• hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Not really apolitical. It's more that they don't think too deeply about their political opinions (and you can hold strong political opinions without having really thought them through) and are disillusioned with both Republicans and Democrats. It's easy for people like that to see libertarianism -- the biggest third-party alternative in the past few decades -- and glom onto it because superficially it doesn't seem too bad. You like freedom, right? You like free speech, right? You like lower taxes and weed, right?

      Some of these people are just soulless ghouls who would sell everyone they've ever known down the river to make a buck. They're not worth bothering with. However, there are others who do care about other people, but they've been sucked into libertarianism because it was there when they abandoned major party politics. Those people are reachable.

      EDIT: Of course, there are some truly apolitical people who self-describe as libertarians, mostly because they need an answer when people ask them what their politics are, and they don't want to present themselves as either a Democrat or Republican. What the fuck have I done with my life that has given me an ethnographic understanding of these people.

      • TheOldRazzleDazzle [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        EDIT: Of course, there are some truly apolitical people who self-describe as libertarians, mostly because they need an answer when people ask them what their politics are, and they don’t want to present themselves as either a Democrat or Republican.

        Now I'm completely confused. According to this definition is South Park political in an "apolitical" both-sidesing of American politics way or apolitical in a "so far outside of mainstream politics that you can't even call it politics, it's like, the opposite of politics man" kind of way?

        • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I'm using apolitical to mean disinterested in politics. Some people who are disinterested in politics call themselves libertarians because they don't want to get dragged into political fights they don't care about.

          I wouldn't say South Park is apolitical at all: they have many expressly political episodes, which you don't do if you're disinterested in politics. They seem to be the type of libertarian who (1) is at least semi-interested in politics, (2) is disillusioned with both major parties, but (3) has not thought too deeply about their political stances beyond that.

      • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        has such little power that your ideas never have to meet reality

        That's definitely a recurring theme among libertarians -- they just don't know or don't consider how their ideas have actually panned out when implemented in the real world.

        Honestly, it’s surprising how much radicalization strategy comes down to “target disillusioned young people”

        Fantastic point.

        • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I had no idea that libertarianism was this arch-conservative ideological project to privatize and deregulate everything.

          It's really a catch-and-kill operation for people who leave the Republican Party.