Hoppe vs. Block

For those unaware of what’s happening in libertarian circles, I envy you. The Hans-Hermann Hoppe (HHH) takedown article by Walter Block (WB) wouldn’t even have been on my radar had so many people not shared it with me.

HHH, in a February 1 article entitled An Open Letter to Walter E. Block, did a basic takedown of WB’s article The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas. HHH showed, yada, yada, yada, by WB advocating for Israel to do anything they have to do to destroy Hamas, including killing women and children, that puts WB outside of the libertarian book club, I mean ideology. I believe it would be enough to say it puts Block on the side of some of the worst enemies of humanity in history, but sure, the book club must be gate-kept. At least there’s that.

What is my opinion of Block? I see someone who spent a life advocating for some of the worst people and practices in society—read his Defending the Undefendables book—who, even though he has tenure in his teaching job, has never been part of a group any larger than libertarianism. He has now embraced his ethnic tribe, possibly to feel like he was a part of something bigger all along. Either that, or he’s just a bloodthirsty monster. Either way, he’s despicable and probably not to be looked up to.