I had the great displeasure of writing alongside a cadre of world-class assholes for several months on another blog. The thing that they all had in common was that they imagined themselves as libertarians, and I have learned a thing or two about libertarianism that I think may be worth sharing.
For one thing, libertarians are ingrates. They are ungrateful for everything, and they imagine themselves as self-made individuals who need no one else. They act as though they popped out of the womb fully educated and able to work for a living, and that so did everyone else. They are almost always over-privileged white males from a middle to upper-middle class upbringing.
They discuss public education as some sort of government folly in the same breath as decrying the rampant ignorance of America (which is only ignorant, in their mind, because Americans fail to latch onto their ideas). They oppose the police and any use of force by the government… while supporting privatized security which has no oversight or restrictions. They listen to conservative talk show hosts stroke their egos as they drive to work on public roads.
But perhaps most irritating is that Libertarians oppose liberty. Liberty is the freedom that comes from a society that actively fights injustice among the citizenry. Liberty is not some magical, natural state of mankind, nor is it the absence of laws or government. Those things are anarchy, and anarchy is little more than a power vacuum that will inevitably be filled by the worst kinds of abuse and tyranny. Liberty is the freedom of individuals to abandon the search for the basic requirements of life (security, amenities, etc.) to pursue greater things.
Libertarians, by and large, fail to recognize this, and it’s downright childish. Even their rhetoric is infantile: they say the government is a nanny, and they shout about oppression at their little Tea Parties (you know, that oppression that protects their right to freely assemble and voice their grievances, regardless of how baseless and rooted in a Fox News contrived fantasy they may be).
There is just nothing more pathetically misguided than a Libertarian.
Dude, you still have no fucking idea what you're talking about! You continue to caricature anarchy (without ever apparently having done any serious reading of what anarchists actually say). Anarchy is not chaos, any more than the Universe without God is complete chaos and disorder. You're like a theist who doesn't believe order and complexity can arise from "nothing" or without some authority guiding the process.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's a topic for another time. I read your emails, and I won't go over them in detail here. I'm thankful for what you contributed to SE, including the header, but where was the reciprocation when I simply asked you to tone down the hate on a fellow contributor. At that point I DID NOT remove you as a contributor, it was only when you then said "fuck you" to me, and then wished that fellow contributor dead (again) this time by dying in his own blood and screaming, that I made the (reluctant) decision to do so.
By the way, you are still on the atheist blogroll at SE. I only temporarily removed your blog from the "Blog World" feed, as I do periodically with other blogs, including those that are usually there all the time (such as T.C.'s blog, which has been removed several times for short periods). I need to pare that list down a little, and so I'll be rotating some of the "permanent" blogs from time to time to make room for others. Hell, even the almost always there Lew Rockwell blog is gone at the moment.
Anyway, I have no hard feelings toward you at all. Just disappointed, as I stated before.
I won't address most of your ridiculous post here, except to say that it's a complete fail. Oh, and that I'm a libertarian socialist who rejects private property as an illegitimate statist invention (like IP).
Liberty is the freedom of individuals to abandon the search for the basic requirements of life (security, amenities, etc.) to pursue greater things.
But the question is, how to achieve that, and how to fulfill those basic needs? The state socialist regimes of the old Soviet block never could do even that, with people waiting in long lines for things like food and toilet paper. Contrast that with pre-welfare state America, which, despite its terrible short comings, created the greatest economic expansion and increased standard of living for the masses in the history of the world.
They oppose the police and any use of force by the government… while supporting privatized security which has no oversight or restrictions.
Like that cop in Seattle who shot down and killed a Native American woodcarver and will not be prosecuted for it? Real oversight and restrictions there! Man, you really are a sick pig-lover, aren't you?
a cadre of world-class assholes
ReplyDeleteAs the biggest asshole of all time (I'll be putting up many, many links in a post at SE documenting that), you should know. Projecting again, as usual.
the Universe without God is complete chaos and disorder.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet it is. If you do horrible things, no one is going to punish you after you die; we as human beings have to decide what the rules are and to enforce them as we see fit. The world could be hit by a meteor or become an ice cube or a barren planet lacking an atmosphere. It is chaotic, and unless we work together, we face it alone and die in about 20-30 years.
simply asked you to tone down the hate on a fellow contributor.
That's weird... because I said something about how people should tone it down in January, and I recall being verbally attacked and an enemy of the first amendment and basically dismissed. Of course, once the polite liberal took off the gloves and started with the low blows, those ideals pretty much went out the window. You're a lying censor nazi hypocrite and I can't possibly nay enough rude things about you or your destructive and ideology.
Anyway, I have no hard feelings toward you at all. Just disappointed
I can relate to the latter part of that sentiment.
I'm not surprised someone who doesn't believe in intellectual property rights makes ad revenue by posting non-original content copy and pasted or embedded from elsewhere. It's sort of like how taxing the rich is opposed by rich people (and people delusional enough to think their hard work will one day make them rich in this country). It's the same sort of self-serving, empty thought process I would expect from a libertarian.
pre-welfare state America
This country was built into an economic juggernaut under the post-40's welfare state which has slowly been dismantled by people who believe much like yourself. The countries today who have avoided the economic crisis linked to our failure to regulate business practices are one and all more socialistic than us. They have socialized medicine and well regulated banking, and it is these sort of things which have allowed them to succeed where the corporatist privatization and deregulation strategy has failed.
Regarding police: I guess since the dozens of police officers I have encountered didn't beat me or abuse their power or really treat me with anything but respect, I have a hard time listening to people like you who immerse themselves in isolated horror stories whcih you have convinced yourself are the norm. You can't point to one, ten or even a thousand cases of police abuse and expect me to believe that just because some problems slip through the cracks of an enormous system that the elimination of all oversight is therefore useless.
It's so amusing how empty and naive your arguments are. Are you 15?
As the biggest asshole of all time (I'll be putting up many, many links in a post at SE documenting that), you should know. Projecting again, as usual.
ReplyDeleteBiggest asshole? I'm flattered, but I'm afraid not. I'm sure your selective view will totally reinforce your opinion, so thanks ahead of time. I'm positive you will of course do me the favor of including the threats against me, the names I've been called, and basically all the other petty tripe I put up with for months there.
The contributors picked a name-calling contest with me, they lost and you pussied out like the cowards you all are, and now you're going to chronicle my verbal tongue lashing of you losers? Much appreciated, how much do I owe you?
Bret, if your ego-starved rantings and lame attempts at getting attention weren't so amusing, I wouldn't bother at all.
ReplyDeleteThe facts speak for themselves, so don't worry, no one will be mislead. I'll let anyone who cares make their own judgment.
You're talented, in your own limited way, but you have some serious issues you need to deal with. You're like some kind of idiot savant, with the emphasis on the idiot. Also, you got your ass kicked in debate after debate, but were completely oblivious to your unbelievable fails.
You're a lying censor nazi hypocrite and I can't possibly nay enough rude things about you or your destructive and ideology.
ReplyDeleteI have a right to protect a private blog from verbal graffiti. That's no more "censorship" than someone painting over the vandalism of criminal losers who leave their sorry attempts at immortality on a wall or building.
At least now you can go back to the toys in your sandbox and continue erecting your delusional castles without worrying about me knocking them down.
This country was built into an economic juggernaut under the post-40's welfare state which has slowly been dismantled by people who believe much like yourself.
ReplyDeleteSo the U.S. didn't go from a minor agricultural country to a major industrial power and the richest nation on earth in less than 100 years during the nineteenth century?
Actually, the massive spending on the national security state and entitlements (Social Security and Medicare) in the second half of the twentieth century, not to mention the destruction of the value of the dollar (95% of its buying power has disappeared since the creation of the Federal Reserve), in other words, the things advocated by people who think like you, have destroyed American prosperity and the economic engine that drives it, and the chickens are now coming home to roost.
I think the fundamental flaw in your reasoning is that there are two fundamental types of liberty. You obviously embrace freedom from personal responsibility "...for the basic requirements of life (security, amenities, etc.)..." whereas the majority of folks who consider themselves libertarians embrace the freedom to determine personal destiny.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I don't think these two liberties are compatible long term.
I think the experiments of the USSR, Cuba, North Korea demonstrate pretty well that freedom from responsibility just isn't tenable. China is learning that some freedom to determine your own destiny can lead to prosperity, but I'm curious to see if they will go as far as Europe/Canada/Japan/USA.
I'm well aware of the concepts of positive and negative freedom, and the success of nations that are moderately socialized (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Canada, and even the US) has demonstrated that people do need a government to do a great many things, be it something that is impossible for individuals to do (like regulate industry) or provide the basic means of living to the under privileged.
ReplyDelete