https://bsky.app/profile/mightygodking.com/post/3kjtdzk2um22l I mean… is he wrong? And serious props. One thing to admit to being wrong. Another thing to publicly announce it.
Oh damn. Okay so I’ll admit that as an ex-libertarian I was a fan of Penn that then got upset when he didn’t seem to move along like I did but apparently underneath he was and he just went public later. But folks have been posting his recent stuff and for real props. This clip of his enby kid (ignore title of video) fooling him twice is just freaking adorable I don’t care who you are:
This is from what I'm pretty sure is an oral interview (otherwise some real weird grammar and word choices), not a typed one. https://www.cracked.com/article_40871_penn-jillette-wants-to-talk-it-all-out.html It's not clear to me whether he intended the uppercase L or not. I think there's little question the Libertarian Party is more or less worthless as a promoter of human freedom nowadays. I think the same is true for a lot of LP-affiliated orgs, like this one, apparently. I think he might be wrong to ditch the lowercase-L version of the label, but maybe that's just wishful thinking at this point, with so many of those who are still call themselves that being either whiny wankers or outright authoritarians. On the other hand, Jesus-emulating Christians have stuck around for nearly 2000 years without dropping the label, despite some really diametrically opposed folks largely appropriating the name.
Even knowing he is (or was) a Libertarian, I've always loved Penn's willingness to look something straight in the face to see whether it holds up or not. I have a lot of respect for the man and I sincerely hope he's not on any sex lists, please for the love of god, there are so few people left. The vaccine episode of "Bullshit!" is still one of my favorites.
Well considering in the first paragraph the author explicitly states it is a Zoom interview and talks about the poster on Penn’s wall… Yeah. I think that is a safe bet. Also another money quote:
Yeah. It seems that if we were accept the statement “I can do what I want as long as I don’t hurt you” to be the basic premise of libertarianism he is one of the few major figures of the movement that not only acknowledges the second clause but actually put some thought into how it would realistically be applied to a society at large.
Agreed. Hell, "I can do what I want as long as I don't hurt you" would be a giant step up for most people in this country. I mean, we could do worse. We have done worse.
Course, most libertarians you run into on the internet *cough* think passive non-intervention is a lack of harm. Internet Randroid Spider-Man would be like "fuck Uncle Ben, that's his problem ".
Before the pandemic, somewhere around 2014 or so, Penn admitted (several times, in fact) on his podcast that he wasn't a "serious" Libertarian. Meaning that while he liked the ideals of Libertarianism, he recognized that there was no practical way for them to be the dominating force in politics. (Which kinda makes it a religion, if you ask me.) Some time between 2017 and 2019, he admitted that he wasn't even a Libertarian any more and claimed that he was really "too dumb to understand politics." Still, don't get too happy about him. He hangs out with Lawrence Krauss (who defended Jeffery Epstein) and Richard Dawkins, still.
The only thing he "gets" is how to be a slick bullshitter. Shuck and jive until the subject is about what services the rationalization he wants to deploy. He lost me with his take on martial arts.
Penn & Teller had a series they called Bullshit, with an episode focused on martial arts training. It was full of the sort of disingenuous, bad faith, narrow-perspective cherrypicking in support of prescribed conclusions that would make Diacanu proud. You'll need a Paramount subscription. https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/j96NsQyJ2pwq5b343uX3T_qDlXy_YFhp/
I'm familiar with the show, I just had no idea what you were talking about (haven't watched it in over 10 years). I don't remember that particular episode, but thanks for clarifying. For what it's worth, Penn has changed his mind on certain topics they covered on the show, based on being presented with new evidence.
One problem is that what we call "martial arts" today really aren't. They're sports. This goes back to the post WW II occupation of Japan. The occupiers wanted the "real" martial arts (ones that could be used by soldiers) watered down. Thus jiu jitsu evolved into judo and turned into an olympic sport. Karate also got watered down. Aikido was a different kettle of fish, since it was more of a moving meditation than a sport or martial art. Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do were also watered down and turned into sports to appeal to an American audience. Ninjutsu barely survived and after WW II went completely underground to the point that when the 33rd grandmaster died, no one he was a martial artist of any kind. Of course, the problem is that in addition to the authentic ninjutsu that first surfaced in the 80's there were plenty of hosers ready to change into black uniforms and call themselves "Ninjas". After all that digression, I will say that any art you can name has plenty of phonies using that name. That doesn't make it right to dismiss all martial arts, but the unfortunate truth there's no shortage of material for anyone who wants to make the argument.
