Libertarians don't believe in either subsidising or censoring cultural activity, so for libertarians it often doesn't matter what they personally think about any particular cultural object or enterprise. Good or bad, it should neither be encouraged nor prohibited by the political process. So long as you don't infringe against the rights of others, you can enjoy "culture" any way you like, or in no way at all.

For collectivists on the other hand, the goodness or badness of a particular cultural enterprise is a burning issue, because the collective must decide what sort of culture to encourage or discourage. So, they talk about culture a lot.

The result is that libertarians often appear philistine, shallow and one-dimensional, while collectivists can seem far more cultured and attractive.So, we libertarians ignore culture at our peril.

Until he recently stepped down, Brian Micklethwait was the Editorial Director of the Libertarian Alliance, for whom, from the early nineteen eighties onwards, he edited several hundred publications. He wrote several dozen of these himself, applying libertarian principles to a wide variety of subjects, theoretical and practical, political, philosophical and cultural. He now spends his libertarian time writing for weblogs, notably Samizdata.net and his two personal blogs, on culture and education.

Date
Monday
15 March 2004
19h00-21h00

Location
L'Arlequin
43 rue Froissart
Brussels

The CNE Parliamentary Assistants' Forum is Brussels' leading venue for "free beer, free pizza and free trade". It also provides an environment for like-minded PAs to meet and network.

Space is limited, so please notify the Events Coordinator
if you'll be coming this month!