Groupies: "We Only Like Bloggers For Friends."

Ouch! Got myself schooled, but good, by one of the premier groupiescommenters @ Asymmetrical Information:

M.Bouffant wrote: Here's an idea: Get a couple of your "Blogger Army" friends to rent a truck & help you & your mother. Isn't that what libertarianism is all about, rather than cheating your employer w/ another "bleg," and relying on others to do your work for you?

Or, you could permit MM and her employer to be the sole judges of whether or not she is in violation of an employment contract negotiated solely between those two parties. Isn't that what libertarianism is all about, blah blah blah?

Seriously though, you probably don't need to worry about The Atlantic's blogging web resources. If they were interested in fishing out and elminating [sic] alleged petty bandwidth abuses, you and the rest of the FMM.blaughspot groupies would surely have received a complementary Italian boot-n'-bath treatment a long time before now.
Posted by anony-mouse November 5, 2007 10:35 PM

Yikes!! Neither a sense of humour nor of irony. But you'd need empathy to have a sense of humour, and I think irony requires intellect, or the ability to realize different points of view. (And a sense of humour.)

Oh, where to start? I don't believe I, in any way, shape or form, did not "permit MM & her employer, blah blah blah..." The only way I could interfere w/ that apparently sacred contract, as I'm not a stockholder or otherwise involved w/ The Atlantic, would be by a law suit, & as I'm not a stockholder, etc., I'd have no legal standing. I was "just sayin'," as they say. And I said "cheating your employer" because that's a popular libertarian refrain, which reflects the libertarian bias toward employers. (If I type, "Studio A wasted its money giving producer X & director Y the money to make this dog of a movie," am I interfering in the employment contract? So much for any criticism of anything done for profit or involving the exchange of money. And it there's no profit or money involved, it's "immoral," right? Now I'm truly getting glibertarian concepts.)

Employers, after all, are the "productive wealth creators" blah blah blah. Employers always negotiate employment contracts in good faith, & never from a position superior to the potential employee. And all "employment contracts" are negotiated, of course. Just ask any one at WalMart about their "contract."

Employees, on the other hand, are all layabouts, looking to get over on the boss, and in many cases the single largest expense of an employer, therefore by definition a dead weight on "wealth creation."

Does this attitude remind anyone of the Republican Party approach to voting irregularities? I. e., the big problem is voter fraud, especially as committed by individuals, but there's nothing wrong w/ voter suppression, as committed by, well, the Republican Party. Voting or employment, the problem is always the relatively powerless individuals, not a corporate entity or powerful individual business owner. In other words, anti-small "d"-democratic.

Nonny's second paragraph is pretty much over my head. I will point out that I wasn't concerned w/ electron usage at The Atlantic. Ms. McArdle should be judged on the quality of her output, not the bandwidth she's using. Although this "bleg" is the equivalent of using the 'phone at work for personal purposes, were your job to use said 'phone to further your employer's purposes. Fer cryin' out loud, "Do you know anyone trustworthy to help my mother move some stuff?" is water cooler conversation, not world wide web worthy!

As to calling us "groupies," if Nonny isn't obsessed w/ Megan, how'd s/he even hear of us, unless it was through sockpuppet Mindles H. Dreck? (Great name, by the way. Much cleverer than "anony-mouse.")

As it turns out, Mouse did refer to us at the house of Dreck. (Note to others: It's called "research," even if it's done on one's own site.)

And I've no idea what the "Italian boot-n'-bath treatment" is, although it does sound a bit fascist, doesn't it? Can any of you FMM.blaughspot groupies help us out here?

Is it one of these boots?

Is it the Italian version of Bed, Bath & Beyond?

brad adds:

Italian groupies in boots?
Fantastic.
Where?