Topic: Politics
Internet "Web of Fear" or Libertarian Support Group? Lucy Kellaway's recent FT article entitled "I Have Fallen into Recession's Web of Fear" was more a cry for mercy than an attack on the internet culture....by Larry Warrick
(libertarian)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Lucy Kellaway's transformation from "a state of mild fearfulness about the global economy to one of wild panic over what is to become of us" [link edited for length] seems typical of someone having a revelation. "You could say that the internet makes the recession more bearable as there are all those networks to help people get jobs and there is Ebay for buying things second-hand", but then, "Through blogs, websites and e-mails the world's economic ills are fed to us on a drip all day long. It is not just that we hear about bad things faster, we hear about more of them and in a more immediate way. ...[i]t is a trouble needlessly multiplied all over the world". Yes, terrible things are happening and they won't go away. The loss of confidence was resounding as she harked back to a time when "over 60 years ago, I would have limited my news injection to reading The [London] Times every morning. In those days it had a front page given over not to big scary headlines, but to small classified ads" (I'm sure you are way too young to have living memory of that). I truly felt her pain and sympathized with her hopelessness. Mainstream media can be a scary place.
Drudge's less that flattering headline did nothing to help with the email monster either.
As I said here [link edited for length] "Now is our opportunity as individuals to educate others and give them the opportunity to educate themselves". In that spirit, and because the thought of a lady in distress is a movitivating influence on me personally (knight in shining armor, you know), I sent Lucy an email sympathizing with her plight and offering places of solace that I personally find inspiring when it all seems so hopeless like here www.campaignforliberty.com and here www.lewrockwell.com and here http://endthefed.us .
It is my sincere hope that I was of service in helping her to understand how we got into this mess, what the situation is now and what to expect in the future as this crisis further unfolds. Knowlege is power and power is confidence.
Of course, informing her of others who suffer a worse fate every day never crossed my mind.... So I sent her this [link edited for length] . Professor Hasnas' treatise on what it feels like to be a Libertarian is as insightful as it is accurate and factual. So how does it feel? "I'll tell you. It feels bad. Being a libertarian means living with a level of frustration that is nearly beyond human endurance". Not only can I sympathize with this viewpoint, but as a vocal, radical Libertarian, I know exactly how it feels. For committing "the sin of continually pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, libertarians are attacked as heartless bastards devoid of compassion for the less fortunate, despicable flacks for the rich or for business interests, unthinking dogmatists who place blind faith in the free market, or, at best, members of the lunatic fringe". That's right, those who advocate Constitutional government, honest money, personal freedom and laisse faire capitalism are not only villified by their less educated peers but considered lunatics at best.
It is because of the internet and all of it's wonders and curses that I know with absolute certainty that if I am truly a member of the lunatic fringe then I am in good company. Thank you Professor Hasnas for helping at least two honest, hard-working people keep their sanity today. God bless you for your efforts.
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