There are people I run into online, who although they frequent the "libertarian" or "quasi-anarchist" websites, and align themselves with the freedom seekers, they don't seem to agree with "us" on much of anything. Try as I might, I honestly can't see that these people are looking for any type of "freedom". So, what is it they are really wanting?
Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps I should be glad that they have enough interest to try to hang out with libertarians (I have heard we can be difficult to get along with). I can't stop wondering about their motives, though. Are they there to try to start arguments; to sow discord? Are they there under mistaken impressions? Do they believe they can show the rest of us the "error of our ways" by shining the light of authoritarianistic thought on our ideas? Maybe they are a single-issue libertarian and just want to be left alone to smoke crack, but have no interest in allowing anyone else their own brand of liberty.
Whatever is going on, I get the distinct impression that they just don't get it. When possible, I do not engage them in a heated debate. Tempers flare quickly and that helps no one. I try to mostly ignore these folks in the hope that they will absorb, by constant exposure, some inkling of what "liberty" really means. Who knows, maybe one day they will rise up to be exactly the person the world needs to stand up for liberty.
