Rommel

In response: First; I'm not at all religious. I'm an atheist as I suspect most, if not all objectivists are, yet I have the misfortunte of having a Catholic mother. (Objectivist father.) However, Rockhurst is a great school, regardless of its religion, and I've encountered little hostility or "shunning" from other students because of my religious choices. It's the fact that we are required more semesters of thelogy than science that disturbs me. In fact, my atheism has become a sort of system of recognition for me, I'm dubbed the "atheist kid" or "everyone's favorite atheist" which amuses me. Second; I don't really care what other people think. However, the fact that they remain in positions of power relative to their respective forums and newsletters seriously hampers my ability to receive and share information, so the very fact that a simple age difference is preventing me from getting possibly-important updates and information on a common philosophy bothers me; it is not the fact itself that bothers me, but rather, its results. -Rommel

You make a fair point softwarenerd, but I was more keeping it in line with values and views expressed in her essay on racism in The Virtue of Selfishness, that it is foolish to judge someone based on one's race. From there you can draw a simple analogy to judging one based on other attributes like age or gender, etc.

One must also take into account who gets the money in humanitarian aid. The leaders of the country, and if a leader is say on the level of...Kim Jong Il, then perhaps it is not he wisest policy to keep appeasing him and appeasing him. On the waving a gun topic. I think that's enough. I for one to not want to wait to be attacked to do anything, sort of the wave/fire analogy we seem to have been using.

No, unfortunately no explanation was given. Just "Thank you for your reply, but I shall remove you from the list/forum. It is for adults" That was the excact reply I got from our esteemed colleague Mr. Crawford, to which I replied with a scathing several-paragraph email about how it was so in line with Mrs. Rand's philosophy to judge one based on one's age. He has yet to reply, but that was in June.

Well I've been having some problems with this and I would greatly appreciate other member's opinions, young or old, new or seasoned to the forum. First off, I'm 15 years old. I'm a freshman at a Jesuit high school, (How unfortunate.) and I am a very strong objectivist, as is my father. My mother is a typical Christian-Republican. I have read all of Ayn Rand's major works, including Atlas Shrugged; as well as The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Now that were through with that: People, peers or otherwise, have thought my outlook on life and ethics questionable at best, threatening at worst. I am an atheist, the only one in my grade level, (Save one more, who is a pseudo-objectivist, his last name is Rand ironically) and I have encountered quite a bit of hostility from my teachers and classmates on the "god" question, as well as the "need to give" issue. But that's not really the problem; actually I expected that. I'm sure that alone does not make me special. The real topic I wish adressed is the unacceptence I receive from older Ojbectivists. I attended the Law convention in Denver with my father last April, and many were amazed to find a "Randroid" my age. That is also to be expected, though. The real problem is here, on the web. I have been rejected/removed from a number of mailing lists, including Jack Crawford's, because of my age. Now as long as I dont clutter the bandwith with silly messages or the other members are forwarding pornography, (impossible at best) I saw no reason I could not participate. I believe I have a relatively firm grasp on the philosophy and ethics, yet I am regularly removed from forums or groups because of my age. Now your turn. Do you find my age odd or disturbing? Is this just a choice few, or the entire community? The idea is against Objectivism, to be sure, and so I said to the aforementioned Crawford. But do you all have a problem, or is it me who has it?