"Libertarian" is just another word for "nerd"

Eric Raymond of the "Armed and Dangerous" Weblog writes:

I'm an individualist anarchist. In most peoples' books that would qualify me as a "doctrinaire libertarian". I got reminded why recently by watching a Babylon 5 episode, the 4th-season one in which Sheridan is interrogated by an EarthGov psychologist who uses torture, isolation, and drugs, to try and break him. But more frightening than the torture is the ideology that comes out of the interrogator's mouth; the command that truth is fluid and must bend to power; the disingenuous disclaimers of any responsibility for the hell Sheridan is being put through; and beneath it all like a constant drumbeat, the seductive invitation that if Sheridan will just surrender his will to the State, his pain will end.

Well, I am glad that his political philosophy is so heavily influenced by a syndicated television. I mean, the only basis for your political beliefs better than a 3rd rate sci-fi show is the internet or maybe drugstore paperbacks.