Hey there, guys! I’m just your average pretentious, borderline-hipster college girl with cool plastic glasses. I’m a lover of pop culture and have a love/hate relationship with politics. I’m a demon hybrid of socialist/liberal and libertarian, so you can see where there would be complications. On this blog I’ll talk mainly about social justice politics and have some lighter posts on pop culture every now and again. Hope you have as fun a time reading my long winded rants as I do writing them!
If you have any topics you’d like me to talk about, send me a message and I’ll see what I can do.
Kindly,
B
Disorderly Politics 
The writer Cathy Young linked to your blog…and that’s why I’m here. I just read your “About Me” and you say you’re a “demon hybrid of socialist/liberal and libertarian” — What does that mean? Having liberal tendencies is consistent with libertarianism when it comes to civil rights matters (such as free speech, drug legalization, same-sex marriage, etc.), so I get that. But how do you square socialism with libertarianism? Thanks.
I may write an entire post about my political views at some point, but until then, I’ll try to explain here.
I most definitely am liberal, and agree with the liberal tendencies of libertarianism, obviously. That being said, civil rights matters and personal freedoms tend to be the only things I agree with libertarians on–I think their view of economics and education and the like is fairly lacking. I agree with the socialists on those things: public schools shouldn’t have to be the bad option, corporations should be held to regulatory standards to make sure they don’t abuse people, the government should do what it can to help the poor, welfare is in need of reform but still something we need to have, etc. I am very much not a libertarian in that regard.
I guess that opens up the question as to why I don’t just call myself a socialist since their civil rights views overlap with libertarianism. But the thing is, they kind of don’t, at least not in real-world application. I appreciate liberal acceptance and good will, but socialism/liberals oftentimes seem to take it too far. I think libertarians have a more balanced approach to social issues. Liberals seem to lean toward overcompensation and hand-holding when it comes to social issues: Helping disadvantaged people isn’t enough, disadvantaged people need to be coddled and pandered to because the world has been mean to them. Liberals are the ones setting up progressive stacks, and enforcing hate speech laws, and being quick to accuse people of being some kind of -ist, and generally being way too censorship-happy for my tastes. Libertarians are interested in giving people their freedoms and personal rights, but that’s it and that’s why I agree with them way more on social issues than socialists.
So in short, I like giving people the help they need, but I don’t like holding their hands and treating them like fragile flowers. Hope that helped.
Thank God, someone I can actually agree to disagree with! You know how hard that is to find? After so much time dealing with the zealous extremes of partisan politics, I started feeling like that’s all there is. It gets so tiring and confusing being stuck with a bundle of labels and stereotypes (the kind specifically invented for use against conservatives, that is), that one begins to believe them against their own better judgement. Thank you for reminding us that reasonable people still exist, even if they are borderline-hipster bloggers. Long live the open minded debate!
Hey, I’m a college student (at Temple, looks like you know Philly) and I have to say this is one of the most detailed and well thought out blogs I have come across that is not written by a lawyer. I really enjoy it.
Thank you kindly!
I normally don’t post anywhere, and try to remain mostly anonymous, but, well I read a decent bit of your posts, and I like them. I don’t agree with you on many things, but I find you to divorce yourself from movements and go into that land so many avoid called “critical thinking”. I am kind of a demon hybrid myself perhaps more to the conservative side of Libertarian, but I find your reflections to be quite pleasant to read, and would be happy to engage in discourse with one such as you.
As someone who hasn’t been involved in social politics for too long, I really enjoy your writing. Not only are they informative, but even if our opinions don’t coincide you aren’t pervasive with your opinion. It seems that more and more people are becoming stubborn and extreme with their opinions to the point that seeing their writing is like looking at propaganda for whatever cause they believe in. Anyways, I’m writing a paper about how the Black Lives Matter movement in combination with the media coverage they receive is affecting racial relations, approaching whether it’s causing tension and/or fixing real issues. I’ll note that the topic does not approach whether a movement like this is or was necessary. If you would be so kind as to let me interview you, just either give me a better way to contact you or comment, telling me to post my questions here. Thanks a ton, and keep up the great work!
I could answer some questions if you’d like. Does the email you commented wit h work? If so, I’ll send you my email. If not, you can post the questions here.
Kindly,
B
I apologize if I somehow missed it, but I glanced through your website and could not find your email address, so if you happen to provide your email address to others, would you share it if that’s okay. Thank you for your time.