Randomly wondering what the very libertarian denizens of the #eldraeverse would think of being accused of that old Earth standby, "rugged individualism".
Something, I think, along the lines of:
"Don't be silly. We prefer soft, squishy individualism, with lots of cushions and fancy coffee. Also puppies. Puppies are good."
@cerebrate A superior libertarian is one who uses his superior moral philosophy to avoid situations requiring the exercise of his superior ruggidity?
See previous side note, heh.
But essentially, yeah. I mean, if we are all our best individuals (kind, generous, honest, loyal, etc., etc.), then situations in which we *need* to be all rugged should simply never arise, 'cause we'd be living in a high-trust mutually supportive society of generalized awesomeness.
We are free to be sources of yay, not just sources of suck, belike.
@cerebrate I guess I'm thinking of stuff like _Darkness_Within_. Certainly the modal Imperial sitting pretty in the middle of the CEZ surrounded by wonderful sophs and shiny everything should never be faced with a situation like that. But from my read of the Imperial psyche I'd've thought it'd be important to them to be able to honestly believe they _could_ handle it. Is that not what you mean by "ruggedness"?
@soundnfury Thinking in this case of the pejorative uspol definition of the whole phrase; not taking a position against ruggedness.
But the thing I note about _Darkness Within_ is that Isif never has a moment’s doubt about all the other people’s work she and her plan are depending on, or that the rest of the fleet have her back and are coming for her. Not a *moment*.
Everyone has solid trust in that everyone else will do the right, smart thing.
@soundnfury Which are very much not traits of the uspol-stereotype of the “rugged individualist”.
Even if it’s exactly how squishy individualism should work.
@cerebrate Okay. I guess I don't quite speak fluent uspol, which is probably lucky of me on the whole. (And on reflection I may be conflating "rugged" with "resourceful"; I'm not too sure where the line is drawn.)
@soundnfury definitely lucky.
Learning uspol is like staring into the Nietzschean abyss.
Except the abyss is goatse.
It’s goatse all the way down.
I mean, this is why you bother to have a civil society, rather than jackass autarky. It's the number of jackboots involved that determine how free it is, not how closely you can reproduce the dysfunction of Sparta without the authoritarianism of Sparta.
Somewhat hyperbolic tl;dr: You can only call yourself a civilized society when you have a UBI that no-one has to be forced to pay for.