Bullshit.
What do you mean by that?
Your life is full of good things and you earned/paid-for precious few of them. Not your body, not your parents, not anything they gave you, not the society/civilization you were born into and all its opportunities. You have spent your whole life enjoying the fruits of others’ labors without being immediately required to contribute your own commensurately. Most lunches are free. That is a basic feature of human society at all levels of development. Never quote that TANSTAAFL bullshit again. Heinlein really was an incredible idiot about a lot of things, money/economics most of all. Don’t get your econ from a goldbug.
:rolleyes:
Not worthy of a reasoned response.
:rolleyes:
Heinlein would disagree. Heinlein would try to make one.
What are you talking about?
Where did I ever quote that “bullshit” or even express a positive opinion about Heinlein or his various political beliefs. Nor for that matter was I aware he was a “goldbug”.
You made a short, somewhat vague, one sentence reply to someone else’s post that you probably thought was pithy.
I merely asked what you meant.
You quoted the phrase TANSTAAFL as gospel. Heinlein coined that bullshit, or at least popularized it.
Pssst…that was me. And it ain’t bullshit.
No, I don’t believe you are old enough to have coined it. And of course it’s bullshit no matter whose.
Didn’t say I coined it. I interjected it into this thread. You erroneously stated ** Ibn Warraq** used the phrase, which he did not.
Your reading comprehension skills leave much to be desired.
As I pointed out already, I wasn’t the one who quoted Heinlein.
That was Oakminster.
Before you make insinuations about someone, I’d recommend making sure you’re aiming your snarky comments at the right person.
Oakminster, not Ibn Warraq, brought the phrase into this thread.
Of course it is not bullshit. I, as a liberal, recognize that TANSTAAFL. It’s ridiculous not to recognize that social programs, military programs–hell, to cut the list short, any programs–that are supported by the government are paid for by us.
I have given all kinds of free lunches. Such is my nature. And I most assuredly exist.
Ever met a cynic, Oakie? No doubt you have. Ever meet one who didn’t think of himself as a “hard-headed realist”?
TAANSTAAFL does not mean that no one ever receives an good she or he is not required to pay for. It means that somebody else always has to pay for it.
I apologize for getting the two of you mixed up; must’ve gotten excited.
Oh, I have a firm grasp of the principle. I know that when I give something away, its gone, and Jesus is not going to go get it back for me. I simply don’t care.
And while we’re about it, Heinlien was a hack, a penny a word typist. Not fit to sharpen the pencils of Phil Farmer, Larry Niven, or Ursula LeGuinn. Feh!
And that’s fine, that’s pretty much my feeling. But it’s not what BrainGlutton was saying.
So? Think of everything humanity collectively has found just lying around. Like, the whole world. One big free lunch – we’ll never pay for it. (We might have to pay a high price for spoiling it, but that’s a different matter.)
I might could agree with the first and the last. No, I can’t, Heinlein was better.
But Niven? Someone who for the past thirty years can’t be bothered to actually write his own work, but instead lends his name to whoever offers him some money for it? Nevertheless, you’re right. Niven is not a hack. He’s a whore.