Tuesday
(0)A mugger jumps out and threatens a well-dressed man with a knife, and shouts:
"Hand over your money!"
"You can't do this," says the outraged man. "I'm a local councillor!"
"In that case," replies the mugger, "hand over my money!"
(via the Adam Smith Institute)
Reminds of the hated "steal from the rich, give to the poor" ... which was an unfortunate abridgement of the more full Robin Hood tradition:
"steal from the rich Tax Collector, and give back to the poor Tax Payer".
In an age where rich folk virtually ALL used force and/or fraud to get rich, there actually was a good moral case for being anti-rich.
Posted by Tom Grey at July 13, 2004 12:22 PM
Hmm.
Now that's funny. :) I hadn't heard that one before. I hope you don't mind if I steal it and paraphrase it for the American ear.
Posted by ed at July 13, 2004 12:42 PM
I'm surprised the mugger still had enough money to buy a knife. I'm sure the councillor made a note of it.
Posted by toolkien at July 13, 2004 02:05 PM
Outlaw outlaws!
Oh, sorry - you already said that ;)
Shouldn't that have read "whom mugged what" then?
Posted by ThePresentOccupier at July 13, 2004 04:59 PM
"A mugger jumps out and threatens a well-dressed man with a knife"
If the well-dressed man had a knife why did he give the mugger his money?
Oh yeah, he was probably afraid of being thrown in prison :P
Posted by David Hall at July 13, 2004 09:45 PM
Perry, your English grammar is worse than your Latin grammar.
And if you thought that was funny, don't give up the day job.
Did you hear the one about the greedy people who despised paying taxes? They bought packaged software to create a weblog and deluded themselves into believing they were Libertarians.
Labour councils - like the one that commissioned The Angel of The North? I suppose y'all think art is a waste of taxpayers money?
Please don't reply tax is theft (very boring sixth form Hayek crap) which is as loony as the communist crap.
Posted by Fabian Smith at July 13, 2004 10:15 PM
Fabian Smith: pthbbbbt! (which is as adult and considered a response as your comment deserves)
Posted by Julian Morrison at July 13, 2004 10:41 PM
Fabian Smith: of course it is a waste of taxpayers money you sanctimonious thief. Actually assemble an argument or piss off. That is not a request, just letting you know the two options available to you if you wish to continue to 'comment' here. The days when we indulged people who are both rude and do not actually write anything engaging regardless of whether it agrees with us or not, are long gone.
Posted by Perry de Havilland at July 14, 2004 12:30 AM
Fabian Smith why do you pretend to think communism is loony, your pen name implies you are a red or at least a parlor pink. That is unless you are a force in being strategist or ignorant of the significance of the name Fabian.
Your pathetic attempt to equate a system responsible for the death of 60+ million people in the 20th century alone with liberalism is sick. Is this your guilty conscience showing? Do you wander the halls at night rubbing you hands together saying “out out damn spot” and regretting your red views.
Perry has a sense of humor you have a spleen that ruptures every time your sacred cow the state is made fun off.
The name calling to wit “Please don't reply tax is theft (very boring sixth form Hayek crap) which is as loony as the communist crap.” shows your intellectual hollowness.
Posted by steph at July 14, 2004 04:54 AM
Reality Check
Since when are muggers property owners, and therefore payers of Council Tax.
And Fabian
It is possible to construct a good argument as to why taxation for very widely supported "public goods" is not theft. At least the proportion of those paying who resent it would be low.
In order to pay for the brigade of coordinators, regulators, facilitators, motivators and other non jobs that most of our local taxes go to pay, coercion is most certainly being used. As the vast majority of the public would be just as happy in a world without these busybodies, and would certainly prefer to spend the money being wasted on themselves, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion other than,
We are subject to grand larceny.
What makes it worse is that most of the money is spent on employing people who make our lives more difficult, so we are paying for our torturers. I call that aggravated robbery.
Posted by Jonathan L at July 14, 2004 08:16 AM
"Since when are muggers property owners, and therefore payers of Council Tax."
No, no, no... I think you missed the point. They were BOTH "local councillors!"
Posted by Dan S at July 14, 2004 03:41 PM
Editors note: Comment deleted. Get lost you rude git.
Posted by Fabian Smith at July 14, 2004 04:01 PM
These days, the "muggers" mostly seem to wear dark blue uniforms and fluorescent yellow jackets. They drive around in white cars with blue lights on top and only get out to relieve you of your money.
These days they have even automated assistance, using yellow boxes by the roadside which ring up £60 every time you pass them. And believe me, if you don't give them the money, they find out where you live, come round and beat you up.
I would rather meet an honest, old-fashioned mugger - at least they only take what's in your wallet.
Posted by Richard North at July 14, 2004 07:56 PM
Editors note: Comment deleted. Smith has no understanding of private property and thus cannot understand the difference between censorship and ejecting a guest from your house who misbehaves and thus is no longer welcome.
Posted by Fabian Smith at July 15, 2004 08:19 AM
