Journey to the Center of an Islamophobe’s Mind

I don’t know how my arcane little post on Frank Gaffney’s World War I theories launched a discussion of Shariah law, bikinis, “executive gays,” and Ted Nugent, but Eric Dondero dropped in, so…

Dondero is raving about, among other things, a county in Maryland providing twice-weekly women-only swim times at public pools. (You can read a reasonable account of what’s happening here, or you can get frothed on over at Pam Geller’s site.) My failure to wet my swim trunks over this issue ultimately led Dondero to demand that I stop calling myself a libertarian.

Now, this strikes me as a little ironic, since the doctrinaire libertarian position on public pools is that there shouldn’t be any. They hardly seem like an essential function of the night-watchman state, after all (and don’t even get those crazy anarcho-capitalists started). Let individuals and organizations build their own pools and swim however they like, whether in the buff or in burqas.

But public pools aren’t really that central an issue to any libertarians I know, even the misguided, pro-war ones. What a luxury it would be to live in a time and place where abolishing the parks and rec department was even arguably a priority! And note that Dondero doesn’t call for privatizing the pools — he just wants to make sure that a state agency that shouldn’t even exist doesn’t in any way accommodate a certain subset of taxpayers.

And Dondero doesn’t stop there:

Or, maybe we should kick these Islamic “immigrants,” out of our country?

If you do not wish to assimilate into American culture of tolerance, open sexuality, and freedom to live as you please without a nanny-state telling you how to live your life, than why in the bloody hell are you here in the first place?

But as the article I linked to explains, it’s not just Islamofascists who like the women-only swim times. In fact, there’s a worldwide market for women-only gyms, and the biggest provider started right here in the USA. But in their hatred of Muslims, these twisted libertoids end up enemies of the open society they’re supposedly defending. Like the puritans they claim to despise, they feel oppressed by the consensual activities of others. That’s why most libertarians disdain Dondero and company.

Full disclosure: I sometimes swim at a local public pool, so when the revolution comes, I will dutifully drown myself by tying a copy of Man, Economy, and State to my ankle and jumping in the deep end. Now rock out to the Nuge in better days.

21 thoughts on “Journey to the Center of an Islamophobe’s Mind”

  3. I happen to reject the “American” culture of open sexuality. I’ll take my guidance regarding sexual morality from the bible, not MTV.

    And I’d bet you’ll find a lot of swimming pools in Utah full of people who feel the same about bikinis as Muslims do.

  4. Aside the public pool issue, why does it matter? Libertarians should defend the peaceful activities of puritanical religious groups just as much as any other group. I am consistently disappointed by supposed libertarians who think libertarianism shouldn't just be about adherence to NAP, but about promoting a socially libertine/egalitarian society!

    1. I hardly would ascribe libertinism and egalitarianism to Dondero. He is an example of right-libertarianism gone amok. As a left-libertarian myself, of roughly the Richman/Long variety, I do in fact seek an egalitarian & "libertine" society; that doesn't imply that I seek to use force. Would I prefer if we lived in such a situation? Sure, but I am not about to force others to fit my ideal. I surely hope you don't want to use force to make others fit yours.

      Strictly speaking, you are correct that "libertinism" & egalitarianism is not part of libertarianism per se. But, I argue neither is bourgeois social norms and "voluntary" hierarchy. Cultural preferences are strictly personal, and should not be part of a political agenda.

  5. The doctrinaire Libertarian position is that public services should not be coercively provided through rtaxes or monopolies, a very different thing.

    1. How is that "very different" from what I wrote? By "public," I meant "state-run and -funded," like "public schools." This usage of "public" and "private" is pretty well-established in American English, I believe.

  6. Thank you thank you thank you for the video. You knew I needed to hear that after the title, right? (Not to mention the story.) The Nuge in his saner youth – (or… was that less insane youth?) Awesome.

  7. Dondero is more rabid version of Wayne Allen Root and considers himself the standard bearer of Libertarianism. What a joke this guy is, anyone who doesn't favor mindless death (aka our foreign policy) is a traitor. Hell I remember when he called Lew Rockwell of all people a racist. I have yet to meet a Libertarian who actually likes this guy.

    Also this article bears repeating
    http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-news-in-natio…

    2. Oh for crying out loud. Eric Dondero calling Lew Rockwell a racist is like when that pudgy faced garbage sack Kelley Osborn dare comment on Jennifer Aniston's slim figure on E!. It's amusing because everyone knows Osborn is a 3rd rate low rent porker. It's comedy.

      That said, you just compared the sublime comic rantings of a long time activist (however bat sh-t looney) to the provincial rube Wayne Allyn Root who finds knock knock jokes challenging..if you know what I mean.

  8. A note from a crank who is concerned about English: "…twice-weekly women-only swim times." What has happened to the GERUND? Have English teachers forgotten to tell their students that the verb (in this case 'swim') can be turned into the adjective 'swimming' to modify 'times'?

    1. So you object to "date night"? By the way, a gerund is a noun, as in "Swimming is my favorite thing to do." In "swimming time," "swimming" is a participial adjective.

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