I can see where you’re coming from, but people like North exist. Would you rather them be outed by enemies, or libertarians? Personally I think if you have idiots distorting a philosophy you advocate (that is, claiming to hold the philosophy while advocating things against it), it is much more beneficial to be the first one to call them out.
Not only does it show your integrity, but it takes away an opportunity for your enemies to have an exposé.
I voiced a similar argument when someone here thought it was a good idea to create a Reddit for the sole purpose of documenting every time a libertarian said something that could be perceived as “not nice.”
It is in that realm that I think you have a point. But here, with lunatics like North, they kind of need to be called out before someone else does. As I said, they exist whether you like it or not, so the only thing you can do is acknowledge them as quickly and as loudly as possible, and make it known as best you can that you do not endorse or even entertain their idiocy, nor do you even identify with what they claim to represent i.e. Guys like North do not represent libertarianism.
(Many have made the argument, or at least asked the question, as to why the majority of muslims do not do this in response to the atrocities committed by their “radical” brotheren. When you’re looking an undeniable facts like this, what you say does not speak as much as what you don’t say.)
conspiracists and racists ==> good guys who happen to say something snotty
“open-minded” ==> “morally superior” and “nice”
Now you could be talking about someone else.
No argument there. Again, quite similar.
Aww, did you miss me?
(P.S., you do realize only one of those actually links to the forum, right?)