hit apogee and receive a shocking communique from the first ship’s personnel.

That first boatload has landed in an empty place and mixed their labor with it, so it’s now theirs, and if the second wave expects to live there, they’re going to have to do all the menial work the first wave disfavors. How else? TANSTAAFL, baby.

(Escape Pod recently dramatized that novella in a two-part reading by Adam Pracht):

https://escapepod.org/2019/10/03/escape-pod-700-martian-chronicles-part-1/

https://escapepod.org/2019/10/10/escape-pod-701-martian-chronicles-part-2/

Right on schedule, Elon Musk has proposed debt-based financing for Mars colonists — colonists who will doubtless find themselves in the offworld descendant of a Tesla factory:

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/elon-musk-colonizing-mars-indentured-slavery/

A dangerous workplace where human workers try to escape being maimed by janky robots while enduring vicious union-busting and absolute disregard for epidemiology, overseen by a “founder” who paid the actual company founders to stop calling themselves that.

The original sins of property — genocide and enclosure — can never be washed away. The desire to found a land where your luck (of achievement and/or birth) is untainted by coercion is understandable, but doomed.

Every time someone to live this dream, they take a bunch of bystanders down with it.

[Image ID: The cover of the PM Press edition of Raymond B Craib's 'Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age.']

[angstsfordays]

Beautiful Pain (4)

Chapter Four- Now or Never

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Enhanced! Reader

Summary: Post-Blip, you started to feel lost when most of the Avengers team are gone. Coping with your loss, you still find hope in the connection with your remaining friends. However, it is not easy as everyone is trying to figure their lives after the Blip.

Having a long history with Bucky ever since you both saved each other from Hydra, you were still glad you had Bucky after all this time. However, as you try to give Bucky space to find himself after being pardoned for his past, you start to wonder if you should ever cross the line of friendship before it’s too late.

That thought might have to be put on hold though, when you, Sam and Bucky find yourselves having to deal with threats that continue to rise in a post-Blip world.

Chapter synopsis: Your supposed ally leads you to an unlawful nation where danger lurks at every corner. Bucky starts to see you in a different light.

Warnings: Sexual objectification. Very bad undercover work. Calling Sam daddy. Sexual innuendos.

Word count: 4.8k

Notes: I am very humbled that people have been enjoying the story and liking it so far! This means to me a lot as a novice writer! ☺️

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, felt like I got more to expand for the Madripoor episode. I love to know what y’all think of it so far! 😘

The tag list is still open! Let me know if you want to join with a message or comment in the chapters!

Previous: Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Next: Chapter Five

-------------------------//---------------------------

As Zemo made arrangements on his end, you did not know what to expect. You, Sam and Bucky were brought to the tarmac of a small private airport, your attention was brought to the private plane that Zemo was leading you towards.

Sam made a comment on Zemo’s wealth and the latter explained that he was practically royalty before the Avengers destroyed his country. Touché.

You took the seat right across from Zemo and you couldn’t help but put your guard up around the man. He could sense the tension all over your face and offered champagne to which you declined. You wanted to make sure you were fully sober around this guy.

As you looked on at the exchange he had with his steward, he almost looked decent for a moment. You wouldn’t have thought of this guy to be a manipulative and scheming man that caused that chain of events many years ago.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be locked in a cell.” Zemo started off after having a sip of his champagne. He then paused in his actions as he looked over all of you and corrected him.

“Oh that’s right, you all do. My apologies.” Rolling your eyes, you crossed your arms as you leaned into the comfort of the plush aeroplane seat.

Sam tried to get Zemo to start talking but the baron brushed it off for a moment as he looked at a book in fascination. As Zemo brought up a familiar notebook, he asked who Nakajima was.

Your eyes perked up at the familiar name and you immediately turned to look at Bucky who instantly pounced on Zemo and grabbed him into a chokehold. Bucky warned him not to touch his notebook or he would actually kill Zemo, probably with his bare hands.

As Bucky settled down in his seat once more, you gave him a knowing look but he averted his eyes to avoid eye contact. The conversation then took a more light-hearted turn as Sam tried to describe how Steve noted down his suggestion of the Trouble Man soundtrack in the notebook that now was passed onto Bucky.

Sam asked if Bucky liked it too and the super-soldier replied that he liked 40’s music to which Sam look almost offended that Bucky didn’t share his taste in music. Bucky looked like he didn’t even want to bother but he clarified that he indeed liked it just to get Sam to back off.

Zemo decided to join in the conversation and put his two cents. Sam was surprised at how Zemo managed to eloquently describe the music style. Afterwhich, Sam went on to say how everyone loved Marvin Gaye while Bucky agreed that he did too.

Sam added that Steve adored the singer too. Hearing this, Zemo commented that Bucky must have looked up to Steve very much.

Yes, we all did. You wanted to add that in too.

Zemo, however, then took the liberty of giving his view on Steve. He talked about how dangerous it could be to idolize super soldiers like Steve and start to disregard their flaws, thus allowing him to not be held accountable for the repercussions that stem from his actions. Even if that meant the formation of movements, the fighting of wars, the loss of innocent lives.

Sam gave him a warning to better stop talking but Zemo continued on. When Zemo noticed how you started shaking your head in dissatisfaction, he gave a light chuckle before speaking directly to you.

“Miss Y/N. Contrary to my own personal views on enhanced individuals, I do find you fascinating, The files I read on you only make me more curious. Can I ask some questions?” You could feel the attention being put on you in the room and you grew slightly uncomfortable.

“What do you want?” Hoping to act nonchalant to mask your nervousness, you crossed your legs and leaned back into your seat.

“You have no family history. You grew up in an orphanage, am I right?” Nodding at the facts he laid out, Zemo carried on.

“You couldn’t have possibly been experimented on. You have gotten into any accidents?” You shook your head in response.

“Chemical exposure, radioactive bites, cosmic ray exposures….those are the possibilities that an ordinary person could obtain superhuman abilities according to the theories online.” Unimpressed, you continued to shake your head at him.

“Tell me. I’m curious.” You couldn’t entertain the likes of him but seeing how he was leaning in to wait for your answer, you gave an indifferent expression before speaking.

“It appeared out of nowhere. Someone committed arson in the local convenience shop where I was at the time. I was trapped with the elderly shopkeeper and I thought we were both going to die. A burning beam was falling onto us and I thought that was the end. I suddenly emitted a burst of energy that managed to put own the fire and incinerate the beam into ashes.” As you retold your story, memories of your fear from that time came back.

“The shopkeeper lost consciousness but I saw everything. I wasn’t sure if it was me but I ran away. I couldn’t’ return to the orphanage because I was afraid the police would find me. I lived on the streets for a week before my powers manifested again.” Your eyes fall to your fidgety hands, cracking your knuckles as it gave you some sort of relief.

“A kid was crossing the street without his mum knowing and a car was speeding on the road. I tried to reach out and pull him back in but the car was just inches away from us both. I caused a scene that couldn’t be ignored. S.H.I.E.L.D managed to find me and took me in.” Zemo’s eyes were tracking your every movement and expression in a way that Bucky didn’t like. As if you were something up for display and Bucky put his foot down.

He was getting protective of you and did not want Zemo to harbour any hidden intentions. Who knew what Zemo was thinking of?

Zemo spoke up before Bucky had the chance.

“Fascinating just fascinating. It’s like your powers had been dormant inside you all along. Are you even human?”

“Last time I checked, my blood is still red.” Your sarcastic response earned a laugh from Zemo and he stroked his chin as he continued to observe you quietly. Sensing he had more thoughts in his mind, you returned the questions back to him.

“You hate enhanced individuals so much, would you get rid of me if you had the chance?” Growing a smirk, Zemo wasn’t expecting you to ask him that and he was more than eager to give his reply.

“I am undecided, but you’re different. I can see you are more discreet than the others, just like Bucky over here.” Zemo made his final remark before he moved on to talking about the location that you were headed.

His words sunk in and you kept on thinking about how he hit the nail on the head.

Yes, you had to be more discreet. You could never proudly show off what you had, instead, you had to keep yourself hidden in order to protect yourself.

Recalling your S.H.I.E.L.D days, you remembered how you were told to keep your powers on a low profile by Director Fury himself.

Your lab results came back and it was discovered that you had a special gene in your DNA that could be identified. There weren’t any references or connections to existing research and findings so you were viewed almost as an abnormality.

It was then later discovered that your powers were connected to your life force and if you ever over-exerted yourself, you could possibly die. That almost happened back during the civil war between the Avengers. It was the first time you ever used your powers on a larger scale and you had even passed out at the end of the battle.

You remembered waking up in a hospital bed on the raft.

When you found refuge in Wakanda, you got to learn more about your powers with Shuri’s help. She believed as long as you trained your stamina and built up your strength, you could control your powers without ever worrying about being drained. That’s how you found yourself the privilege to receive special training with the Dora Milajae under King T’Challa’s request.

You definitely owed the Wakandans big time.

Seeing how you were uncharacteristically down, Bucky wanted to check in with you out of concern. However, he chose to restrain himself, thinking that you probably one to be left alone. He wished he could do more for you like you do for him.

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Before you knew it, you landed in Madripoor. An island nation that was lawless and dangerous, yet home to the darkest of black markets and underground businesses. Zemo said that all of you could not go in as yourselves and had to basically go in undercover.

You couldn’t hold back your laughter when Sam changed and came out in a fancy printed suit. He was to act as a real life promiscuous and rich man who really could have been his doppelgänger when you saw a picture of the man.

However, you weren’t one to laugh when Zemo asked you to act as one of Conrad Mack aka Smiling Tiger’s fling for the night. When you first received your outfit, you threw it back in Zemo’s face.

You were not the most comfortable with sexy and revealing clothing personally so you couldn’t imagine yourself wearing it at all. Zemo tried to convince you that Smiling Tiger’s women were all of a certain type so you had to go through with it in order to fit in.

Letting out a groan, you snatched the little champagne dress with an open keyhole back. The front was designed to give a loose look that shyly reveals your cleavage. The dress held onto your shoulders with thin straps and it overall gave the impression of a silk slip dress.

When you put it on, you wiped your clammy hands on the silk material and grimaced at how it barely covered your ass. You were grateful that the shoes you received had thick block heels as you had forgotten how to even walk in high heels anymore.

Swiping on the red lipstick for the final touch, you took a deep breath to calm your nerves as you looked in the mirror. You got this.

Stepping out of the changing room, you were met with the full attention of all three men and you put a finger up to warn them of making any unneeded comments.

“Damn Y/N. I mean this in the nicest way possible but this is an entirely different look for you. In a good way, of course.” Sam tried to compliment you seeing that you weren’t fully into your outfit.

“Thanks, Sam.” You knew his intentions were always pure and good, so you didn’t mind it much. As he and Zemo went off to discuss something, you saw that Bucky was still looking at you intently. He must think you look weird, you thought.

In all the years that Bucky have known you, it was the first time he has seen you looking like this. You always had gone for casual and comfortable looks in your daily life. The only time he has seen something different was when you put on your tailored suits for formal events.

He had to do a double-take when he saw how the little dress number hugged your figure in the right places.

Bucky knew he shouldn’t continue looking but his eyes fleeting quick glances when you were looking elsewhere. He always felt that you were one of the most beautiful people he knew on the inside, the fact that you could look past what he did and accept him for he was. He never felt that he had to pretend to be fine when you’re around because you were there to accept him for better or worst.

Seeing you now stirred up a different feeling inside of him. Why did you suddenly seem so attractive this time? He did not want to be that guy who viewed women differently because of the way they dressed. In fact, he was never the kind to like someone because of the way they look but more of how they make him feel.

However, observing how bashful and shy you look in front of him, Bucky suddenly felt rather nervous himself. He saw you taking a step towards and he swore his breath hitched as his mind was registering this scene in slow-motion.

Your hands came up to put his dog tags inside his black shirt before going for the zipper of his jacket. Your eyes fleetingly met his for a moment before you started saying something.

Bucky wasn’t able to process it as he was entirely focused on how you were casually helping him as you normally did, but his mind can’t help but think of it as an intimate gesture.

You continued to buckle up the belts of Bucky’s harness and couldn’t help but to relish in the act of caring for him. This was probably the only time you could fulfil your feelings of wanting to be close to him without crossing the line.

“All done.” Once you have adjusted the straps on his shoulder to make sure they were comfortable, you glanced to see Bucky looking down at you in a daze.

“Hey Buck, you there?” Calling for his attention, Bucky snapped back to reality as he saw you staring at him with a curious doe-eyed look. Clearing his thought, Bucky scrambled to recall what you had said and just continued looking at you in question.

You went on to ask if the straps were comfortable to which he nodded curtly. You grinned in satisfaction for a short moment before it fell into a tight-lipped smile.

“Bucky, are you really ok to go into character? I know how hard you worked to get away from all of that.” Implying how he had to act like the Winter Soldier for this undercover mission, Bucky took a deep breath before answering you.

“I’ll be fine. It’s just for this mission.” You just silently nodded at his words before signalling that you two should get a move on.

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All of you were heading to Low Town as Zemo named to find his informant, Selby. Zemo reminded everyone to stay in character regardless of the situation, if not the mission would be compromised and your lives could be at risk.

Zemo gave you a personal warning to avoid using your powers if possible. If your powers were revealed publicly, there was a high chance you were at a bigger risk than the rest because people would want to take you for their own.

It was not every day an enhanced individual with superpowers walks into Madripoor and you would definitely become a prize to be coveted.

You were first greeted by the hustle and bustle of the nightlife crowd. The neon signs lit up the incredibly dark streets followed by the loud booming music that could be heard from some of the places that you passed. Your eyes were focused on Zemo’s back as he led all of you to the location, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else.

Entering the crowded bar, you could hear Zemo speaking Russian to Bucky. You weren’t familiar with the language but you could make out one world, Soldat.

Sneaking your arms around Sam who was caught off, you gave me a pointed look that told him that the undercover work starts now. He gave you a brief nod before rolling out his shoulders and you pressed yourself closer to him, putting your acting face on.

All of you stood by the bar where the bartender greeted all of you.

“Hello, gentlemen. Wasn’t expecting you, Smiling Tiger.” The bartender nodded to Sam. His eyes moved over to meet yours before greeting you, Miss. You gave your best smile in return.

“His plans changed. We have business to do with Selby.” Zemo told the bartender. You could see the shift in his eyes and saw someone from out of the corner of your eye moving away. Shifting your stance, the bartender didn’t acknowledge Zemo’s words and glanced back to you again.

“New face?” His comment was directed towards Sam but seeing how Sam was hesitating, you realised that he hadn’t had much experience with undercover work at all. He was a military man not a spy or agent after all.

“Hopefully, the last.” You giggled shyly and looked up to Sam with an affectionate gaze before giving the bartender a wink.

The bartender nodded curtly before asking Sam (Smiling Tiger) if he wanted his usual. Sam nodded silently in an efforts to prevent himself from doing anything out of character.

You caught Bucky looking at you as he leaned sideways on the counter. Your silent exchange was a way for you two to check in with each other and a brief smile mirrored on both of your faces before you turn to see the bartender taking out a snake from a big jar.

Trying to control your expression at the disgust coming up your throat, you subtly swallowed heavily at the sight of how the bartender slit the snake open. Sam who had his back turned for a brief moment was shocked to see what was presented on the counter in front of him.

Zemo tried to continue to put on the act and acted like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Your global knowledge and several visits to Asia made you realised why this was the Smiling Tiger’s favourite. Snakes infused into wine was touted to be an aphrodisiac to help a man increase, ahem, stamina.

Bucky felt almost bad for Sam and looked away briefly. You could see Sam gulping down nervously when the bartender added the finishing touch to the drink and you gently rubbed his arm for emotional support.

“I love these.” Sam managed to say through gritted his teeth and clinked his glass with Zemo. Your own bile almost resurfaced and you quickly turned your head to hide your nervous gulp.

Putting up a thumbs up awkwardly, you wanted to facepalm when the bartender looked back at Sam with a dubious expression.

You knew you needed to do something so everyone’s covers won’t be blown. Putting on a sly smirk, you let a hand move up Sam’s chest slowly and sensually before resting it where his heart was.

“Looks like you and I will be in for a long night.” Adding a slight giggle, you pretended to act shy after you spoke your words. Sam was trying his hardest to not look bewildered at your act while Bucky was trying to suppress a sudden wave of annoyance that washed over him.

He knew that this was an act but he still didn’t like it for some reason. He had to admit that he was not expecting you to get into character so well, seeing that this image you were presenting was the furthest cry from who you actually were.

The bartender looked slightly less suspicious of all of you before he went away. You could feel Sam heaving a sigh of relief beside you and you did the same alongside him.

Another man came up to Zemo, telling him of how he was unwelcomed in the area. Zemo putting up a cool façade, explained he had no business with someone named the power broker. Zemo restated his business here once more before the guy left.

Zemo explained that the power broker runs Madripoor and it was best you all stayed under his radar. Moments passed before another guy came up behind Zemo and Zemo turned to Bucky talking in Russian once more.

The instant the man placed his hands on Zemo, Bucky went into winter soldier mode. Everyone’s attention was directed to the scene happening. The whirling sound of Bucky’s vibranium was heard clearly as he was nearly crushing the man’s hands and went ahead to knock him over.

More and more people started to gather fool’s courage to take on Bucky. You saw how he easily took down everyone with barely any sweat.

“Didn’t take much for him to fall back into form,” Zemo commented to you and Sam, and in all honesty, you wanted to choke him like what Bucky was doing to another guy on the bar’s counter.

Hearing the continuous clicking of guns from everyone in the bar, your senses were now alert at the possibility of having to break character and use your powers.

“Stay in character or the whole bar turns on us.” Zemo whispered into your ear and grabbed onto your hand before you could even think of doing anything.

Zemo got Bucky to back down and the bartender told you all that Selby was ready for your visit. Sam checked in with Bucky to which he responded with a curt nod.

As you made your way along the back end of the bar, you could see the stacks of cash all over a table and the armed guards that filled up every corner of the room.

“You should know, Baron. People don’t come into my bar and make demands.” Selby turned out to look like what you would imagine her to be. She sat comfortably on her couch with a dominant presence and seemed like she was not someone easy to deal with.

Zemo tried to reassure her that he was making offers not demands to quell her mood. Selby asked how Zemo was able to escape from prison and Zemo replied smugly on how people like them always found a way.

As Zemo tried to shift focus onto the order of business, Selby wasn’t still into it. Making a comment about Sam’s taller than usual height, Sam not knowing what to respond just nodded in silence.

She even purred at him teasingly before her eyes landed on you.

“Who’s this pretty little thing you have here? Where are you from?” Selby’s eyes narrowed in as you sense everyone starting to look flustered by the unexpected question. You were just meant to play a background character but didn’t expect the sudden attention.

Biting your lips into a furtive grin, you snaked your hands around Sam’s biceps. “Daddy picked me up from the club that I was working at. He says I am his one and only now.”

The men all tried to stop their jaws from dropping to the floor at your sweetly coy act. Who were you?

“Hmm…” Selby hummed while she looked you up and down. “You can do better, sweetie,” Selby remarked smugly before giving a subtle gesture to herself.

Lips forming into an ‘o’, you feigned a surprised reaction at the flattery. You tried to send a flirtatious look back so that Selby would be in a better mood.

Your act was rewarded when Selby grinned wider and asked Zemo for his offer. In exchange for information on the super-soldier serum, Zemo was willing to trade Bucky in pretence. He added how he would give Selby the codes word to control Bucky, treating him like an object.

A wave of anger started rushing through you as the scene unfolded and you glanced to see how Selby became more intrigued.

“Hmm, I have plenty of strong men already working for me. What else can he offer?” Zemo was taken aback by Selby’s words, thinking that she would already be interested in Bucky.

As the men were grappling to come up with a good response, you went on your first instinct and spoke up.

“Well he is rather handsome, isn’t he?” Everyone’s focus turned onto you and you took a breath to continue as Selby gave you an expecting look.

“Not as handsome as my daddy here but-” Walking around Sam, you headed towards Bucky who was trying to look unbothered but dying of curiosity on what you were about to do.

“He seems like fun to play with.” You purred as you gazed at Bucky’s profile. You gestured for Bucky to face you and could see how he was still staying in character. Running your fingers down his five o'clock shadow, your eyes glinted as you batted your lashes flirtatiously before looking over your shoulder back at Shelby.

“You can’t help but imagine having a good time with him. Super soldier serum should have some perks, no?” Your hidden innuendo was loud and clear to everyone in the room. If this didn’t appeal to Selby, you didn’t know what will.

Sam was trying his hardest to maintain his expression as he couldn’t believe his ears. Never in a million years would he think the sweet and innocent Y/N he knew actually dared to speak like that.

Bucky did his best to tighten his jaw and continue his stoic facade to hide the shock from what you had just said.

Never did he thought you would take the situation to such a turn. Your improv was unexpected and he couldn’t believe the woman in front of him was actually you.

Your sudden bold and cheeky persona was doing something to him. Your innuendo about him started to make him feel hot in his ears. Bucky had to clench his fist tightly to get himself to hold it together as he felt his heart racing out of nowhere.

He didn’t know what was happening to him but he knew you were having some sort of effect on him.

“Of course, that’s my silly opinion.” Turning to face Selby with a mischievous smile to keep up your character, you noted her looking at you thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin.

“Not just pretty but you’re witty, aren’t you?” Selby noted as she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Satisfied with your input, Selby then revealed what she knew about the super-soldier serums.

Apparently, there was a doctor, Dr William Nagel who has been helping the power broker to create the serums here in Madripoor. When Zemo tried to probe further about Nagel’s location, Selby decided that Zemo was overstepping.

In the very next moment, you could hear a vibration of a phone and saw Sam reaching out to his jacket.

Great, all of your covers might be blown. Selby demands that Sam answered it on speaker. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. To carry on the act, Sam reluctantly proceeded to answer the phone.

A woman’s voice came up and in the next sentences spoken, you realised that she was his sister, Sarah. Oh boy, this wouldn’t end well. You closed your eyes in prayer as you hoped it can go over smoothly.

Taking a sharp intake of breath, you looked to see Bucky glancing down in shared unease. Sam was doing his best to make sure his cover won’t get blown. You thought all was going well but when you heard Sam’s name from Sarah, you knew you were all toast.

Selby immediately called for all of you to be killed and in that moment, all hell broke loose. Selby got shot in a blink of an eye and her guards were up in action. Bucky pushed you behind him protectively as he fought off Selby’s men.

Once all her guards are dealt with, Zemo called for weapons to drop and you took the back exit.

Making a swift escape, all of you tried to play it cool while taking long quick strides. The sound of the first gunshot made you jumped and sprang into a run. You saw Zemo took off in another direction but you didn’t have time for him.

You, Bucky and Sam decided to sprint ahead. “I can’t run in these heels.” Sam cried out and you retorted in annoyance.

“How do you think I feel? Mine’s twice as taller than yours!”

Bucky reached over to grab your hand and interlocked your fingers together. His super-speed was practically lifting you off the ground, dragging you like a rag dog.

"Hey! What the hell man? What about me?" Bucky ignored Sam's whining and focused on not letting your hand go.

Not knowing where you are headed, a sense of dread started pouring on you and you grew anxious by the second. People on motorbikes were starting to drive up behind you three.

You were wondering if it’s time to not give care and actually use your powers for real this time. All of a sudden, the two people on the bikes behind you have been shot by someone from above and you stopped in your tracks to locate that individual, fearing you were next.

Zemo reappeared from the shadows and claimed that you all might have a guardian angel.

“Drop it, Zemo.” The familiar voice brought relief as you matched it to the face that emerged into your sight.

Your smile at the thought of a friendly face faltered when she continued pointing a gun towards all of you. Sharon didn’t seem as pleased as you were. Turns out she had to fall off the grid and found herself in Madripoor after the turn of events many years ago.

"Y/N, is that you?" She took a double-take on you, probably not used to seeing you dress up like this.

"Hey." You awkwardly replied. The moment didn't last as Sharon trained her eyes on the men and continued to be hostile.

Your heart dropped as you hear her telling of how she was unable to be in contact with her family anymore. She had become a fugitive and still is. An immense amount of guilt washed all over you when she retorted about how she wasn’t backed by the Avengers.

You weren’t batch mates with Sharon back in S.H.I.E.L.D academy but you became friends when you crossed paths during work. You could not believe you haven’t reached out to her all this time.

Bucky pleaded with Sharon for her help and Sharon gave a thoughtful look at all of you. When she saw you with your uncomfortable expression, she gave a sighed and stated that she wasn’t done discussing the topic.

Offering refuge in her place at High Town, all of you accept it.

You sat beside her in the front and the two of you exchanged silent looks before she started the engine. What were the odds of seeing her again in Madripoor?

You hoped to be able to get a chance to talk to her later.

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