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Author Topic: The most libertarian sport  (Read 14731 times)

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velojym

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #45 on: April 01, 2011, 12:51:04 AM »

Bicycle racing *should* be one of the most individualistic sports out there. Unfortunately, forces have conspired to pussify it into the worst sort of
team sport, one where one is expected to cast himself upon the altar of the Greater Good of the team. Self immolation appears to have taken over
and while some riders come out on top, their victories are usually helped along by the "selfless" sacrifice of their fellow riders.
Some hope remains, though. The individual time-trial, and the more American form of endurance racing. Then there are other rides which aren't really
races at all... though there are a few who still want to come in first. Hotter'N'Hell 100 took me about 5 hours, and was probably the most satisfying event
of my life.
Yeah, there's drafting, which is a valid tactic (unbeknownst to me, I dragged a paceline of 34 riders for the first 20 miles), but that's not so much a team thing as just using resources available to you. It's easy to get too comfy in a paceline while a breakaway leaves you behind.

Drives me nuts to watch the talking heads during the Tour talk about how great and worthy a collectivist endeavor bicycle racing is (not in so many words, but they do reek of it).
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We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
-Ayn Rand

Cognitive Dissident

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #46 on: April 01, 2011, 01:38:35 AM »

I'd say, especially in sports, libertarian and individualistic are very different.  Teamwork doesn't have to be illibertarian, and individualistic doesn't have to be libertarian (EG death race 2000.)  Guess it's kinda like the difference between liberty and equality.  The libertarian sport, rather than being a solo sport, should probably be one that the winners win because they did more, but not because they hurt the other participant...so maybe more like bowling or darts, or a relay race, and less like ball games or (other) contact sports.
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Alex Libman

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #47 on: April 01, 2011, 01:52:34 AM »

Very good post, velojym.  :D

I personally dislike bicycling for some reason, and this is a post where I (over)analyze the aesthetics of bicycling from my point of view.  It shouldn't take anything away from the merits of your opinion.

I guess it's a part of my trend of avoiding middle-ground solutions: I like both rural isolation and Hong Kong (huge dense skyscrapers), both C and Python, etc.  That way you get the best of both worlds.  But Suburbia or Java are for compromisers who only get mediocrity.  Bicycling is the same way.  Walking / jogging / running is primal and it utilizes the human body more naturally than biking, which over-strains some muscles without utilizing others.  Any kind of motor racing is a triumph of fucking-cool technology.  But a bicycle...  The first association is it's what the communist Chinese rode to work because they had to!

Also, bicycling is not as liberating as walking / jogging from my point of view as a tax resister.  If you bike on government's asphalt then you are benefiting from it, and making yourself the subject of its rules, while walking along property borders should be every person's Natural Right.  I stopped biking long before I became a tax resister, because of the retarded law that I have to go on the right side of the road, where I must have blind faith that each driver coming from behind me isn't drunk (or texting, etc) and isn't about swerve out of his lane and kill me - if I'm riding on the left then at least I have a chance to react...  That's one of the first things that government ruined for me...  :x
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velojym

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #48 on: April 01, 2011, 02:39:47 PM »

I can't really disagree with any of those points, but I far prefer cycling along at several times the speed of a jogger, while using less energy in the process. I did once imagine a network of privately funded cycle-paths in the area, but since folks just naturally assume that's the Gubmint's job...
it'll never get done. Kinda like space travel in the last century.

Of course there are all-terrain bikes, too. Ride when you can, push at walking speed otherwise.

I guess it's a "diff'rent strokes" kind of thing. The roads are there, having completely displaced whatever technology might have occurred in a free market, so they're what I use, even though they're getting crappier every year (and they just keep throwing more and more money at 'em).

I'll still say that cycling oughta be a libertarian sport. The only way to get ahead by dragging someone else behind is to physically obstruct them. I've ridden in pacelines that moved much faster than an individual rider could have managed, without costing *anyone* anything. We just took turns at the front. That's pretty cooperative, and libertarian, IMHO. Where it gets more collectivist is when a team member is told to take the front for an unusually long time in order to allow the favored-son to arrive at the final stretch fresh and ready for the sprint. Sure, it can be purely voluntary on the teammate's part, but it's more of a general example than a universal law.
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We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
-Ayn Rand

Cognitive Dissident

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #49 on: April 01, 2011, 02:45:59 PM »

I'm good with it.
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Alex Libman

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Re: The most libertarian sport
« Reply #50 on: April 02, 2011, 01:37:18 AM »

Wrestlers are even allowed to say things I'm not allowed to say on this "free talk live" forum:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj6c7VuErLw[/youtube]

 :shock:
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