Stefan Molyneux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Molyneux

Stefan Basil Molyneux (/stɛˈfæn ˈmɑːlɪnjuː/; born September 24, 1966) is an Irish-born Canadian blogger. Molyneux's areas of interest include anarcho-capitalism, atheism, secular ethics, right-libertarianism, cryptocurrencies, and familial relationships. He is a self-published author and has spoken at libertarian conferences and on podcasts. Molyneux formerly worked in the software industry.

Background

Molyneux was born in Ireland but raised mainly in London, before moving to Canada at age 11. After attending the Glendon College of York University, where he was an actor at Theatre Glendon and a member of the Debating Society, he attended the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. Molyneux received a B.A. in History from McGill University in 1991 and an M.A. in History from University of Toronto in 1993.

In early 1995, he and his brother Hugh founded Caribou Systems Corporation, a Toronto-based provider of environmental database software. Stefan was the computer expert for the company. The company was sold in 2000.

"Freedomain Radio" podcast

In 2005, Molyneux began a podcast called Freedomain Radio (FDR). He uses the same name for the website on which he distributes his own writings, hosts podcast archives, and provides an Internet forum for FDR listeners. Molyneux also produces videos and commentary on current events, and he presents a weekly call-in show on which listeners can ask questions or discuss personal issues. These call-in shows have occasionally been guest-hosted by men's movement activist Warren Farrell and unschooling advocate Dayna Martin. Molyneux funds his efforts by soliciting direct payment from listeners and viewers.

Molyneux has conducted interviews and un-moderated debates with guests including renowned public intellectual Noam Chomsky, anarcho-capitalist theorist Walter Block, libertarian economist David Friedman, Harvard economics lecturer and Cato Institute fellow Jeffrey Miron, intellectual property attorney Stephan Kinsella, Austrian School economist Robert P. Murphy, Divorce Corp director Joseph Sorge, and Zeitgeist founder Peter Joseph. After the interview, Joseph expressed concerns regarding the conduct of his "debate" with Molyneux.

Jeffrey Tucker of the Ludwig von Mises Institute has described Molyneux as "probably the single most influential libertarian thinker of our times" for his ability to teach young people in the digital age.

Public appearances

Molyneux has been a frequent guest host of the Peter Schiff Show since 2012.

In 2014, Molyneux spoke at the Texas Bitcoin Conference, the Toronto 2014 Bitcoin Expo, and The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam.

He spoke on the topics of circumcision and maternal parenting at the June 2014 International Conference on Men’s Issues hosted by A Voice for Men in Detroit.

Views

Stateless society

Molyneux theorizes that the pursuit of virtue in our personal lives could bring about a stateless society that abhors the initiation of force (see Non-Aggression Principle). In addition, the free market (see anarcho-capitalism), poly-centric legal systems and private "dispute resolution organizations" (DRO's) could be empowered to find new and more peaceful ways of adjudicating Common law infractions and contractual disputes.

Family of origin relationships (FOO)

Molyneux refers to the family that people are born into as their "family of origin" or "FOO". Molyneux suggests that the family of origin relationships may not necessarily be desirable and in some circumstances may even be detrimental and thus for those individuals having suffered abusive childhood relationships it would be advantageous for them to sever such involuntary relationships as adults, or "deFOO". In this way, he views all adult relationships as being voluntary and discretionary rather than obligatory. According to a 2008 article in The Guardian, both Molyneux and his wife have deFOOed.

A Voice for Men

Molyneux was a panelist at a 2014 Detroit conference held by the men's rights movement and manosphere organization, A Voice for Men. According to Jessica Roy of Time Magazine Molyneux argued that violence in the world is the result of how women treat their children, and that "If we could just get people to be nice to their babies for five years straight, that would be it for war, drug abuse, addiction, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, ... Almost all would be completely eliminated, because they all arise from dysfunctional early childhood experiences, which are all run by women."

Criticisms

Criticism of his works

In 2012, libertarian philosopher David Gordon gave a critical examination of Molyneux's 2007 Universally Preferable Behaviour: A Rational Proof for Secular Ethics in The Mises Review, stating, "He fails, and fails miserably. His arguments are often preposterously bad." A rebuttal by Molyneux addressing Gordon's criticisms was posted to his message board, "Freedomain Radio," three days after Gordon's article was published.

deFOOing

In 2009, Molyneux was called the leader of a "therapy cult" following Freedomain Radio community member Tom Bell breaking off all contact with his family. In April 2008, Bell had called in to the show asking about his veganism and his feeling of disgust towards people that eat meat. Molyneux suggested that this disgust could have come from witnessing an authority figure that was cruel to animals. Bell responded by describing memories of his father being verbally and physically cruel to the family cat, causing him to feel intimidated by the father, and then described his emotional detachment toward his mother and the rest of his family.

The following month, Bell left a note stating he no longer wanted contact and left home. It was reported that, of the estimated 50,000 users of the website, about 20 FDR members had also "deFOOed", and that many parents chose not to speak to the media in an effort to avoid alienating their children further.

A representative of the British Cult Information Centre said they were following FDR, and noted that one sign of cults was that they cut people off from their families. Molyneux responded by saying that "If I advised a wife to leave an abusive husband, there would not be articles about how I am a cult leader."

In 2012, the College of Psychologists of Ontario found Molyneux's spouse, a licensed psychologist, "guilty of professional misconduct" because she used Molyneux's podcast, "to counsel people to emulate her and sever ties with their families." (to deFOO) The Disciplinary panel sanctioned his wife requiring peer mentoring and cessation of activities with Stefan Molyneux's podcast in any professional aspect. Other sanctions and penalties were given as well, agreed to by his wife.

Molyneux and FOO were the subject of an investigative documentary by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, which aired on August 20, 2015.