"libertarian flash"

[porcupine kate]

I agree Roger.

It seems like people are more interested in showing off to others in the freedom movement to get social credibility than really trying to work on changing things for the better.  We have seen the libertarian macho flash, the good activist who steals and mooches off of others, the attention whores all screaming look at me and the Internet hypocrite who alienates people with the do as I say not how I live.  These people are all slowing us down and hurting the image of all the good people are doing.  When the public only sees the poorly executed antics of the movement they miss all the good stuff going on.

I wish more people lived by the principles they spout off.

[Friday]

Others I can't even figure out myself what the fuck they are doing.

Glad I'm not the only one.   

[KBCraig]

When I saw the subject line and author, I thought the topic was going to be lawncare in Vermont.

[Jacobus]

I cannot help but think that the flash has something to do with men establishing a pecking order among themselves.  I've seen similar behavior happen whenever males spend too much time together.  It often manifests physically, such as wrestling each other or by establishing an order of who can do "pain pranks" (punches, nipple twists, etc.) on who. 

When this order cannot be established physically, it manifests in other, sometimes strange behavior.  I think it is primarily established through insulting each other and pyschological abuse.  In this arena, a clever, funny, and insulting person has an edge.

Among intellectual circles, I think it tends to manifest through debate and attempts to be intellectually dominant.  Libertarians try to out-quote each other or otherwise show off how hard-core they are.

I have been guilty of participating in all three types of sparring (physical, pyschological, and intellectual) in an attempt to be as high as possible in the pecking order among a group.  I am not proud of it, but it is difficult not to participate in it, especially when you have little choice to exit the group (such as being stuck with others at high school) and you see the total abuse suffered by the person on the bottom of the pecking order.

[dalebert]

I think you're onto something, Jacobus. I think a big part of the evolution of mankind is getting past these baser instincts for better methods of social interaction.