Monday, August 31, 2015

Coming Out as a Cultural Libertarian


Rise of the Cultural Libertarians
by Allum Bokhari, Breitbart

I am a conservative Catholic. On a host of issues both political and cultural, I no doubt disagree with folks like Lauren Southern, Allum Bokhari, and Milo Yiannopoulos. All the same, I'm willing to take up their banner because I have personally witnessed the destruction aspiring authoritarians have wrought within our once thriving geek culture and do believe that pluralism is the only way out of this morass.

I believe in diversity -- genuine diversity in which honest people of all backgrounds and creeds are welcomed at fandom's table and invited into the conversation. And indeed, now is the best time to make that vision a reality. Thanks to Amazon and the march of technological progress, the gatekeepers no longer have the stranglehold on our field that they once did. So if you want to write a story influenced by Swahili folklore, go right ahead. And if you want to recapture the feel of the old Heinlein juveniles, well -- you can do that too. I'm willing to try both so long as you're sincerely interested in selling it to me and other readers. Enthusiasm speaks louder than hectoring.

What I don't believe in is the "diversity" of "ought" and "must not" -- the "diversity" of "shut up" and "punching up." This phony "diversity" is absolute poison for our community. When the so-called "forces of justice" repeatedly bully and libel those with dissenting opinions, they don't convince anyone of the rightness of their cause. Instead, they force that dissent underground, where it festers, becomes increasingly angry and resentful, and ultimately erupts in a Sad Puppies campaign -- or a consumer revolt like Gamergate. Meanwhile, the power-players in the fandom become an isolated monoculture, which has a disastrous impact on their ability to display the sort of empathy that true art requires.

The only way we can diffuse this tension - the only way we can save fandom - is to open the debate. No more de jure or de facto speech codes. No more trigger warnings. No more "safe spaces." Are people going to get upset sometimes once the boundaries have been blown apart? Certainly -- but as any practicing psychotherapist will tell you, avoidance does nothing to ameliorate these wounds. Only confrontation begets real progress -- and you can't confront what you forcefully silence.  

7 comments:

  1. So not cultural libertarianism as in denying that cultus produces culture, and the conflict between the culture of life and the culture of death, then, but rather a specific no-mans land in the area of books?

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    1. As I understand it, cultural libertarianism is about creative expression and freedom of speech for all comers -- and as a determined opponent of the culture of death, I personally need that freedom more than ever.

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  2. "...you can't confront what you forcefully silence."

    True...but there's a corollary: He who cannot argue persuasively for his position will face the choice between accepting defeat and using thuggish tactics to advance it. In other words, he'll be forced to choose between intellectual honesty and victory.

    Far too many persons choose the latter. This, to me, is a good working definition of a fanatic.

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    1. Sadly, yes -- thuggery is apparently an all-too-human impulse.

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  3. I can't ascribe fully to the cultural libertarian position...but I can recognize an ally when I see one. I am anti-abortion and that will put me at odds with the cultural libertarians, for example, but I am not so stubborn in requiring purity-of-platform tests that I wouldn't back a candidate for office who could be an ally against the thuggery of the pro-abortion crowd, even while keeping abortion legal.

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    1. My impression is that cultural libertarianism is more concerned with creative expression and free speech than with keeping abortion legal. In other words, this is a movement that is functionally distinct from political libertarianism.

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    2. Not sure the divide is quite that sharp...free expression includes the freedom to express your sexual identity, your religion or lack thereof, and your preferred lifestyle, not just your preferred entertainment. I'm generally in favor of maximum freedom in all of those areas, so long as it doesn't infringe on the human rights of others, including the unborn. But it is possible that I am underestimating the range of beliefs on that topic in the cultural libertarian ranks.

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