Libertarian Thread of Doom

[Flex]

Have we done this one before? I think we have at some point

Exceptional

[revbob]

Have we done this one before? I think we have at some point.

I used to call them republicans who want weed legalized.

[Flex]

I used to call them republicans who want weed legalized.

"Bongwater Republicans"

[Flex]

Wonderfully scathing profile of David Sacks, conservatarian mutant who's gained a great degree of prominence on both the Muskian/Trumpist right and the Alt-/Post-Left, an almost perfect simulacrum of paleoliberatian isolationism and anti-woke ethnonationalist grievance culture perfectly calibrated to appeal to the Extremely Online who like to use his services: https://newrepublic.com/article/168125/ ... eter-thiel

[Dr. Medulla]

Wonderfully scathing profile of David Sacks, conservatarian mutant who's gained a great degree of prominence on both the Muskian/Trumpist right and the Alt-/Post-Left, an almost perfect simulacrum of paleoliberatian isolationism and anti-woke ethnonationalist grievance culture perfectly calibrated to appeal to the Extremely Online who like to use his services: https://newrepublic.com/article/168125/ ... eter-thiel

I'm curious whether a line can be drawn between these faux renegade billionaires who draw from those disaffected from conventional political expression and Ross Perot. It's striking to me how people of some degree of leftist bent can line up behind billionaires just because "oooo, I hate that crooked system, too!" So, yeah, good, glad you realize the system is rigged against you. Why are you so eager to claim the "useful idiot" nametag as the next step?

[Flex]

I'm curious whether a line can be drawn between these faux renegade billionaires who draw from those disaffected from conventional political expression and Ross Perot. It's striking to me how people of some degree of leftist bent can line up behind billionaires just because "oooo, I hate that crooked system, too!" So, yeah, good, glad you realize the system is rigged against you. Why are you so eager to claim the "useful idiot" nametag as the next step?

Charitably, I suppose, it can be a fine line between alliances of convenience and co-option (and to be fair, it works in the other direction too - leftists working with liberals certainly provokes some sometimes-accurate scathing critiques of useful idiocy) but my unsophisticated sense is that for a lot of people "opposing (now called 'owning') the libs" takes a significantly higher priority that advocating for change rooted in national and international solidarity, which would make any sort of alliance with a vampire like Sacks seem counterproductive.

[Dr. Medulla]

I'm curious whether a line can be drawn between these faux renegade billionaires who draw from those disaffected from conventional political expression and Ross Perot. It's striking to me how people of some degree of leftist bent can line up behind billionaires just because "oooo, I hate that crooked system, too!" So, yeah, good, glad you realize the system is rigged against you. Why are you so eager to claim the "useful idiot" nametag as the next step?

Charitably, I suppose, it can be a fine line between alliances of convenience and co-option (and to be fair, it works in the other direction too - leftists working with liberals certainly provokes some sometimes-accurate scathing critiques of useful idiocy) but my unsophisticated sense is that for a lot of people "opposing (now called 'owning') the libs" takes a significantly higher priority that advocating for change rooted in national and international solidarity, which would make any sort of alliance with a vampire like Sacks seem counterproductive.

It's such an odd thing for me to wrap my head around, where we're almost in a post-politics environment now. Debate about values and policies are supplanted by snark, where the goal is therapeutic—I feel good, you feel bad. It's entirely passive behaviour. And it serves to validate authoritarians who say liberal democracy doesn't work.

[Dr. Medulla]

https://boingboing.net/2022/11/15/liber ... itism.html

Because of course they do.

[Flex]

https://boingboing.net/2022/11/15/liber ... itism.html

Because of course they do.