Please reconcile these things for me

[misanthrope]

In an online discussion about how respondents' political beliefs have or have not changed over time, I read the following:

"As I've gotten older I have become a libertarian. I am appalled at the lack of empathy and civility in our society."

Do those sentences not seem to work in opposition to each other?

[BannonsLiver]

1. Yes. Libertarianism and empathy cannot coexist.

Like most people who are libertarians, this person you're conversing with is confused.

[mucifer]

2. Yup! Libertarians only care about rights that pertain to gun ownership and weed.

Other than that they don't give a damn about anyone else's rights.

[radical noodle]

3. Perhaps their idea of libertarian

is to be civil no matter who one is talking to. White supremacist? A polite hello to you, sir. Tolerance of intolerance is the key.

[LisaM]

4. Well, I guess it would depend on where he started.

If the person had originally been a practicing neo-Nazi, that could be a shift to more empathetic values, but otherwise, I agree, I don't normally think of libertarians as being an empathetic lot.

[sandensea]

5. He/she doesn't realize most of today's Libertarians have a 'Lord of the Flies' concept of society.

What I'd tell that individual is, as Iñigo Montoya would put it:

[Iggo]

7. They used to say "independent."

"Libertarian" sounds neato, though.

[sandensea]

9. "We're Libertarians 'cause we stand for liberty," one of them once told me. "For freedom!"

"Sure," I replied. "If you can afford it - and that takes fuck'em-all money (i.e. $10-20 million, minimum)."

That usually shuts them up.

[Iggo]

6. Yes.

[SandyZ]

8. That made me laugh. Once again, someone jumping on board before educated.

[Leith]

10. Some People Often Ascribe Good Qualities to Themselves and Their Group

In spite of all evidence to the contrary. It sounds like this person collected some cool ones and decided that he/she had those qualities without bothering to find out what they really mean.

Some examples:
rethugs claim that they are moral, yet vote for creeps like Vitter, Trump, and Moore.
rethugs are pro-family - like South Carolina's Sanford.
rethugs are anti-abortion, just don't mention Scott DesJarlais.

[Caliman73]

11. Was that the extent of the comment?

It could be that the person is just a poor writer and stuck together two sentences that are not necessarily related. I suppose that I could be a libertarian and attempt to have civil discourse and have some empathy for people, and decry the state of our discourse.

Libertarians idealistically believe that disputes should be managed by individuals from a place of "enlightened self interest". The reality is that many Libertarians are such because they have monetary or social advantages and have a mentality of wanting to capitalize in those advantages to increase their power/wealth/advantage in other words, they are greedy.

There is no economic/political ideology that work in a pure form over a certain population, though most adherents will try to argue that theirs does. Human beings are too complex to be governed by one system. Society should have elements that foster welfare, productivity, empathy, order, and equity, and liberty; and sometimes those things are diametrically opposed to each other.

If however, the writer was specifically implying that Libertarianism is a mechanism that fosters empathy, then they are mistaken and the statements do not follow logically.

[misanthrope]

12. Well said.

Thanks for the post.