The exodus of the blue avatars

[Aurelius]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

[Liminal Trans Girl]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

[Aurelius]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

It's always 1776 in spirit!

And of course mandatory masking and (especially) mandatory social distancing are restrictions on freedom. I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

Of course they take away freedom, and it's always 1776 in spirit.

I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

You do realize I'm an Anarchist right?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The mask mandate was by Trump CDC abd Pence was in charge of the CDC then, Biden got in office and then Fox news labeled it the Biden mask mandate, and Trump caught COVID when there wasn't any vaccine by not wearing a mask we don't need mask now due to fact we are vaccinate, most of us got booster shots too


Biden passed Student loans forgiveness by Executive order made blue avatars are gonna get student loans Discharge, that's why it's not a red wave but Rs don't see it that wat

[Aurelius]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

Of course they take away freedom, and it's always 1776 in spirit.

I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

You do realize I'm an Anarchist right?

1. This is a non sequitur.
2. Left-wing "anarchism" is a contradiction in terms.
3. All anarchism eventually leads to either mob rule or rule by warlords. Not a great system!
4. I used to be an anarchist too. So did lots of people I went to college with. People rarely stay anarchists for more than a few years though.

Mandating masks and social distancing reduces freedom. They take away the freedom to not wear a mask, the freedom to not social distance, the freedom to engage in normal social interaction and patterns of life. To pretend otherwise is sophistry.

And if you're still saying that not masking and not distancing makes you an asshole in September 2022, that says more about you than it does about me.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

Of course they take away freedom, and it's always 1776 in spirit.

I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

You do realize I'm an Anarchist right?

Left-wing "anarchism" is a contradiction in terms. All anarchism eventually devolves to rule by warlords.

I used to be an anarchist too. It rarely lasts long! I doubt you'll still be one in a few years.

Name one example within the last century of an anarchist society falling into warlordism. Then we can talk. The point I was making is that simple measures to not be an ahole do not involve taking away your freedom. But MURICA FCK YEAH, right?

[Aurelius]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

Of course they take away freedom, and it's always 1776 in spirit.

I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

You do realize I'm an Anarchist right?

Left-wing "anarchism" is a contradiction in terms. All anarchism eventually devolves to rule by warlords.

I used to be an anarchist too. It rarely lasts long! I doubt you'll still be one in a few years.

Name one example within the last century of an anarchist society falling into warlordism. Then we can talk. The point I was making is that simple measures to not be an ahole do not involve taking away your freedom. But MURICA FCK YEAH, right?

Somalia. That took me about two seconds.

As I said already in my previous post:

Mandating masks and social distancing reduces freedom. They take away the freedom to not wear a mask, the freedom to not social distance, the freedom to engage in normal social interaction and patterns of life. To pretend otherwise is sophistry.

And if you're still saying that not masking and not distancing makes you an asshole in September 2022, that says more about you than it does about me.

You have to make the case that making normal social behavior impossible is worth the costs. Yes, of course it is a reduction of freedom.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

And no, this isn't a dead issue. There are still tons of schools requiring masks and/or distancing, all sorts of federal requirements, and I'm already seeing some buzz in the news with flunkies attempting to prepare the public for another possible round of all-out covid tyranny this winter.

Not like I expect a Canadian - someone from the land of bootlicking loyalists - of all people to understand and value freedom!

Masks and Social Distancing are not taking away your freedom, its just taking away your freedom to be an ahole and spread disease. Also this isn't 1776 anymore

Of course they take away freedom, and it's always 1776 in spirit.

I don't get why people who want to restrict freedom in some aspect pretend that doing so doesn't restrict freedom. That's facile sophistry that doesn't convince anyone. We can all see right through it. Much better to be honest and say that it's worth restricting whatever sort of freedom you are seeking to restrict. I am very up front about this when I talk about things like hard drugs.

You do realize I'm an Anarchist right?

Left-wing "anarchism" is a contradiction in terms. All anarchism eventually devolves to rule by warlords.

I used to be an anarchist too. It rarely lasts long! I doubt you'll still be one in a few years.

Name one example within the last century of an anarchist society falling into warlordism. Then we can talk. The point I was making is that simple measures to not be an ahole do not involve taking away your freedom. But MURICA FCK YEAH, right?

Somalia. That took me about two seconds.

As I said already in my previous post:

Mandating masks and social distancing reduces freedom. They take away the freedom to not wear a mask, the freedom to not social distance, the freedom to engage in normal social interaction and patterns of life. To pretend otherwise is sophistry.

And if you're still saying that not masking and not distancing makes you an asshole in September 2022, that says more about you than it does about me.

You have to make the case that making normal social behavior impossible is worth the costs. Yes, of course it is a reduction of freedom.

I was talking about the COVID Peak in 2020 which you should've known about as a member of this site. Also your freedom does not extend to other peoples lives. If this were 1919 you would've rightly shouted down for speaking against the Spanish Flu outbreak precautions. How is it any different here.

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I am so happy that D's are winning because we need big leads not small leads heading into Early voting Ryan, Beasley, Beings, Demings and Crist should pull it out not withstanding what happens in the H this can be a 2012 EDay where we expand our majority in Govs and Senate races and not so much in H

Every poll amexceot Trafalgar and Emerson have D's tied or leading in WI, NC, FL and OH of course Trafalgar is gonna show an R bad they are polling right when Early voting happens, they won't be accurate this time they underpolled Kathy Hochul 47/43 and Hochul was leading 50/35

[Aurelius]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

[Aurelius]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

[Aurelius]

And even if you put your anarchist society on some island in a vacuum where other states can't invade it. How do you stop some internal warlord from rising up and taking over. Quasi-anarchist societies inevitably progress to warlordism if not toppled by a stronger outside force.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

I'm done at this point, your Gish Galloping is too great for me to handle and you've proven yourself to be utterly ignorant of world affairs. I wish I could say this has been an enjoyable time but it hasn't. Everyone here is now dumber for having read what you wrote and Good Riddance Aurelius.

[Aurelius]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

I'm done at this point, your Gish Galloping is too great for me to handle and you've proven yourself to be utterly ignorant of world affairs. I wish I could say this has been an enjoyable time but it hasn't. Everyone here is now dumber for having read what you wrote and Good Riddance Aurelius.

lmao

I haven't been gish galloping at all. I've only mentioned a few things in each post. I've been very consistent: anarchism is not a viable system of social organization, because anarchist societies either get conquered by a stronger neighbor or get enveloped in the fights of warlords who rise up from within. Have a nice day.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

I'm done at this point, your Gish Galloping is too great for me to handle and you've proven yourself to be utterly ignorant of world affairs. I wish I could say this has been an enjoyable time but it hasn't. Everyone here is now dumber for having read what you wrote and Good Riddance Aurelius.

Dude, you are literally claiming to be an anarchist. I dont think you get to call anyone else ignorant of world affairs. Unironic support for anarchy is hilariously dumb.

[Aurelius]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

I'm done at this point, your Gish Galloping is too great for me to handle and you've proven yourself to be utterly ignorant of world affairs. I wish I could say this has been an enjoyable time but it hasn't. Everyone here is now dumber for having read what you wrote and Good Riddance Aurelius.

Dude, you are literally claiming to be an anarchist. I dont think you get to call anyone else ignorant of world affairs. Unironic support for anarchy is hilariously dumb.

This is why minarchy is a thing. I don't agree with it, but at least it can hypothetically sustain itself against threats both from outside and from within.

Left-wing anarchists like to claim that their system doesn't require a state because people will just magically become enlightened and sing kumbaya, and/or that yes there will be coercive action involved but akchyually it doesn't count as a state because those are bad people so it doesn't matter what we do to them. Right-wing anarchists will come up with these insanely complicated arbitration systems that resemble HOAs with their own massive private armies, but somehow there's no state involved because you get to pick your HOA overlord under some circumstances.

One of the nicest things about this forum is that, unlike many online political forums, it's not full of all that sort of crap.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Atlas has been around for two decades, through Dubya, Obama, and Trump, but now in the Biden / post-Trump era, a notable number of blue avatars have decided to either post way less or take a hiatus from the blog altogether.

The explanation that has been given to us is that Atlas is becoming a left wing echo chamber, but is that really the case? I'm interested in hearing what the community at large has to say about this.

I think the change is mostly organic.  People go on with their lives and get into other things.  I remember stalwarts like Phil, Inks, dazzleman, States Rights, Dukey (who popped back on recently) J.J. angus (when he had an avatar) and many others just move on because their life dictated the need to go.

The echo chamber may be louder now, but it's always been around.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Do you even think about what you post?

Lol of course I do. I'm not the one trying to make a false equivelance between ignoring experts to get people killed and mildly inconveniencing entitled hyper-anti-collectivists.

Like I have said a thousand times, if you don't want to take the *tiny* risk of being killed by covid, you have the right to stay home, mask, social distance, order grocery dropoff, etc. You do not have the right to force the rest of us to do the same. My choice to live my life without fear does not have to affect hypersensitive hypochondriacs who are still masking and distancing.

I choose to treat the risks from covid like the risks from driving, eating medium rare steak, going outside without slathering myself in sunscreen, etc. They are infinitesimal but real, and not worth making a big deal of.

And "experts" do not have the right to dictate politics any more than monarchs do (they don't). We can consider what they have to say and then choose to go a completely different direction. This is what democracy is for! I choose to completely disregard the psycho epidemiologists on twitter who are still freaking out that most people are no longer playing along with their hysteria.

With the exception of driving all the other things you list as risks (ignoring how offensively ridiculous it is to compare not following Covid protocols vs wearing sunscreen/eating junk food) only hurt yourself. The absolute refusal for people like you to account for the impact you could of had on others around you by getting Covid gets to the heart of this heated divide

[OSR stands with Israel]

Practically ever internet site that deals with politics become a “liberal echo chambers” because everyone here has access to a variety of sources to cite so it becomes impossible to argue things that are stable of American conservatism ideology when you in seconds are pull up various studies and articles that show global warming is real, 2020 wasn’t rigged nor was the voting results abnormal in any way, racial profiling by our police does happen, and trickle down economics don’t really work. And lastly for those you blame the mods for being bias I’d like to point out that Reaganfan posted openly white nationalist talking points for years before the mods decided he got enough strikes to be out and that several of them are gay yet DeadPrez has been allowed to call gay people “groomers” without getting kicked off

You can’t really compare how the ban system worked under Muon as under Muon , yah it was rare for anyone to get banned unless they were a sock or spammer

[Aurelius]

Do you even think about what you post?

Lol of course I do. I'm not the one trying to make a false equivelance between ignoring experts to get people killed and mildly inconveniencing entitled hyper-anti-collectivists.

Like I have said a thousand times, if you don't want to take the *tiny* risk of being killed by covid, you have the right to stay home, mask, social distance, order grocery dropoff, etc. You do not have the right to force the rest of us to do the same. My choice to live my life without fear does not have to affect hypersensitive hypochondriacs who are still masking and distancing.

I choose to treat the risks from covid like the risks from driving, eating medium rare steak, going outside without slathering myself in sunscreen, etc. They are infinitesimal but real, and not worth making a big deal of.

And "experts" do not have the right to dictate politics any more than monarchs do (they don't). We can consider what they have to say and then choose to go a completely different direction. This is what democracy is for! I choose to completely disregard the psycho epidemiologists on twitter who are still freaking out that most people are no longer playing along with their hysteria.

With the exception of driving all the other things you list as risks (ignoring how offensively ridiculous it is to compare not following Covid protocols vs wearing sunscreen/eating junk food) only hurt yourself. The absolute refusal for people like you to account for the impact you could of had on others around you by getting Covid gets to the heart of this heated divide

And if those people stay home they run no risk of catching covid from me, do they?

[It’s so Joever]

If we want to solve this problem, maybe we should be promoting some blue avs to moderator roles so that newbie Republicans can have people who are the same color as them in leadership roles to look up to. After all, blue avs are a minority on this site, and they run the risk of being oppressed by the red majority, which has historically monopolized power for itself. A little affirmative action in their favor will be a good way to undo this systemically systemic systematic system-wide bias.

Critical Avatar Theory should be banned in schools.

[jamestroll]

And "experts" do not have the right to dictate politics any more than monarchs do (they don't). We can consider what they have to say and then choose to go a completely different direction. This is what democracy is for! I choose to completely disregard the psycho epidemiologists on twitter who are still freaking out that most people are no longer playing along with their hysteria.

I almost always follow the advice of what experts and scientists says. The problem with covid was in that case, many of the "experts" were becoming to political and throwing out completely false information as well. I remember when health experts and liberals everywhere were adamant that covid was ready to get you on surfaces such as door knobs and amazon packages on your front door.  Beaches were often attacked by liberals and health care experts as well despite posing little threat in themselves.

Another reason why I disregarded what experts said about covid is that the actions we would have to take would be impossible with the reality of day to day life.

[jamestroll]

Name me a single example of a successful anarchist polity and we'll talk.

The Free Territory falls just outside the century mark, but that didn't end so well, did it?

Also Somalia is a failed state, Genius

Thanks for conceding my point.

There are none because they all got invaded by their much stronger neighbors. And the Somalia part wasn't even conceding a point it was telling you that you were wrong.

And that should tell you something about the viability of anarchism, shouldn't it? We don't live in Rousseau's magical dreamworld where you take the chains off people and they all live together in harmony singing kumbaya. We live in reality where humans act in predictable ways that are easily discerned by studying history.

I'm done at this point, your Gish Galloping is too great for me to handle and you've proven yourself to be utterly ignorant of world affairs. I wish I could say this has been an enjoyable time but it hasn't. Everyone here is now dumber for having read what you wrote and Good Riddance Aurelius.

Take your mask off sometimes. Your brain needs oxygen to think.