Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Hakarmaskannar

Regulars
  • Posts

    111
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Hakarmaskannar

  1. I'm not sure how recent the remarks are but I've just found them in a paper circulated around my workplace. Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of the South african President, made a comment regarding Foreign Aid that I wish the do-gooders involved with the West's Foreign Policies, and those who recently started their 'Make Poverty Hisory' campaign, would take notice of. He said,"The best way to keep Africans poor is to keep pumping in money from abroad. Aid has not only failed to end poverty, it has made African governments less accountable to their people because they do not need their taxes and therefore their consent. Foreign Aid has propped up corrupt and sometimes murderous elites: the same people who, the World Bank estimates, have smuggled around 39% of sub-Saharan Africa's private wealth out of the continent to invest abroad. Africans don't need money: they need the rule of law, opposition parties, decent civil services-and the know-how to run their own businesses." Now if only the altruists and guilt-mongers would take heed of a voice of reason who they can't denounce as a greedy, western capitalist.
  2. Just a quick note about the above references to the Star Wars series. I'd recommend http://www.the-undercurrent.com/index.php?p=/000039.html for an Objectivist perspective that I particularily enjoyed As for favourite scenes I'd have to say- Once upon a time in the west-setting the scene for final showdown by blending all three main characters' music. Gladiator-"Are you not ENTERTAINED?!" Troy-first(and quickest) fight scene. Zatoichi(by Takeshi Kitano)-introductory scene as gang tries to disarm Zatoichi. Aliens-Male to Female, "Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" Female's reply,"No;have you?" Pulp fiction-too many examples of dialogue to put in (And from my childhood)Transformers:the movie-Death of Optimus Prime Other than these some are already mentioned in above posts (definitely agree about Sam in RotK) Finally, just about any scene with Christopher Walken, Chow Yun Fat, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington or Anthony Hopkins.
  3. I'm glad about the reference to the wikipedia entry. Does anyone know if the hoaxers have any reference to Mr. Walken's true political beliefs or just put a confused, middle-of-the-road appeal to both sides platform together to make the site more convincing?
  4. Oops...just noticed this forum for introductions so, even though I've posted a few times already, I'll do a quick intro. I'm 33 years of age and have only been reading Ms Ayn Rand's books for a year, though I have been reading Terry Goodkind (an Objectivist author of fantasy) for 9 years now. I live in England, though I'm originally from Northern Ireland, and I work as a prison officer. Also a dad of 2 (soon to be 3 in Oct/Nov). I look forward to reading and, when I can, posting on the forums.
  5. "Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent." Quoted from Kahlan in the Sword of Truth series but someone mentioned in another post that it is either a paraphrase or direct quote from Miss Rand. It's my favourite as I see so much of it in my job and this reminds me that I'm not alone in observing this travesty of 'justice.
  6. Since verbal abuse is still abuse will the school authorities decide soon on a 'reasonable' amount of times that a pupil may physically assault a teacher or fellow pupil before action should be taken against them? This lack of conviction on the part of the school authorities is symtomatic of the moral grayness that abounds in so many aspects of society these days. Just another example of people being afraid to deal in absolutes in case they offend someone, anyone, else, even though the people most likely to be offended by absolute judgements on behaviour are those most likely to misbehave (or their 'righteous' defenders).
  7. I have loved all the Sword of Truth series but FotF was the shining example of Richard as the 'efficacious man', using only his reason, character and drive to improve what people in the collectivist 'Old World' thought should be his just position in their society, and how the heroic can truly inspire the minds of others to throw off the shackles of stagnant thinking. Also, Mr. Goodkind's explorations into the true evils of altruism in FotF were almost as vivid as any I have read in Miss Rand's fiction. >>>Edited to fix broken quote--JMeganSnow<<<
  8. I started playing pen-and-paper RPGs about 9 years ago with Vampire: The Masquarade then moved onto AD&D before D&D3rd (then 3.5) came out, which I play regularliy. I also have 2 Warhammer armies (Puppies for 40K and undead for Fantasy) and although no longer collecting new sets I have played Magic:the Gathering for years as well. After running a D&D3.5 campaign for quite a while with an Objectivist slant I am looking forward to my friend being GM soon. He is a fan of Terry Goodkind's and is going to allow me to play an Objectivist character in his campaign, which should be fun As for computer RPGs I've pretty much never bothered, mainly due to time restrictions, although I got stuck into a MMORPG 2 years ago and still play when I can.
  9. I haven't read the book but I read Richard Littlejohn's column each week in the British newspaper 'The Sun'. I have always enjoyed his writing and have found him to be almost Objectivist in his outlook on political events, both here in the UK and abroad. His column is a refreshing change from the typical sensationalist and humanitarian garbage usually written with an eye towards the 'social conscience'. Also, in response to the origial query I can also heartily recommend Terry Goodkind's books for anyone looking for objectivist fiction.
  10. Hello to all at the forum here (first-time poster). I also was introduced to Ayn Rand through Terry Goodkind and I have enjoyed all his books and the 3 fictions I have read of Miss Rand's (I haven't gotten a copy of We the living as yet). The Sword of Truth series is now on book 9 and will finish the last 3-book story-arc with book 11. Since looking into O'ist philosophy I have found very little that contradicts it in the actions of Richard Cypher and I think Mr Goodkind shouldn't be scorned for a percieved lack of vision in his earlier books. Try rereading them to see if you missed the small points he was making even in WFR; you'll probably find that he has just clarified the essential philosophy as the series has progressed- as someone on the fan-forums said, the books are a good "primer for philosophy". Also, since he is one of the few authors of today writing (successful) fiction with O'ist intentions perhaps a little more respect should be due for the guy with the vision and talent to bring it back into popular, and widespread, reception. Anyway, I'm glad to have found this forum and look forward to learning (and maybe posting) more in the future.
×
×
  • Create New...