Tuesday, August 04, 2009
In all of Facebook, I am unique
Two years ago, when I signed up for Facebook, I filled out the "political views" box on the profile to read "Libertarian hawk," which I think captures my strongest opinions fairly well. Indeed, I think it is a useful term that describes the attitudes of several of my co-bloggers and many of our readers. Nevertheless, I remain the only user of Facebook, out of 250 million people at current count, who describes his or her political views in this way. Nobody else thought of this?
20 Comments:
By 
K. Pablo, at
Tue Aug 04, 10:27:00 PM:
By 
, at
Wed Aug 05, 02:03:00 AM:
By Mark Sundstrom, at
Wed Aug 05, 06:23:00 AM:
You're not unique any more...
Somehow I'd concluded that one only had a few limited choices for that Facebook category; I'm glad to have been proved wrong.
By Country Squire, at
Wed Aug 05, 07:15:00 AM:
TH,
My profile under political views used to read "Trust me, you don't want to know."
Besides, aren't we too old for Facebook? I shut my account down and wrote it off as a waste of time.
By Noumenon, at
Wed Aug 05, 08:08:00 AM:
There is a libertarian hawk at Livejournal.com, who I also like a lot.
I didn't know you thought of yourself as a libertarian. That's kind of disappointing for me because I thought I had found a conservative blog I actually liked, but in fact it's just another libertarian. I guess the quest for a true conservative whose views I can actually respect is futile.
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 09:34:00 AM:
A question for TH and perhaps the readership: As an old geezer who has never been to Facebook, what is the utility/fulfillment to be gained from belonging to it? I can understand the desire to blog. Facebook is more of a mystery to me. I guess I don't really understand what it is about.
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 11:22:00 AM:
From Link. Can't we all just get along?
Libertarian vs Conservative is an important distinction. I once saw an interesting online program. You answered a bunch of probing questions and you were rated not just left or right, but on a full x versus y scale. Left to right rated you on economic issues; up or down rated you on "social issues / size of government." I came out on the right on economic, and for limited government ... but not extremely so on either.
That makes me a small "l" libertarian. Government is necessary, but the smaller and more local the better and more effective. I'm a big believer in that inconvenient document, our Constitution. I also believe I'm closer to the original vision of our Founders than folks like Scalia, who pretend to be but act differently.
Many conservatives actually want big government on some things. Many also want government to enforce their views of social mores. If you want a huge military and/or want to throw people in jail for growing marijuana in their basement, you're not libertarian. You may even have a fascist authoritarian streak. George Bush was a "conservative" ... Cheney especially so ... and look where it got us.
Our country is running off the tracks not because of left v right, but because of up v down. Both parties keep ratcheting up the power of federal government, even though it's been failing badly. It's to the point that our Congress has now gone insane.
We're too big a country ... and too diverse ... to think that we can run it all from DC. It'll blow up.
Here's but one example: abortion. You may believe in a woman's right to choose, but how does that work in a world of single-payer. Many Americans equate abortion to murder. They shouldn't be expected to pay for it. Things like this will create intolerable political controversy. Don't Obama & Co see this, or is this what they want?
Link, over
By Noumenon, at
Wed Aug 05, 11:41:00 AM:
I once saw an interesting online program. You answered a bunch of probing questions and you were rated not just left or right, but on a full x versus y scale.
I took that test once (OKCupid) and it was the most accurate political test I'd ever taken. My results are here.
feeblemind, the nice thing is when your friends post photos and you get notified and other of your friends comment on the photos and you get notified of that. There are also some private forums that spring up. Me, I prefer blogs, but my sister-in-law can practically live on Facebook with all the connections.
By John, at
Wed Aug 05, 12:27:00 PM:
I'm a libertarian hawk, but because I only use Facebook for work, I keep my politics off of it.
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 12:29:00 PM:
Link again,
I took the version posted by Noumenon and scored 66% on socially permissive, and 70% as an economic conservative, which put me squarely in the middle of the libertarian camp, but not so far out that I'd have to join the Freemen in Idaho. I'd expect this puts me far from both Obama and Cheney, maybe even equidistant.
My beliefs stem from pragmatism. Government is quite limited in its effectiveness, especially at the federal level. Between Bush-Cheney and now Obama & Co. we're on a course to federal financial breakdown, mostly over entitlement spending, Our adventure in Iraq has left us far weaker on the world stage. Illegal drugs are readily available, if you want them -- because the government keeps the price so high. We have a million abortions a year, but still have shockingly high rates of illegitimacy.
Link, over
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 12:35:00 PM:
In all of Facebook, I am unique
Why limit yourself to just Facebool?
By El Jefe Maximo, at
Wed Aug 05, 01:19:00 PM:
Libertarian Hawk, eh? I like that.
Economically, I think I'm very libertarian, although on foreign policy and military matters I am just not. Socially is harder for me. I don't much like getting into people's private bedroom preferences, or telling them what to smoke or drink, but that doesn't mean I approve of some of the choices either, or that I'd want to see the state ratify them. I'm religious, but am too high church to approve of much of the social conservative agenda. I think domestically I'm for what used to be called the night-watchman state.
I wonder if there's such a thing as a "monarchist/eco-libertarian/conservative?"
By Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Aug 05, 01:36:00 PM:
I love the euphemism. Libertarian hawk= GOP shill. Come on. To thine ownself be true.
Besides, you don't want to be "too unique" on FB, otherwise folks can find out your secret identity, triangulate back to this blog, see the looney wingnut posts and, well...trust me there are indeed normail folks out there in positions important to you personally or professionally who might take offense.
I'm just saying...
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 03:26:00 PM:
You just teed that one up, so here it goes about 320, center of fairway ... does the same wisdom not apply to lecturers where you lecture?
By Andrewdb, at
Wed Aug 05, 04:47:00 PM:
Christopher - having exchanged exactly one e-mail with our host, FB has consistently suggested him as a potential freind for some weeks now. On-line privacy really is long dead I am afraid.
By Andrewdb, at
Wed Aug 05, 04:50:00 PM:
PS- libertarian hawk - sounds like me. I like Heritage Foundation for foreign policy and CATO for domestic issues. Both are nuts in the other arena - I wouldn't trust Heritage for domestic stuff nor Cato for Foreign Policy.
By , at
Wed Aug 05, 09:26:00 PM:
Link again,
What does "hawk" add to libertarian? Are your balls bigger than mine because you're a "hawk" and -- I suppose -- I'm not comparatively? Or is it just that you like shithead foreign adventures like Iraq for their own sake?
Seriously, libertarianism can be lead to isolationism ... which can feed dangers. But post-Cold War we could have done without Bush - Cheney. They picked fights for their own sake and we're paying the price. Rumsfeld will go down as a total failure because of hubris. Is that what being a "hawk" is about?
Link, over
By PD Quig, at
Thu Aug 06, 12:09:00 AM:
I quit Facebook months ago after a few months of vaporous reconnections to old acquaintances. I recommend face-to-face time, good old-fashioned hand-written letters, substantive e-mails, and phone calls --in that order--for maintaining relationships. Facebook is so over for us cool cyberseniors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/06/young-abandon-social-networking-sites
By Simon Kenton, at
Thu Aug 06, 09:13:00 AM:
"Always remember that you're unique, just like everyone else."
Quig, I'm with you. Facebook seems like a pathetic mass exercise in trying to enlist everyone else in your therapeutic process.
By Rich Vail, at
Thu Aug 06, 11:09:00 AM:
no, but it sounds great...and I'mma change mine right NOW!
