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Penn Jillette (en.m.wikipedia.org)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/wikipedia@lemmy.world
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Neat quote saw when reading. Admitting you're wrong in a genuine way is something you see rarely these days.

"In a 2024 interview, he said he renounced his libertarianism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic after a libertarian group asked him to speak at an anti-mask rally. "The fact they sent me this email is something I need to be very ashamed of, and I need to change" adding "Many times when I identified as Libertarian, people said to me, 'It’s just rich white guys that don’t want to be told what to do,' and I had a zillion answers to that — and now that seems 100 percent accurate."[56]"

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[–] 23 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

This is because modern political libertarianism was literally financed by fossil fuel and tobacco billionaires who opposed all regulations; especially health, environmental, and labor. They seized libertarianism as a means to destroy the government. Prior to their takeover in the 70's, Libertarianism was considered to be progressive.

Most libertarians don't know what libertarianism is, because they are conservatives who believe their narcissistic "fuck you, got mine" conservatism is libertarianism.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah, I was really confused when I used to identify with libertarianism, and got lumped in with conservatives. I always hated those authoritarians, and the corporations they rode in on.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Yeah, I am quite certain the majority of humans are libertarian — the live and let live, without hurting each other, kind — but I never call myself libertarian to anyone without a massive disclaimer.

    You can't even say "socialist libertarian"... because that sounds like an oxymoron to people. They have no concept of what it means... then you have to explain that socialism can't exist without democracy... then you have to explain how wealth is power and extreme wealth inequality, where one individual can own more than thousands or millions of people, results in individuals having more power and influence than thousands/millions of people, and is a direct threat to the life and liberty of those people.

    It's ultimately better off not saying any of the buzzwords at all. Thanks, conservatism...

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