Reason.tv: Advice Goddess Amy Alkon Wants to Beat Manners Into Rude People

"I don't like regulations," says Amy Alkon, a syndicated advice columnist who blogs daily at AdviceGoddess.com. "I like to shame people into behaving better."

Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Alkon to discuss her new book, I See Rude People: One woman's battle to beat some manners into impolite society. Alkon explains how she and others mix chutzpah with technology to fight back against the insane drivers, coffee-house yackers, and subway perverts who make our lives miserable.

Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Edited by Alex Manning. Music: "I Think I Started a Trend," by Brad Sucks (Magnatune Records).

Just under 10 minutes. Scroll down for embed code and downloadable versions.

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Comments

[Justin Rue]

LOL, good. I suggest they start with her!

Jess
http://www.isp-snooping.es.tc

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Did anonymity bot make a funny?

[Death Panelist]

More like Justin Rude. Am I right, people?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I like to shame people into behaving better."

Has she tried punching them in the face?

[rctl]

kind of gives a whole new meaning to your name.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

+wrd to the LOL

[ed]

You know who else shamed people into obedience?

[Death Panelist]

Hitler.

[rctl]

your mother

[Death Panelist]

Jesus Christ!

[Bad girl]

The dominatrix

[ed]

True. And I'm not even Jewish.

[Pendulum]

I think she's wrong about a great deal.

First, the appropriate response to someone speaking too loudly is to ask them if they could please speak softer, and if they don't, to ask the store management to confront them. Do you really believe its less rude to intentionally shame a private person on the internet than to obliviously talk too loudly in a coffee shop? (In fact, she might well be liable in tort, because posting details about private persons for the express purpose of harassing them through mass calls is a grey area.)

Second, there's no absolute right to be unbothered on a telecommunications system, just like there's no right to never be solicited at your doorbell. I fully agree with her plan to make the consequences of solicitation more dire. But her position seems to be that you have the right to receive calls from only people who you want to receive calls from, and that does not conform to either common sense or to law. Bill collectors can call you, so can survey providers, so can political campaigns, and I would argue that this is completely correct. There are narrow avenues for communicating a message to a person - the door, the phone, the mail - and to grant an absolute right to people to never be unpleasantly contacted would shut off wide swathes of protected First Amendment communication.

[T]

Actually, I do have an absolute right to never be bothered by solicitation at my front door. I have sign on the door that says "no soliciting" and it's my property. How does some jackass who wants to pester me trump my property rights?

[Michael Price]

That's great, but people who DON'T have a sign like that and get stroppy with me are rude idiots.

[Johnny Longtorso]

There are narrow avenues for communicating a message to a person - the door, the phone, the mail - and to grant an absolute right to people to never be unpleasantly contacted would shut off wide swathes of protected First Amendment communication.

To get to my door, you have to trespass on my property if I don't want to hear from you.

[Pendulum]

Wrong. You may feel you should have that right, but the Supreme Court has rejected your suggestion. In this case, I believe the Supreme Court is correct.

If you have erected an exterior gate and fence, that's probably a different matter.

If you hang up a "no soliciting" sign, you also may be correct, but make sure you make it visible from the street, because by the time they see it at the door, they will have already trespassed.

[WTF]

(1) Just because SCOTUS says it doesn't mean it's right. See Dred Scott v. Sanford and Plessy v. Ferguson, not to mention Wickard v. Fillburn and of course Kelo v. New London.

(2) By the time they get to the door and read my sign, they then are on notice and had better not ring that bell. The correct action for them at that time is to turn around and leave. I don't give a shit that they had to waste a minute or two of their time walking up my sidewalk and back.

[rctl]

Pendulumm, my thoughts swing your way

[Ken Shultz]

The purpose of manners is so everyone knows what's expected of them, it's to make people feel comfortable...

Using manners to make people feel uncomfortable is just about the rudest thing you can do.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

Absolutely not. I've always kind of wanted to live somewhere with punctilious etiquette, stiff upper lips, multiple forks, etc.

[no you don't]

It's fucking boring and really does not exists anymore.

[R C Dean]

The purpose of manners is so everyone knows what's expected of them, it's to make people feel comfortable...

Hmm. I have a little different take. The purpose of manners isn't really, or perhaps only, to plump up everyone's self-esteem and make them comfortable.

Its to show a basic level of respect and decency when you interact with others. I believe a certain level of golden rule levelling applies - if you are acting like a rude ass, it is not unmannerly of me treat you like a rude ass.

[Kill them with kindness]

"if you are acting like a rude ass, it is not unmannerly of me treat you like a rude ass." That is what feeds them. I make a point of kindness and respect and the truth is that I can see It kills them.

[P Brooks]

Dear "Advice Goddess",

Shut the fuck up.

thx

[rctl]

"Dear "Advice Goddess",

Shut the fuck up.

thx"
You forgot to say please.

[John]

She is a little nuts. But she has a point. We have to have a civil society with norms that are enforced amongst ourselves. The government can't and shouldn't do it.

[JW]

I'm 6'4" and can be fairly intimidating. I try to use that to my advantage.

My favorite example is once when I was at the movies with wife and M-I-L, a row of rude teenage twits was in the row behind us. The wife, at one point, turns around and tells them "Oh, just grow up!"

Not helpful. The volume and intensity of their idiocy increases with her outburst.

After a minute or so, I turn around and threaten them within an inch of their life. The "sirs," "we're sorry about that" and "please turn around" came flying out.

I didn't hear another peep out of them.

[Dagny T.]

I like her solve-your-own-problems shtick, but that's about it. If you don't like the people in Starbucks, be it their body odor, their annoying conversations, or their gun-totin' ways, you. can. leave.

The cooler libertarian solution would be to start your own rudeness-free coffee shop and try to compete.

[Gene Callahan]

I. can. type. periods. between. words!

[Jennifer]

I occasionally read Ms. Alkon's column, and she doesn't shy away from dishing out the rudeness herself. Not that I make any claim to being a consistent source of emotional sunshine, but I generally avoid being rude or insulting to people who have gone out of their way to ask my advice about a problem.

[Mo]

Isn't being rude and obnoxious for civility like fucking for virginity?

[The Angry Optimist]

I hate that quote. George Carlin is massively overrated.

[clich? guy]

Carlin changed the face of comedy. Forever.

[The Art-P.O.G.]

He made it far more bearded.

[R C Dean]

George Carlin is massively overrated.

Too true. I've caught a couple of his routines on the satellite radio comedy channel recently, and they did not age well. At all.

[no you don't]

I don't think his comedy was meant for time travel. He was unique for his time.

[JW]

He'll always be Rufus to me.

[Joe C]

Don't let the lack of laughter resulting from his comedy tarnish the memory of Rufus.

[Jimmy 'Crack' Corn]

Carlin was tiresome.

[Bryan]

Hilarious, what a great cause.

[Lone Wolf]

The most fun thing would be shoving those cell phones down the throats of all those yappers ya see everywhere. Sort of like Kane in "See No Evil".

[Mikey Palmice]

Fuckin' manners, PLEASE!

[The Angry Optimist]

Alkon routinely gives terrible advice. Just off the top of her page, look at this column here: (backstory: guy wants open sexual relationship; woman wants nothing to do with it)

Actually, it seems clear that vast numbers of people are having sex with somebody other than their partner or spouse. They just do it behind that person's back...married cheaters will roll out of a motel room bed, then snarl about how horrible and disgusting it is for other consenting adults to have sexually open relationships: those where partners honestly confront the fairytale notions that one person can meet another person's every need; that two people can remain together "till death do us part," and not get to the point where keeping the spark alive is a job for a Panty Bomber-load of PETN explosive.

then she says, in the same column:

You've made it clear the open thing just isn't for you

So, is her implicit accusation to her own readership that all people who seek and live and want monogamous relationships are morons living in a fairytale? Did she really just obliquely insult the write of the letter?

Alkon is not the brightest bulb in the box.

[The Angry Optimist]

FWIW, as I have said previously, if you want to have a poly relationship, hey, knock yourself out, but for emotionally honest and deep (read: not superficial sex hounds) people, they rarely if ever work, because someone inevitably gets hurt.

[Ken Shultz]

For the record, you guys could learn a lot from Alkon.

She's about as funny and smart as anyone you'll find anywhere else on the internet. Reading what she writes is like hearing what your girlfriend is really thinking, if your girlfriend would tell you.

...if you could ever get a girlfriend anywhere near as smart and funny as Amy, that is.

She's a little irrational on religion though--by which I mean, she's a bit of a militant atheist. ...right up most of your alley for most of you. Y'all could learn a lot from Alkon.

Oh, and on the subject of libertarianism and manners generally--you know if you don't want the government legislating how people should behave, then you really are left talking about manners. This is a subject libertarians should know more about. Yeah, y'all could learn a lot from Amy.

...but only if you like smart and funny women who talk about sex and manners, etc. Those of you who love nothing more than a smart woman to shout down, you probably won't like her at all. She's smarter than you.

[Bingo]

I now have a new crush based on this post alone.

[Jordan]

I agree completely. Well said!

[T]

Somebody has a crush. NTTAWWT, but telling us how we could learn from somebody and pointing out how superior she is to all us stupid lackwits is, dare I say it, fucking rude. Mote, beam, etc.

[Ken Shultz]

Personally, I prefer reading people who are smarter than me. Some people have a problem with women who are smarter than them. I prefer women writers, personally, but maybe there's something I can learn from you?

Why does the suggestion that this woman might be smarter than you make you feel so defensive? She might be smarter than me--doesn't mean I'm a stupid lackwit.

...but I'm sure there's more to that than meets the eye. It couldn't possibly be the obvious explanation.

[T]

Well, Ken, reading people smarter than you shouldn't be very hard. There's an entire internet out there full of them. I'm not sure what you get from the activity, since reading comprehension quite obviously isn't your strong suit.

Where did I get defensive? I've read Alkon maybe three time in my life. I found her uninteresting. I don't have an opinion about her, how smart she is, or what she writes. More to the point, I didn't express an opinion about her, so quit projecting your issues with smart women onto me, thanks.

I wrote about you. You prattling about how we can learn from somebody because, after all, "She's smarter than you" is rude. You may not have meant it that way, but guess what? You don't get to decide if you're being rude. That's for the rest of us to judge.

Did you catch the part about the mote and the beam? You telling us we could learn something about manners while being a dickhead means that maybe, just maybe, you're not engaging in enough self-analysis to be criticizing the rest of us.

Now have a nice day and fuck off, you sanctimonious git.

[Ken Shultz]

You didn't get defensive?

Who called you a stupid lackwit? It wasn't me! It wasn't Amy.

Does hearing a woman called smart make you feel that way? Do feelings of inadequacy make you lash out at people on the internet? Make you call them names?

The answers to these questions are obvious to everyone in this thread but you.

[T]

You're either congenitally incapable of comprehension or you're deliberately being obtuse. Hell, maybe both.

You lecturing the rest of us about manners while being a rude, insulting bastard is the problem. Got it? I can't make it any simpler for you. Sound out the syllables if you have a problem.

The problem is not that you, self-proclaimed intelligence expert, have deemed some woman to be smart. The problem is you have, with absolutely no basis, decided that the rest of us are dumber than she is. You are explicitly telling us all we are dumber than some random person on the internet. Let's try a hypothetical, Ken. I'll wait while you go look up "hypothetical".

Done yet? Good. Hey, Ken, you could learn a lot about reading comprehension from my first grade teacher. She's much smarter than you.

Does that come across as a little bit rude and insulting? Admittedly, it was meant to, but that's exactly what you did.

Now in your corner of the universe, pointing out somebody is behaving like a jackass when they are, in fact, behaving like a jackass is apparently being defensive. The rest of the universe doesn't think so.

[Jimmy 'Crack' Corn]

+4

I just have to agree with T on this.

[rctl]

Defensive points:

#1 "pointing out how superior she is to all us stupid lackwits is, dare I say it, fucking rude"
#2 "reading people smarter than you shouldn't be very hard"
#3 "since reading comprehension quite obviously isn't your strong suit."
#4 "quit projecting your issues with smart women onto me, thanks."

#5 "You telling us we could learn something about manners while being a dickhead means that maybe, just maybe, you're not engaging in enough self-analysis to be criticizing the rest of us."
#6 "and fuck off, you sanctimonious git."

Contradiction extraordinaire:
"I found her uninteresting. I don't have an opinion about her".

[T]

Enlighten me. In this context, what would be an offensive point?

[rctl]

Defensive is what I typed.

[T]

Why, so you did. The question still stands. What would an offensive point be?

[rctl]

T, a man who argues with few words is a dangerous man. 😉

[The Angry Optimist]

So this was not rude or insulting?:

...if you could ever get a girlfriend anywhere near as smart and funny as Amy, that is.

OK...

[Ken Shultz]

Well maybe you can't and then maybe you can!

Women find me irresistible.

[You]

do have a certain charm with your words;-)

[The Angry Optimist]

So, Ken, do you think monogamy is some made-up fairy tale and that most of us are morons because we like it? If that's what passes for "smart" in your world...

And in case you think I am harping on one standout example, I am not:

For a guy, sex is like a bag of chips. If it's in arm's reach, he'll help himself to some.

Oh, honestly...

[Ken Shultz]

I didn't say she was smart because she believes any one thing.

Actually, I've disagree with Alkon on a number of points. But, really? ...just because a woman doesn't agree with me on some issue, doesn't mean she isn't smart.

[T]

Shame doesn't work anymore because a significantly large subset of the population doesn't have any shame. If they did, they wouldn't leave the house looking like this or engage in any of the multitudinous dumbass behaviors they do.

This is akin to appealing to a man's better nature when he doesn't have one.

[The Angry Optimist]

Ah, the other reason I stopped reading Alkon and her hangers-on: the blatant misanthropy.

[T]

Misanthropy is much like cynicism. It's a rational response to dealing with the teeming millions.

[The Angry Optimist]

Actually, it's just lazy pesudointellectualism dressed up in an oh-so-fashionable cloak of ennui.

Ironically, most of the rest of the world thinks everyone outside of their circle is stupid, too...so your "man the world sucks" attitude, rather than marking you as an individual with something of worth to say, marks you as a member of the rest of the herd.

[T]

What!? You mean everybody thinks the world is full of morons? Oh, no! I'm no longer unique like everybody else!

Dammit! I knew I shouldn't have joined the Non-Conformist Club. I guess it's back to Future Corpses of America meetings, instead. Maybe I can stand out as an individual there.

Or maybe, just maybe, all those people who think the world is full of morons might have a point, TAO. But keep on with the optimism. I hear it helps you live longer, although I think the anger cancels that out.

[sign on the door]

T, you need to fuck more often. It will do wonders for your bitchiness

[P Brooks]

She's about as funny and smart as anyone you'll find anywhere else on the internet.

Oh no!!

Ken Schultz has been possessed by the RonHartBot!

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not even sure I'm following some of what you guys are saying--some of it really seems kinda elementary.

...but it's hard not to notice that the Howleys and Alkons of the world seem to get a similar weird reaction comin' from the sausage fest.

It's almost like the Paris Hilton reaction. The only thing most of us know about Paris Hilton is that she's rich and she's sexually uninhibited. And yet guys who spew hatred at her every time her name is mentioned will deny up and down that what they say has anything to do with class envy or misogyny.

...but how could all that hate have to do with anything else?

There seems to be a similar reaction to smart women around here too. ...and I can't help but wonder if that isn't partially to blame for the sausage fest.

Is it only okay if smart women come on here if they agree with you?

Or is it only okay for women to disagree with you if nobody says they're smart?

I don't get it.

[Mainer]

"I'm not even sure I'm following some of what you guys are saying--some of it really seems kinda elementary."

Sooo....you can't follow discourse that is really basic ? Well there's your problem !

[heller]

Ken, she isn't that smart. Attitude and bravado does not equal intelligence. I've read her stuff and it isn't that good. Please stop creaming yourself about this woman and find some less annoying perch.

[Your calling card, sir]

Heller grad student, future biologist, and expert on women

[heller]

Fuck off.

[rctl]

heller|3.9.10 @ 3:11AM|#
This is the internet. I believe the fluffy parlor of puppy love is across the street.

😉

[heller]

Exactly, fuck off.

[Banjos Kick Ass!]

As a woman who frequents Reason's comments sections, shut the fuck up. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman on here as long as you hold your own. You are calling the men who frequent Reason misogynists because they didn't like being told that they are dumber than some woman. It's not the fact that she is a woman, jackass, they just find it rude to be called dumb. This is just like the morons who incoherently scream 'racist' at those who criticize Obama.

P.S. As a woman who constantly flaunts her sexuality (I have the world's most perfect breasts), I don't like Paris Hilton because she is a moronic cunt.

[rctl]

If you stopped looking at your perfect tits and read the comments, you would notice that misogyny is rampant on this site. Paris Hilton is a self-made, successful business woman and she used her cunt. I guess that makes her a smart cunt.

[Banjos Kick Ass!]

Huh, sorry I wasn't paying attention; my tits are just so fucking awesome. Anyway, I never found the comments on this site to be discriminatory, crude, but never discriminatory. There is this strange perception that only men can be crude and crude somehow equates to misogynistic. Men can be crude while women are unicorns, rainbows, and sunshine. THIS to me is a misogynistic mentality. And as for Paris, I didn't realize that a measure of someone's intelligence is solely based on their success. Sorry, Paris remains a moronic cunt.

[rctl]

Some women write books about freedom and business and others choose to live it. There is nothing moronic about Paris Hilton, Suzanne Somers or Marilyn Monroe. They are just in a unique business of image and made millions from their endeavor. I agree misogyny and crudeness are unrelated but some of these boys haven't got over high school and are still bitching.

[Ken Shultz]

Again, I'm sure it's possible that there are men out there whose hatred of rich, sexually uninhibited Paris Hilton has nothing to do with class envy or misogyny...

But doesn't that sound ridiculous?

[Mainer]

"Paris Hilton is a self-made...."

What ?!

[Ken Shultz]

As a woman who frequents Reason's comments sections, shut the fuck up.

No.

"You are calling the men who frequent Reason misogynists because they didn't like being told that they are dumber than some woman."

No, the only people I called misogynists were...misogynists.

"It's not the fact that she is a woman, jackass, they just find it rude to be called dumb. This is just like the morons who incoherently scream 'racist' at those who criticize Obama."

I called Amy Alkon smarkt. I didn't call anyone dumb. ...anywhere in this thread.

And there's no need to call you a name--but you are just makin' stuff up.

[Ken Shultz]

You know, come to think of it, I did say that she's smarter than "those of you who love nothing more than a smart woman to shout down"...

...but I didn't call anyone dumb. You just made that up.

[heller]

Well there's this:

For the record, you guys could learn a lot from Alkon.

And this:

...if you could ever get a girlfriend anywhere near as smart and funny as Amy, that is.

Oh and this one pops up again:

Y'all could learn a lot from Alkon.

Say it again Ken!

Yeah, y'all could learn a lot from Amy.

Those of you who love nothing more than a smart woman to shout down, you probably won't like her at all. She's smarter than you.

I really don't understand why you are drooling over this person. You remind me of Obama fanatics, except they're not even as ridiculously sycophantic as you are about someone who isn't even that smart. But no, you weren't making idiotic baseless assumptions about the people here, or condescendingly talking down to them like children at all. I'm sure there's some Alkon groupie fan club where your time would be better spent and appreciated more.

[Ken Shultz]

You remind me of someone who finds things that aren't there. ...and obsesses about them.

I didn't say I never called Amy smart. I said I never called anyone else dumb.

I didn't call anyone dumb. That's something some of you seem to have built out of your own imagination. ...and quoting instances of me saying nice things about Amy doesn't change anything.

What? I said Amy Alkon was smart, so now I have to be stopped!?

Why is that important to you?

This is getting weirder all the time.

[Ken Shultz]

I mean, for the record, how many times do you have to interpret someone saying a woman is smart as saying that you're dumb before you finally see that for what it is?

If it isn't what it looks like, then go ahead and tell us--what is it?

[heller]

I said that you were ridiculously sycophantic and condescending to people here, not that you called people dumb. Agree or disagree?

[The Angry Optimist]

I don't like Alkon's advice, Ken, and I think that insulting a letter-writer by waxing lyrically for a paragraph about what fools we mortals be for participating in monogamy, an explicit insult to most of the populace, oh by the way, and then acting as if you respect a person's choice not to be poly or open, is just rank, dude.

This isn't about her being a woman - we make fun of men we disagree with way, way worse. So, just stop talking.

[Ken Shultz]

Just between the two of us, I don't agree with her on much either. In fact, I'm not entirely sure, but I think she deleted some of my posts and banned my username on her site...

I'm not sure about that, once I thought I was being edited out, I just bailed and never went back...

Doesn't mean she isn't smart though.

She's a great writer. She built a syndicated column from scratch amid tough competition--and that's no easy task. I think she has the endorsement of a lot of really smart people I respect who've known her personally--Tim Cavanaugh and Matt Welch, I think, among them...

But for goodness' sake, why should calling someone "smart" be so controversial? I'm not saying we should recruit her to run for the LP. I'm not saying she's filling in some of the gaps left by Hayek and Rothbard...

So why is it controversial to say she's smart?

She is!

[qingl]

What a parasite, she is trying preventing me from reaching my true self. Lucky for me I have no shame about whatever I do so I am impervious her bullshit.

Fuck her and her kind.

[qingl]

She says that she doesn't like regulations. Of course she likes regulations that she makes. How dare you guys put her on this blog and make it appear that she is an objectivist.

I can't say this enough fuck her and her kind.

[R C Dean]

She says that she doesn't like regulations. Of course she likes regulations that she makes.

Way to totally miss the point, qingl.

Alkon can't make regulations, only the government can. Alkon can only propose completely voluntary rules of etiquette.

[Mo]

I don't see why it's difficult to understand why people may not like an abrasive, know it all regardless of what's between his/her legs.

And can one really get tips on how to be polite from a person that leaves cards on SUVs that the owner is compensating for a small penis and calling them a road hog. Especially because a 1960 Rambler is far worse on the environment than any modern SUV.

[qingl]

RC DEan,

Fuck etiquette, you fucking parasite. I bow to no man or woman.

If a law is made by the government or by a societal norm it is a distinction without a difference. Both are implemented by violence one by the gov one by vigilantes. Look at all the people on this thread who are proud of "intimidating" people who talked a little too loud.

Considering that the people talking loudly did no violence but the other people did or threatened to do it then where are your vaunted principles of free speech.

Way to miss the real point you fucking parasite RC Dean. Fuck you and all you parasites. What are you going to shame me for saying that? HA! Parasite.

[qingl]

RC DEan,

Fuck etiquette, you fucking parasite. I bow to no man or woman.

If a law is made by the government or by a societal norm it is a distinction without a difference. Both are implemented by violence one by the gov one by vigilantes. Look at all the people on this thread who are proud of "intimidating" people who talked a little too loud.

Considering that the people talking loudly did no violence but the other people did or threatened to do it then where are your vaunted principles of free speech.

Way to miss the real point you fucking parasite RC Dean. Fuck you and all you parasites. What are you going to shame me for saying that? HA! Parasite.

[Obama]

I like to bow.

[Jimmy 'Crack' Corn]

+six

[Paul]

I think you meant to be posting in a pot legalization thread.

[Tristan Band]

Distinction without difference...couldn't agree more.

[Ken Shultz]

If you can't tell the difference between manners and law...

One involves cops with guns, m-kay?

The other's voluntary and probably necessary if you want to live around other people.

One you can opt out of; the other you can't.

[Paul]

insane drivers, coffee-house yackers, and subway perverts who make our lives miserable.

Three things that a large swathe of Americans never have to deal with. Even I, as an urban dweller know that these annoyances are foreign to the dwellers of say, rural Wisconsin.

[HeadTater]

How to improve manners? National Open/Concealed Carry (we need both, dammit). After all, an armed society is a polite society.

[Jimmy 'Crack' Corn]

+3

[HeadTater]

How to improve manners? National Open/Concealed Carry (we need both, dammit). After all, an armed society is a polite society.

[Jimmy 'Crack' Corn]

+3 again

[heller]

I am free to be a giant jackass as much as Ms. Alkon is free to retaliate with her incredible bitchiness. There, problem solved.

[Steven]

This nut should spend some time in 1 of NYC 5 boroughs. She wouldn't last 10 minutes.

[Jim Treacher]

She lasted considerably longer than that.

[Ken Shultz]

Why let facts get in the way?

[Orel Hazard]

Acting like an asshole is everybody's right, and it's also the right those who suffer the rude habits of the self-absorbed to push back by using ridicule and other confrontation.

What cracks me up is the libertarian interviewer bringing up "the tragedy of the commons" without choking on his own tongue. Doesn't he know that libertarians can't tell the difference between the COMmons and COMmunism?

[Ken Shultz]

Acting like an asshole is everybody's right, and it's also the right those who suffer the rude habits of the self-absorbed to push back by using ridicule and other confrontation.

I think there's something to this, but I also think that one of the reasons our fellow non-libertarian Americans won't sign on to libertarianism? Is because they don't trust people to "mind their manners" if you will.

There are a lot of women, I'm sure, who support laws that protect women from politically incorrect language at work specifically because they don't trust the jerks to keep their sexist comments to themselves otherwise.

We can tilt at windmills all day long, saying that we have these constitutional rights(that no one cares about but us) that have to be adhered to (despite the fact that no one cares about them but us)...

...or we can recognize that the people in power are using our jerks against us. I think that one of the biggest reasons people turn to laws is because they don't think we're capable of behaving ourselves otherwise.

In other words, real libertarianism isn't gonna happen until people see government as no longer being necessary. And if you're someone who engages in behavior that makes other people want to make a law to stop it--especially if it's something as pointlessly stupid as racist or sexist remarks at work--then you're a huge liability to libertarianism.*

It's a great example, actually. Women and minorities can't use me as an excuse for their sexual harassment or hate speech laws. If all those laws were repealed tomorrow, my behavior wouldn't change one bit.

You see the connection?

*Actually, if you're gonna act like that and you don't wanna hurt libertarians? Don't tell them you're a libertarian--tell them you're a Baptist!

[Fat Steve]

I think what's being said on here is somewhat unfair to Amy and solely based on one poster's comment that Amy is smarter than the rest of the posters. I believe his name was Ken. Obviously Ken is a dick, but Amy doesn't make any claims of great genius, in fact, when I interviewed her I found her funny and self-effacing.

Shameless plug: here is the episode of my podcast with the interview- you know you want to listen- http://www.podcasters.tv/episo.....74209.html

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[cheap wholesale]

so perfect