[VIDEO] Libertarian ASMR

What is Libertarian ASMR?

A little over a year ago I stumbled onto a genre of videos for “ASMR.”  The acronym stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, which is the sensation you get of zoning out, or getting chills, or tingles on the back of your neck, or you just plain melt in relaxation after staring at a pattern or hearing certain soft tones and sounds.  ASMR is an excellent medium for stress relief by taking on a state of mind similar to meditation.

A scientific explanation describes ASMR as

a neologism for a perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli. The nature and classification of the ASMR phenomenon is controversial. Tom Stafford, a professor at the University of Sheffield, says, "It might well be a real thing, but it's inherently difficult to research.

ASMR is wildly popular and there are hundreds, perhaps thousands by now, ASMRtists making videos on YouTube.  More than a few dozen of these quasi-meditation artists have enjoyed millions of views and tens of thousands of subscriptions.  ASMR is obviously a growing subculture.

For those in the ASMR community not familiar with libertarian philosophies, libertarian economist and philosopher Murray Rothbard describes the concept as such:

The fundamental axiom of libertarian theory is that no one may threaten or commit violence ("aggress") against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another.  In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.

I’ve argued for a while now that libertarians need to inject libertarian ideas into popular culture.  In light of this, I thought it would be a valuable venture to bring libertarianism to the growing world of ASMR.  I’ve made the first of what will be a series of videos where the viewer can listen, relax, and take in libertarian ideas.  This is a way for not-yet-libertarians to explore ideas perhaps outside their comfort zones but in a warm and positive manner, free of heated debates and nasty arguing.

Please like the video and subscribe if this is a project you believe in.  Furthermore, our foothold into this popular sub-culture will be stronger if other libertarians join me.  Libertarian and paleo-conservative women are needed as well; female ASMRtists are much more popular [and successful] at this than males, and they’ll be more successful with swaying people in favor of free markets, sound money, and voluntary association.  We’ll need to adopt successful strategies for winning as many new minds for liberty as possible.

Frankly, I’m incredibly excited to be able to branch out into new artistic directions and make my small contribution to expanding and strengthening libertarian culture.

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Quote about ASMR courtesy of Wikipedia. ASMR infographic courtesy of Expression College blog "That ASMR Feeling." http://students.expression.edu/thatasmrfeeling/. YouTube video property of this blog owner.