Fine Young Cannibals

April 20, 2009 by Dale Everett
Filed under: News, Personal Freedom, Response

I would like to thank Phillip Bantz for the front page article in the Sentinel covering activists in Keene. I would also like to offer some clarification as I feel much of the article can be confusing taken out of context of certain facts. If you aren’t familiar with Free Keene, here are a few points you should be aware of when you read the article.

The controversial “Free Town Project” website, as I understand it, was never a group project but rather the brainchild of a single individual, an anti-social internet troll, seemingly with a bizarre obsession with cannibalism and bestiality, and that individual never moved to New Hampshire and as the article points out, was in fact banned from any association with the FSP.

The Free State Project is simply a promotional project to encourage those who love liberty to move to New Hampshire. What those people do when they get here is up to each individual.
Free Keene is not associated with the Free State Project though there are a number of free staters who are active within it, so some confusion is understandable. Though a number of free staters are active participants of Free Keene, it’s a local voluntary organization which encourages peaceful participation by anyone in Keene who loves liberty, and in fact many locals are doing just that.
Point in fact, bright young Free Keene blogger, Nick Ryder, is a life-long resident of Keene; not a free stater, so it can be confusing that he is being interviewed in an article focusing on free staters. I suspect Nick was under the impression that the article was going to focus on Free Keene activities.

I don’t want to speak for Nick, and I’m sure he’ll want to expand on that bizarre out of context quote on cannibalism in his own way, but I would like to offer this broader perspective. First bare in mind that at the root of the voluntaryist philosophy is a sincere opposition to violence as a means of addressing society’s ills. Many voluntaryists see violence as destructive and harmful, and therefore an absolute last resort to only be used in response to an aggressive act of violence. A few may even be total pacifists and are even opposed to the use of violence for self defense, and they may take that point of view all the way to their own graves. To a voluntaryist, when you suggest making a certain non-violent activity “illegal”, what that means is you are suggesting that violence be used against the people who engage in that activity. Though one may oppose that violent response, it says nothing about what we personally feel about the activity itself and whether it’s good or bad. In honor of Nick, a devout Christian who I’m confidant does not advocate either cannibalism or bestiality, I present the following for sake of analogy.

Two people, a Catholic and a Baptist, have both agreed that fornication is a sin. Now imagine this exchange.

The Catholic asks the Baptist, “Do you think a person should confess to a priest to gain absolution for the sin of fornicating?”

The Baptists answers “No, that would not be an effective method for absolving a person of his sin of fornication.”

“Aha! Baptists advocate fornication!” shouts the Catholic.

He then tells all his Catholic friends about this outrageous viewpoint of Baptists regarding fornication. The reality is that they both agree about the issue of fornication. What they don’t agree on is the much broader issue of how to deal with sin. Fornication is merely a straw man being used to demonize someone the Catholic disagrees with on a broader issue.

I hope in the future that if the Sentinal decides to cover liberty activism in Keene, that it will tap into the wealth of resources right here at Free Keene to find out what many of the activists here are all about. I suspect that if you did a search for the word “cannibalism” on the Free Keene website, that at least up to now, this would be the only post that comes up. Free Keene activists seem to me a lot more concerned with issues such as civil liberties, property rights violations, and greater transparency in Keene’s justice system.

Comments

16 Comments on Fine Young Cannibals

Mike on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 12:20 pm

An excellent, calm, objective, accurate, kind article. Thanks.

Paul on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 12:28 pm

Good job, and I like your analogy

Jitgos on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 12:35 pm

Great blog post!

I don’t recall ever even hearing one person involved in the liberty movement discuss cannibalism. I’m not saying it hasn’t been philosophically addressed because I’m sure it has, but it’s not something on the forefront of people’s minds.

With all of the relevant and important issues that could have been discussed to pick out cannibalism as an issue just seems overly sensational.

Anyone trying to make a correlation between the FSP and cannibals are disingenuous at best. Nick isn’t even a free stater. He’s a native as the article points out. So I guess people from NH promote cannibalism. Ridiculous.

smeg on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 12:59 pm

so after reading this article, and commenting on it, i (in a rare ‘just for the heck of it’ moment) “rated” the article (with a one star, cause zero wasn’t an option), which made its rating 2.8 out of 16 votes.

after going outside for a bit, i came back in and reopened the article to see the new comments on the article, and i noticed that although there were new comments on the page, the rating was now: 2.9 out of 15 votes.

not saying anything conspiracy wise, but just found it odd.

Markus on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 1:12 pm

Bizarre out of Context Canniabilism comment for sure. Can’t help but wonder if was some secret bosses’ input/attack.

All to make it “sound” like the people associated with the FSP like to Eat other People, (with cheese and extra mayo please!). No kidding?!

So the Liberty Activists associated with the FSP don’t dream about eating other people? OK, that’s good to know, so when I go to my next FSP Cook Out, I won’t have to worry about being BBQed and served as the main course.

Tom on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 2:30 pm

The Free Lunch Project just did a follow-up flash sotry on the wonderfully investigative Pam Martens article. I approve whole-heartedly. My name links to it. You Free Staters really need to be driven out by any means necessary…

Paul on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 3:08 pm

Lol, Tom, that is pure brilliance

Puke on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 3:56 pm

That’s some fine journalism right there.
Did Mr. Bantz attend the North Korean school of propaganda or something?

Zeus on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 5:14 pm

What I find most amusing about Dale’s post is that 99% of the elderly busybodies and ignorant bureaucrats reading it won’t comprehend the humor in the title.

Darian on Mon, 20th Apr 2009 6:18 pm

“Pam K. Martens, a Westmoreland writer who spent 21 years covering free market capitalism on Wall Street…”

Must have covered that free market pretty deep, because you won’t find it on Wall Street.

Michael Hampton on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 1:07 am

Being well versed in the art of writing biased stories and making them look unbiased, I am never surprised to see one. I read them all the time, after all. I was quite surprised by the wildly veering tangent into cannibalism, though as a matter of sensationalism it certainly worked. I am disappointed that he only spoke to Jason Sorens and not any other FSP official who is actually here in New Hampshire, such as the president, who lives right here in Keene, and actually isn’t Ian.

Zeus on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 1:16 am

“All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced upon them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.” –H.L. Mencken

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” — A.J. Liebling

zackbass on Mon, 27th Apr 2009 3:35 pm

Amazing. The author gives a lucid account of the difference between opposing the use of Force and Punishment for an activity and actually ADVOCATING that activity; yet he also writes this about the owner (me) of the FreeTown web site that opposes the use of Force against victimless acts like cannibalism between consenting adults:

“… an anti-social internet troll, seemingly with a bizarre obsession with cannibalism and bestiality,”

Jeez man, you have just done what you show to be illogical!

dalebert on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 3:10 pm

“… an anti-social internet troll, seemingly with a bizarre obsession with cannibalism and bestiality,”

> Jeez man, you have just done what you show to be illogical!

Hardly. I understand you want to talk about how there can be no crime without a victim, but those are horrible examples for a “such as” statement. Your social skills seem truly lacking. When you meet a girl’s parents, do you make a point of mentioning “I’m going to be having sex with your daughter tonight” ? It might be technically accurate, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good conversation starter.

Zeus on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 5:52 pm

When you meet a girl’s parents, do you make a point of mentioning “I’m going to be having sex with your daughter tonight” ? It might be technically accurate, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good conversation starter.

That would depend on how you’re defining the word “good”.

zackbass on Thu, 30th Apr 2009 6:53 am

“… those are horrible examples for a “such as” statement.”

WRONG!
The State rarely infringes upon “nice” behavior. When we discuss Free Speech we cite Larry Flynt, not alt.cuddle.

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