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Hello. As you probably guessed, I'm new to this forum. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Nada, from Lebanon. I recently finished high school and will start university in the fall. I've been following some of the posts on this forum for a while and I finally took the step to sign up. Admittedly, I have stayed out of most Objectivist discussion groups because I found that some endorse Ayn Rand's ideas without relying on their own judgement. Nevertheless, I look forward to participate in this forum.

My first encounter with Objectivism was about a year and a half ago (I was 16-17 of age).When I first read Atlas Shrugged I immediately fell in love with the characters, especially Dagny. The book changed my life, since then I constantly strived to better myself and fulfill my full potential. Naturally, I decided to research Objectivism in depth, and I was struck by the clarity of the ideas it represented and its overall message.

I was delighted to find answers in an an area where I had doubts, questions and uncertainties. I'm proud to say that Ayn Rand has awoken my sense of life, happiness, pride and confidence.

Note: I'd appreciate if you can point out my mistakes in future posts (including grammar).

Edited by Modern Athena
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Hey Nada. First off, writing is the only way to learn to spell a new language well. It's something that you can't possibly do by merely reading, because you guess the meanings of words and sentences based on a quick glance, and then you subconsciously ignore the rest of the details. Can't do that when writing/typing. So, even if there's no other benefit, posting as much as you can around here (and other forums) will get you that.

Second, your grammar (sentence structure, use of idioms, capitalization of words etc.) is flawless. You only have trouble spelling specific words. Which, let's be honest, even native English speakers have problems with.

You should use some kind of spelling software. A lot of modern browsers have one included by default (I'm using Opera, which has it - I remember Chrome had it too). They underline in red any word that is misspelled, and if you right click on the word, they provide you with the correct spelling.

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I can't answer for her, Overt, but for me it was because Dagny took so long to stop fighting - she didn't understand "shrugging" because she thought the battle was winnable. I also liked Ragnar for similar reasons; except, choose not to fight on the looter's terms.

By the way, welcome to the forum, Modern Athena.

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I love her optimistic nature and how she struggled to live in a world where she clearly did not belong. I also admired how she faced society's disapproval. Despite being portrayed as an unsympathetic workaholic and a dirty mistress, she took pride in herself. She alone manages to challenge the society's conventional wisdom.

Her purpose in life is to live up to her highest values and become worthy. Her code of values is what makes her inspirational.

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I think Eddie Willers is an overlooked character. While he is an unremarkable man not equal in stature to the likes of John Galt and other more central characters, he is an important figure because he represents what the average person might be able to achieve; the "common man objectivist", if you will. He lacks the same level of ability that is consistent with the strikers, but he is most certainly their equal when it comes to core philosophical convictions. Characters such as Galt and Roark are visions of the ideal man, and they provide us with a standard of excellence to pursue. But I would wager that most of us aren't quite genius enough to invent something like Galt's static electricity generator. Many of us will fall into the Eddie Willers vein, and it is for this reason that he is a highly relatable and important character.

But I like Dagny too. ;)

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I love her optimistic nature and how she struggled to live in a world where she clearly did not belong. I also admired how she faced society's disapproval.

Her purpose in life is to live up to her highest values and become worthy. Her code of values is what makes her inspirational.

Does that remind you of anyone you know?

:)

Excuse that - it's only that I have the utmost respect for someone who marches to their own drum beat.

Irrespective of the existing time and culture.

Welcome.

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I think Eddie Willers is an overlooked character. While he is an unremarkable man not equal in stature to the likes of John Galt and other more central characters, he is an important figure because he represents what the average person might be able to achieve

What, dying alone in the wilderness as a miserable failure?

He lacks the same level of ability that is consistent with the strikers, but he is most certainly their equal when it comes to core philosophical convictions.

No, I can't disagree more.

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What, dying alone in the wilderness as a miserable failure?

No, I can't disagree more.

No, rising to the level of a trusted number two at a transcontinental railroad company. Ayn Rand was showing the great hights to which an average, good man can rise in a semi-free world, but also the fate he faces when the prime movers are removed from society. Eddie's only true failure was his inability to let a world go which was dying despite his efforts.
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  • 4 weeks later...

I agree with Nicky's suggestion that writing about things you care about is the best way to improve written communication. I disagree with the usefulness of computer spell check software as a primary tool for learning spelling. I've found that acquisition of language is most natural in the context of human relationships, so I'd rather have red ink all over a paper from a human grader correcting mistakes than a red squiggly line from a computer program. This is because I know the computer program doesn't care if I correct my writing or continue making mistakes, but that a human audience appreciates flawless writing.

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