Oscar Goodman: Deep Cover Anarchist?

Oscar Goodman: Deep Cover Anarchist? (posted 13 July 2009, 8pm / revised 8am 15 March 2010)

Here's a pretty old post from the blog archives of Geekery Today; it was written about 15 years ago, in 2009, on the World Wide Web.

So here in Vegas the city government has these stupid plans to take a vacant government building and force Vegas taxpayers to pour $11,500,000 or so into another government-subsidized tourist trap — this time, a new Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, which is allegedly intended to attract more customers for the profit of downtown business owners. Here’s what Mayor Oscar Goodman had to say about this latest tax-financed corporate development boondoggle in a recent press interview:

It will bring an awful lot of attention to the community because it’s part of our roots, argues Mayor Goodman. Like it or not, we’re the mob.

— Mayor Oscar Goodman, quoted by News 3 KVBC (2009-07-09): What will become of the mayor’s Mob Museum?

…

… Hey man, you said it, not me.

.. the State, which subsists on taxation, is a vast criminal organization far more formidable and successful than any “private” Mafia in history….

— Murray Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty

Gabriel /# 6pm • 15 Jul 2009

Didn’t Rothbard regard the state as the most successful private mafia by definition? Or is the legitimacy somehow essential to qualify as a state? Like, in Central America where professional military thugs and a ruling family are in charge do those count as states or more like mafias?

Follow Up

— 2010 —

Discussed at radgeek.com /# 2pm • 1 Apr 2010

Rad Geek People’s Daily 2010-04-01 – Barack Obama: Deep cover Anarchist?:

[…] GT 2009-07-13: Oscar Goodman: Deep cover Anarchist? […]

Follow Up

bullshit /# 10pm • 16 Apr 2010

if you’re going to quote someone, provide a direct link to the quote, not a link to the news network. I’ve searched long and wide for this quote and interview, you’re the only source. I wonder why?

Follow Up

Rad Geek /# 2pm • 18 Apr 2010

Bullshit,

Hey man, I don’t mean to knock your long, wide search, but you seem not to have noticed that the quote was also printed by, and is still online at, the Dallas Morning News. They attribute it to kvbc.com as well; but as far as I know they didn’t get it through me, and in any case certainly don’t mention me as a source.

You also seem to have missed the fact that I didn’t provide a link to the news network; the URL I provided is a direct link to the story, which used to be online at http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10672045&nav=15MV. In the year between when I posted this link, and you came along to search long and wide, the news website decided, for reasons of their own, to take that story down off their website, and to redirect the link to a different URL — in this case their front page at http://www.mynews3.com/index.php. The difference in URL might indicate to you that there has been a change in what is made available online. I find that obnoxious, and it’s a problem for archival purposes, but it’s something that a lot of news websites do, and certainly not something I have any control over from here. The good news is that, in addition to the hyperlink, I also provided you with a direct bibliographic citation to the article — it appeared on their website on July 9, 2010 under the title What will become of the mayor’s Mob Museum? If you care enough about this quote to do some actual minimal research, rather than just slinging around accusations against my honesty[*] on the basis of your failed Internet Search Engine Amateur Sleuth Hour, you could actually (a) contact KVBC correctly (contact information is online at http://www.mynews3.com/about.php) and ask them if they can confirm whether they ran a story under that headline on that date. I don’t know what their archiving practices are, but chances are that they have access to more than just what’s still available on the public Internet; you might also (b) contact Oscar Goodman’s office at (702) 229-6241 and ask whether or not he was quoted accurately in his comments about the Mob Museum. This is what reporters do when they are unsure about the provenance of a quote they’ve come across, and unable to find the original source document. Or you could Google around for an hour, give up, and call me a liar without doing minimal background research, or even noticing simple things about the link that you were given. Your choice.

[*] In all seriousness, why would I even fabricate such a quote? What’s supposed to be my motive in doing so? I’m using it to make a joke in which I reinterpret the words under a meaning that the original speaker didn’t intend. The joke’s not funny unless the words of the quote are genuine. If I wanted to make up something for Oscar Goodman to say, I could do a lot better than that.

Follow Up

4 replies to Oscar Goodman: Deep Cover Anarchist? Follow replies to this article · TrackBack URI

Gabriel /# 6pm • 15 Jul 2009

Didn’t Rothbard regard the state as the most successful private mafia by definition? Or is the legitimacy somehow essential to qualify as a state? Like, in Central America where professional military thugs and a ruling family are in charge do those count as states or more like mafias?

Follow Up

Discussed at radgeek.com /# 2pm • 1 Apr 2010

Rad Geek People’s Daily 2010-04-01 – Barack Obama: Deep cover Anarchist?:
[…] GT 2009-07-13: Oscar Goodman: Deep cover Anarchist? […]

Follow Up
bullshit /# 10pm • 16 Apr 2010

if you’re going to quote someone, provide a direct link to the quote, not a link to the news network. I’ve searched long and wide for this quote and interview, you’re the only source. I wonder why?

Follow Up
Rad Geek /# 2pm • 18 Apr 2010

Bullshit,

Hey man, I don’t mean to knock your long, wide search, but you seem not to have noticed that the quote was also printed by, and is still online at, the Dallas Morning News. They attribute it to kvbc.com as well; but as far as I know they didn’t get it through me, and in any case certainly don’t mention me as a source.

You also seem to have missed the fact that I didn’t provide a link to the news network; the URL I provided is a direct link to the story, which used to be online at http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10672045&nav=15MV. In the year between when I posted this link, and you came along to search long and wide, the news website decided, for reasons of their own, to take that story down off their website, and to redirect the link to a different URL — in this case their front page at http://www.mynews3.com/index.php. The difference in URL might indicate to you that there has been a change in what is made available online. I find that obnoxious, and it’s a problem for archival purposes, but it’s something that a lot of news websites do, and certainly not something I have any control over from here. The good news is that, in addition to the hyperlink, I also provided you with a direct bibliographic citation to the article — it appeared on their website on July 9, 2010 under the title What will become of the mayor’s Mob Museum? If you care enough about this quote to do some actual minimal research, rather than just slinging around accusations against my honesty[*] on the basis of your failed Internet Search Engine Amateur Sleuth Hour, you could actually (a) contact KVBC correctly (contact information is online at http://www.mynews3.com/about.php) and ask them if they can confirm whether they ran a story under that headline on that date. I don’t know what their archiving practices are, but chances are that they have access to more than just what’s still available on the public Internet; you might also (b) contact Oscar Goodman’s office at (702) 229-6241 and ask whether or not he was quoted accurately in his comments about the Mob Museum. This is what reporters do when they are unsure about the provenance of a quote they’ve come across, and unable to find the original source document. Or you could Google around for an hour, give up, and call me a liar without doing minimal background research, or even noticing simple things about the link that you were given. Your choice.

[*] In all seriousness, why would I even fabricate such a quote? What’s supposed to be my motive in doing so? I’m using it to make a joke in which I reinterpret the words under a meaning that the original speaker didn’t intend. The joke’s not funny unless the words of the quote are genuine. If I wanted to make up something for Oscar Goodman to say, I could do a lot better than that.

Follow Up

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