KnockOut

Hey everyone, Just wanted to get some advice from other Objectivist on this matter. I've been an Atheist since I was 14 and still had to grow up in a Christian household. I still had to go to church and still had to be around alot of religious people. Now I have my own family and live my life by my own ideals I've lost touch with the religious culture. Everytime I hear a person mention how God is all that matters in their life I can't help but to say "ill". "God made me do this" or "God sent me on this path" I wonder is this what the people said during the Spanish Inquixisition or what religious suicide bombers say before they explode? I try to remember the good things religious leaders have accomplish for example Martin Luther King or Gandi, but I still can't swallow how easily religious people dispatch Reason when it comes to their beliefs. On top of that these psychos kill innocent people in the name of Islam and the Christian conservatives blatant attack on reason and justice through the U.S. Supreme Court, it only fuels my, for lack of a better word, hate. I don't want to become a bigot nor do I want to hate or be disgusted by other people's beliefs but it is becoming increasely hard.

"Historically, from the Sherman Act to Herbert Hoover to the Bush Administration, it is the conservatives, not the leftists, who have always been the major destroyers of the United States." Dr. Leonard Peikoff in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. I have to say that I find it confusing as well. When I see so many Objectivist vote for republicans I can't help but to wonder why? Conservative republicans say they want to fight "big government" in the economic realm, which is a clear Objectivist value, but when it comes to social liberties that directly conflict with their unreasonable religious beliefs they want the government to outlaw it. So in my opinion conservatives still would like strong government control just not economically but in moral and intellectual freedom. It seems then the only way to piss Objectivists off is to mess with their money.

"Compare this to the "terrorists blowing up the Whitehouse and Congress" scenario I mentioned above. No matter how bad a government is, eliminating it and leaving the country in a state of anarchy is normally going to be a terrible idea." You underestimate the will of the people to survive. There was people before government. Society had to form one on their own to survive. Only thing we did was remove their crap one so they can try again. Now suppose we had left them alone and they developed an Objectivist government, could've happened (lol) but it will never because we chose to push our belief and social system on them. Gat damn shame.

Lol, that was kinda funny What you don't seem to understand though is to the American people it was related to self defence against a supposedly terrorist harboring, WMD making country. On top of that its just this simple would you rather have a proven crazy dictator in charge of the country or have someone take him out and leave? The Iraq people have demostrated they would rather the latter. They don't want us there.

"Yes, of course. Otherwise their invasion was an unprovoked initiation of force against the people living in that country. It would be like me deciding to firebomb a house because I believed that the father who lived in it was abusing his children." Unbelieveable, so not only do we have to free them we have to give them our ass backward democratic government. So let me ask you when you give you girlfriend flowers are you obligated to bring her the dirt to continue to grow it? If you give a homeless person some food are you also obligated to show him how to cook it? Hey you can't just give him something different other than what he is use to like half eaten month old apples you also have to give him a job to help him pay for the new food you introduced him to.(sarcasm)

"I'm not denying that 9/11 was used to sell the Iraq war to the American public, I'm just saying that they arent related" Why don't you explain then what the American public don't know about why we went to Iraq. "Iraq has no real connections to terrorism, although some wish to clutch at straws and talk about their policy of donating money to families of suicide bombers in Israel, as if this somehow showed that they posed a threat to America or justified an invasion based on preemptive self defence." I never stated there was a real connection but Americans were told there was and that was the reason for war. That cannot be changed. There was never any real difference between races but one race tells themselves they are better than another and this is the reason they think they are superior.

My guess is they end up still hating us, make friends with other enemy states like Iran and Russia( and make no mistake Russian leadership still hates us and will continue to move towards communism again making parternships with China and N. Korea while spreading seeds to mid eastern countries like Iran) and instead of a free state a country ruled by religious fundamentalist.

"Aren't remotely related"!?!, go down the list of reasons why we went to Iraq it is an obvious extention of the War on Terror. Which stemmed from sept 11 the word terrorist immediately reminds us of that event. No one wanted to go in Iraq just to free the people from a dictator. Imaginary WMD's, supposed terrorist training camps, we were concerned with all of this because of the terrorist damage on sept 11.

Aquila, I know exactly what your talking about alot of the things you said sounds exactly like me. I even went so far as to join the Marine Corps to try and feel a sense confidence and pride in who I am. But something inside me still would not let go of the depression. What I've learned is that it just can't be conquered with just achieving goals and reading material. I has to be a mindset, an attitude, you have to wake up in the morning and just refuse to let the depression beat you. You have to force yourself to believe you can be and do better. It's also good to remember life isn't always just "up's" there are down's as well and try not to beat yourself up so much when you are. Try your best to be optimistic. Everyone plays video games, you'd be surprise at how many marines are unfit and they're suppose to be the finest, and if all our lives were on the line to solve a math problem you don't want me anywhere near it.

The only thing "we" (I presume you mean the government) are required to do is to initiate force on any criminal that violates our right to life. I'm not saying kill everything, but destroy anything that ever existed about our enemy. His network, his suppliers, his supporters defeat and isolate everything about him. This is how you win a war. We owe Iraqies nothing for removing their dictator who tortured them. The government owes us security and justice for Sept 11.

Exactly, it is obvious that the quote refers to "invasion" as taking over or colonization. What I'm saying taking over or rebuilding is unnecessary to achieve what our governments primary goal should be. Not one American troop has to go in the country to bomb terrorist hideouts. On top of that my way is even better than whats going on. " the invasion of an enslaved country is morally justified only when and if the conquerors establish a free social system" So what could be better than taking out the hostile despot who is training the terrorist and all of his flunkies and leaving them alone to let the people create there own social system. Who is to say our gat damn social system is so "free" There is still laws against having oral sex in this country.

See here is my problem the"needed to be changed". Who said it need to be changed. Was that in every Americans self interest to try and change Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. No we want them to stop terror and not to pursue WMD's. Now I'm all for tracking down and killing terrorist and ripping a hole in a country if they seemed a threat, but this whole establishing democracy in another country is utter bullshit. We can't even govern our own country right. On top of that just because it's a democracy doesn't mean it still won't produce terrorist that hate America or won't try and produce WMD's. The religious leaders the people who have the real power still hate us because they hate our whole way of life they view America or anyone that isn't their religion as infidels, as devils. Which means all of this money we're burning and troops that we're sending off to die to try and rebuild Iraq is worth JACKSHIT. Just kill the terrorist and make it so when we say no WMD's we mean no WMD's. We are not going to try and rebuild your country, we are not going to try and change your government. We are going to to utterly destroy land. [Fixed quoatation - sNerd]

World of warcraft, Age of empires, and the king of them all UNREAL

This whole situation reminds me of cooking. It's all a matter of what you're willing to risk. Obviously the cake isn't quite ready(the woman) so you can either let it cook and and get it at it's best. But you risk letting someone else take it out of the oven before you. Or you can turn up the heat and force it out of the oven, but then you risk degraded the quality of your relationship or actually burning the other person. I would prefer to let it cook naturally. Yes I do have the possibility of losing her but at least I know for sure when she starts our relationship she will be totally committed to our relationship. And if that relationship never starts people always tend to forget just how many cake mixes there are in the cabinet.

First off Tnunamak, I admire your hard work and your striving for accomplishment. I would argue that motivation is a very fluid concept because it is so dependent on our emotions and passions. So it is a constant seesaw effect of ups and downs because that's just how emotions are. What I found that helped me in this issue is at first recognizing that my moto will have its highs and lows. This will allow you to take charge and combat the lows when you realize you are in them. I would like to ask if the various assignments/project/studying for test also allows time for other activities of interest. A technique I use is using one of my other passions, be it recreational or professional, to kind of stir up my emotions and feelings of accomplishment and confidence. To help me remember how good winning feels and how much I enjoy taking on challenges, realizing I am greater than these challenges and rising to the occasion. This gives me what I would call a momentum, and then I return to the area I was burnt out in and dominate. Another technique I find helpful is putting motivation in its proper place. I remember reading a quote saying "motivation gets you started but habit keeps you going". This reminds me that heart will only take you so far but to be truly successful you have to use all sort of techniques, strategies and skills. When we see this we become invincible. Hope I have been of some help.

We'll I guess I can be the Newbie point of view on the topic. I find sometimes posting is a little intimidating. I find that the Advanced and Senior members are, well, advanced when it comes to this philosophy. As well as yes there are alot of newbies here. Sometimes it's apparent that the advance members have little patience with a newbie's stupid, upsurd, and downright bad ideas or assumptions. This can be a good thing because it forces people to make sure they think their comment through instead of just running off at the jibbs about how George Bush could probably breakdance better than Ayn Rand or something and not support their claim with any real creditable premises. It could also though turn people off, one example is I remember some guy trying to post starting a Objectivist political party. Now you know this is kinda funny because we all know that it wouldn't be too successful in this day and age, but I kinda admire the guy for having heart. I also enjoy when people just wanna get out and get involved in a Objectivist movement and show the world that "Hey this Objectivism stuff makes sense". Though I think his direction was a little misguided few of the members tried to "guide" him to a more reasonable idea. Most of the forum just dug knee deep in his ass with how much a waste of his time or how silly his idea was. I think of it as if Ayn Rand was part of this forum, I'm sure she would be an advanced member, and I would hope if I ever came up with a bad idea she wouldn't just stomp my shit in the ground. But instead show me the piece of the philosophy I have missed without making me feel like a dumbass after all are we not all brothers and sisters trying to learn this great philosophy. (Mod's note: Added link to the thread that was referenced - softwareNerd)

You all have really great taste in movies. A few of my favorites are: The Truman Show- The whole movie was hilarous but starting from the part where he was sailing I that was pretty good. Unforgiven- everything after Clint Eastwood found out they killed his friend. I think his acting was great. You pretty much knew what he was thinking and you kenw exactly what the hell he was gonna do.

I'm a fan of Family Guy and the adult swim on Cartoon Network. An old favorite of mine was In Living Color when it had Damon Wayans, David Allen Grear, and Jim Carrey on the show. They had alot of talented comedians start out on that program. George Carlin is a comedic genius whose career has been greatly underappriecated. My favorite comedian would have to be a toss up between George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, and Richard Pryor.

I would like to add Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi. His study into human behavior is very similiar to Rand's philosphy in terms of the purpose of productivity in a person's life. I would recommend his book "Finding Flow" if anyone would like more details. Since we are mentioning world figures, I would also like to add former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. I'm amazed at all the top chess players that are able to take on machines that defeat 99% of all chess players, but Kasparov demonstrates some of the virtues I value at the highest degree. With a sense of purpose to set out to become the greatest of all time in his chosen field, and arguably did! Also admirable is the amount of self esteem and pride in his abilities to face unbeatable machines as if they were inferior to him. I also feel that chess takes a large amount of reasoning ability and logical thinking, and I think we all know how important Reason is. Recently he has retired from chess to fight for democracy and civil rights in his native Russia against the powerful Putin regime that even the Bush administration knows is trying to revert the country back to communism.

Yes, I've seen it. I have to say it was pretty boring.