Richard Cobden

I have to say Alon, that you are staring in the face of rather typical anti-scientific rationalism. Proper, critical observation of reality is dicarded if it does not fit some preconcieved pseudo-Objectivist interpretation. This particular mentality is well displayed in Robert Tracinski - who, in an issue of TIA (incidentally, this is why I try to read that particular journal less and less), discarded the ill effects of second-hand smoking becuase it came from a government source, and more importantly because it was used for statist purposes by the government. In other words, placing ideology above reality. As for Free Capitalist, as a history major myself I must mention that even if the most marxist, corrupt professor consistently failed your essays, I would not blame him. The utter lack of context, naivete, and anti-observational approach to history (i.e. considering all that one knows of men, their actions, the veracity of sources, motivations of the historians, & c.) would render any conclusions you reached pure fantasy. The discepline of History is a conceptual, not to mentional a very investigative, field. The perceptual world of a child does not belong in it's hallowed halls.

I think a variety of my very favourite games have already been mentioned so far: Fallout 1&2 Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Chrono Trigger Phantasy Star 4 (Ill add 3, since I passed about that often) Planescape: Torment (The most philosophical of the Black Isle releases) BG 1&2 (although both were too linear by comparison to Fallout, & c.) KOTOR Xenogears (One of the most epic games Ive ever played, centered on a great storyline... and, as has already been mentioned, you get to kill God) Deus Ex Half Life 1&2 (replay HL1 if you have to, its still a very good game). Arcanum (Ill add this due to the fact that I enjoyed some aspects, but technically, this game was a disaster) Any of the Tycoon games Any of the Civ games (including Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, just for being able to title a city: Morgan Enterprises, and not have it be out of character with the personality youre playing) As is obvious, I was never a big fan of Japanese RPGs. Lack of choices never helped. Similarly, the hack n' slash boredom of Diablo 1 & 2, never appealed to me, no more than GTA would. Games that didnt make the list, that Id like to push: Morrowind (Morrowind! Morrowind!) -Massive world, numerous factions, and an excellent sense of exploration. Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 -Just you and reality. Not to mention the technical pre-eminence, these games had an interesting storyline, a feeling of exploration and actual usefulness of observation. Resident Evil 4 -Non-stop suspense and action, where a somewhat flashy American special agent fights to save the president's daughter. This game really makes you feel like youre fighting something despicabale and evil... and no more of that survival-horror strain. System Shock 2 -Old horror/sci-fi FPS with a great atmosphere of science and survival. The ending is aweful, but that wont ever end the satisfaction of braining a collectivist zombie (Im being literal) with a large wrench. C&C: Generals -Kill Terrorists or Chinese using the US army. I shrug and ask myself why play anything else? Ghost Recon 1&2 -The dangerous world of a rangers (or Land Warroir program) special force team dropped behind enemy lines to perform strategical sabbotage, and other missions. The one-hit, one-kill rationale gives this game a tactical-intellectual focus, where properly positioning and managing your squads is as important as accuracy... And you get to kill Russian Nationalists... Once again, why play anything else? Good day.

And *reduced* is the operative term. The mental state of that blogger, having performed every sort of contradiction of stolen concepts, direction changes and flat out refusal to read what has been written must resemble the following: I love emoticons. -R.C.

Good Evening. Ive been "lurking" around this forum for quite a bit. Now Ive decided to set aside some time to post once in a while. For those interested: -I am in agreement with the ARI stream of Objectivism -I consider myself to be an Objectivist/Student of Objectivism -I used to be a hardcore socialist, and a nationalist one at that! hehehehe -I am currently assisting in running the University of Toronto Objectivist Club -I will, alas, have no time to volunteer in the assisstance for this forum, as I plan to start a blog with a friend at some later date As a side note for the curious/History buffs: Richard Cobden was a mid-nineteenth century British Industrialist. He wrote numerous pamphlets in defence of an American-style of Isolationism, Free Trade, Decolonization and against pointless Imperial wars which Britain seemed to undertake quite often in those days. After studying him for a paper, I have acquired considerable admiration for his intelligence, style and most specifically, content. -R.C.