Libertarianism and Diversity (or Something)

On Tuesday, David brought to our attention a debate over universal basic income policy at an upcoming “libertarian” conference in D.C.  One other odd item is a Charles Koch Institute Session at the same conference titled, “Stereotyped 101,” lead by a progressive comedian and HuffPo writer.

Stereotyped 101TM [TM!] is program [sic] uniquely designed to educate and cultivate a sincere comprehension of the intersection of modern day diversity.

Topics will include:

…racism, homophobia, class-ism, even size-ism and the many other predispositions that fall into the realm of our unconscious bias…[so participants can] actively promote change.

“…uniquely designed…” How? There are hundreds if not thousands of course descriptions on higher-ed campuses that read exactly like this. Who could argue there’s an undersupply of this on today’s campuses? You find a stultifying amount of it in classes that are supposed to be about music, English literature, art history. Why would a student attend a D.C. conference to consume more?

“…actively promote change…” Of what sort? Rolling back the state? No, more like policing the expression of others to bash them for shortcomings the critic himself/herself/transself is guilty of as well in various and sundry ways that are conveniently never or seldom discussed.

What does this have to do with libertarianism or “pro-liberty advocacy” as the conference literature calls it?

And then there’s a session with a gonzo artist. And there’s a session with a CEO of a firm that trains “many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units…”

Whatever this gathering is converging toward an advocacy of, it certainly doesn’t seem to have much to do with libertarianism.

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4:35 pm on January 27, 2017