Seasteading is…totalitarian?

The latest newsletter from Joe Quirk, Communications Director of The Seasteading Institute reads:

Did you know that seasteaders are totalitarian?  So are Google co-founder Larry Page and humanitarian economist Paul Romer.  Apparently, our shared goal is to threaten basic German democratic rights, and we expect Germans to pay for it with their money, their freedom, and their very dignity.

At least that’s what “Best Male Human Brand 2013” Max Moor reported to his audience of millions on his TV show Titel Thesen Temperamente.

“… the gentlemen of Silicon Valley are…taking off into megalomaniac spheres of new worlds and new societies completely divorced from our real lives.  Except of course that we, the old-fashioned fans of democracy, have to pay for it – with our money, our freedom and our very dignity.”

This piece of yellow journalism was aired after producer at ARD German Television Audrey Stimson interviewed us, and TV journalist Joachim Gaertner edited a half-hour of interview down to a few mistranslated sentences, concluding:

“The vision of running whole societies like start-up companies suggests something totalitarian.  Even if they’re meant to be created far out on the ocean, they threaten our basic democratic rights even here.”

Let’s get real. Consider the political spectrum. At one extreme end is totalitarianism. Now look at the opposite end of the political spectrum. That’s where the seasteading community resides.

If you want to hear more about this zany story, check out our blog. We happen to have Joachim’s interview questions and our answers we prepared ahead of time, which he didn’t use in his hit piece. Then you can decide:

What’s the great threat to democracy? Floating islands or journalists that lie?

Have fun,
Joe Quirk, Communications Director
The Seasteading Institute