We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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George Clooney has a private spy satellite over Sudan This is old news to some but new to me, and to the Huffington Post, judging from their headline. I had thought Clooney to be the standard Hollywood “liberal”, looking down from a lofty height on the barbarians below. Instead he is looking down from a lofty height on one particular barbarian below in order to deter him from atrocities and warn his potential victims. Cool.
Next stop, armaments.
Which might get hairy, given that some private individuals and nearly all states of the satellite-owning classes are prone to think of themselves as gods already, even without the power to strike down malefactors from the heavens.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Seeing as such situations will always get hairy regardless, I’d rather these things be done by private individuals and not the states.
“Police shoot down protestors’ drone” (from Turkey in June) was an interesting headline, too.
I’m no fan (far from it) of Clooney’s politics, but in this instance I have to give him kudos. He’s actually putting his money where his mouth is, using his own resources (and celebrity) to document and oppose governmental atrocities. This is private action at its finest.
Clooney has been admirably consistent on the Sudan issue, so fair play to him for that. Like Laird, I don’t like some of his politics, but he seem to have a level of moral seriousness which can only be applauded. And yes, it is his own money.
There are other “Hollywood liberals” I had a lot of time for, such as the late Paul Newman.
My “Cool” may have come across as dismissive, when I genuinely meant it in an admiring way. Both admiring of the serious purpose and of the fact that Mr Clooney either thought of doing this himself or was open to the idea when it was suggested to him. Now that’s what I call being an early adopter!
Thanks for the reminder of Jenk’s drone, Michael. I had actually thought of posting about it when I read of those demonstrations, but forgot. People have done similar things before with model aircraft, but it’s getting easier and easier.
Given that the Guardian link states that they were able to warn a village of an impending attack, and allow them to flee, he’s probably already saved lives.
All credit to the man.