HES: Re: QUERY--Hayek References

[Mason Gaffney]

Thanks to Yuri Tulupenko for clarifying, and pardon me if I am
hypersensitive to the connotations that may be coded in language.  

Since it is established that I am, however, and I admit it, I wonder if
"vandalism" is the best word?  Some will dismiss this as quibbling, and
sometimes it is, but words are the tools we think with. 

Strip-mining that destroys the surface of land might properly be called
vandalism, but rearranging titles to land, without damaging the land, is
redistribution without vandalism. I grant that burning old chains of title
is a sort of vandalism per se, but I don't think that is the major point.
Indeed, the chains of title generally hark back to some super-vandal who
appropriated the land by killing many people and destroying their property.
One might even liken this record-burning to tearing down an old building to
salvage the site for a new use.

I apologize to Yuri if this looks like a criticism aimed at him - that is
not my intent at all. I just like to raise consciousness of semantic issues.

Mason Gaffney