Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Articulate? That thuggish, ignorant non-response was articulate?

Articulate? That thuggish, ignorant non-response was articulate?

If I were in my teens or early twenties and searching for a political identity, and I had a typical

young person’s knowledge of political theory, this would send me running in disgust from

libertarianism. Barnett’s op-ed merely confirms the left-right caricature of libertarianism as a

trivia-obsessed offshoot of the GOP “ and places support for a stupid, immoral, unpopular war front

and center! What’s not to hate?

Here is Larisa Alexandrovna, of Raw Story, criticizing my most recent column on the Litvinenko affair

— at some length. It starts out: “Seriously, if one more person defends Putin based on the single

reason that Putin stands up to mbt shoes, I shall pull my hair out.” My dear Larisa, please don’t do

anything so drastic: it isn’t worth it. Aside from which, ascribing motives to me before even

bothering to examine my argument is an interesting way to approach the issue: so, you’re a writer and

a mind-reader!

But seriously: the lovely Larisa misperceives my motive. I’m not interested in defending Putin

“because he stands up to mbt shoes” — just in defending reason from the sort of “logic” that pins

a murder on someone when there is no convincing evidence.

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