Apologies, let me explain.
At the fringes of Libertarianism is NAP, I'm sure you are aware of it? Some take NAP to mean that only
coercion, should be illegal. Now, I admit when I began the argument I didn't understand the distinction some were making when discussing the difference between exploitation, or even extortion when compared to coercion, after all they are very similar on often used interchangeably with perhaps one being a more extreme version of the other. It seems that only coercion is persuasion by implicit force, there are as many as 3 people in this thread that I suspect believe that exploitation, even under the most extreme duress, should not be illegal, as long as the person doing the exploiting had nothing directly to do with the situation they find another person in (example below). They admit its immoral, but don't believe it the job of government to enforce morality, unless the immoral act employs the explicit use of force because the only time aggression is warranted, is when someone else aggresses against you.
I've given a simple example in this thread of coming upon a person in a deep hole unable to escape without help, desperately pleading to throw down a rope already at the top of the hole conveniently bound to a tree in an area one would be very fortunate to run across another person. There is at least 1 person, likely 3 in this thread that believe that it should be legal to exploit the situation however they can and if they do not like the terms, or the person in the hole has nothing to offer, they shouldn't be legally expected to help, no matter how minimal the effort required and no matter the fate they leave the person in the hole to.
The context begins with
this exchange where I use a more explicit example, or if you want to go back further,
there is this comment, that says that it should be ok to price gouge for an essential like water after a natural disaster. You can follow the conversation if you want hear the justification.
It's pretty gross what people say they stand for, as I doubt many live the courage of their own convictions.
And to be clear, I'm not painting every Libertarian with this brush, though I think that most forms of Libertarianism cannot compete, all other things being equal, with any society sounded on more egalitarian principles. And I say that as someone who, when taking the most well recognized political compass test (I can't remember what it's called), I end up almost smack dab in the middle, ever so slightly to the libertarian left. I believe that exploitation and it's harm are generally worse when there is a power dynamic between parties in a negotiation. In the real world, I suspect you'd likely agree that extortion (an extreme form of exploitation) is the result of a extreme imbalance in the power dynamic between individuals or groups and is every bit as harmful, if not more so because unlike force, it is much easier to disguise exploitation and extortion.
-Cheers
