Libertinism

From Jan 27, 2010:

 

NH:

What to make of Scott Brown? So far he's mostly a cipher. What I know is 1) he posed nude for Cosmopolitan, 2) his wife played in a music video ("The Girl With The Curious Hand") where she squeezed hard a tube of sunscreen (SQUIRT!) and 3) he pimped out his daughters in national TV.

 Some have compared him to Palin, and I say yes, both are clearly Libertines. I would include the well-known Christianist sexual hypocites as Libertines, but the difference is that Palin and Scott are naked and unashamed.

 Mind you, Scott and Palin too are absolute hypocrites, preaching the moralism that they do not practice; but for Libertines absolute hypocrisy is _part_ of the illicit thrill, not just a _defense_ of it.

The central principle of Libertine politics is the absolute freedom of the Libertine politician, including the absolute freedom of double-dealing. You may recall Bush's Medals of Freedom to his aides for messing up 9/11 and Iraq; there we see the Libertine principle of Freedom From Consequence.

 Libertinism works because the Left (what's left of it) dare not criticize hedonism, and the Right dare not criticize hypocrisy. Thus hypocritical hedonists have a free pass.

 

 BJ:

Your theory also explains, both from the left and right, their hypocrisy in criticizing their own on sex issues. You had Bush "doing it" with Conartista "I was talking with my husb- I mean the President last night" Rice, and none of the "right" media, groups, etc. criticized him. You had the spectacle not only of Gloria Steinem defending Bill Clinton against perjury concerning sexual harassment in a Federal case (which the Clinton Administration used against a woman doctor in a VA hospital to not only strip her of her medical and legal credentials but to put her in prison), but of the National Organization of Whiny Witless Women who gave a free pass to Les Moonves doing Julie Chen while he was still married and David Ledermann doing his entire female staff yet attacking CBS for getting ad revenue out of Focus on the Family using this poor NFL fellow who was nearly aborted.

 The Rise of the Libertines is now IMITATED by the right, but was begun long ago by the left.

 

 NH:

You note that there is self-serving bias all around. Noted. It is an age-old problem, practically axiomatic. But what I mean by Libertinism is neither unashamed and principled sexual libertarianism, nor walk-the-walk repression, nor even shamefully failed self-control masked by public scolding; I mean the combination of personal libertinism with public scolding without masking; absolute hypocrisy as a selling point. Anybody can be a hypocrite and be ashamed about it; it takes a certain something (or lack of something) to flaunt the contradiction.

As for who-started-it, like I said, ordinary sexual hypocrisy is age-old. What I see as innovative is the absoluteness of the hypocrisy; its complete and principled repudiation of all trace of principle; and I am sorry to say that lately in these United States, the Radical Right has been innovative indeed. With Palin and Brown it has arrived at its natural conclusion; Libertinism.

 

Libertinism 

    =  

maximum license for the Libertine politician +  maximum repression for the populace + absolute hypocrisy to blow off the difference.

 

Comment on June 25, 2021:

In retrospect, the above discussion foreshadowed Donald Trump’s Libertinism.