Tom Oliphant - PBS, on Reality, Absolutes and Logic

[necrom666]

WTF, did we enter bazaro world. Tom is Janzaro

[egervari]

This guy is crazy.

[ZapruderJr]

Flowery language is nice Oliphant, but it's literally nothing more than that. Nothing you said there was either meaningful or intelligible...

[Diatonic135]

he worships order and chaos?

his words, not mine.

[csofan52]

"You suffer from the popular delusion of believing that all things can be understood. You do not grasp the fact that the universe is a solid contradiction... nothing can be explained" Professor of Philosophy Dr. Prichett of Atlas Shrugged.

[ZapruderJr]

@csofan52

Thank you for explaining that to me.

[spud2ooo]

this guy needs a wake up call? so if i was to punch this guy in the face would he have me arrested 

[OkonomiskNytt]

From 2:40 he babbled such nonsense I threw up a little

[OkonomiskNytt]

"I dont accept your language."

You should say what language ? English ?

What a smug retard

[rebby11]

What an absolutely smug pseudo-intellectual. he's well qualified to be a journalist.

[rebby11]

Magic in contradictions...wonderful.

[rebby11]

Magic in contradictions...wonderful.

[thepiperreason1]

For someone who doesn't believe in absolutes, he sure likes the word "absolutely."

[janhelfeld]

@thepiperreason1 "absolutely."



[simpleearthling]

i would love to see him get tasered

[NoahMercy4Ngrz]

This man is clearly a homosexual... not there's anything wrong with that.  Just saying.

[WurledPeas]

I love his lame statements about journalists being (S) skeptics. Yeah, skeptics on point they preconceive a disagreement with(usually something regarding the freedom of something they dislike like free market principals and self reliance) and sycophants to a fault on the side they sympathize with(usually with statist principals, welfare, eat the rich, disarm the populace). This brand of moral relativism always leads to hard tyranny eventually.

[MoonMankkkkkk]

Any one who reads Ayn Rand's novels and think her villains are too fantastic for real life, this man horrifyingly proves them wrong.

[NottsBenAllan]

guy is a lunatic

[Rolandzebub]

There is a term George Orwell coined for holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. It's called doublethink. Yet, it is seems true that some things manifest mutually contradictory or paradoxical characteristics. Light, for example, behaves as both a particle and a wave. In any case, a fascinating interview!

[goodtreesgoodfruit]

at least he was courteous with the interviewer, his lunacy notwithstanding.

[niffweed17]

oliphant shows his deep understanding of the complexities of society in response to helfeld's bumbling and nonsense.

[MrCropper]

The bow tie looks perfect on this bozo.

[XxxNuMbxxX0301]

He reminds me of Dr. Pritchett; I thought that that character was an exaggeration, that there could be no such human being - obviously I was wrong.

[Guncriminal]

What does Oliphant think that the law is, if not "force of the phsical kind"?

I'd call Poe's law on this bozo if academia didn't have a long history of employing his sort.

[WarVideo]

Wow, this guy is living ina fantacy world.

[Vodka2389]

This is one of those things you should watch when you're high.

[libertarianjury]

@2:03 "as a student of government and politics, which I'm forced to be because of my job..." Good heavens! His momma should have drowned him when he was just a baby lizard.

I wonder if this guy would be in favor of slavery? His view always cedes power to the powerful.

It only looks gray because you're looking at all the black and white dots at a distance. With closer scrutiny, every moral issue becomes black and white. Simply add a level of complexity, and then look in greater detail.

[libertarianjury]

It would be awesome if the producers of Atlas Shrugged could get him to play the part of one of the people in the tunnel train wreck. I never thought that I'd ever see anyone so perfectly match one of Ayn Rand's charicatures in Atlas. This guy takes the cake! ...A real piece of work! I don't think he'd play Dr. Simon Pritchett, except in real life, in your video... LOL

[XxxNuMbxxX0301]

My thoughts exactly!

[libertarianjury]

Paging Bertram Scudder! Paging Bertram Scudder!

@2:20 "It's in that grey area that free people are free to not be free." ...Fucking dolt!

If this guy read "Atlas Shrugged" or "1984", he understood nothing.

[Victorprossartcom]

Oliphant makes me cringe. So sad.

[Stargazer5781]

This man is insane.

[janhelfeld]

Of the postmodernist variety.

[libertariancrusader]

@Stargazer5781 He is indeed a nut.

[QIQrrr]

Nice. Oliphant committed intellectual suicide.

[janhelfeld]

Agreed.

[McDicker96]

i love at the end he says its almost time for him to leave, as if time was an objective constant in the universe. Because according to him it isn't

[Baabaloux]

I don't accept your language = I reject reality.

[OneWithTheTruth]

guys like this are such dicks, think they are smart when they sound so stupid but will never know it.

[fergus247]

and people will follow them

[Guncriminal]

and think it makes them "intellectual".

[MrDarkbloom]

Wow, this guy is an ABSOLUTE dick.

He doesn't have a clue what he's saying about logic, but clearly thinks he's being smart!

There's only one thing worse than a flat-out repulsive apologist for greed... that's one who wears a fucking bow-tie. Prick.

[jaar2001]

non-politicians might be wrong or ignorant but at least they aren't as arrogant as bloody politicians

[austinisi]

this guy has to be high

[timbosforporn]

We live in a constitutional govt that only allows govt do XYZ things and only those things (at least thats how its suppose to work) and we have a democratic process that decides how XYZ is to be performed but that democratic process never allows the govt to do A though W thngs (thats how it works now).

[timbosforporn]

It seemed everytime he had to answer a question logically and the logical answer would have made him looked bad he pulled this logic is unlogical crap.

[tumbleweedjoe]

"Absolutes are anathema". I would prefer to deal with a straight up tyrant.

[2ndAsstJizzMopper]

with "delegation of authority" he screwed himself. this interview is a perfect example of a blowhard attempting to cover ignorant wrongness with arrogance. all this asshole needs to complete the pic is a cig and a martini. or a hippie wig and a joint. classic dorm room bullshit verbal wanking.

wasn't he a character at a party in 'Atlas Shrugged'? LOL

had to exit at 5:11 or so. ugh.

[098uiokjh]

LOL, at about 4 minutes in I started thinking of Ayn Rand too.

Someone that worships 'grey' would certainly belong at a party in Atlas Shrugged. This guy reminded me of Toohey in The Fountainhead though.

It's actually quite scary how often I'm seeing people in real life that belong in a Rand novel lately...

[TehBANN3D]

He totally fails at postmodernism.

[Nickelodeon2002]

I would love to push a pencil through his head...just like he pressed his two fingers together.

[shroomingnewman]

oily is just another clueless sophist

[SSSLLLAAYYEEERRRR]

This guy is batshit crazy. A novice philosopher who knows nothing! All he is doing is talking in circles to attempt to confuse the listener. We are a Republic were the things left to government are run by Democratic processes, hence voting in the Congress. Why is that so hard to understand?

[TokDiYel]

Oliphant is full of himself and full of shit. Oh wait...they are both the same

[CorrosionX3]

The magic of America (and all governments)... it's all make-believe..

[scdecade]

I still think Harry Reid is the craziest batshit Jan's interviewed. But this guy makes a strong claim for the #2 spot.

[feeknocks]

so if i stick my boot up his ass, and if i were to use his reasoning and logic, would i come down to these two questions:

Is it my boot up his ass or is it his ass on my boot?

[billyjoeallen]

This guy is batshit crazy. Tolerate the gray areas, sure, but worship them?

[Genowulf]

Dudes, I wonder how this guy might feel if he were like "in" a straitjacket but like "not in" a straitjacket at the same time.

[tesla921]

Compared to this "Oily" guy, Alice in Wonderland is sane. He sees the world through a kalidescopic, irrational psyche. He is cracked. He doesn't believe in absolutes but constantly says 'absolutely'.

Jan, I commend you for trying but you really can't argue with a sick mind.

[irdial]

2+2=5. So says 'Oily' Oliphant. Nauseating!

[JesseKantstopolis]

Statists are incapable of defending their beliefs.  Tom Oliphant is just another clueless statist. Don't coerce me bro!

[Moragauth]

LOL What is this nut on about? This person needs to be committed to a mental asylum.

[lukeev]

His magical thinking disturbs me. Unicorns and elves, and a rock can go up and down at once! Crazy stuff!