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From my experience, what libertarians really want is freedom for themselves. They do not actually care how their actions affect others. For example, I’ve yet t
by brokencode 5y ago
From my experience, what libertarians really want is freedom for themselves. They do not actually care how their actions affect others.
For example, I’ve yet to meet a libertarian who cares about their carbon emissions, even though that affects everybody else via climate change. Same goes for coronavirus - they don’t care if they spread the disease to others, but they feel like it’s oppression if they have to wear a mask.
And the same goes for trampling on the feelings of others, or passively accepting that they’ve been given huge advantages over others in society. They feel like they should be able to do anything short of actually stealing from or hurting others physically, and don’t consider the subtle ways they impact others in society.
- zpeti 5y agoThe ACLU supported the rights of neo nazis to protest in a Jewish neighborhood. While not strictly a libertarian organisation, that is exactly the attitude. And libertarians would support that too. The rights of others to be free just like myself. It’s not selfish in any way. And you should read up about why the aclu did this, they say some very relevant things to today.
- zzzeek 5y agoAssuming I were part of an identity group such as Judaism, this would mean parades of people who want to murder me and my family being welcome outside my door to shout for hours of their intent, with no possibility of relief. sign me up for libertarianism!
- brokencode 5y agoThis doesn’t contradict my point. Yes, libertarians believe everybody should have the same freedoms, and that’s commendable. But like I was saying, they often stop short of caring how their actions affect others, and that is inherently selfish.
- kortilla 5y ago> For example, I’ve yet to meet a libertarian who cares about their carbon emissions Something tells me you’ve yet to a meet a libertarian at all. Being held accountable for your pollution of others’ property is a tenant of libertarianism. > Same goes for coronavirus - they don’t care if they spread the disease to others This sounds quite the opposite of libertarianism. Hurting/killing others isn’t part of the ideology. It sounds like you’re just describing people who don’t understand science, which has nothing to do with libertarianism.
- brokencode 5y agoThere’s a difference between the libertarian fantasy of personal responsibility and the reality that many people do not behave with the best interest of others in mind. If you are unaware of how resistant self-described “libertarians” are to wearing masks, taking vaccines, or reducing their carbon emissions, then you are the one who is ignorant. If you want to say that those people are not true libertarians, fine, but I don’t see how you can pretend that relying on personal responsibility is actually effective.
- kortilla 5y agoI am a self-described libertarian and I wear masks, took the vaccines, and am super careful about my carbon emissions. You’re associating anti-science with libertarians, which is just lazy. Not poisoning and killing others is a pretty core tenant of individual liberty.
- tchaffee 5y agoRand Paul is also a self-described libertarian and I would guess gets far more attention than you do. He was recently banned from YouTube for his videos about masks. And he still will not accept the scientific consensus about climate change. Seriously disturbing stuff. So yeah, it's not exactly just lazy to associate anti-science stuff with libertarians when that association is both real and comes from popular folks who reach a lot of people. But sincerely thanks for being a better person than some of the libertarians that have a bigger audience. I appreciate you being super careful about your carbon emissions. I am curious though - do you simply leave carbon emissions to personal choice and hope that everyone is as respectful of our shared resources as you are?