Anarcho-Hippies - A NH PorcFest report.

"diphenhydramine", "dextromethorphan"

I think I'll pass on your cough syrup, benadryl, and bathroom LSD (seriously...you can't make LSD that way. Perhaps she means LSA. Ask a chemist) Dr. Feelgood. Is this article serious? I wanted to go but these hippies who know nothing about drugs and who are drinking Lysol and banging bongos are turning me off very quickly. I can go to a high school party and get the same experience for free.
 
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I think I'll pass on your cough syrup, benadryl, and bathroom LSD Dr. Feelgood. Is this article serious?
It was leading to his sarcastic point here that the war on drugs has made it to where dangerous stuff like this, rather than a largely harmless plant is legal to purchase:

"So, there you have it. Now you know why bath salts exist and why people have begun to start eating people's faces. Another big win for the War on People... err, Drugs. And, what is the solution to this travesty? Let's get the government to ban bath salts! That should fix everything."
 
Hopefully next year doesn't include bathroom LSD and hippies. If there's one thing I can't stand...it is hippies.

The thought of them there playing drums, selling bathroom LSD and anti-histamines, sounds like it would ruin the good times. The author is also clearly a drug noob. I laughed at him thinking dextromethorphan (commonly found in every cough syrup on the shelves) sounded complicated. Try 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine or α-Methylfentanyl.
 
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Here's a nice little write up from the BitInstant guys' perspective:

PorcFest 2012 – BitInstant and the Bernanke Bitcoin Exchange

PorcFest (short for Porcupine Freedom Festival) is a week-long camping extravaganza put on each year by The Free State Project, an ambitious organization trying to move 20,000 liberty activists to the state of New Hampshire. PorcFest takes place on a large campground with hot showers, bathrooms, roads, meeting halls, and even a manicured grass field. It is camping-lite, but it makes a perfect environment for over a thousand liberty lovers to converge, drink, smoke, talk, laugh, argue, and show off their new semi-auto pistol accessories.
 
Would have loved to attend. Oh, well, next year perhaps. If you didn't go because some people made individual choices that you don't particularly condone..., well, that's your choice, but would you rather attend an event full of Statists, who happen to share your individual choices? You can smoke, inject, etc. all the drugs you want, and have sex with anyone you want, as long as you are philosophically sound I consider you a fellow traveler and friend.
 
Are there any Austrian Economics fans on this forum?



Bob Murphy continues into the next video by introducing and welcoming Adam Kokesh off the stage.


While Bob was the MC at the 2012 Porcfest Roast, he was a roaster in 2011. Here is a video of Bob roasting Stefan Molyneux last year.
 
As far as family friendly goes, PorcFest was damn good. Here's my short writeup: http://ronhelwig.com/blog/2012/jun/porcfest_2012_report

Thttp://ronhelwig.com/blog/2012/jun/porcfest_2012_reporthere were a lot of kids there, and lots for families to do. The main organizers have two small kids themselves, and there was always some sort of kid/family thing going on. One building was dedicated to that stuff. The Mullers built a really cool castle out of cardboard with arched entrances, corner towers, and an interior courtyard. The swimming pool was pretty much always occupied, and the playground got a lot of use.

Attendees were asked to be aware of families and to limit adult behavior to particular areas and times; and from what I saw pretty much everyone respected that. In other words, the hippies had their fun without spoiling it for others.

So don't feel like you have to miss out on the awesomeness of PorcFest just because you have kids. They'll have a great time and also get to experience being around freedom loving and conscientious adults.
 
Would have loved to attend. Oh, well, next year perhaps. If you didn't go because some people made individual choices that you don't particularly condone..., well, that's your choice, but would you rather attend an event full of Statists, who happen to share your individual choices? You can smoke, inject, etc. all the drugs you want, and have sex with anyone you want, as long as you are philosophically sound I consider you a fellow traveler and friend.

It's my individual choice to stay away from a bunch of jobless, dirty, hippies. Yes.

I'm more interested in attending an event with people who are intelligent and not making bathroom LSD. People who know what they are talking about and aren't described in this way:

She told us... well, my friend actually, that something about his aura had attracted her over to talk with us. She went on to talk about crystals, peace, love and energy, man.

Every night at PorcFest there is a bonfire and a certain subclass of anarchists seemed to gravitate to it like moths with their bongo drums, marijuana and hackey sacks... it's the anarcho-hippie! I didn't even know they existed much less having seen them in the wild but as I walked around the campground and saw many lying on the grass, peering up at the sky in deep thought with the crumbs of pot brownies bespeckling the corners of their mouthes

I smoke pot but that whole article just turned me off. Ugh

Not to mention how it was described by a first timer:

Between the cliquishness and rudeness of various attendees two strong activists who had bought one way tickets and planned on staying for a while to see if they wanted to make the move, have decided that NH is not for them...

I'll be going next year but I'll be staying far away from anyone with hackey sacks.
 
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Bottom line is that, in Hawai'i, when people asked me where I would live if not Kaua'i, I always said Penobscot Bay, (and then I found out about the political differneces between ME and NH so decided on Portsmouth.) While the FSP did play a role in the decision, my primary reasoning is beyond that... All politics is local.

I was just in the Penobscot Bay area last month after I spent the weekend hanging out with Ron Paul activists in Portland at the Leadership Institute event :) It is a great area. I've visited Maine over a half dozen times since moving to NH. It is a real easy drive from Portsmouth :)

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1 of the many Porcupine Islands in Frenchman Bay

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Penobscot Narrows Bridge is one of if not the tallest public bridge observatory in the world.

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Fort Knox, the Penobscot River and Bucksport, ME

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The Penobscot River leading into Belfast Bay and Penobscot Bay

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Young's Lobster Pound in Belfast, ME
 
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Some of you So-Cons are a huge liability for this movement...

As far as family friendly goes, PorcFest was damn good. Here's my short writeup: http://ronhelwig.com/blog/2012/jun/porcfest_2012_report

Thttp://ronhelwig.com/blog/2012/jun/porcfest_2012_reporthere were a lot of kids there, and lots for families to do. The main organizers have two small kids themselves, and there was always some sort of kid/family thing going on. One building was dedicated to that stuff. The Mullers built a really cool castle out of cardboard with arched entrances, corner towers, and an interior courtyard. The swimming pool was pretty much always occupied, and the playground got a lot of use.

Attendees were asked to be aware of families and to limit adult behavior to particular areas and times; and from what I saw pretty much everyone respected that. In other words, the hippies had their fun without spoiling it for others.

So don't feel like you have to miss out on the awesomeness of PorcFest just because you have kids. They'll have a great time and also get to experience being around freedom loving and conscientious adults.

+1 For the kid friendly info.

Bongo drums never hurt anyone; Some of you So-Cons are a HUGE liability for this movement, IMO.
 
I'm nowhere near being a social conservative and I was turned off by this.

I am interested in your concerns. I admit that late nights at Porcfest is not for everyone. Plenty of people stay in motels or hotels not located on the campground or at the motel in the campground for a variety of reasons.

What about 2 pro-liberty activists playing drums around a camp fire as far away from the tent camping area as possible turned you off?
 
What about 2 pro-liberty activists playing drums around a camp fire as far away from the tent camping area as possible turned you off?

I was turned off by the article too and I'm no so-con. It might just have been how this article was spun and the fact that we do have to deal with the stereotype that people are only interested in liberty in order to do drugs.

But, rhelwig's post above did the opposite for me. This year I couldn't make it and there wasn't any event/thing on the porcfest site that was enough to convince the better half that it was worth the drive up. -- even though NH is now officially on the maybe move to list. Maybe next year... if the mayans are wrong.
 
But, rhelwig's post above did the opposite for me. This year I couldn't make it and there wasn't any event/thing on the porcfest site that was enough to convince the better half that it was worth the drive up. -- even though NH is now officially on the maybe move to list. Maybe next year... if the mayans are wrong.

If you guys aren't the camping type, I recommend Liberty Forum over Porcfest. However, if you have kids I recommend Porcfest because of all of the family attractions and tourists stops in the area. A lot of the families that spend more than 2-3 days at Porcfest actually leave the site for a couple days and visit some of the many attractions. I also recommend a motel room or RV at Porcfest if you have kids.

If you or the better half have any questions, feel free to call me.
 
What about 2 pro-liberty activists playing drums around a camp fire as far away from the tent camping area as possible turned you off?

I think it is pretty obvious that it wasn't the drum playing that turned him off, i would hope that wasn't meant to just be a snark. He mentioned what bothered him in post #29 above.

I am glad to hear that the type of people described in the OP are not the majority or even obvious that they are around. I'd like to read some more write-ups from the family perspective. One doesn't have to be a so-con to not want to be around people high on or selling homemade drug concoctions. I'd also worry if I was the property owner, if that is what the event becomes known for -- even if not the reality -- with the RAVE legislation that steals property on the books.
 
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I think it is pretty obvious that it wasn't the drum playing that turned him off, i would hope that wasn't meant to just be a snark. He mentioned what bothered him in post #29 above.

It wasn't meant as a joke at all. I am sincere about this. Maybe it was because of the strange/funny description in the original article which was in fact a joke in many ways. Maybe it is because we are typing things are the internet instead of actually talking so it is often hard to understand how someone really feels about something :( That's why I like to talk about serious, important discussions related to Porcfest over the phone or in person as the communication is clearer and easier to understand.

I am glad to hear that the type of people described in the OP are not the majority or even obvious that they are around. I'd like to read some more write-ups from the family perspective. One doesn't have to be a so-con to not want to be around people high on or selling homemade drug concoctions. I'd also worry if I was the property owner, if that is what the event becomes known for -- even if not the reality -- with the RAVE legislation that steals property on the books.

If you have any questions about specific things which happened at Porcfest, I'm more than willing to answer any and all questions that I am able to answer.

There are a lot of different types of pro-liberty folks and many of those types attend Porcfest. The organizers tried to appeal to many of those types. The organizers also tried to appeal to new people (about 1/2 the events were designed for new people) and people who have been to Porcfest several times. It is quite a struggle to appeal to all of these groups while not offending people in the other groups, especially since liberty activists tend to be more disagreeable than average :)

As for high people, it is totally socially acceptable if you do not do drugs and do not want to be around people who do drugs. However, marijuana use is higher in NH than average and usually tolerated by most people, even if done in public at pro-liberty political rallies. NH also has the highest drinking rate in the US so just keep that in mind. At Porcfest, at night, there are likely to be some people smoking weed and getting drunk, especially around the parts of Porcfest where such people would gravitate like the rock concerts and big circle fire in the field. Of course, these areas are easy to avoid and people with kids (well, at least one of the parts) are almost certainly not going to be attending these events as they will be putting their children to bed and going to sleep.

As for Roger's Campground and Motel and RAVE legislation, I don't think that is really a problem as long as Porcfest has responsible organizers. In 2011, the organizer wasn't responsible about such things. He allowed people to openly sell alcohol and even advertise it. Of course, that violated a bunch of laws and the NH Liquor Commission pressured Roger's to not allow that in the future, so it didn't happen this year openly. Cops, at least, uniformed cops, don't show up at the event. It is a small town and there aren't any large towns anywhere around. Roger's is a major corporation as far the the town goes and the local cops don't show up at Porcfest because the owner of Roger's doesn't want them there because the FSP doesn't want them there.
 
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I dabbled in the hippy scene as a teenager, Phish and Dead and such. Before I knew what the word "coercion" even meant. They may be dirty and druggy, but on the whole they know how to behave around kids. Of course the exception to the rule is what people always hear about, when one irresponsible dude gets too f'd up too early in the day and unwittingly does something inappropriate. But by and large if I had a kid I'd feel much more comfortable around a bunch of spaced out hygienically challenged hippies than in any normal urban environment. In fact those pics and videos remind me a lot of that scene even without the stereotypical hippies. Maybe a few more hippies can help balance out the hormone ratio there too...
 
Another write-up of Porcfest. This one is from Shire Silver and includes a ton of links so go ahead and read it in full at this link, http://shiresilver.com/newsletter/2012/porcfest_2012_agorist_extravaganza

PorcFest 2012 - Agorist Extravaganza!
http://shiresilver.com/newsletter/2012/porcfest_2012_agorist_extravaganza

Here are the sections covered in the write-up:
Agorism in Action
More Media Exposure
Awesome Networking
Great Entertainment
Wrapping up PorcFest

BTW, if you weren't at Porcfest you didn't see this hilarious homemade ice cream board :) I know, I know, the text is too small to see but maybe you shouldn't have missed Porcfest? Maybe someone has a larger photo...
icecreamsign_0.jpg
 
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Here are excerpts from another write-up of Porcfest.

Reflections on Porcfest 2012
By Rushford On 06.30.2012
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2012/06/30/reflections-on-porcfest-2012/

This year marked my third Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a little place where people can live just a little bit (or perhaps a lot) freer than when confined to the normal, i.e., violent and coercive, world of the state.

At Porcfest, it’s wonderful to see so many parents willing to emancipate their children from thoughtless instruction. To these intrepid individuals, I say thank you. You are at the front lines of growing the philosophy of freedom organically and leaving the roots of tomorrow’s ideas and activists firmly planted today.

Every year I go to New Hampshire and see my friends and the countryside, I think to myself, “This is how we do it. We become free by being free.” An Aristotelian notion that I subscribe to fully.

I’ve met the children of early movers, and they embody that which we are trying to achieve. Their beliefs were not wrought by syllogism, for their natural inclinations to the fairness in equality of liberty had not yet been perverted and were instead nurtured by the hard work of their parents. Children, who should be the product of love, are symbolic of life, progress, and the unbreakable belief that if we fight we may leave them a free world. This, and so much more, is what Porcfest means to me.

This is why I am going to move to New Hampshire and work to establish a community based on consent rather than coercion. Statists always ask, “But what message would it send to our children if we didn’t pass this law?” To which I respond, “What message does it send that we cage people for own our vulnerabilities and vanity rather than any violence they’ve perpetrated?”

I’m going to move to New Hampshire to create a world where stupidity, control, violence, and wrath melt away in a crucible of reason and true altruism that does not consist in being the better person by striking down violently all whom I deem worse.

Porcfest and the Free State Project make me believe such a world is not only possible, but lies dormant in the hearts of free people everywhere waiting to be built and nourished by their sweat and toil. I intend to make the move in 2014. How about you?
 
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