Friday, August 5, 2011

'Point out to me one Libertarian society on this planet.'

Had to do it.  From the comments to this juvenile screed, of the "we mock what we quite clearly don't understand" category:

"I asked you to point out to me one Libertarian society on this planet."

There's a lot more "I sure don't get it, but I sure can add my unbridled snark to reprinted talking points" in there, but that really sums it up.  To which, of course, I had to say:

And you cannot even conceive the boundless irony in that, can you?

You are so beholden to the idea that any society must, ipso facto, be of a vertically-aligned structure that looks like a recognizable state to your "I have a hammer" eyes, that you are either literally incapable, or simply unwilling, to see something so simple as an actual alternative to what you have so carefully been taught.

Are you one of those who would believe that the pre-Incas were primitive simply because they didn't leave us a written record?

Kent is right when he says that "anarchy" (absent the truly sophomoric pejorative snarl which so often accompanies the term) exists in and around us, all the time, every day. It is the only method of interacting with other human beings that I know of which can effectively exist and even thrive, while fully trapped within other systems which are entirely committed to its destruction. (As opposed to, say, traditional authoritarian states, which we have been reminded very recently can topple simply by the withdrawal of sufficient consent!) I marvel at it every day, because it makes human beings out of "the people", and continuously reminds me how magnificent human beings are, stripped of the influence of "legitimate" forcible compulsion.

Meanwhile, the onanistic charade of bickering about the size, shape, and permissible content of the "legitimate" mob--as though such rearrangement is suddenly going to start doing what it never has done before--continues.

And like any crusade, the crusaders' greatest bile and contempt is reserved not for any of their intramural enemies, which after all are pretty much directly fungible, but rather for the heretics, who ruin the whole exercise by pointing out what might otherwise be obvious to normal people: you could actually try something different.

And now, to sit back and watch  what happens.  I'll take it as a compliment if it never gets printed, as that will not only indicate that he's got no response, but that he knows he's got no response.  More likely, he's just sighted himself a witch, and will duly unleash his FEENOMEENAL KOSMIK POWERS upon my (to quote others) "sad, misguided" observations.

With the caveat that uh, yes, I do understand the difference between Ethiopians and Somalians, this whole exchange reminds me of this great return-of-serve from moviedom:

"Get out of my face Hubbard, or I might just decide you're an Ethiopian."
"You know, you are stupid enough to think that that's an insult."

2 comments:

Kent McManigal said...

Nice.

Rather than "show me a libertarian society" I have had a lot of people demand that I show them "even one libertarian state/country". My new thought on that bizarre suggestion, which I think I'll post several places, is that this is like demanding I give them "an example of just one feline ostrich"; it just shows they are totally missing the whole point.

Joel said...

There's people who want a discussion, and people who just want to make snide remarks. One group is worth engaging. The other is crunchy and good with ketchup.