SELLING OBJECTIVISM

[EdSalti]

I still think it's focused too far up the hierarchy. There's no mention of epistemology. Rand herself once noted that she is not so much an advocate of capitalism as of egoism, and not so much an advocate of egoism as of reason. Reason, properly understood, is the bedrock on which everything else rests. Men who live under political freedom and who value their own lives and happiness, but who act on their unanalyzed emotions of the moment, are not Objectivists -- and they will not long remain free, or retain their lives and happiness.

Reason is also important as part of Objectivism's Unique Selling Proposition -- it's one of the things that distinguishes our philosophy from other superficially similar movements, like conservatism and libertarianism. (This suggests the possibility of multiple 'business card' presentations, each designed to positively present Objectivism *as distinct from some other popular movement*. Somewhat along the lines of the "Secular. Pro-Freedom. Disenfrancised '08" T-shirt idea I had for the election last year.)

Perhaps the place to start is with Rand's own "standing on one foot" summary of Objectivism. That should capture all the points that she thought were essential to her philosophy. Then fiddle with the language as necessary.

We might need to discuss what is our target audience here. For example, I write a bunch of guys I grew up with almost daily. A lot of politics and economy stuff these days, as you can imagine. If I were to drop the term "epistemology" into an exchange, there are a couple of them who would wonder what bugs had to do with anything .

I'm still thinking we want something simple, plain language, that someone with no interest in the study of philosophy can relate to. I may be settling for half a loaf here, but I think people need to understand that Objectivism isn't some mystical code of beliefs that has no relevance to them. They need to see it as a better guide to their daily life than what they have now. Ninety percent of them will never become students of Objectivism like most of those of us who frequent this site. That's okay. At least that many of them are not serious students of the Christian ethic that is their guide right now. But if we increase the number of people who have even a token understanding of Objectivism, we increase the number who will become serious students.

Your point of a variety of cards is well taken. If we create a clearing house site, we can fill it with a variety of material that will reach a variety of people. Tee shirt slogans for those who like tee shirts, tracts to place around for people to pick up, bumper sticker slogans that people can have made up, cards that give the basics in simple terms, cards that focus on government philosophy or on capitalism, suggested letters to government officials, guidelines on introducing Objectivist principles into other website and blog exchanges, etc.

I don't see any of us at odds with each other here, just interested in reaching out on several levels.

[Zip]

I like the business card idea, but once you capture your targets attention then you have to send them somewhere. I think a forum like this one though perhaps a separate "Objectivist curious" section might be best where we Oist's could help and guide the interested.

as for the slogan...

I am, I think, I love, I create, I own, I am.

www.objectivismonline.net

[EdSalti]

I like the business card idea, but once you capture your targets attention then you have to send them somewhere. I think a forum like this one though perhaps a separate "Objectivist curious" section might be best where we Oist's could help and guide the interested.

as for the slogan...

I am, I think, I love, I create, I own, I am.

www.objectivismonline.net

You have a good thought there. Most newcomers would be more comfortable in an Objectivist primer venue that starts with the basic tenets then expands on them to cover the fields affected by philosophy. An artist might head right for a Objective view of aesthetics then expand to other areas that are of interest.

As far as coming up with a brief definitive statement for Objectivism, a slogan, I'm beginning to feel a little like George Carlin trimming down the Ten Commandments . This might be an area where we each pick what turns our own crank and work with it.

[Space Patroller]

Perhaps there may not be just "one" thing to do.

A good military operation like D-Day involves many things Sea, Air, Ground, Amror, etc.

There are three things here.

Business cards.

Manifesto

Websites. If you look at my domain console in my sig. I have a site that acts as just that. Would it not be a good idea for persons with sites to put in a section on Rand and her philosophy. One such is Valkyrie Firearms.

As you can see, the idea is to up the level of sophistication from a quick, pithy statement to a full bore treatment

One of the big problems is a useful definition. The Intellectual Activisit used "The philosophy of Ayn Rand" which was really an ostensive or pointing one and to me is unsatisfactory for the job at hand. If you're selling something, people want straigh answers not smart talk. I have a d efinition on my website.

As to organized effort. I've got no problem but that seems to scare off many O-ists. Instead of "orgaized" how about coordinated

Now, if we can get links to a number of these sites or sections of sites we can put them on a linkpage of an unofficial sort. and print that on the business card.

It would be nice if someone would put some of Rand's essays up on line for persons to peruse to get the flavor of them.

NOTE: I don't know how many of you are familiar with STARLOG in its early days. The first editory, Kerry O'Quinn is trying to put together a theatrical version of ANTHEM. I'm also trying to see if I can't interest him in doing something with Space Patrol. I have a place in my main site where you can watch a few episodes of the old time shows

[watson]

Perhaps there may not be just "one" thing to do.

A good military operation like D-Day involves many things Sea, Air, Ground, Amror, etc.

There are three things here.

Business cards.

Manifesto

Websites. If you look at my domain console in my sig. I have a site that acts as just that. Would it not be a good idea for persons with sites to put in a section on Rand and her philosophy. One such is Valkyrie Firearms.

As you can see, the idea is to up the level of sophistication from a quick, pithy statement to a full bore treatment

One of the big problems is a useful definition. The Intellectual Activisit used "The philosophy of Ayn Rand" which was really an ostensive or pointing one and to me is unsatisfactory for the job at hand. If you're selling something, people want straigh answers not smart talk. I have a d efinition on my website.

As to organized effort. I've got no problem but that seems to scare off many O-ists. Instead of "orgaized" how about coordinated

Now, if we can get links to a number of these sites or sections of sites we can put them on a linkpage of an unofficial sort. and print that on the business card.

It would be nice if someone would put some of Rand's essays up on line for persons to peruse to get the flavor of them.

NOTE: I don't know how many of you are familiar with STARLOG in its early days. The first editory, Kerry O'Quinn is trying to put together a theatrical version of ANTHEM. I'm also trying to see if I can't interest him in doing something with Space Patrol. I have a place in my main site where you can watch a few episodes of the old time shows

I personally believe if you go out and try to "sell Oism", people may perceive it as no different than any other "ism" like catholicism, judiasm, etc. The more an infrastructure that Oism resembles that of god grounded religions, the more there will be an ongoing debate and discussions as to the parallels between Oism and other religions.

Objectively, pardon the use of the word, if one dissects how churches/relgious movements are organized, philosophies promoted, meetings attended, the collective involved in promoting the movement, the more I think some will see a similarity, not to mention that the books of the new and old testament are fictional, where much of the judeochristian philosophies (aside from god) are rooted, is not dissimilar to some of the Oism philosophies drawn from the fictional writings of Rand.

Be open for discussion about it.

The fictional stories in the bibles and bible like writings were put together by "scholars" of the time. Note that there is much good, without the god aspect of god-religion, that people find a way to live their lives. There is a lot of crap to sift through to find good things, but not all the writings of the scholars is bad. Example, in judiaism, it is considered a good thing to donate money (charity), in fact, per capita, the jewish communities around the world are the most generous of any group of individuals. This isn't done by the majority of people to get in "gods good books", but a philosophy based on some of the teachings and writings. Extracting the good, being reasonable and rational about how to and what to extract makes good sense.