[extropy-chat] Enlightenment and the election

Fred C. Moulton moulton at moulton.com
Sat Nov 6 05:03:15 UTC 2004


On Fri, 2004-11-05 at 21:30, Sean Diggins wrote:
...
> Emlyn,
> 
> You havent grasped the peculiar brand of "fundamentalism" adopted by US
> Libertarianism.
> There is zero chance of Greg's vote (whether libertarian or Bush) making
> sense to you....and there is less than zero chance of them seeing things
> from a perspective of someone outside the US.

Sean

I think you may be painting with too broad of a brush.  For example most
of the folks behind www.antiwar.com are long time libertarian activists.
Just on the topic of supporting Bush there are persons who call
themselves libertarians with opinions ranging from:
  "Electing Bush is necessary for the survival of our way of life"
to
  "Claiming to be a libertarian and supporting Bush is like claiming
   to be a vegetarian in the middle of eating a steak dinner"

There are different subgroups of libertarians and many of these groups
do not have much contact.  So far outright hostility is at a minimum. 
Compare for example the opinions expressed by US Libertarian party and
the anti-party opinions expressed on the
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LeftLibertarian/
And there is still debate by Georgists and others.

It is not hard for someone to call themselves a libertarian and spout
off.  The more difficult task is to sort out what makes sense and what
does not.

Fred



> They live within the prism of The Death Star and have no empathy for anyone
> who gets in the way of their beloved Mothership, as long as someone else is
> doing the dirty work which runs against their US Libertarian values. They
> really mean "Libertarians for America, f&^k everyone else".
> 
> It's quite amazing to see the private emails I get each time I post
> something critical of the US Libertarians on this email list, from people
> who have long ago despaired of having a useful discussion with them. They
> still lurk, being extropian, but no longer participate. I have reached that
> point also, in a very short space of time. After lurking here for a year, I
> started posting, then realised I could not hope to discuss the issues I hope
> bio and nano will address without being shot to pieces by the US
> Libertarians. Trying to argue almost anything with a US Libertarian strikes
> me as being similar to trying to argue about Israeli policy with the Bush
> Administration ("you are anti-semetic") or the nature of God with a
> fundamentalist religion devotee. The US Libertarians are only here because
> they personally want to live forever...
> 
> And on that note, I'm outa here. I will no longer post. No doubt a few "good
> riddances" will be in order...
> 
> But, a final parting shot across the bow: when I suggested on this list that
> the Rapture Ready mob are a major component of Bush's constituency, I was
> basically ridiculed. Yeah, right....spot on, folks. Don't see any of you
> retracting your stubborn "blindsides" now....     
> 
> Sean
> 
> 
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