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Why Are So Many Nerds Libertarians?
BrendanMcGrail writes "Why do so many nerds seem to lean toward the Libertarian end of the spectrum? As a leftist, I know there are many people who share my ideological views, but have very little in common with me in terms of profession and non-work interests. Is the community's political bent directly tied to our higher than average economic success?"
If you put "(n/t)" in the title of your post, to signify that the post itself contains no text, it's pretty stupid to turn around and put text in the post.
Now, I imagine you did that because Slashdot gets uppity about empty posts. But it makes you look like a cockfool to say in the title that the post has no text, only to give the post text. And what's worse, the text you put in the post, where there's not supposed to be any text, uses "(n/t)" to indicate that the preceding text doesn't exist, when it clearly does.
Maybe this sort of shit flies over at the GameFAQs forums where you and your semi-retarded ilk roost. But here at Slashdot, you'd damn well better provide a title for your post, and you'd damn well better provide some text (or a goatse link, your choice).
While at the same time ignoring human nature and the fact that people aren't rational actors motivated solely to maximise profit.
I guess that the fucked-up american medical system is the reason that so many canadians and europeans come here to get the procedures done that they can't have done in their own country, because if they waited on those ridiculously long lists they would be dead before they got the treatment they need.
Don't believe movies made by fat self-hating assholes for your only view of the system that brings in all of the best doctors in the world and gets all of the research done for the cures that you want to get from your useless socialist system.
Yeah, every space craft, car, CPU, dish washer, software, etc. is designed by a secluded individual genius.
Oh, and yeah, I have read the Mythical Man-month, have you? Large parts of it are about how to structure a successful team.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
And that's undeniably a solo effort.
You musical horizon must be very limited. There is a huge number of collectively-composed pieces out there. Just as one example, look at Animal Collective, or much of Jazz after the 40ies.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
So are you suggesting we abolish all classes and force everyone to learn from books in rooms by themselves? Sure sounds like it.
Libertarianism is just anothe over-simplistic political category which appeals to the young, individualistic and idealistic of which there are many in the Nerd world.
It appeals because it promotes simple moral black-and-whites, encourages self-centred success and the expense of society and persecutes those less apparently intelligent (those who bullied us at school).
Stick Men
And politics, or society, or local communities aren't science either. QED.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
So AC, Are you trolling this from a free library computer while you wait for your welfare check to come in?
If the continent that started two world wars, nazism, and communism thinks I'm a nutcase then I can live with that.
When I see people spell the word 'Shudder' like that, I shutter too.
That's because the European elite has almost always been on the wrong side of history and bears most of the blame for the wars of the 20th century, not to mention previous ones. Right now, their line is that anyone who wants to create as much CO2 as them is the world's enemy. American contempt for European policians is a healthy thing.
Or maybe you could, you know, fucking think for a second a realize that health care and schooling are entirely different things from, say, entertainment.
Having a system that will eventually lead to most people not being able to afford health care or even send their kids to school can only sound like a good idea if you are not only well off financially but also a huge asshole.
Meanwhile, enjoy your stay in fairytale land, where free markets actually work. The rest of us is going to take a look at the real world and see what this retarded idea has done to it. What's needed is more regulation, especially in the areas you named, not less.
Your reasoning basically goes like this: Certain areas, such as health care, just don't work the way they are. There are lots of hints that this is due to them being based on a market-based model in the first place. So, let's just make the market more free.
Can you spot the flaw?
I'm confused. Is this "story" about nerds being social libertarians or economic libertarians? Because the former would generally go along with a higher degree of education (formal or otherwise) and the latter is usually the result of ignorance, stupidity, and greed.
The Farewell Tour II