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1

The Show / Re: Enough Derek J Already!

« on: June 05, 2012, 03:13:37 PM »

I currently listen to the show a lot less and turn off the podcast before it is over much more often than I used to. There are two primary reasons for this. First, Ian seems to be becoming quite insular, such that his arguments all orient around a network of catchphrases that only make sense to other libertarians of his particular strain, but leave other listeners befuddled. Saying this like "the state doesn't exist" or "the state is the most successful criminal gang" is not only a) seemingly contradictory, but b) completely inaccessible when it lacks explanation or qualification. Imagine listening to a democrat or republican talk about the nature of politics, and trying to understand them, if you were not already intimately familiar with the structure of assumptions and cultural biases that they were working from. For libertarians, this approach is boring in the same way that hearing a bunch of philosophically ungrounded cliches over and over again would be boring to anyone familiar with them. It is not thought provoking. For non-libertarians, it is boring because it doesn't make any sense within the context of their cultural reality. They are either severely mistranslating what is being said so that they can make sense of it, or they are just registering it as gibberish and moving on. That is a really bad combination of effects, because it puts a shelf life on regular listeners, and bars the attraction of new one's.

This is exactly the kind of thing I keep hearing from people I personally turn on to FTL.  Over the 6 years I've been listening, that's a couple dozen people (of varying degrees of belief in Liberty) who have listened for a month or more and then quit because of things like this.  It doesn't matter what the callers bring up, a large number of calls resolve (devolve?) as described above.

You guys don't get hear why people stop listening, precisely because they've stopped listening.  They don't care enough to let you know.  And when fans and supporters of the show try to tell you, your response is "I've never heard that".  Maybe it's because you're simply not listening.

-Aahz

2

The Show / Re: Enough Derek J Already!

« on: June 05, 2012, 03:07:27 PM »

I don't remember the last call from Derrick - probably been at least a week.

And this thread was started 9 days before you posted that comment.  At that point he had been a major topic of conversation 4 out of the previous 7 days.  And if you'll go back and read my first post, you'll see the complaint isn't about Derrick or activism.  The complaint is about the repetitive 5-10 minutes of free advertising given to Derrick J related projects every time you spoke about or to him.

3

The Show / Re: Enough Derek J Already!

« on: May 23, 2012, 06:30:04 PM »

NONE of this is a knock on Derek J's personal choices.  I think it's more unwise to give marginal choices airtime on a nationally syndicated radio show which depends on AMP dollars to promote libertarian philosophies, and presumably, activism.

+1

4

Guns, Drugs, and Crazy Independence Stuff / Re: Helping North Koreans

« on: May 23, 2012, 04:52:10 AM »

They're poor, lied to, and unable to break their brutal regime.

As soon as we can get the majority of our neighbors in this country out of the identical situation I'll start worrying about the folks over in South Korea 

-Aahz

5

General / Re: An english word for the "desire to control others"

« on: May 22, 2012, 01:30:56 AM »

For example, I have a friend who would never vote for Ron Paul over the leading Republican.  He does so because he believes the Republican vote is "practical."  He feels Republicans maximize his potential as a businessman.

This wouldn't be "fear", it would be "envy" (in the broad sense of greed and envy being nearly synonymous).  

I think mini-statists think they are more "practical" than (for lack of a better term) anarchists, not more fearful.  I think they feel the state (properly limited--which is the logical fallacy, IMO) maximizes their liberty (the state which is powerful enough to protect your liberty is powerful enough--and more importantly, incentivized--to abuse it.)

They my think of themselves as practical, but what they think has no direct bearing on the reality of the situation. Afterall, who wants to think of themselves as fearful?

I agree they think feel the state maximizes their liberty.  But their desire for the state to maximize their liberty is a result of their fear of losing that liberty should the state go away.  And of their envy of a situation in which they could have more liberty.

Either way, it's still an expression of their desire to control others in order to achieve something for themselves - be it more profit or more liberty.

-Aahz

6

General / Re: An english word for the "desire to control others"

« on: May 22, 2012, 12:53:28 AM »

How about a misguided belief that the state creates an environment in which property rights are protected, allowing a broader segment of society to voluntarily participate in the creation of greater wealth for all? I think mini-statists believe monopoly force is necessary for "the rule of law." (Not legislation...just the protection of rights.)  I think they believe a stateless society would be like Somalia is today.

So, wouldn't that be a fear of "lawlessness"?

BTW, I basically agree with the "prophecies" of your second paragraph.

-Aahz

7

General / Re: An english word for the "desire to control others"

« on: May 21, 2012, 11:37:58 PM »

What reason for having a state is not based in fear, envy or a desire to control?

8

The Show / Re: Enough Derek J Already!

« on: May 21, 2012, 11:36:15 PM »

Anyone who spends time in jail in Keene is a HERO OF THE REVOLUTION...
...
... you insensitive clod!

Then lets hear from any of the others.    Or hear this "hero's" views on anything that doesn't center directly around the same situation we've heard about again and again.  Or hear anything that doesn't sound like an ad for his movie, his online begging, or mail-to-jail.

Mark and Ian are apparently all distraught over the decrease in podcast downloads.  I know that my friends who have stopped listening have cited the repetitive NH-centric information as their primary reason for leaving the show behind.

9

General / Re: An english word for the "desire to control others"

« on: May 21, 2012, 10:02:03 PM »

word "statist" is a negative pejorative that conveys control.....

It's also too broad. Technically, many libertarians are statists as well. It's like saying I'm not a theist because the god I believe in is really small and not mean like the one in the Bible.

Are you saying that minarchists are not "driven by fear, envy and centrally the desire to control others through force"?

10

The Show / Re: Enough Derek J Already!

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:42:33 PM »

I think he's called twice.

According, to your show descriptions he's called in 3 times, and beau's call the other night makes 4 calls from jail which were basically just Derek J ads.  That's on top of the 5/7 show, of which a full 25%+ was Derek J Talk Live.  In addition to the full episode of Free Keene Radio News that somehow ended up on the FTL podcast feed.

And there's been essentially no new information given in all of that airtime.  The repetitiveness is monotonous.

11

The Show / Enough Derek J Already!

« on: May 19, 2012, 08:46:25 PM »

Are we seriously going to have to listen to a 5-10 minute ad from Derek J every night he's in jail?

I, for one, say enough already.  

We know what happened, we know where he is, we know about the movie, we know we can write him, we know he's trying to raise money to support himself since he's been run out of Keene.  

We get it.

We don't need to hear it every night!

-Aahz