File:CorbettReport - I Read The Most Dangerous Superstition And You Can, Too! V5dnHVKZr Q 1477x831 24m55s.png

Summary

James Corbett reads from The Most Dangerous Superstition, by Larken Rose.

Source

Screenshot @ 24m55s from:

I Read The Most Dangerous Superstition And You Can, Too!^{[ YouTube ]} (1:24:36) ~ corbettreport, 2025-11-02

Text

21:44+

It is essential to differentiate between a command being justified based upon the situation and being justified based upon who gave the command. Only the latter is the type of "authority" being addressed in this book, though the term is occasionally used in another sense which tends to muddle this distinction. When, for example, someone asserts that he had the "authority" to stop a mugger to get an old lady's purse back, or says he had the "authority" to chase trespassers off his property, he is not claiming to possess any special rights that others do not possess. He is simply saying that he believes that certain situations justify giving orders or using force.

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22:23+

In contrast, the concept of "government" is about certain people having some special right to rule. And that idea, the notion that some people - as a result of elections or other political rituals, for example - have the moral right to control others, in situations where most people would not, is the concept being addressed here.

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22:59+

Government Does Not Exist

In short, government does not exist. It never has and it never will. [...] The way people speak of those in power, calling their command's "laws," referring to disobedience to them as a...

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23:20+

"crime," and so on, implies the right of "government" to rule, and a corresponding obligation on the part of its subjects to obey. Without the right to rule ("authority"), there is no reason to call the entity "government," and all of the politicians and their mercenaries become utterly indistinguishable from a giant organized crime syndicate, their "laws" no more valid than the threats of muggers and carjackers.

All mainstream political discussion - all debate about what should be "legal" and "illegal," who should be put into power, what "national policy" should be, how "government" should handle various issues - all of it is utterly irrational and a complete waste of time, as it is all based upon the false premise that one person can have the right to rule another, that "authority" can even exist. The entire debate about how "authority" should be used, and what "government" should do, is exactly as useful as debating how Santa Claus should handle Christmas. But it is infinitely more dangerous. On the bright side, removing that danger - the biggest threat that humanity has ever faced, in fact - does not require changing the fundamental nature of man or converting all hatred to love, or performing any other drastic alteration to the state of the universe. Instead, it requires only that people recognize and then let go of one particular superstition, one irrational lie that almost everyone has been taught to believe. In one sense, most of the world's problems could be solved overnight if everyone did something akin to giving up the belief in Santa Claus.

[...] all modern discussion of societal problems is nothing but an argument about which type of magic pixie dust will save humanity.

25:22 end