Want to know what’s really going on in the streets of the Twin Cities? You won’t get the story from the MSM; but check out the accounts here, here, here, here, and here.
About Roderick T. Long
The Empirical Me
I’m Roderick T. Long, Professor of Philosophy at Auburn University. I’m an Aristotelean/Wittgensteinian in philosophy and a left-libertarian market anarchist in social theory. (More about me here.) This blog, Austro-Athenian Empire, is a continuation of my earlier blog, archived here.
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Man, the place sounds like a frickin war zone. I hope everyone makes it out OK.
There was an Objectivist blogger who defended it: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/09/rnc-anti-war-le.html
and http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/08/the-left-has-ar.html
So much for Rand’s civil libertarianism…
She did support the HUAC committee though.
This poster doesn’t seem to be taking into account the wider context of the police violence. The window smashing isn’t the only violence going on at the convention.
Am I the only one who thinks that smashing bank windows and dropping cement blocks on buses reeks of Hobbesian anarchy?
I am attracted to left-libertarianism, because it involves delimiting the use of coercion. And the tactics used reek of collective punishment — something that anarchists criticize the U.S. military for engaging in.
Just to be clear: I am not defending the violence of the police or arguing that activists brought it upon themselves. I am questioning the morality and wisdom of smashing bank windows — something that news reports indicated was going on.
I agree with you, Nick. I hate how the black bloc folks seem to think smashing stuff, except in self-defense, is at all conducive to anything.
Just a nitpick. I don’t think Pamela Geller is an Objectivist, from what I’ve read she’s a conservative. I could be wrong though.
She’s a Rand loving conservative. She’s always been a supporter of a hyper-war against the “Islamic enemy”, whether by Anglo-Americans, or Israelis. Also, she’s good buddies with Charles Johnson*… the bad one.
*Charles F. Johnson is the proprietor of the Little Green Footballs blog. Our good friend Charles W. Johnson refers to him as, “a sociopathic warmongering blowhard” He is quite right.
That explains her accusations of treason…and calls for arrest.
On-topic:
Footage that’s new to me (and so might also be new to you). Here’s the link: http://gnooze.com/archives/235 Entitled, “Protestors Tear Gassed! Raw footage – gnooze tear gassed in St. Paul!”
I’m trying to get this up on the relevant blogs I read, so if you read the blogroll that I do, you might see my comments linking this video.
The Uptake had and still has great coverage, including live streams. http://theuptake.org/
They were there for the pre-crime warrantless home invasions this past weekend.
Amy Goodman is awesome in this video from saturday: http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/647/
There are self-described anarchists here, right? Is it safe to hang out here?