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11-15-2006, 3:22 PM Jaq Phule Joined on 11-15-2006 Posts 6 Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ...   Is there anyone home? There seems to be almost no activity on this board.  Is it LIVE? I read Ayn Rand a long time ago. It was a great way to start down the road of ideas. I wish I had dropped out of college and taken her stuff more seriously -- my education really didn't start until I was on my own. In one essay, Rand led me to Ludvig von Mises, who led me to Murray Rothbard, who led me to Lew Rockwell, who led me to more thinkers than I will ever be able to fully assimilate. I'm not an Objectivist -- it amuses me no end how much Objectivists squabble and "break" with each other, and split hairs over stuff that frankly only interests academics, some of the very people AR seemed to loathe. I am however an admirer of Objectivist thought. By training I am a scientist, and by practice I am an engineer and an entrepreneur (not necessarily at the same time); like AR I believe that all work is itself an act of philosophy. Unlike her, I believe that ivory tower philosophy, separated too far from some other discipline, is the realm of what AR might call "floating abstractions" -- ideas with no concrete or logical connection to reality. When this happens, you end up with gross generalizations that kill vital concepts. I see someone on this board arguing about implicit sanctions of anything and everything a group stands for if you publically agree with them on a single point. That's nuts, but it is the chief problem with "closed-system" Objectivists that are tearing the movement apart and giving their brethren a bad name. So if that is the case, why am I here at all? I've recently become interested in intellectual culture, more so than ever before. I've spent some time out on youtube, watching people talk that can't argue properly, reading and responding to people who don't seem to be able to connect their mouths with their brains, or their brains to anything other than Sean Hannity (if even that). I'm curious about what makes people tick. And so I've come here, to what is supposed to be the last bastion of intellectual discussion on earth (at least, if you take certain Objectivist rhetoric seriously) to see what, if any, significant differences live here. What constitutes intellectual self-defense from idiocy? Ignorance? Anti-conceptualization? Can such a skill be learned, and can it be taught? These are the questions that have put me here. Those, and also "WHERE ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE HIDING? POST SOMETHING ALREADY!"    Report

11-20-2006, 2:05 AM Andy_X69 Joined on 12-15-2005 Posts 75 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ...  Jaq Phule wrote:  I'm not an Objectivist -- it amuses me no end how much Objectivists squabble and "break" with each other, and split hairs over stuff that frankly only interests academics, some of the very people AR seemed to loathe. I am however an admirer of Objectivist thought. Believe me, Objectivist squabbling can be f**king hilarious. "Will the Secretary of Rational Relationships please note that X has morally denounced Y and broken all ties with Y's organization, joining Z's organization?" In many respects, Objectivists can moralize worse than the Southern Baptist Convention. I had an Objectivist friend that went to the ARI's conference, and they basically interrogated him on his unorthodox apperance, asking him "What would Ayn Rand say?" His response was "I dont care," which by the standards of Objectivism is the perfect response, but of course they banished him from their presence. All of this makes me laugh, the hypocrisy of so many "Objectivists" is just a bad comedy. Ahh well, as Nietzsche said, "the first adherents of a creed prove nothing against it." And its truly wonderful to see more 'Objectivist-friendly' non-Objectivists. Not only does it show that the cultural climate is becoming less hostile towards Objectivism, but it shows that people may not have to agree with us in toto to support us and embrace our work. In a way, I think that non-Objectivist admirers of Objectivism have senses of life that resonate with ours, maybe they are 'subconscious Objectivists' or those still 'reading Rand in the closet.' But in the end, I hope to see more pro-Objectivist non-Objectivists, its a most promising development. That's nuts, but it is the chief problem with "closed-system" Objectivists that are tearing the movement apart and giving their brethren a bad name. That is completely correct. The assumption that Objectivism is a cult is persisting due to closed-systemism, and if it isnt defeated it will destroy Objectivism, turning it into an insular and world-loathing group of paranoiacs staging regular witch-hunts. In the end, if the Cult of Lenny has its way, we will all be chugging Jonestown Coolaid.      Report

01-11-2007, 7:32 PM Aurorum Joined on 01-12-2007 Posts 1 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ... Greetings. The world is dying, but perhaps we can all live on a pacifist island.    Report

01-12-2007, 4:32 PM Clarence Hardy Joined on 01-09-2006 Posts 18 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ... I say Guam...but we'd have to get rid of the snakes!    Report

01-12-2007, 4:32 PM Clarence Hardy Joined on 01-09-2006 Posts 18 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ... I say Guam...but we'd have to get rid of the snakes!    Report

01-12-2007, 4:32 PM Clarence Hardy Joined on 01-09-2006 Posts 18 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ... I say Guam...but we'd have to get rid of the snakes!    Report

09-29-2007, 10:49 PM Felipe G. Joined on 09-30-2007 Posts 8 Re: Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here? Just nod if you can hear me ... Hello everybody! Long time since I last visited this forum, and just hope now I can spare more time to post here. Peace to all    Report

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