tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post5355922726028108631..comments2024-03-28T07:16:39.621+00:00Comments on Lallands Peat Worrier: Compassion, lighting up the human heart...Lallands Peat Worrierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18276270498204697708noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-60822679568047365782015-11-16T16:12:59.997+00:002015-11-16T16:12:59.997+00:00A daring quote, because, as Geejay commented above...A daring quote, because, as Geejay commented above, Adam Smith is often misrepresented. And, in fact, this quote is often misrepresented or partially quoted to give it a different meaning. <br /><br />As this was not a natural disaster but an act of human calculation, and, given the long-historical context, we are not innocent bystanders, and the values Smith espoused are what will be lost in the endless cycle of violence and recrimination, we should also note Smith's savage attack on the East India Company in Wealth:<br /><br /><i>"It is a very singular government in which every member of the administration wishes to get out of the country, and consequently to have done with the government as soon as he can, and to whose interest, the day after he has left it and carried his whole fortune with him, it is perfectly indifferent though the whole country was swallowed up by an earthquake."</i><br /><br />Earlier in the book he had already informed his readers that the Company's desire for opium resulted in a famine in Bengal that killed three or four hundred thousand people. (Current estimates are 10 million or about a third of the population.)<br />Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17037612385781456745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-87905716728962439492015-11-16T14:15:21.898+00:002015-11-16T14:15:21.898+00:00Yes - as a campaigner to stop shark finning has ju...Yes - as a campaigner to stop shark finning has just observed, telling people that their taste for soup is leading sharks to extinction just isn't working. <br /><br />Not that we can talk. Knowing that the sugar they loved was produced by slaves didn't stop most of Smith's contemporaries from adding another spoonful. <br /><br />http://www.ericgraham.co.uk/burns-plantocrats-ayrshireEdwin Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317173893948248954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-72730015627249512392015-11-14T21:28:47.299+00:002015-11-14T21:28:47.299+00:00Adam Smith - greatly misrepresented by many. In &...Adam Smith - greatly misrepresented by many. In "Capitalism's Achilles Heel" Raymond Baker (written 10 years ago) argues we need to return to Smith of the "Sentiments" and discard Benthamite Utilitarianism and it's successor neoliberalism if we are to create a more equal, fairer more caring society.Geejayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14309811809080568373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-28758232838711614602015-11-14T18:05:14.153+00:002015-11-14T18:05:14.153+00:00I have to say, though I agree with Smith's sen...I have to say, though I agree with Smith's sentiments, it is rare, so rare, for anyone to think like this nowadays. Ask the women who buy cheap clothes they know have been made in sweatshops, for example. Frann Leachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09794415830004140025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-91264222359609175442015-11-14T16:18:45.081+00:002015-11-14T16:18:45.081+00:00A very well founded sentiment, and classically exp...A very well founded sentiment, and classically exposed, from Adam Smith. Thank you. Excellentlawrenceabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16425746967578710370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-8975984223121166632015-11-14T14:26:40.532+00:002015-11-14T14:26:40.532+00:00The Vow. The Smith Commission. The Final Dilution....The Vow. The Smith Commission. The Final Dilution. A deformity of injustice? kailyard ruleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11098989013431186162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-67962682299258990092015-11-14T13:17:49.527+00:002015-11-14T13:17:49.527+00:00Well spotted as an appropriate thought at this tim...Well spotted as an appropriate thought at this time.Fourfolksachehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12651190231842907126noreply@blogger.com