This is pathetic!

[liberty_student]

@Capital Pumper

I do. The killing blow to my neoconservatism was delivered, when I read Economics in One Lesson and Meltdown. Starting with the broken window fallacy (so simple yet vital as learning your ABCs), I had begun to develop my economical and ethical objection to the state’s flexing muscle. Having been stuck in the superficial left-right paradigm for so long, reading through this site’s material was like finding the meaning to life. IME: If you can articulately communicate these ideas to people, then they stand there in shock and awe. The key to conversion is to apply the material that is relevant to people’s values.

Great post. I am always pumped up about former neocons crossing the threshold. That Straussians always seem to be the tougher group to appeal to.

[Laughing_Man]

@Capital Pumper

That like having to choose between Charmander, Squirtte, or Bulbasaur. I just gotta catch em all.

Are you calling Rothbard…a squirtte?

[Capital_Pumper]

@Capital Pumper

Well, I would say 9/11 certainly “inspired” me to a “higher calling”. But, other than that, I don’t know. It always seemed “cool” to be broken down and pieced back together, the Marine way. Supplement that with all the action novels I was reading back in the day (still do, just with a different outlook) and everything that I surrounded myself with, it was hard not to be pushed in that direction.

I figured as much. It always starts with 9/11, and ends up turning you into a Michael Bay fan. There is a reason, other than jingoism, that whole right-wing crowd worship the military, police, and courts. It’s their pathetic attempt at trying convey themselves as badasses. There is a label for those who put on that facade: internet tough guy. Take for example William Grigg’s latest update on the thugs in blue. Tell me what you see in the comments section that stings the nostrils.

[wilderness]

@Laughing Man

@liberty student

Those games, like Call of Duty, are military propaganda. That is all they are. A means of indoctrinating young kids in their free time outside the educational institutions into the empire’s foreign policy and their role within it.

Yea, I can definitely see that in the games. I think it is important to realize for gamers that such things are truly games.

Propaganda isn’t a game.

[liberty_student]

@LvMIenthusiast

Do you deprive (if you would call it that) of such games because of the themes they put forth?

I only enjoy RTS or turn based strategy games, but they are all hyper-militaristic now, and very boring. I still play Starcraft from time to time (free time is scarce) but generally I don’t play games anymore.

This may sound cheesy, but the last 2 years have really brought my sense of morality to the forefront and combined it with my aesthetics. It has meant forgoing a lot of popular culture, because that culture is the antithesis to how I see the world, and what my role within that world should be.

David Friedman makes a very good point about how online games like Wow are essentially VR. And I ask myself, if I could construct my own reality, what does it say about myself that I would want to be on a killing field shooting at NPCs? Shouldn’t I be after a VR where I am making market exchanges, discovering new markets, creating prosperity and advancing human kind peacefully?

Sadly, such games do not exist.

[bloomj31]

LS, there are online games like that.

I heard someone bought a club in one of them for like 300k or something.

[wilderness]

I know. It’s an experience change to enjoy what might be quiet and considered boring to an ‘outsider’. But really it’s the boring and quiet that is so much fun after awhile. I like getting through the day without too much upheaval. It’s very enjoyable. Makes me heart happy.

[Spideynw]

@liberty student

David Friedman makes a very good point about how online games like Wow are essentially VR. And I ask myself, if I could construct my own reality, what does it say about myself that I would want to be on a killing field shooting at NPCs? Shouldn’t I be after a VR where I am making market exchanges, discovering new markets, creating prosperity and advancing human kind peacefully?

That is why you need to get Left for Dead 2. At least that way, you are just killing zombies. And they are evil and need to be killed.

[bloomj31]

@Spideynw

That is why you need to get Left for Dead 2. At least that way, you are just killing zombies. And they are evil and need to be killed.

Seconded.

[nirgrahamUK]

@liberty student

Shouldn’t I be after a VR where I am making market exchanges, discovering new markets, creating prosperity and advancing human kind peacefully?Sadly, such games do not exist.

I’ve not played it myself, but isn’t secondlife.com what you are describing?

[LvMIenthusiast]

@Capital Pumper

@Capital Pumper

Well, I would say 9/11 certainly “inspired” me to a “higher calling”. But, other than that, I don’t know. It always seemed “cool” to be broken down and pieced back together, the Marine way. Supplement that with all the action novels I was reading back in the day (still do, just with a different outlook) and everything that I surrounded myself with, it was hard not to be pushed in that direction.

I figured as much. It always starts with 9/11, and ends up turning you into a Michael Bay fan. There is a reason, other than jingoism, that whole right-wing crowd worship the military, police, and courts. It’s their pathetic attempt at trying convey themselves as badasses. There is a label for those who put on that facade: internet tough guy. Take for example William Grigg’s latest update on the thugs in blue. Tell me what you see in the comments section that stings the nostrils.

Unfortunately, I find that many men don’t want to budge on the manliness factor in terms of whether or not they support the military. It’s a very weak argument when you ask if they themselves would join the military if necessary or send their sons off to die: the answer you get is NO!

It’s perfectly fine when it’s somebody else that is losing a limb or coming home in a body bag.

[Capital_Pumper]

@liberty student

Great post. I am always pumped up about former neocons crossing the threshold. That Straussians always seem to be the tougher group to appeal to.

I don’t regret. it I learned alot from being one. The funny thing is that I feel no contempt or pity for neocons. I view them in the same manner Laughing Man views Marxists. They’re interesting because they’re so goddamn kooky. Once you become the apostate of a crowd of lunatics, there is no possibility of taking them seriously.

The seeds of doubt were sowed the second I became one, but the growth didn’t accelerate until I saw ladyattis obliterate the dullards at the James Randi forums. It was like watching a boxing match consisting of an adult putting his hand to frantic child’s forehead. A great many nights were spent watching ladyattis videos, and led to me here. I will never forgive him though for his recent video hiatus. Those were a very slow six weeks.

[liberty_student]

@nirgrahamUK

I’ve not played it myself, but isn’t secondlife.com what you are describing?

I haven’t played it either. But its irrelevant now because I do that for a living. I creative value online and in virtual spaces. I guess, work has become a video game to me. Heh.

[LvMIenthusiast]

It’s funny, recently I’ve been accused of being anti-military (in the conventional sense, you “hate the members of military” etcetera)

But, yet they do not consider the following:

1. The troops are being solely used as a complete political apparatus.

• This includes Gen. Patreus who is just taking all the ‘necessary measures’ to prime himself for a Presidential run.

2. We now have 10 war fronts.

3. It’s not cost-effective and furthermore it’s diverting resources.

4. Maybe America’s foreign policy has caused a damn good portion of this hatred.

5. They are not sacrificing their own lives.

6. Thousands of innocent people have been unnecessarily tossed into the grinder for this.

7. The standard of living is deteriorating as new military toys are being stamped out of factories.

A completely minarchist approach that can easily be applied to the understanding of a laymen.

[Capital_Pumper]

@LvMIenthusiast

Unfortunately, I find that many men don’t want to budge on the manliness factor in terms of whether or not they support the military. It’s a very weak argument when you ask if they themselves would join the military if necessary or send their sons off to die: the answer you get is NO!

It’s perfectly fine when it’s somebody else that is losing a limb or coming home in a body bag.

You didn’t tell me what you saw [:(]

[Stephen_Forde]

It’s being attacked by the politically correct multiculturalists as well.

Critics claims the story of a white US Marine who saves an alien race perpetuates the “white Messiah fable” and suggests that non-whites are primitives incapable of helping themselves.

Hundreds of blogs, YouTube videos and Twitter postings have sprung up on the subject since the film’s release three weeks ago, with one writer dubbing the 3-D extravaganza “a racial fantasy par excellence”.

Avatar is set on a distant planet populated by the Na’vi, an eco-conscious, blue-skinned alien tribe with no understanding of modern technology. A disabled Marine, played by the Australian actor Sam Worthington, is sent to infiltrate the tribe but soon “goes native” and leads them in a defence of their homeland against the white invaders.

He also falls in love with an alien woman, who rejects a Na’vi suitor and becomes his wife. The main Na’vi characters are played by black actors, including Zoe Saldana and Laz Alonso.

David Brooks, a columnist writing in the New York Times, said: "Avatar is a racial fantasy par excellence … It rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that non-whites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades. It rests on the assumption that illiteracy is the path to grace.

“It also creates a sort of two-edged cultural imperialism. Natives can either have their history shaped by cruel imperialists or benevolent ones, but either way, they are going to be supporting actors in our journey to self-admiration.”

The ruthless treatment of the Na’vi has been interpreted as a metaphor for the plight of American Indians. Brooks said Avatar followed a long tradition of “white Messiah” movies which began in the 1970s with A Man Called Horse, starring Richard Harris as an English aristocrat who is captured by a Sioux Indian tribe and becomes their leader, and which includes Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves and the Tom Cruise film, The Last Samurai.

Robinne Lee, a black actress who appeared opposite Will Smith in the film Seven Pounds, is also among Avatar’s detractors.

Likening the film to Pocahontas – “the Indian woman leads the white man into the wilderness, and he learns the way of the people and becomes the saviour” – she said: “It’s really upsetting in many ways. It would be nice if we could save ourselves.”

Annalee Newitz, editor-in-chief of io9.com, a sci-fi website, said: “The main white characters realise that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, aka people of colour … then go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. When will whites stop making these movies and start thinking about race in a new way?” Cameron strongly denied any racist intent. He said that his film “asks us to open our eyes and truly see others, respecting them even though they are different, in the hope that we may find a way to prevent conflict and live more harmoniously on this world. I hardly think that is a racist message.”

The controversy has done little to dent Avatar’s remarkable run at the box office. It took just 17 days to pass $1 billion in ticket sales – a new record – and to become the second highest grossing film of all time behind Titanic, also directed by Cameron.

[zefreak]

@Capital Pumper

@liberty student

Great post. I am always pumped up about former neocons crossing the threshold. That Straussians always seem to be the tougher group to appeal to.

I don’t regret. it I learned alot from being one. The funny thing is that I feel no contempt or pity for neocons. I view them in the same manner Laughing Man views Marxists. They’re interesting because they’re so goddamn kooky. Once you become the apostate of a crowd of lunatics, there is no possibility of taking them seriously.

The seeds of doubt were sowed the second I became one, but the growth didn’t accelerate until I saw ladyattis obliterate the dullards at the James Randi forums. It was like watching a boxing match consisting of an adult putting his hand to frantic child’s forehead. A great many nights were spent watching ladyattis videos, and led to me here. I will never forgive him though for his recent video hiatus. Those were a very slow six weeks.

Whats wrong with the James Randi forums? I have never seen them, but James Randi is amazing.

[LvMIenthusiast]

@Capital Pumper

@LvMIenthusiast

Unfortunately, I find that many men don’t want to budge on the manliness factor in terms of whether or not they support the military. It’s a very weak argument when you ask if they themselves would join the military if necessary or send their sons off to die: the answer you get is NO!

It’s perfectly fine when it’s somebody else that is losing a limb or coming home in a body bag.

You didn’t tell me what you saw

I saw a bunch of arrant fools siding with an off-duty police officer.

I think the situation could have been avoided, but the aftermath and the handling by the particular officer out rivaled her for the LvMI stupidity award of the day.

Both of them should sit in the corner staring at the wall for an hour with a dunce cap on their heads.

I also think it would qualify as abuse of power by the officer however minor the issue may be.

[Dondoolee]

@liberty student

@LvMIenthusiast

Do you deprive (if you would call it that) of such games because of the themes they put forth?

I only enjoy RTS or turn based strategy games, but they are all hyper-militaristic now, and very boring. I still play Starcraft from time to time (free time is scarce) but generally I don’t play games anymore.

This may sound cheesy, but the last 2 years have really brought my sense of morality to the forefront and combined it with my aesthetics. It has meant forgoing a lot of popular culture, because that culture is the antithesis to how I see the world, and what my role within that world should be.

David Friedman makes a very good point about how online games like Wow are essentially VR. And I ask myself, if I could construct my own reality, what does it say about myself that I would want to be on a killing field shooting at NPCs? Shouldn’t I be after a VR where I am making market exchanges, discovering new markets, creating prosperity and advancing human kind peacefully?

Sadly, such games do not exist.

Some older PC games used to, like Railroad Tycoon, etc. I think they were quite popular too, if not I liked them just as much as any war game or action game I played. I was just asking myself the other day why video games seem to be getting much less diverse and more focused on FPS type gameplay or a “Germanic D&D real time” type gameplay (though I certainly do not play as much as I used to, so it could just be I don’t pay that much attention anymore). Not that I have any problem with the style, but it seems a bit overwelming anymore.

I know one sad fact, other than Civilization (aka “THE GAME”) turn based strat seems to be dead, which is sad because it is my prefered style

[Amanojack]

@Capital Pumper

If you can articulately communicate these ideas to people, then they stand there in shock and awe.

Exactly. It’s all about clarity. The disagreements are all about obfuscation. When you know you’re right, then to convince people becomes a simple matter of being clear.