Something I’ve been wondering about quite a bit…

As America’s cultural fabric decays and fractures to what extent is free speech fragile without shared cultural norms?

Basically can laws compensate for weak culture?

Or is free speech only tolerable to a majority of people when there’s a shared set of values?

I’m not sure, but I know free speech is our most important ideal and we must protect it with all our resolve.

Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released. They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now! The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these “minors” as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs. Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see. If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released. They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now! The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these “minors” as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs. Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see. If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore. Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

During Covid I was fighting with some guy on spaces and he said,

“we get it, you think your freedom is more important than other people’s lives” as if that was some sort of a put down.

I responded “Not only is it more important than other people’s lives… it’s also more important than my own life”

He was confused by that.

He could easily file me away as selfish, but not as someone willing to die for others freedom.

He considered himself the selfless one.

And tbh his moral instincts of reducing harms and preserving life were noble.

But to preserve freedom at the cost of life is the higher moral ground, because a life without liberty has no purpose.

So I told him “give me liberty or give me death and if you won’t do either at least don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re the moral one here”

Then they kicked me from the space.

I think about that interaction a lot.

I understand the appeal of libertarian ideas for the autistic anti-authoritatian types but ultimately think that they are impractical, juvenile, miss the bigger picture and will never reach broad acceptance. Wordcels like Rand, Hoppe, Rothbard, Huerta de Soto and Miguel Anxo Bastos embody this contradiction by preaching rugged individualism from the comfort of state-subsidized systems they condemn. Societies built upon these principles have turned out to be a failure except for the elite.

Question for Bitcoiners:

What would you like to see MORE of in the Bitcoin community?

And what would you like to see LESS of?

All responses will be zapped 👀

In (subjectively) varying amounts

#asknostr