…without getting banned? I tried Democrats.com and democraticunderground, which banned me really quickly when I went into serious liberterian rants.
It might be difficult to find any. People with ideologies that fail the logic test tend to get rather defensive.
Any chat room that does have a specific sympathy to any political ideaology (i.e. majority of chat rooms), surprisngly. I would highly recommend one of the first discussion enviroments on the internet, USENET, for it’s long history & more than likley, senior particpants who will most likley not flame to death for saying the slightest thing out of turn (i.e. the livejournal generation).
I also recommend looking around on IRC, as well as asking anyone here in the forums via PM for specific communities they may frequent.
I am mostly on libertylounge.net and my350z.com. I have found the moderators to be very easy going on them.
Example: my economics teacher. Whenever I try to logically implode his arguments, he flat out denies my arguments. For example, I show that GDP is useless, and he claims that GDP is useful as an a priori assumption, like the assumption that humans act.
Tell him that he’s incorrect, & tell him it can be an a priori assumption that he is being an intolerant ass. Don’t waste your time further, imo.
It’s good you are getting banned. You will learn how to beat the system. Then you won’t get banned, and you will be a more effective communicator.
I’ve found that on large forums, you can do a lot of convincing/salesmanship via PM. First you need to locate sympathetic individuals, then use their particular issues to direct them to libertarian oriented solutions. Like the healthcare debate. Or the bailout. Or the environment. These are all topics you can argue a libertarian perspective from, but can’t just come out swinging, but rather poisoning the well of statism with the scent of freedom. Eventually, people will start to shift and question.
I’m sorry to ask, but why would you want to?
You could try here:
http://forums.philosophyforums.com/philosophy-of-politics-and-law
There you will find many people ready to challenge your views and you won’t get banned if you maintain basic standards of literacy and behaviour.
I frequent (albeit less so these days) the political subforum of a music forum. As to be expected, it is full of statists and statist sympathizers (particularly of the social democracy and Marxist brands). I am basically the only “AnCap” that I know of on there (there is a Mutualist and maybe an “Anarcho Communist” here and there), so I’m usually viewed as some sort of nutter or unrealistic fool. I never get banned though, even though I find myself more and more often trying to inflame a few of the other regulars there. [:P]
It’s a good place to go if you like being the underdog.
the only other board i post at generally scoffs at libertarian ideals, but i’ve been posting there since i was a teenager so i let it slide. i’m still in the stage of trying to find people who AGREE with me, much less argue my points against my ideological rivals at other message boards.
although i was once banned from a music message board for arguing with an administrator about how his views of military personnel were so paranoid and exaggerated as to be reminiscent of the reefer madness flick.
Reddit is my favorite place. It’s about 2/3 leftist, 1/3 libertarian, but the leftists there are actually willing to argue, because they’re used to being challenged by intelligent libertarians (most other lefty sites are echo chambers).
Sounds a bit like the music forum I post at. I’ve never been banned, though, and I have certainly pissed plenty of statists off there.
i think it was keepmusicalive.com or something.
When i tried to debate with my sciene teacher whenever i referred to anything free market related he labeled it has propaganda, and continued his pro socialist rant, he teaches chemistry and knows it like the back of his hand and seems like an open guy, but when it comes to economics he labels free markets has a propaganda tool. Annoying
a Chem teacher? Can you report him to the admin for being biased/off topic?
Do you like MMA? try this http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f54/
A lot of idiots there are in need of verbal pwnage
The key to arguing with a human is to realize that the human animal operates via a system of incentives whereby the brain releases chemicals that activate the reward centers of the brain. The brain doles out these reward chemicals in response to patterns of behavior that have high expected utility. How does this apply to arguing? Most people argue not from reason but simply by stringing together other people’s arguments. They select which arguments to string together based on which ones allow them to justify their own behavior. This gives them a warm fuzzy feeling because their brain rewards them it. They will not react rationally when you attack the foundations of their arguments. You are taking away their “hit” of brain chemicals. This is why it is SO important to start with terms that have good connotations to the other person when beginning a debate. If you start off using terms that have negative connotations from their perspective you have already lost. You can see examples of this constantly, in some of the examples in this thread even. By doing this you can slowly wean someone off one ideology as you spoon feed them another. If at anytime you take away their warm fuzzy feelings you will probably fail.
Now ideally people would be trained from birth to have their reward centers activated by well reasoned arguments and truth. Sadly only a tiny minority of society manages to reach this state. These people are the ones who become scientists, philosophers, and researchers.
Awesome!
If there was a Best Mises Forum Newbie of 2008, you’d have my vote.