Withnail: Would it be poor form to plagiariase a post?
Monty: It depends entirely on the quality of the whine. In this case, it most certainly would not.
So, untimely ripped from a commenter at LC, a perfect description of why although I’m strongly libertarian-leaning, the mainstream ‘Libertarian’ community can fuck off and kiss my arse while they’re doing it:
[The Swiss mosque vote] has been far too important for [mainstream Libertarian writers] to sully with ideological principles, few of them have wrestled with the internal contradictions with their position. When the Muslim is on the receiving end of a State sponsored boot, the ‘movement’ lined up wearing bovver boots and all took a swipe.
The fact of the matter is, for anyone remotely interested in ‘Libertarianism’ this subject should not have been ‘tricky’ in the least. This was an open goal from two foot out. This was an exact clear cut, open and shut case.
A third of the population voted to instruct the state to curtail the rights of an otherwise law abiding minority. Had this been any rich, white minority group, (bikers, hunters, gun owners) the movement would have been of one voice, as you would no doubt admit that, but the bogeyman Muslims? Fuck ‘em.
If the Libertarian movement can get this one right, then what is the point? If they are unable to strip away race/religion aspects of this simple issue and see what has actually occurred and what the implications for that are, then can your movement really be described as ‘Libertarians’?
This subject has shown your movement up for what it is. An idealistically bankrupt umbrella for rich white men who have done rather well out of a Liberal functioning State that don’t want to pay for that State
The irony being that subjects that your movement SHOULD find tricky where there are real issues regarding personal freedoms versus responsibility, i.e. Global Warming, you have absolutely no problem with. You declare the entire scientific community wrong and hey presto! You are able to continue regardless. No need for personal responsibility, for Libertarians, not when it is YOUR responsibility we are talking about. No, just throw the science in the bin.
On that final point, Hugo Rifkind is well worth a read, e.g.:
‘But there were these climate scientists at the University of East Anglia,’ you’ll chirrup, excitedly. ‘And leaked emails show that they were conspiring to conceal research that…’ Yeah, whatever. Not interested. So some of them are crooks. It’s like giving up on doctors because of Harold Shipman.
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