—–Original Message—–
From: JP
Sent: Thu 10/13/2016 10:20 AM
To: Walter Block
Subject: RE: PFS seminar
Hi Walter.
See the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=WG1vqeKyRXU
At the 25 minute mark you were asked about left libertarians. Since the video has been out some people (particularly leftists) have misinterpreted what you said about gays. From what you said just now and what I have read of your work you were saying being mean to gays (excluding violence and aggression) falls outside of libertarianism, not that as people we should be mean to gays in general. In other words, left libertarians were claiming you were saying we shouldn’t be nice to gays in general where you were just saying what you did above that not being nice (absent aggression) falls outside libertarianism. Take care. -JP
Dear JP: Yes. Libertarianism only requires that people not violate the rights of gays, Jews, women, blacks, whoever, not that you have to be nice to them. It is totally compatible with libertarianism that a person ignore, boycott, have nothing to do with, even hate gays, Jews, women, blacks, whoever. Intolerant people can be libertarians in good standing. Remember, libertarianism asks but one question (when is force, violence, justified) and gives but one answer (only in defense against, in retaliation against, the prior use of force and violence). Nowhere in proper (thin) libertarianism is there any requirement that anyone be nice to anyone else. You are entirely correct. Decent people are nice to everyone, certainly including gays, Jews, women, blacks, whoever. But this has nothing to do with libertarianism, again, properly (thinly, not thickly) understood. Best regards, Walter
For some references on this see:
For advocates of thick libertarianism, see Gilllespie and Welch, 2011; Johnson, 2008A, 2008B, 2013; Long, 2007, 2008A, 2008B; Mosquito, 2016H; Reisenwitz, 2013; Richman, 2014A, 2014B, 2014C, 2014D; Tucker, 2014; Vallier, 2013, 2014; Zwolinski, 2011
Gillespie, Nick and Matt Welch. 2011. The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America.. Public Affairs.
Johnson, Charles. 2008A. “Libertarianism: Through Thick and Thin.” The Freeman, Vol. 58, No. 6, July, http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/libertarianism-through-thick-and-thin/;
Johnson, Charles. 2008B. “Libertarianism through Thick and Thin.” October 3;
http://radgeek.com/gt/2008/10/03/libertarianism_through/
Johnson, Charles. 2013. “Libertarianism through Thick and Thin.” July 20;
http://radgeek.com/gt/2008/10/03/libertarianism_through/
Long, Roderick. 2007. “The Plot Thickens.” November 3;
http://aaeblog.com/2007/11/03/the-plot-thickens/
Long, Roderick. 2008A. “Thickness Unto Death.” July 10;
http://aaeblog.com/2008/07/10/thickness-unto-death/
Long, Roderick. 2008B. “Monster Thickburger Libertarianism.” July 24;
http://aaeblog.com/2008/07/24/monster-thickburger-libertarianism/
Mosquito, Bionic. 2016H. “The Real Action is in the Reaction of the Opposition.” January 11; https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/01/bionic-mosquito/open-borders-saul-alinsky/
Reisenwitz, Cathy. 2013. “Thick and thin libertarianism and Tom Woods.” December 23; http://cathyreisenwitz.com/blog/2013/12/23/thick-and-thin-libertarianism-and-tom-woods/
Richman, Sheldon. 2014A. “TGIF: In Praise of ‘Thick’ Libertarianism.” April 4.
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/tgif-in-praise-of-thick-libertarianism/
Richman, Sheldon. 2014B. “Libertarianism is more than just rejecting force: the ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ of libertarian philosophy.” April 6; http://reason.com/archives/2014/04/06/a-libertarian-opposition-to-racism
Richman, Sheldon. 2014C. “TGIF: Libertarianism Rightly Conceived.” May 2;
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/tgif-libertarianism-rightly-conceived/
Richman, Sheldon. 2014D. “What Social Animals Owe Each Other.” July 1;
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/what-social-animals-owe-each-other/
Tucker, Jeffrey. 2014. “Against libertarian brutalism: Will libertarianism be brutalist or humanitarian? Everyone needs to decide.” The Freeman. March 12; http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/against-libertarian-brutalism
Vallier, Kevin. 2013. “Libertarian Social Morality: Progressive, Conservative or Liberal?” February 22; http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2013/02/libertarian-social-morality-progressive-conservative-or-liberal/
Vallier, Kevin. 2014. “Political Libertarianism: Between Thick and Thin.” May 7; http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2014/05/political-libertarianism-between-thick-and-thin/
Zwolinski, Matt. 2011. “Libertarianism: Thick and Thin.” December 28;
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/12/libertarianism-thick-and-thin/#more-1697
For critics of thick libertarianism, e.g., supporters of thin libertarianism, see Albright, 2014; Block,2014A, 2014B, 2014C, Forthcoming; Bonneau, 2014A, 2014B; Cantwell, 2014; Gordon, 2011; Hornberger, 2014; McCaskey, 2014; Montgomery and Block, 2016; Mosquito, 2014A, 2014B; Rockwell, 2014; Sanchez, 2014; Smith, 2014; Vance, 2014; Wenzel, 2014A, 2014B; Williamson and Block, forthcoming; Woods, 2013.
Albright, Logan. 2014. “What Libertarianism Is Not.” April 26; http://mises.ca/posts/blog/what-libertarianism-is-not/
Block, Walter E. 2014A. “Pure libertarianism.” May 17; http://libertycrier.com/pure-libertarianism/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=3efef33935-The_Liberty_Crier_5_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_600843dec4-3efef33935-284768769; https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/05/walter-e-block/pure-libertarianism/; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/on-pure-libertarianism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29; http://libertycrier.com/pure-libertarianism/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=8cd483dafc-The_Liberty_Crier_5_19_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_600843dec4-8cd483dafc-284768769.
Block, Walter E. 2014B. “Was Murray Rothbard a Thick Libertarian?” May 23;
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/was-murray-rothbard-thick-libertarian.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29; http://lionsofliberty.com/2014/05/26/mondays-with-murray-walter-block-on-rothbards-thick-libertarianism/; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/06/walter-block-on-ayn-rand-murray.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29.
Block, Walter E. 2014C. “Was Murray Rothbard a Thick Libertarian? Part II” May 23; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/was-murray-rothbard-thick-libertarian_23.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29.
Block, Walter E. Forthcoming. “Thin and thick libertarianism” Political Dialogues: Journal of Political Theory
Bonneau, Paul. 2014A. “Some Reasons for Libertarians to NOT Reject the Non-Aggression Principle.” February 12; http://strike-the-root.com/some-reasons-for-libertarians-to-not-reject-non-aggression-principle
Bonneau, Paul. 2014B. “A Critique of ‘Against Libertarian Brutalism’.” March 16; http://strike-the-root.com/critique-of-against-libertarian-brutalism
Block, Walter E. Forthcoming. “Thin and thick libertarianism” Political Dialogues: Journal of Political Theory
Cantwell, Christopher. 2014. “Jeffrey Tucker Reduces Core Libertarian Ideals To ‘Brutalism’”. March 12; http://www.christophercantwell.com/2014/03/12/jeffrey-tuckers-case-libertarianism
Gordon, David. 2011. “What Is Libertarianism?” August 29;
https://archive.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon90.1.html
Hornberger, Jacob. 2014. “The Virtues of Libertarianism.” May 15;
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-virtues-of-libertarianism/
McCaskey, John P. 2014. “New Libertarians: New Promoters of a Welfare State.” April 14;
http://www.johnmccaskey.com/joomla/index.php/blog/71-new-libertarians
Montgomery, Stephen and Walter E. Block. 2016. “Animal torture and thick libertarianism.” Review of Social and Economic Issues (RSEI), Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring, pp. 105-116. http://rsei.rau.ro/images/V1N3/Articol_5.pdf
Mosquito, Bionic. 2014A. “Sheldon Richman Takes Down Walter Block & Lew Rockwell?” May 3; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/sheldon-richman-takes-down-walter-block.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29
Mosquito, Bionic. 2014B. “On Thick, BIG Libertarians.” August 6;
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/08/on-thick-big-libertarians.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29
Rockwell, Lew. 2014. “The Current Libertarian Infighting and the Future of Libertarianism.” May 1; https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/05/lew-rockwell/the-future-of-libertarianism/; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/the-current-libertarian-infighting-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29
Sanchez, Dan. 2014. “Sophistry and the State: The Perils of Fuzzy (Thick) Thinking.” May 10; https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/05/dan-sanchez/the-perils-of-thick-thinking/
Smith, J. Neil. 2014. “Thick as a brick.” May 2; http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/05/thick-as-a-brick-2949630.html
Vance, Laurence M. 2014. “I Am a Libertarian.” May 6;
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/05/laurence-m-vance/i-am-a-libertarian/
Wenzel, Robert. 2014A. “A Note on the Difference Between Libertarians and Libwaps.” May 1;
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/a-note-on-difference-bewteen.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29
Wenzel, Robert. 2014B. “It’s Here: Libertarian-Socialism.” June 14;
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/06/its-here-libertarian-socialism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29
Williamson, Kenn and Walter E. Block. Unpublished. “Is libertarianism thick or thin? Thin!”
Woods, Tom. 2013. “Thick and Thin Libertarianism, and Duck Dynasty.” December 19;
http://mises.ca/posts/blog/what-libertarianism-is-not/
