Rat, a lot of people are throwing around the metaphor/parable of the Barstool Experiment in ways that, in some instances, are quite different from each other.
For me, I think Cram might have it right. While I'm no stranger to debates that spiral up and out of the realm of the practical into the fantastic, lately I've had little time for pretentious shits who think they have "the answer" to whatever problem there might be in this world, but would only be effective if the world were an entirely different place to begin with.
For example, I was recently in a debate with a guy who claimed everything wrong with society was the fault of the Federal Bank Reserve system. He claimed that the evils of the world would vanish if we would abolish it. He then went on about how he'd set up a new system based upon the freemarket, and meritocracy, etc.
When he was done, all I asked was, "so, how do you suggest to bring down a system that has it's roots deeply entwined with the very structure of our society, without making every other social institution collapse as well?"
He closed his mouth, and slunk away. That, for me, is a Barstool.