So I'm listening to left wing radio this morning, specifically the Stephanie Miller Show. I find her show particularly painful because it's basically her making fun of various right wingers and her 3 beta orbiting males that laugh at everything she says. It's not deep, it's not thoughtful, she really doesn't say anything original, and so I usually can only listen for about 15 seconds.
Being no different today than she was any other, she was making fun of conservatives, specifically Glenn Beck. The reason Glenn was the center of her ire was because Glenn came up with an ambitious plan called "Independence Park," a self-sustaining community for libertarians. Her and her beta orbiters were laughing suggesting there would be no stop lights, the theme park would have no safety and people would be flying off of roller coasters, and they were mocking the quality of proposed television programming Independence Park would have.
Is the plan out there?
Sure.
Is it audacious?
Of course.
Is it fringe enough that it should raise an eyebrow and draw some mockery?
I'll play devil's advocate and say "yes."
But I have a question:
What exactly has Stephanie Miller done?
Mock Glenn Beck all you want, the fact still remains he's trying something. And not only is he trying something, he's trying something that is revolutionary. If you look at history it is radical, out of the box thinking that has advanced men and society more than the close-minded lemmings ever could. Most of them don't succeed, but the ones that do bring an immense amount of progress to society. Most likely Independence Park will fail, and yes the left will immediately jump on it if it does, but to sit there when you've done nothing at all with your life but mock others is hypocritical. If Stephanie had, say, experience in real estate development or was on a city planning board, OK, fine, I could see that. But her criticisms would be constructive or informed, not the mere hollow childish mockery it is today. So until Stephanie and her 3 beta orbiters actually produce something unique and of value, all they will ever be are the radio trolls they are today.
However, I have another question.
What would be Stephanie's answer to Glenn Beck's "Independence Park?"
Thankfully she doesn't have to stress that little brain of hers creating a "leftist utopia" version of Independence Park, because it's already been done - government housing. Liberals can ridicule Independence Park all they want, but their leftist version is infinitely worse and has proven to be a failure. Cabrini Green, Ghetto's in the Sky, oh yeah, you leftists have a great track record of building cities and communities. Even if Independence Park fails, it will not fail anywhere near the level public housing projects have, and it has the added benefit of not costing the taxpayers a dime.
But hey, you lefties keep listening to Stephanie Miller. Maybe someday you can achieve the "greatness" she has and go down in history with a legacy like Air America!
The more productive libertarian and Heinleinian types are actually into doing things. Some of their ideas are flaky. But others are not. The difference between such people and the liberal left is that the former actually believe in doing things on their own. The latter are only into criticizing the ideas and efforts of the former. They have none of their own.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a proposal for a hipster commune. I'm surprised it's coming from a right-winger.
ReplyDeleteOf course it will fail for the same reason central planning fails.
What's very shameful about Stephanie Miller is that she's the daughter of former U.S. Representative William Miller, who was Barry Goldwater's running mate. Way to rebel against your own father's politics! Something must have went wrong in her upbringing!
ReplyDeleteThe most Miller has accomplished was in stand up comedy, a few acting gigs, and a TV show that only lasted 13 weeks. Interestingly enough, Glenn Beck started out as one of those morning zoo guys, but his biography sounds way more interesting, especially with regards to his struggle with alcoholism.
Please do a post about Sam Seder! I can't stand him. He has an obsession with libertarians if you're familiar with his videos. He's also friends with comedian Marc Maron, whose podcast I listen to. Seder is also a comedian himself, though not all comedians are liberal in their political views. David Pakman and The Young Turks are more tolerable but they suffer the same problems with their show, especially when it comes to economic talk.
"no stop lights, the theme park would have no safety and people would be flying off of roller coasters,"
ReplyDeleteAWESOME. Safety would be enforced via male consensus, especially at the gun range.
When Stephanie and her cat loving friends whine about, "Where have all the good men gone?"
The good men may just be in Beck's theme village.
RICanuck
In my dictionary the first definition of the word "liberal" is "openminded". So I have taken to using the term "narrowminded liberal" when talking about the politically correct crowd. I get some very odd looks.
ReplyDeleteI make a habit of trying to consider both sides of an argument and I usually come down on the conservative side. That's not a big surprise, most changes are a bad idea. To bring it back to the original posting, Glenn Beck's idea is "liberal" in terms of trying something new and openminded. Maybe it would succeed and maybe it would fail, but it certainly doesn't fit the dictionary definition of "conservative".
As the Captain pointed out, the liberals have already failed many times and they used other people's money.
ReplyDeleteI tell my libtard friends and acquaintances that I'm still waiting for people like them to buy some derelict decaying town somewhere and implement their philosophy by voluntary agreement. And they could advertise it as a gun free zone to.
I'm sure Gore the global warming whore and Arianna and the Clintons could finance them
Up in Canada the leftist utopia is called an Indian reservation. Steph should go up there some time to experience this paradise.
ReplyDeleteBrook Farm, Oneida, the North American Phalanx, these are all lanned utopian societies that have all failed. I don't make fun of them for trying because like you say we need experimentation to find out what works. It also has shown us what fails.
ReplyDeleteThe original hippies (late 60's to early 70's) were into doing stuff on their own. They started their own communes and the like. Much of the original hippie movement was anti-authority in nature. Today's liberal-left types are actually quite similar to the establishment types the original 60's people rebelled against.
ReplyDeleteWell you created a blog people read, she hosts a show that people listen to. Beck's little plan, like all utopias, will fall. I am not defending Stephanie Miller. In the 19th century you couldn't throw a rock without it landing in the middle of some ideology-derived (anarchy, free love, communism) utopia, and there is nothing about Ayn Rand's ideas that means that this utopia experiment will be a success. In fact they tried this already 20 years ago
ReplyDeletehttp://seasteading.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/lfc_economist_ad.jpg
I think this pattern of criticism is common to all human endeavors. What else is new? In history, pioneers and visionaries have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. I can tell you as someone who has been active in the life extension/cryonics/transhumanist scene that we have encountered our share of critics who've said that it can't be done or should not be done.
ReplyDeleteWe just ignore such critics. The critics are nothing but parasites. They can do nothing of positive accomplishment. Such people are worthless and should never be listened to.
If I had to say what will be Beck's community's downfall, I'd place my money on intransigent hyper-political libertarians. The ideological purists who'd rather spend all their time at townhall meetings arguing over how many angels can voluntarily dance on the head of a free-market pin, as opposed to just getting on with their lives and accepting imperfections.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Independence Park is fringe, you apparently haven't seen THE CITADEL
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iiicitadel.com/
"Marxists, Socialists, Liberals, and Establishment Republicans may find that living within our Citadel Community is incompatible with their existing ideology and preferred lifestyles."
Someone needs to play BioShock. Rapture, anyone?
ReplyDelete