January 20, 2013

"As of today, Barack Obama’s presidency is half over. If that’s not enough to cheer you up..."

"... try heading over to the Insta-Wife’s new site, Helen’s Page, where you can commiserate or whatever with others who feel the same way."

Okay, here's Helen's Page/For Liberty-Minded People, which seems to be more social media than blog:
A lot of people I talked to after the election were feeling isolated. So I made a place for them to meet each other and hopefully, feel less alone and more connected to like-minded people whether for business or just to share ideas. 
Libertarians who are feeling isolated and alone? Doesn't that come with the libertarian territory? They need a "place" where they will feel more connected?

Instead of saying the place is for libertarians, Helen is saying it's "liberty-minded people." People is a collectivist word. Why not for liberty-minded individuals? Because they're so lonely! They need people. They're people who need people. They were letting their grown-up pride, hide all the need inside, acting more like children than children.

Libertarians are very special people. They're the most liberty-minded people in the world.

60 comments:

kentuckyliz said...

I insist on using the words person, persons, and people when I encounter the dehumanizing words "individual/individuals" when referring to human beings...ever fashionable in higher ed.

A table is an individual unit. I am not an inanimate object. I am a person. And so are you.

Except for the Naked Bob Dylan Robot, but I honor you nonetheless for your sentience.

Shouting Thomas said...

If believing that people should be left alone to do what they want to do is libertarian, then that's what I yam.

Politics doesn't define my life. Politics doesn't control my life.

It's just something to yak about.

Ann Althouse said...

"I insist on using the words person, persons, and people when I encounter the dehumanizing words "individual/individuals" when referring to human beings...ever fashionable in higher ed."

Wow. I have never seen the word "individual" as dehumanizing. In law, we talk about individual rights all the time. Look at the Second Amendment arguments in the Supreme Court case Heller. Those who think their is no individual right try to get traction out of the words "right of the people." That's a basis for saying it's only a collective right.

From a language perspective, I object to saying "people" when you mean "persons." A lot of people seem to think that "persons" isn't a real word and they will say things like "Two people died in that car crash" as easily as they'd say "There were 200 people at the rally."

Ann Althouse said...

@Shouting Thomas Yeah, but when you are left alone, are you lonely?

Shouting Thomas said...

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world!


Next to Imagine probably the most putrid song ever written.

kentuckyliz said...

Well, it's a busy looking page, and doesn't use a platform like Blogger for me to post using this ID and fabulous picture, so eff it. I'm too pissy to bother with a new and different system.

The aesthetics hurt.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Shouting Thomas Yeah, but when you are left alone, are you lonely?

You know, it might not seem that way to other comenters, but I'm a very garrulous, sociable person, and I have trouble getting people to leave me alone.

kentuckyliz said...

Ah, but in the example you give, individual isn't the noun.

"If an individual comes in to sign up for the field trip..." is what I am referring to.

It's a person. A student. A customer. A human being.

kentuckyliz said...

Individudals
Individuals who need individuals
Are the luckiest individuals in the world!

campy said...

Obama can easily run for a third term and beyond. What, you say the 22nd amendment clearly forbids it? Pshaw! If John Roberts and the Wise Minorities With Ladyparts interpret that amendment the right way, he'll be free to run.

Rusty said...

Ann Althouse said...
@Shouting Thomas Yeah, but when you are left alone, are you lonely?

Not ST, but I get asked that question all the time. A lot of my work requires that I'm by myself for long periods.
Some people must not like being alone. Like they're uncomfortable in their own skin or something.
I've never found it a problem.

kentuckyliz said...

Aaaack, pardon my typos on the first "individuals"--I need more coffee and/or you can see how irked I get, when I can't even type it correctly.

MayBee said...

This pst seems ungracious. I thought instapundit and Helen had been quite good to you.

MayBee said...

Post

Patrick said...

I'm so ronery...

https://www.google.com/search?q=i%27m+so+ronery+video&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

bleh said...

Individual is an adjective not a noun. Or at least that's the way it was until fools blurred the distinction.

Patrick said...

Gotta call 'em like she sees 'em, Maybee.

Shouting Thomas said...

Liz,

I'm gathering from the boob assault rifles that you're not down with the disarmament program.

Boobs should not be for shooting!

Think of the children.

madAsHell said...

Liz - Please bring back the legs!!

MayBee said...

I like the word "people", bout not when it's used in the names of government entities. The People's Republics never are' and the "People's House"es are always paid for by the people, but heavily guarded against them.

garage mahal said...

A lot of people I talked to after the election were feeling isolated. So I made a place for them to meet each other and hopefully, feel less alone and more connected to like-minded people whether for business or just to share ideas.

Libertarians sound pretty needy.

Liberals just want to be left alone.

Ann Althouse said...

"You know, it might not seem that way to other comenters, but I'm a very garrulous, sociable person, and I have trouble getting people to leave me alone."

Maybe they sense that if left alone, you would be lonely.

Titus said...

Dr. Helen believes in curing gays.

She's cool.

tits.

Anonymous said...

She won't be any competition to Althouse.

Liz......really?

Ann Althouse said...

"Dr. Helen believes in curing gays."

That's a lie and you know it. Shame on you.

Anonymous said...

Hey ST! Hey how ya doing? Watcha doing? Can I watch? How long ya gonna do it? Can I come? Hey, hey ST! Hey ST, what's for lunch today? Hey ST, whatcha wearing, what color are your socks? Hey, hey ST, what's your favorite toothpaste? Do you shave once or twice a day, hey there ST.......

Shouting Thomas said...

I did organ and sang for 8 o'clock mass this morning, Inga.

And, it was just about like that. Even funnier in a way.

Titus said...

Dr. Helen can cure the gay away in 5 sessions.

Shouting Thomas said...

And, then, it was the pancake breakfast at the village firehouse.

The usual cast of characters, telling tall tales.

Most interesting story... one of the local street people was widely reported to be dead last week. We all bought the story. After all, he's had AIDS for decades and now he has cancer. He's also a very serious drunk. Charming and entertaining guy, though.

I discovered this morning that this character is still alive. Unbelievable! You can't kill him.

Anonymous said...

No, libertarianism is not about seeking isolation, though it certainly is about the right to seek isolation if you choose to. But the real point of libertarianism is community, in the true meaning of community. Being with other people because you choose to, because you value them, and because, being free to leave, you want to stay, is entirely compatible with libertarianism; it's compelling people to stay in a group that they didn't choose and that makes them worse off that's antilibertarian—whether the compulsion is done with weapons or with guilt trips, and whether the rationale is religion, ethnicity, political partisanship, ideology, or family loyalty. And I don't think that sort of enforced collectivism properly merits the name of "community."

You will even see that point in Ayn Rand: The strikers in Atlas Shrugged may have withdrawn from the world, but at the end, when John Galt is being tortured, every man in Galt's Gulch who can get onto a plane flies from Colorado to New Hampshire to be available for a rescue mission if they're needed.

So, no, I don't see anything ironic in offering libertarians a sense of community, though the particular one you're discussing isn't one I frequent.

ricpic said...

Althouse reminds me of people who know the individualist side is right, but a lifetime of being on the collectivist side can't be broken. What to do? Ridicule.

Bender said...

Be cheered up because the Obama presidency is now half over (or will be in the next hour and six minutes)?

The problem with that is that his presidency will be affecting us for generations to come. It is hardly half over.

Shouting Thomas said...

Althouse reminds me of people who know the individualist side is right, but a lifetime of being on the collectivist side can't be broken. What to do? Ridicule.

Nah. Life doesn't make literal sense.

If you're looking for literal consistency from people... well, you've got your head up your ass.

Bender said...

It will be affecting us individual persons, as well as us as a people, for generations to come.

Anonymous said...

Naked Bob Dylan Robot on "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine"

Humans share common circuitry, but flaws in the organic materials cause variations that Humans call Individuality. Commonality among humans often depends on shared Inputs.

"I'm gonna let your pass
And I'll go last
Then time will tell just who has fell
And who's been left behind
When you go your way and I go mine."

ricpic said...

Liberals just want to be left alone.

There goes garbage, trying to get a rise out of us.

dbp said...

Libertarians are not "lone wolves". It is more a case of favoring associations which are entered into freely.

I would never in a million years, choose to join social security or medicare, if I had a choice in the matter.

ricpic said...

My head's up my ass? Not as bad as making nonsense comments.

ricpic said...

Hey Titus, you've gotta admit you're one sick puppy, always bragging about your cottage cheese physique.

edutcher said...

I'm a fan of Dr Helen (if only because of the Death - Been there, Done that T-shirt she wears and the fact she thinks men are human beings with rights and everything), but I have to quibble on the Libertarian thing.

Libertarians have struck me as people who are primarily interested in being as personally un-inconvenienced by the rest of humanity as possible, at best, and, at worst, doctrinaire Lefties who simply want to keep their money.

(I know, phraseology needs work)

Shouting Thomas said...

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world!


Next to Imagine probably the most putrid song ever written.


No, there's always One Tin Soldier and Signs (Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...).

You know, it might not seem that way to other comenters, but I'm a very garrulous, sociable person, and I have trouble getting people to leave me alone.

Clearly, the ladies love you.

I did organ and sang for 8 o'clock mass this morning, Inga.

Now there's a hanging curve ball.

cubanbob said...

Half way through the torture session. I suppose I should be greatful.

politicaltragic said...

Ann, one of the things I really appreciate about your blog is how you bring a contrarian perspective that makes me think critically about things I support/agree with, and do it in such a way that I'm never sure on which side of the issue you fall (at least until I read the comments).

Keep up the excellent blogging!

cubanbob said...

Half way through the torture session. I suppose I should be greatful.

kentuckyliz said...

Inga, yes. I chose this pic to honor the moment I joined the NRA (yesterday).

I also derive some pleasure from the fact of imagining my breasts as wielding death on others rather than on me.

If you don't like it, you're not cool, because it's Lady Gaga, and she's cool.

kentuckyliz said...

I will bring back the legs pic when I get pissed off at the Burqa Fascists once again.

Rusty said...

cubanbob said...
Half way through the torture session. I suppose I should be greatfu

Nah. It's gonna get much worse.

edutcher said...

kentuckyliz said...

I will bring back the legs pic when I get pissed off at the Burqa Fascists once again.

That should not be long in coming.

As in 5, 4, 3...

Anonymous said...

Liz, nah, I'm not cool with the boobie guns, but I get that you would envision them as powerful, but wielding death on others? How about a picture of a sexy nursing mother, feeding, giving life to yourself and the nation? You could be the Betsy Ross of boobies.

Sorry just being a meddling liberal, you go girl, whatever rocks your world.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Finally, Althouse manages to hit on something unavoidably obvious to the rest of the U.S. population...

Ann Althouse said...

I made a long new post on the issue of the words people/persons/individuals.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The usual cast of characters, telling tall tales.

I guess that's where Strumming Toadstool picked up his habit of lying.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Liz imagines breasts wielding death upon her?

Lady, you should really try dropping less acid.

Tom said...

I personally hate when cops use the word "individual" (e.g. We apprehended the individual as he was ordering a Blizzard at the Dairy Queen. The individual is now in custody and his Blizzard is being analyzed for prints and DNA evidence). It's dehumanizing and meant to be dehumanizing. People are people. Don't have to be a collectivist to recognize that. I think what Dr. Hellen is doing is a good thing and I hope "individuals" who comment here will post there. :-)

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann, one of the things I really appreciate about your blog is how you bring a contrarian perspective that makes me think critically about things I support/agree with, and do it in such a way that I'm never sure on which side of the issue you fall (at least until I read the comments). Keep up the excellent blogging!"

Thanks. That was a pretty good statement of what I like to do!

Meade said...

When I was a kid, teachers addressed us as "children" or "boys and girls". But by the time my daughter entered 1st grade in 1993, things had changed. Waking up one morning early in the school year, she called out from her bed to her parents' room: "Good morning, people!"

tiger said...

Wow, Professor!

What's your problem?

Your post reads as 'pissy/jelous/angry' that Ms. Reynolds even started such a site.

Chip S. said...

Lady, you should really try dropping less acid.

Ritmo, you should really try learning about breast cancer.

I'd also suggest that you not be quite such an ass, but I've learned to moderate my aims in life.

Chip Ahoy said...

Sign language forces a differentiation between the concepts of "person" and "people" and "Individual being" and "individual thing". Skip this please if you don't care to read about it.

The people-related words all begin with "p" the movement of two "p's' puts the emphasis on the trunk of the body. Two p's show the trunk of the body. Either one's own body or another body out there, or even multiple bodies out there.

All words relating to an individual are formulated with an "i" held apart from the body. Then something happens to that "i". Two hands can be used for two "i's" for multiple individuals out there.

So then with this system the word for "popular" is an individual "i" out there and the other hand comes flying up and slaps it open handed so that the fingers indicate a whole group of people glomming onto the individual "i" sticking up and by context you will see that and "individual" is popular. To give an idea of what can happen to an "i".

But "lonely" and similar words are another system that uses an index finger standing straight up and rotating like a music box. But you see also that same thing hovering in space instead. When I indicate an individual person, I use an index finger standing up for 1 facing the audience move it slowly toward them then flick the finger toward myself which goes harshly BANG! 1. Then do something with that 1.

A 1 can be "arrested," it can "disappear," It can "begin" and many other things.

For "loneliness" the action of 1 is slower and moves toward the mouth where the words "privacy" and "secrecy" and "quiet" and "private" and the like are made.

So the whole thing forces you to think in advance very specifically and in visual terms what the heck you're talking about, a person or a thing, a body right here or even myself or another out there, the oneness of being that is doing something, or having something done to it. You must think in advance the precise thing you're trying to convey. You can't get away with just flapping and spilling words out there and hoping something resonates like you do in English.

To me loneliness connotes sadness so I draw from those techniques to convey loneliness that includes privation sadness and shrinking. The actual sign for loneliness is a 1 rotating like a bicycle wheel aimed at the audience in front of the mouth rolling backward and tapping the lip a few times. Extremely understated. But what is that without a touch of histrionics? Too sterile. When I say the word "lonely" and such, you won't have to know sign to see what I'm on about, it will stick right out from a textbook version.

Illuninati said...

"As of today, Barack Obama’s presidency is half over. If that’s not enough to cheer you up..."

Perhaps. With a couple more appointments to the supreme court, perhaps Obama can be president for life just like Hugo Chavez.

Revenant said...

Libertarians who are feeling isolated and alone? Doesn't that come with the libertarian territory?

No, but ignorant people often think "doesn't want lots of government" means "doesn't like being around people".

We like being around people, just not in a master/servant relationship sort of way. :)