Big Think: Penn Jillette- 'On Libertarianism, Taxes, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Weed'

Source:Big Think- Comedian Penn Jillette, explaining his own libertarianism.

"Take a deep breath, you're in for a ride. Here is Penn Jillette on Libertarianism, taxes, Trump, Clinton, Sanders, Gary Johnson, sex, drugs and Kurt Cobain. Jillette's latest book is "Presto!:  How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales"

Watch the video at Big Think

Penn Jillette, is a Libertarian, because he doesn't believe he's smart enough to make decisions ( I'm guessing not including his own children ) and that no one else is qualified to make decisions for other people. And that other people aren't qualified to make other decisions for other people. I'm paraphrasing, but that's pretty close.

He also said that the way he looks at his own libertarianism, is that he's Right on taxes and Left on sex. Basically saying that he's right-wing ( let's say ) on economic policy and very liberal on personal freedom. 

I as a Liberal ( or Classical Liberal, if you prefer ) I'm also in complete agreement with Penn Jillette and the people that I at least would call mainstream Libertarians ( if there are such people ) when it comes to personal freedom and most economic policy issues.

I don't want government telling people who they can hire and fire. Who they can promote and demote. Give raises or salary cuts. I don't want taxes and regulations on private businesses and organizations should be so high, that it makes it almost impossible for them to stay in business, just because you as some collectivist ( Socialist or otherwise ) believes that you and big government are smart enough to know what's best for everyone else and that people are essentially too stupid to manage their own lives. 

And of course if you're very familiar with this blog you know don't just claim to be pro choice, because we support private choice on abortion and that gays should have the same freedom as straights, and perhaps marijuana, but we're 100% pro choice on everything. Short of someone hurting an innocent person with what they're doing.

If someone wants to smoke marijuana to the point that they're so high that they're see flying elephants flying over skyscrapers in Wichita, Kansas, ( you would have to be higher than a skyscraper to see that ) that's their business. Just don't expect to bail them out when they find themselves in jail, for getting into a bar fight because they thought the bartender grabbed their ass. And don't expect me to except: "the marijuana made me to it excuse" either.

If people want to gamble their life savings away at the casino, that's their business. Just don't expect taxpayers to bail them out when they're not not just broke, but out of a job, because they lost all of their money at the damn casino, when they were supposed to be working. If guys want to screw each other, wear dresses, makeup, speak with higher voices than their mothers and marry men, that's their business. Just don't force me to approve of what they're doing. If women want to bang each other, play professional football, be dykes on bikes, and speak with deeper voices than their fathers, wear crewcuts, that's their business. Just don't expect me to approve of it.

And I could go on to paying for sex, buying, making, and viewing adult films, going to strip joints, owning strip joints, running strip joints, and being paying customer at a strip joint, just as long as I  and no other taxpayer is forced to subsidize these personal choices, or bail people out when they make bad decisions. I don't drink alcohol, smoke anything, or use any other narcotic, but like Penn Jillette I don't believe I'm qualified to make those decisions for others. And I sure as hell know that government isn't qualified to make those decision for others as well.

To paraphrase Michael Douglas from The American President, well to paraphrase President Andrew Shepard: ( Michael Douglas's character in TAP ) America is a tough place and you have to want it bad, because it's going to put up a fight. And he was talking about free speech someone I''m also bit of a radical on, but you could apply that speech to personal freedom in general, because even though all of us are free to make our own decisions, so is everyone else that is around us. So you might personally approve of the way you're living, people around you might and vice-versa. But again, who is more qualified to make these decisions for us: the individual who knows themself the best, or government? How you answer that question is where you fall when it comes to your beliefs in individual freedom. 

Big Think: Kurt Anderson- 'Why America Confuses Fantasy For Reality- Celebrity, Hollywood & Disneyland'

Source:Big Think- Newsflash for unfortunately a lot of Americans: Fantasy Land is not the real world.

"The start of the 20th century was the birth of a strange new reality in the United States. The advent of the moving image, of Hollywood and sudden celebrity, caused a quantum shift in how Americans thought about the experience of life. Actors were elevated to the status of superheroes and demigods, and those left in the obscurity of the masses began to desire that elusive privilege: fame. But where America really went haywire, author Kurt Andersen explains, is when the cult of celebrity and the cult of capitalism merged: it was the opening of Disneyland in 1955. A bizarre reality where advertising met animation. You could buy real wares, from fake characters, in real stores, with make-believe themes. "What happened in Disneyland... did not stay there," says Andersen. From Mickey Mouse all the way to the White House, Anderson doesn't find it at all surprising that Americans might have a hard time telling what's true from what's false. He calls it the fantasy-industrial complex, and it might just be America's beautifully branded nightmare. Kurt Andersen's new book is Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History."

Source:Big Think

Source:Brainy Quote- Actress Katherine Hepburn: with a great quote 

I guess I have a different take on this even though I agree with most of what Kurt Anderson is saying here and my broader point is about what's called reality TV ( even though there's almost nothing that's actually real about it ) and Hollywood in general. ( Speaking of reality TV ) 

Kate Hepburn and you can see her quote up here, has a great quote on life: "life is hard. After all, it kills you." The name of the person who also has a great quote on life escapes me right now, but he said that life is basically hard and most of it is negative, etc, and that we should try to take advantage of it.

And I agree with most of that, but lets we had to live without any entertainment and no escapes from realty whatsoever: how much more difficult would life be then? The reason why America has the largest entertainment industry in the world, ( also known as Hollywood ) is the same reason why we have what's called reality TV ( which is actually tabloid TV, which is very different )  life is hard and we all need those escapes from reality and to just be able to chill and not think about reality for a few hours during the day.

And for some people they need more than that and for others they can afford that:

Imagine a so-called reality TV show that was actually reality TV and actually showed what everyday life was like for these so-called celebrities: ( and in some cases wannabe celebrities )

What work was like for them, what their family life was like, what breakfast and dinner was like, we got to see them picking up their kids from school or dropping them off, that we got to see all of these things and not just two women swearing at loud at each other and calling eacb other horrible people and having public fights, that we got to see all the mundane in their life that almost every other American goes through in life: how fast would the ratings on the Housewives shows on Bravo plummet if they were actually reality TV and now just all the drama that they want to show us in order to drive ratings? And in many cases preplanned drama where the producers actually encourage these so-called real people to act out.

Life for a lot of people is tough and in many cases boring, at least compared with what life is supposed to be like for these so-called reality TV stars. And as a result you get a lot of people who want to be like their favorite so-called celebrities: who act out like them, talk like them, eat the same food, have the same pet nicknames for their friends, associates, family, etc, shop at the same stores, ( if they can afford it ) eat at the same restaurants, ( if they can afford it ) drink the same coffee, ( if they can afford it ) style their homes the exact same way as their favorite so-called celebrities, ( if they can afford it ) try to live the exact same lives as their favorite so-called celebrities, ( if they can afford it ) and not just follow them on their favorite social media sites.

And Hollywood movies and TV where there are actual professional actors involved like comedies and dramas, people consume these shows and movies for the exact same reasons as tabloid TV and sports for the same reasons, because they want even if it's just a 2-4 escape for their actual reality, they feel they need that and in many cases might actually need all of this fantasy in their lives if life really sucks that much for them.

If the average American was a celebrity, then they wouldn't need so-called reality TV in their lives and the rest of Hollywood: but if the average American was famous, then no one would be famous, because we would just be like some small town in the middle of nowhere that's days trip away from the nearest big city, where everyone knows each other. 

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