GoodShow

Regarding Tromsø, It is true that i only dealt with the nature of the place, and may have not clearly made the overarching point: that Tromsø is in fact worse than many other places in Europe. It has a very peculiar nature that even Norwegians regard with suspicion. All the ex-pats (naturally) clung together and many of the detractors thought it was a more repressive place than others they had lived in Europe. This is only subjective, however Norway (and esp. the North) is very proud of being 50 to 100 years behind the rest of the world. Their nationalism is amazing. There is a social code in the country that is written and taught in schools. It is probably the most blatantly evil document of collectivist thought after the Communist Manifesto. It (Jante låven) is a list of ten commandments denying the individual and is held in as high regard as the usual ten. Because of its isolation, the north holds on more firmly to this doctrine than other parts of the country. Tromsø is more predatory and pernicious than most paces in Europe. Although me and the town have a history, it boils down to this: it's just worse. -GS

As to the best place in Europe, it would NOT be Tromsø. I have no idea what the taxes are like, granted, but i lived there for three years and can assure you it is no place for an Objectivist, because it is as near communistic as it gets in Norway. After all, they are not that far from the Russian border and it was Stalin's troops that "liberated" that part of the world from the Nazis. That might have been way back when, but history has a way of not going away up there. Economically, they may not try to kill you, but socially is another story. Thats why they are a socialist country, because they control very effectively by social means. If this does not make sense to anyone, i suggest reading AR's "We the Living" as a perfect illustration of the cohesion that is mandated and upheld in such societies by intimidation and force. (Look esp. at how the Party members are made to behave.) The entire place is run by graft and pull, the players constantly shifting and trading status and allegiances. This is what Cherryl Taggart in "Atlas Shrugged" called "the goo." The only objective standard by which you will be judged there is that you are a foreigner, and (maybe) an American foreigner (which comes off as worse), and if you are an Objectivist, they will treat you the same way the Soviets treated the "socially undesirable." I'm quite sorry that this is a bit rambling, but i think that Tromsø would be a less than ideal choice.

Thanks! And i'll be sure to stay positive.

Hello. Yes, i grew up in a people's republic, and it has wreaked havoc on me as an individual. Luckily, for the past four years i've been living in the US, which has slowly enabled me to deprogram myself of the self-abasing dogma that i needed to adopt to survive. (Oi, the contradictions in that). I've understood the basic principles of Objectivism, but constantly find new places and ways to apply them. It still hasn't sunk in on the emotional level much, but its getting there. Please bear with me. I'll being going off to college in the fall, so I'm still young and can 'save' myself.

Hey there, I'm new too, and a teen (18). I'm an artist of a different sort, i love photography and writing short stories and other prose. My ideal of art (roughly based) on AR's fiction writing is the same, in that is should show a coherent, challenging and heroic tale told as it should be, and the philosophy of the whole intertwined to create a depth not easily found nowadays. I believe in art that shows through example how life should be, not how it is. [edit for silly spelling mistake]

I would venture to say that we hold on to abstract concepts and ideals as a manifestation of our ambition and our goals. Often what we are after can't be explained in concrete terms (as in wanting a house in the Hamptons), but a more general sense of accomplishment that is defined by our ability to reach our desired life-style. Having this abstracted into a concept is useful for fulfilling it, because the more you visualize (or in general think about) a goal, the quicker it will come forth from your short term memory, and help you decide if a specific action is going to help you reach this goal or not. Basically I'm trying to argue that people use them as road maps to help themselves remember where they are going. This is what i believe was the point of asking "what do you want out of life?" If you know what you want, you are more able to get it, and that idea can be abstracted, so you can easily reference it when making a decision. For the same reason we cling to virtues - those behaviors that you think make you able to reach your goal - are hardwired in, so we will be reminded enough to abide by them. As for the actual topic of this thread, i'm very glad you are so diligently trying to improve yourself. I am starting from a somewhat similar position and find it enlightening to hear honest discussion on this. I'm happy for you.

Arguing with nihilists is mostly futile, but i like it anyway, maybe because I'm argumentative? My personal way to argue with nihilists, is to agree with them, which is more deadly for them than anything i've tried otherwise. I see nihilists as promoting that nothing can be conclusively known, it doesn't exist for sure. i. e. how do we know A = A, if we can't trust our judgment. So i agree, and say that they can't know anything, especially that they don't know anything, and hence are irrelevant to any informative debate. If they persist in talking to you, next step is to ask them if they exist. They might doubt it, so pinch them on the arm (so they can really feel it). Tell them that not only do they exist, and you exist, but they can know things, because they just yelped at the knowledge your pinch hurt. It might not hurt to explain this to them(no pun intended), but if you are sick to your stomach after this episode, just turn and walk away. It might be considered initiation of force, but most people learn best by example.