tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6182119.post974743605190236463..comments2024-03-28T10:36:31.949+00:00Comments on House of Dumb: Libertarianism: Supporting The Human Right To Leave Horses' Heads In People's BedsDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00446322024174274621noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6182119.post-5320391343756272472011-05-09T16:41:39.274+01:002011-05-09T16:41:39.274+01:00Geez, DJ, anyone who takes this up as a libertaria...Geez, DJ, anyone who takes this up as a libertarian <em>cause celèbre</em> understands libertarianism about as well as you do.<br /><br />There is only one “line” in libertarianism: the initiation of force against another's property (your person being your property). Whoever owns the streets has the right to prevent anyone from using them, for any or no reason. In this country, at the moment, the state does. And it stopped them. Case closed.<br /><br />The libertarian argument here isn't (or shouldn't be) that the state mustn't prevent people from using its streets for protest; it's that the state shouldn't own the streets in the first place, because it can therefore, <em>quite legitimately</em> by libertarian principles, supress any protest on any street.<br /><br />But even that is far from taking the Islamists' side; in fact, the details of the case are something of a red herring. Would <em>anybody</em> having a wedding let protests against it go ahead on their land? Would somebody making a living by hiring out spaces to hold weddings allow protests against them to take place there? It seems unlikely. And <em>violent</em> disruption of the wedding would certainly be seen as initiation of force against property even if the owner of the land on which it took place permitted it.<br /><br />Horses' heads in people's beds? That would involve Breaking and Entering, right?Sam Duncannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6182119.post-2755514924330252592011-05-09T05:52:30.691+01:002011-05-09T05:52:30.691+01:00"This isn't a story about heroism and rep...<i>"This isn't a story about heroism and repression, it's a story about a bunch of juvenile prats being prevented from acting out by agents of the state using a minimum of force and with the support of the vast majority of the Great British Public. "</i><br /><br />Spot on!JuliaMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07844126589712842477noreply@blogger.com