Libertarian geeks - patting their own pale backs

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Read an interesting post today in a forum devoted to (coincidentally) firearms topics.

When I say, "interesting," I mean it triggered a typical knee-jerk reaction from me. *grin*

The post basically reinforced the stereotype that geeks are mostly libertarians. Of course, amongst the "geek elite", I know of exactly ONE avowed libertarian. Nevertheless, the libertarian geeks are going to "take over" by virtue of their economic importance. This would lead to a rise in libertarianism (is that a word?) and the restoration of cherished freedoms -- specifically the right to own a bunch of really cool guns.

The fact that libertarians are unheard of to the left-leaning mainstream media seemed not to concern this fellow at all. Beyond that, I was left to ponder on who would lead our new United Republic of Libertarian Genius. The following is deliberately tongue-in-cheek.

More diaries by donkpunch

When the libertarian "geeks" take over, who is going to be the leader?

Eric S. Raymond? The same guy who made "Open Source" a household word for about 15 minutes -- until VALinux stock took a nose dive? The same guy who still believes in a "magazine cocktail" of hollowpoints followed by ball?

Bruce Perens? The same guy who called the police on ESR because ESR's email signature had a pro-gun quote? Bruce thought it was a threat. Wuss.

Richard M. Stallman? The hard-left never-had-a-real-job academic who won't actually admit to communist leanings but takes every chance he can to bash capitalism and intellectual property (never mind that his license depends on copyright law)?

Linus Torvalds? Linus can't go to the bathroom without somebody emailing him to get back to work on the kernel.

Rob (CmdrTaco) Malda? Great -- our new Constitution will be an indecipherable tangled mess full of spelling and grammar (or grammer) errors. You will only be allowed to invoke your rights once every 120 seconds. I assume a community of special appointees will get to moderate which rights are "+1 Insightful" and which ones are "-1 Redundant".

I favor a lot of libertarian ideas, but the so-called "geeks" have demonstrated little more than self-absorption and a propensity for patting their own pale backs. That makes for a pretty weak political movement. Plus, for every libertarian geek there seems to be at least one left-leaning, statist, college-brainwashed, "we-need-to-be-more-like-Europe" geek to cancel him/her out.

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	They ain't libertarians. (5.00 / 1) (#1)
	by Peter Johnson on Thu Jul 26th, 2001 at 08:25:05 PM PST

	Richard M. Stallman? He is an avowed socialist. Linus Torvalds? Democratic socialist, like many europeans. Rob (CmdrTaco) Malda? Fiscally conservative Democrat. Voted for Gore. ESR is a libertarian though. --Peter --Peter Are you adequate?

	quote of the decade (none / 0) (#2)
	by jsm on Thu Jul 26th, 2001 at 11:18:14 PM PST

	"From age twelve I always wanted to be a Heinlein character when I grew up" And yet when I point out that Raymond actually said this, non-ironically, they call me the troll. There's no fucking justice. ... the worst tempered and least consistent of the adequacy.org editors ... now also Legal department and general counsel, adequacy.org