#1
San Francisco
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Just came across this rather wonderful subreddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/circlejerk

"Grown men who watch children's cartoons and play video games are the most important members of our society" - Ron Paul (SELF.CIRCLEJERK)

Made me chortle quite a bit; almost fell out of my chair! What do you think of Reddit? Do you believe it to be a "single community" instead of a "collection of separate communities"? A nuanced hybrid, perhaps?

Since we're on the topic, what other political forums do you know of besides Reddit, and what do you think of them? Have you ever posted on any of them?
#2
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fuck you
#3
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http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/

I post there as BABY BREIVIK
#4
tardy on these heaters
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http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/
#5
Goldgelbes Löwenäffchen
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babyhueypnewton posted:
fuck you

#6
Mike Nelson here.
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politicsforum.org ("pofo") was great for a while because people were a combination of smart and insane. it was my first encounter with hoxhaists.

it also had one of my favourite posters of all time. his position was that he was a libertarian who wanted the entire welfare state dismantled but he was a voluntary socialist who thought people should self-organize into communes and so on. he also hated the police and was under house arrest for assaulting one. he defended white nationalists and said he was black i think too. but like imagine some newb wandering in and arguing with him. damn. damn.
#7
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that was me btw
#8
tardy on these heaters
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NounsareVerbs posted:
that was me btw

#9
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Nice Post

Edited by babyfinland ()

#10
meet me in st louis
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i got started on michaelmoore forums back at the turn of the century as their token muslim
#11
hi
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i remember when michael moore's forum was deleted and i think i was a conservative back then.
#12
Mike Nelson here.
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we were conservatives once and young
#13
hi
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the conservative -> libertarian -> liberal -> leftist arc must be common i suppose.

#14
Mike Nelson here.
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given a long enough timeline, all of humanity converges on hoxhaism
#15
Mike Nelson here.
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#16
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I went from liberal to small-l libertarian to leftist. Some type of social libertarian or libertarian socialist I suppose. I just liked the bits about civil liberties, having always been a sucker for the ACLU and Amnesty International, and ending corporate welfare, and always been pro-second-amendment (I blame Alaska). Then I became horrified once I realized big-L Libertarian implied all that terrible selfish smug priveleged white male "bootstraps" right-wing economics Capitalist bullshit. I always found right-wing thought abhorrent as a child, either socially or economically. Reading LF in 08/09 had a lot to do with this. I just lurked and enjoyed reading the effort posts and learned a lot. Don't think I ever posted before the age of imperialism games, and after that I only posted a handful of times about drugs and guns. The nail in the coffin was wondering why neoliberalism was so evil yet I thought liberalism was good. My simplistic understanding was that it was the same aims and goals as neoconservatism, while neocons would use bombs and neoliberals would use the IMF/World Bank. Then I looked up the definition of "classical liberalism" oh my
#17
San Francisco
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Statistically speaking, I think it is far more common for people to gravitate rightwards as they get older.
#18
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"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." - Winston Churchill
#19
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"No I don't have a gun" -Kurt Cobain oh wait i dont think i did that right

Unfortunately I think radicalization is a one-way street. I don't think anyone in our generation will ever be in a position to turn all "fuck you, got mine". I'll be 25 in two months, at this point I just want to go back to school and get a degree so I can emigrate to the civilized world. Ideally Norway (already love the climate) or Ireland or Netherlands or New Zealand. I remember a couple of years ago when I wanted to go to law school and get into politics, haha. If I was planning on staying in this country for more than a decade, I'd just get an IBEW apprenticeship.

"hm there seems to be a porblem" -Sophocles
#20
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tapespeed posted:
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." - Winston Churchill


cool. actually no, this is bullshit

#21
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i was never a conservative or a libertarian, but i was a liberal once upon a time, and boy do i regret that.

in any case, american conservatism is degenerated and disgusting, and there is no excuse for it
#22
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Impper posted:
cool. actually no, this is bullshit



This is a bullshit :smug: conservative saying that was "ironically" attributed to that racist imperialist cunt, along the lines of 'Welcome to the republican party.'

#23
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Impper posted:
but i was a liberal once upon a time, and boy do i regret that.

in any case, american conservatism is degenerated and disgusting, and there is no excuse for it

#24
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I'm not going to pretend I understood scientific socialism as a child but I was always more bleeding heart than my parents or the the other kids at school & I'm fine with that. My first moment of any sort of issue awareness was being the one kid in the class saying that it wasn't cool what happened to the Branch Davidians


HenryKrinkle posted:
the conservative -> libertarian -> liberal -> leftist arc must be common i suppose.


I totally don't get the libertarian step, though. If you're trying to escape looney politics why go further down the rabbit hole.

Edited by tapespeed ()

#25
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libertarianism isn't looney it's the rational final step in isolated, individualist politics
#26
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for libertarianism to make sense and not be completely selfish you need to make the following assumptions:
1. once removing all outside interference the market will reach it's optimal point of equilibrium yielding most surplus value and growth.
2. market growth always translates to an improvement of the social and material conditions of all participants, regardless of their relative market share.
3. those with political power can manipulate the market to their benefit to a great degree but the owners of financial power are more limited in their ability to manipulate the government.

:downs:
#27
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My friend once said something along the lines of: You know how each town >500k people has "The Cool Church" where the youth minister takes the kids to play paintball and rock on his guitar? And it stays alive just by taking the remnants of folks who are "spiritual" or not keen on any of the other real churches around the area so the sermons are only about as complicated as how Jesus is the light and died for us (because you can find someone to represent like each totally opposite view of each issue in the congregation?)

Libertarianism is "The Cool Church" & the one sermon is Contra Dirigiste
#28
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no.
#29
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SomeIsraeliFuck posted:
no.


#30
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Impper posted:
libertarianism isn't looney it's the rational final step in isolated, individualist politics



^^ yeah ^^

libertarianism makes perfect sense if you try and extrapolate what should really be done from them pervading individualist motif of modern culture, without any sort of leavening. sort of an ideological articulation of the idea of rural idiocy.

#31
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a lot of the draw to libertarianism is the same as what brought you here.
'Shit is really fucked up, it must be systemic'
Most people don't have fully fleshed out world views and opinions.
I followed the same arc as krinkle, and jumped from libertarian when I realized 'holy shit, libertarians want to completely defund public schools'

I don't think I was along in that sort of thing at all.
#32
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the cleverest trick the devil ever played was to convince man of growth. plants grow and children grow but adults and their economies can only rot.
#33
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NounsareVerbs posted:
the cleverest trick the devil ever played was to convince man of growth. plants grow and children grow but adults and their economies can only rot.



but plants can rot and so can the teeth of little baby children when you give them lots of cookies and candy. my solution? i shall take every candy from every baby, and eat it all myself. "welcome to the libertarian party!" - myself, to me.

#34
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all is a rotting deck of cards