The Answer Is Yes

Nick Gillespie | July 13, 2005

The question?

"Does the world really need another libertarian blog?"

Maybe not. But I expect you'll find this one to be a bit different. Our goal is to knock down the normal level of discourse found at most libertarian blogs by at least a few notches. Lowbrow, if you will. Yes, you'll find an intellectual argument made here from time to time. (Bone to the nerds: as I type this, one of our writers is working on a sexy gold-standard piece.) But we hope that's not all you look for here, lest you find crushing disappointment. Sure, I'm very happy to share important ideological and philosophical beliefs with many really brilliant people doing wonderful things. But that's not me; that's not To the People. While I like libertarianism because it's the only path to a society of meaningful freedoms, I like it even more because it defends my right to drink a lot of booze, smoke some weed, eat still-living animals, kill myself, prolong my life indefinitely, masturbate in the HOV lane, etc. etc.

To The People is a lively, funny, at-times-groan-inducing, potpurri. Well worth checking out.

Comments

|7.13.05 @ 10:25AM|#

Good link. Me likey! Pretty White Girl had me whiping spewed coffee off my screeen.

|7.13.05 @ 11:04AM|#

Our goal is to knock down the normal level of discourse found at most libertarian blogs by at least a few notches.

What a coincidence! I do that here at Reason's blog. No need to compensate me -- I do it for love of the game. (And no, I'm not moving to To The People. Nice bait, but you'll have to try harder than that to get rid of me.)

|7.13.05 @ 11:28AM|#

The Pretty White Girl thing was classic. Like the Onion but all too real.

I notice this guy is yet another libertarian DCer. Just how many of us are there here? Does proximity to the federal government breed contempt for it? (answer = yes)

Baylen|7.13.05 @ 12:33PM|#

Nick -- thank you very much for the kind words & mention. MK -- I think contempt actually breeds proximity.

|7.13.05 @ 12:54PM|#

Baylen,

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

That phrase has been running through my mind for the last week or so.

|7.13.05 @ 3:33PM|#

"masturbate in the HOV lane"

So that was you I passed on the way to work this morning!

|7.13.05 @ 4:22PM|#

...potpurri...

Another cat blog.

|7.13.05 @ 5:02PM|#

So, speaking of girls, many cute girls hanging out at this blog? ;)

IO ERROR|7.13.05 @ 10:15PM|#

We need all the libertarian blogs we can get. Especially ones that speak to more mainstream audiences.

|7.13.05 @ 11:46PM|#

Gee! Another libertarian bragging about how politically incorrect he is! How deliciously 1994!

Matt|7.14.05 @ 5:48AM|#

Since when do libertarians care what "the world" "needs"? I thought this was the "if you want to write it and I want to read it, well...hooray for us" philosophy!

|7.14.05 @ 2:20PM|#

We definitely need a libertarian blog that has fewer moronic antisemitic conspiracy "theorists" posting on it than this one has.

|7.14.05 @ 3:27PM|#

Since no one has responded to my last post, let me clarify. As a Jew, I am very disturbed by the anti-Semitism I encounter here. I don't think it has anything to do with libertarianism, and I hope other bloggers will join me in demouncing it.
One must make a very important distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism. As a state, Israel does some things that are good and some things that are bad. Many legitimately argue that Israel�s occupation and oppression of the Palestinians is bad. To characterize opposition to the occupation as anti-Semitic is clearly dishonest and unfair.
But those who peddle conspiracy "theories" that make Israel at least partly responsible for the terrorists attacks against the United States of 9/11 are anti-Semites who hide behind legitimate criticism arguments. They draw on a long tradition of anti-Semitic stereotypes: Jews are powerful, devilish clever, and will stop at nothing to exert their control over the world. All they have to do is put their �theories� out there and suggest that �we need more evidence.� In fact, they care nothing about evidence. They care only about planting dark suspicions about Israel�s � and by extension, Jews' � intentions in the world. Don�t be fooled by the anti-Semite�s denunciations of racism. It�s merely an attempt to give this particularly vicious racism an aura of respectability.

|7.14.05 @ 6:54PM|#

Hillel,

Not only are you off topic, now you're being an idiot. Yesterday we were talking about Israeli government prior knowledge of 9/11 NOT that "Israel was at least partly responsible for the terrorists attacks"

Other governments engage in conspiracies. Why not Israel's? All conspiracy theorizing about the Israeli government is obviously not a form of anti-Semitism.

Here are three articles about the Israeli government prior knowledge of 9/11, one from the Forward, a Jewish newspaper, and the other two are from Haaretz. a popular Israeli newspaper.


Spy Rumors Fly on Gusts of Truth

http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.03.15/news2.html

Spies, or students?

http://tinyurl.com/lqzw

Odigo says workers were warned of attack

http://tinyurl.com/o8lx

Hillel, are you now going to accuse Haaretz and the Forward of anti-Semitism?