Interesting Links for 18-07-2013

[andrewducker]

• Should we regard young driver deaths as a scandal? How to solve an age-old problem.
  (tags: uk driving )
• Reuters is deliberately toning down its coverage of climate change
  (tags: news globalwarming newspapers climatechange media )
• The family tree of fish is altogether odder than anyone thought.
  (tags: genetics fish )
• I love that I can ask a

Comments

[supergee]

"Objectivist libertarian" is like "Catholic Protestant."

[theweaselking]

Only if you redefine "libertarian" to mean "nothing like what most self-described libertarians mean when they self-describe".

[philmophlegm]

The problem I think is the difference between British and American terminology. I'd prefer to call myself a liberal, but in the US (and increasingly over here) that means someone into political correctness, big government, constraints on freedom of the individual - the very opposite of what I think it should mean.

I think very few of us 'libertarians' on the British side of the Atlantic would identify with Ayn Rand objectivism. And to be honest, we probably get tired of being hit with that stick.

[theweaselking]

If by "political correctness, big government, constraints on freedom of the individual" you mean "halting malcious abuse, smaller and more efficient government that happens to also do more and better things, and no really your right to swing your fist REALLY DOES stop before my nose so stop fucking punching me", then yes, "liberal" means that.

But "Libertarian" in modern politics means "Randroid asshole".

You might need a third different term.

[skington]

In the UK, "liberal" typically means means "what the Liberal Democrats believe", so: in favour of individual freedom vs government intrusion (and therefore against ID cards and the snooper's charter), socially tolerant (so pro gay marriage, pro decriminalisation or even legalisation of soft or hard drugs), concerned about the environment and pragmatic. There are right-wing liberals, but as a whole liberals are mostly left-wing, some of them more left-wing that the Labour party.

But note that in France, libéral means in favour of economic deregulation, adamantly pro-market-forces, probably in favour of gay marriage but not too fussed about it. Liberals are all centre-right, often solid right-wing.

I don't know German politics well enough to comment, but I believe their liberal party is also centre-right.

The term "libertarian" isn't one that gets much use in those parts of Europe that I'm aware of.

[apostle_of_eris]

Interesting that so much effort goes into winning the argument by owning the definitions. Especially following a list of links which happens to skew strongly to the psychological.
"big government" bad! "intrusion" bad!
I happen to want competent policing at all levels from "street crime" to "suite crime". I strongly believe that it's both society's duty and best interest to provide education for all. A universally accessible postal system is a Good Thing. etc.
So I want a government big enough to do all those things. Starting out by declaring the True proper size of a government and then deciding what that size is capable of is incredibly stupid.

[andrewducker]

Also, presumably "Protestant Catholic", as the Libertarians were here first, before the new-fangled Objectivists turned up :->