I'm not sure about this

[ellid]

Not crazy about the Libertarian Party, at least of the sort that shows up at science fiction conventions.

No, I'm not going to say why, except to say that anyone who thinks Robert A. Heinlein was a political philosopher needs to go reread The Federalist Papers.

My Political Views
I am a left moderate social libertarian
Left: 7.34, Libertarian: 2.51

Political Spectrum Quiz

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

I think they mean "libertarian" with a lower-case l.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I think you're right.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

The Libertarian party members actually seem pretty authoritarian, as long as they get to be the local authority, and the larger scale authority leaves them alone.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I've also noticed a deep, nasty, and completely unconscious strain of misogyny in a lot of self-proclaimed Libertarians at SF conventions. It's probably due to the deep-seated misogyny in a lot of geek culture, but Heinlein's views on gender relations likely have something to do with it.

A true story:

Many years ago a DM decided to test his players by sending all their characters through a sex-change field. These were high-level players with many skills, a lot of experience, and a fair amount of power, influence, and money in this game world. The players had invested a couple of years of effort into the campaign. These were not throwaways, but the sort of character one keeps for a significant portion of one's gaming life.

And with one exception, every single player had his character commit suicide once they realized that the sex change was permanent. The male players figured it was better to be dead than female, to the point that they sacrificed powerful, wealthy, accomplished characters rather than try to play them as female.

The one player who didn't have his character kill herself quickly found himself (and her) ostracized. The other players thought he was crazy, their new characters didn't interact very much with her, and the DM finally "solved" the issue by having her get pregnant, which of course meant she was unable to go on adventures or do anything but sit around and be "feminine."

That player quit the game in disgust at the way that he and his character were treated. And years later, when he was telling this sorry tale on a gaming BBS, he reported that NONE of the suicide boys had ever had a satisfactory relationship with a woman. The ones who had married were now divorced and the ones who'd had girlfriends had broken up with them. None of them like women or understood them, and none had any idea why their ladyfriends had left them.

The only one of the group who had had a happy relationship (and later a happy marriage) was the player who had been willing to play a woman. I wonder why?

*rolls eyes*

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I hear a lot about sexism and misogyny among gamers. My experience hasn't been like that, but in high school, I played with my brother and a couple of his friends who invited me. Later, I played with Allan GMing, or other friends. I've never been at a table with total strangers.
The only openly sexist player in one of our games became the target of our ridicule. Allan and the wife of the sexist played female elves who became lovers (because like most sexists, he's got issues about homosexuality)-- and I ended up creating a transvestite Drow elf with everyone but the sexist in on "her" little secret, to see how often I could get him to hit on guy in drag. :)

Have you ever read Knights of the Dinner Table? It's a gaming comic, and one time the guys get changed to women for an adventure, and while at first they want to give up, it gets worse-- two of them figure out they can "roll johns" for easy treasure. NOT what the GM had in mind.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Hm, but even with Heinlein there were exceptions. The kids who were saved when they got stuck in space by Grandma Stone, the fact that women were pilots in Starship Troopers because they were better at mathematics and had better reaction time than men, etc. And even being a housewife didn't necessarily mean you were stupid or didn't have an equal role in decision-making, in his worlds.

Mind, I didn't read his last books because I'd heard things went downhill after his strokes.

On gender-changing. You cite a bunch of stupid guys. Three cheers for the one guy who stuck it out!!

I would also like to mention Sean Donovan and Clarinda RT, who took turns carrying their baby. Also Glen Slate, who after initial "horror" (in character reaction, not Glen's reaction) -- he had fitted body armor that didn't fit anymore, adapted quite well to the sex change. Thank goodness some guys in gaming and Sci Fi are reasonable human beings. As for the rest of them, well, I suppose it's a sort of population control isn't it... oy

Me, I've played male and female characters, although usually female. But it's fun messing with the guys' minds ;)

[mad_maudlin]

My general response to both libertarians and communists:

"If all men were angels, there would be no need for government."

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

When I've taken quizzes like these I tend to come out as a liberal leaning libertarian.

The white guys that tend to run the Libertarian party ain't nothing like me, which is why Ron Paul gave me only slightly less screaming heebee geebees than Mike Huckabee in the last election.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Ron Paul scared me half to death. For all his talk of "freedom," it only seemed to apply to straight white males.