You did a fine job on the "what", sir. ...

2010-09-27T08:53:44.813-07:00

You did a fine job on the "what", sir. Allow me to tackle the "why":

http://j.gravelle.us/Portals/0/Libertarianism.jpg

Regards,

J. Gravelle
Gravelle.us

This is actually due to the way people think once ...

2009-06-15T11:52:14.584-07:00

This is actually due to the way people think once they lock themselves into a mindset. You can explain and compromise all you want, they're not going to change their outlook. The same thing happens with just about any label you can apply to large groups of people- be it political orientation, religious views, sexual orientation, your favorite football team, and the list goes on.

The problem is that most people don't think with an open, critical mind, so as I said you can explain all day without changing anything because those people simply aren't receptive to certain ideas.

For this reason I don't agree with placing such labels at all, instead I think that people should be judged by their directly expressed views and their actions instead of their (perceived) belonging to a certain group. While grouping together with like-minded people is likely to improve ideas, a side effect is the development of misconceptions and the unwillingness of some people to agree with you because of your 'association'. For instance, a lot of people wouldn't listen to anything a communist would say, even if they were stating a non-communist view! They are afraid of agreeing because they think it automatically means they agree with communism.

Oh well, good luck in the future making people think logically and critically. From my own experience I find that's rather hard to achieve, but YMMV.

P.S. I took the test you linked and it placed me pretty deep into Libertarian territory, although I wasn't at all familiar with the ideology until I read this.

Comments on Cogwheel’s Blogshop: Correcting Misperceptions About Libertarianism

You did a fine job on the "what", sir. ...

This is actually due to the way people think once ...