Take drugs for example. It’s high on the libertarian list of things they want legalized. I say no way in hell. Now yes, I do say that I want personal responsibility, but what I really mean by that is I want every person to act responsibly and if you have to inject or ingest, snort or smoke something to feel good about yourself, you are not acting responsibly. And for you people who say you’re just doing it to “feel good”, too bad. If you have to resort to some form of artificial stimulation to get your jollies, just for the sake of having your jollies, you’re an idiot.
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that a large portion of the libertarian population is just delusional. They clearly don’t understand human nature, they think mankind can live without government, will automatically do the right thing and that there are magical rights floating around out there that they cannot explain how they came to be, but they can sure tell you what they are. Maybe worse yet, so many of them are absurdly cocksure of themselves, like they’re coming down from the mountain bearing stone tablets. I keep making references to people’s political beliefs being far too similar to religious beliefs for my liking, I think libertarians, at least some of the most vocal of them, just have too much faith. I don’t assent to faith in religion, I sure won’t do it in my politics.
Archaeologists have uncovered widespread evidence of drug consumption in ancient communities across the globe. The oldest evidence of beer consumption dates back to around 5000 BCE in what is now Iran, while wine consumption goes back even further, to about 6000 BCE. The consumption of betel nut, the fourth-most used drug in the world after nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine, dates back 13,000 years ago in Timor, and 10,700 years ago in Thailand. Coca was domesticated in the western Andes close to 7,000 years ago, and the consumption of tobacco in the Americas, pituri in Australia, and khat in Eastern Africa already represented ancient practices when European colonists made first contact, perhaps dating back 40,000 years or more. Most anthropologists agree that human drug consumption predates human civilization.
Bolded parts mine. I trust the jokes are obvious enough that I don’t have to bother typing them.
March 6, 2013 @ 2:22 pm
Execute every single drug dealer we catch for the first offense, mandatory sentence, no plea deals, doesn't matter if you're rich and white or poor and black, you get taken out back and shot. That would clear up the drug problem real quick. – Cephus (in comments)
Brilliant! In related news, yesterday was the anniversary of Stalin's death.
March 6, 2013 @ 3:57 pm
Yes,'tis I who can claim responsibility for bringing this…paen to kind government…to our host's attention! LOL. When I tried to bring out that maybe personal prejudices are not the best are only reason for calling for somewhat extreme use of The State, she just doubled down with noel's example the shining zenith of the discussion.
Of course, on another post on the topic (which I was too "frightened" to read, she was ATTACKED, ATTACKED I TELL YOU, by an army of drugged out HIPPIES!
I initially thought this site would be a good addition to my reading list.
March 6, 2013 @ 3:59 pm
I wonder what engine driver thinks? I would agree that the dark gray with white and blue fonts are quite handsome!
March 6, 2013 @ 5:59 pm
Cephus "exposes stupidity". Lacks a mirror.
March 6, 2013 @ 11:34 pm
Authoritarians think they know a truth that entitles them to use violence (either indirectly through law enforcement, or more bloodthirstily, as in here) against those who doubt the truth or just don't care about said truth.
March 7, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
But I know anarchists who think all politicians should be shot. I say, "Yeah, let's set up a tribunal! Who's going to direct it? We'll have to have an elec… uh oh."
I imagine Cephus will claim that the shooting drug dealers comment was exaggeration to make a point, but there are so many things wrong with the original post that it's not worth addressing it point by point. And I'm not even a libertarian.
March 7, 2013 @ 5:20 pm
noel: Yeah, the inherent contradictions within anarchism are a fatal flaw.
I almost see anarchism as a "world view" or an aanlysis tool (like Marxism can be) rather than a full-on prescription for running a society.
One anarchist blogger blithely wrote that local communities should just be allowed to do whatever they want. I sent him a link to the story on rampant sexual abuse and violence in the Hasidim community in New York State.
March 8, 2013 @ 7:12 pm
If Cephus is correct that we have "no natural rights", then indeed we've no right to condemn abusive communities.
March 9, 2013 @ 4:01 am
I know I've been altering my consciousness since I've been recognizably human. I should be shot.
March 9, 2013 @ 1:53 am
Humans have been altering their consciousness in varying degrees since they've recognizably been human. Moralistic teetotaling is, by comparison, a relatively recent and unpopular stance. It's certainly destined to remain so when your method of advocacy is to tell people who disagree that they're idiots. But it's libertarians who don't understand human nature, remember.
March 9, 2013 @ 11:41 am
See, Brian? I told you Noel was an AI prototype.