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What Do You Think Of Me?

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Just wondering what your opinions are of me. Am I rational, intelligent, etc? What are the flaws you see with my views of things?

I know I tend to clash with some of the views of Objectivism, but a lot of that is because I'm still learning about it and do not fully understand some of the principles. Be brutally honest in your replies.

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Shouldn't you be more concerned with what you think of yourself?

Since you're asking nobody in particular, you seem to be expecting people who have no particular vested interest in you to go out of their way to read all your posts and make a calculated judgement based on that; all without being offered a reason for doing so. In other words, you're asking for a sacrifice.

EDIT: Reworded sentence.

Edited by iouswuoibev
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I expected there to be a few responses like that. No, I'm not asking for a sacrifice. I don't expect people who haven't already read my posts to go out of their way to do so. But, if you have read enough of my posts, I'd just like to know what you think my faults are. Of course I'm more concerned with what I think of myself, but so is my Marxist criminology professor. I respect most of the people on this message board, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the opinions of people that you respect.

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I expected there to be a few responses like that.  No, I'm not asking for a sacrifice.  I don't expect people who haven't already read my posts to go out of their way to do so.  But, if you have read enough of my posts, I'd just like to know what you think my faults are.  Of course I'm more concerned with what I think of myself, but so is my Marxist criminology professor.  I respect most of the people on this message board, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the opinions of people that you respect.

Since you've posted this publicly, it seems to be addressed to everyone. Since that is not the case, it would be proper to post your question to those people you respect the judgement of privately.

I've read most of your posts, but I've also read most of other peoples' and there's nothing that made yours stand out to me to make me remember them (except this one). Unless there is some special reason why you grabbed someone's attention and gave them a reason to judge your character, they would have to re-read everything you have written and then judge it. Therefore, being as it is addressed to everyone, your post is presumptuous. It expects more personal attention than you have a right to expect. You also have still not found it necessary to explain why you want to know what other people think of you. I could hazard a guess that you want to know how "Objectivist" you are; but I shouldn't have to guess.

Plus, if this kind post is acceptable, then on principle, it would have to be acceptable for everyone to make such posts, and then the whole purpose of this forum would have to change. It would become a people-oriented instead of idea-oriented forum. Can you envision the implications of that?

The public section of this forum is for discussing ideas. When the subject is about an individual and not any single idea, such a subject should be discussed privately. That is my view anyway; I don't know what the mods/admins think.

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I expected there to be a few responses like that.  No, I'm not asking for a sacrifice.  I don't expect people who haven't already read my posts to go out of their way to do so.  But, if you have read enough of my posts, I'd just like to know what you think my faults are.  Of course I'm more concerned with what I think of myself, but so is my Marxist criminology professor.  I respect most of the people on this message board, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the opinions of people that you respect.

I honestly have not read enough of your posts to answer your question.

But I do like your avatar and screen name. :thumbsup:

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It's called sarcasm.

If Churchill actually meant that “The inherent blessing of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings, and the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of misery,” then it is hard to imagine why he introduced socialism to Britain in World War I and brought it back during World War II. Perhaps in Churchill's upside-down morality vices are preferable to blessings. In any case, even if Churchill meant that the vice of socialism is its equal sharing of misery, he would still be embracing a falsehood. Socialism does not mean equality. Members of the Communist Party in the USSR enjoyed luxury apartments, vacation homes, limousines and special stores that featured goods made in the West.

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I haven't been here long enough to make a judgement on you in particular--but I disagree with most of what iouswuoibev said. I form definite opinions of people on forums over time--including a few people here (without having to look back at their posts). I personally think your question is a valid one to ask if you did for the right reasons; of course, the scope and appropriate subjects of this forum are up to the people who are in charge, though.

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Just wondering what your opinions are of me.  Am I rational, intelligent, etc?  What are the flaws you see with my views of things?

I think the more interesting question is what you think of us. In your posts at Hobbes from two and three years ago, you had a very different opinion of Objectivists in general and me in particular. Why the change?

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Just wondering what your opinions are of me.  Am I rational, intelligent, etc?  What are the flaws you see with my views of things?

I know I tend to clash with some of the views of Objectivism, but a lot of that is because I'm still learning about it and do not fully understand some of the principles.  Be brutally honest in your replies.

I think you use far too few words.

Your terseness leaves me with the impression that you're as deep and involved as

a coat of PAM on a cooking sheet.

I apparently have cookies on the brain,... sorry about that.

I'd have to actually have an involved conversation with you to get ANY sense of

who the froog you are, and whether it's worth my time conversing with you.

Other than that,.. you seem to have nice antlers, and your name is easy to type. :)

Now,.. say something interesting/controversial/amusing/annoying/etc..

I can tolerate anything but the "stupidly bland".

-Iakeo

Edited by Iakeo
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I think the more interesting question is what you think of us.  In your posts at Hobbes from two and three years ago, you had a very different opinion of Objectivists in general and me in particular.  Why the change?

Mostly I was just saying what the rest of the crowd was saying. I didn't know anything about Objectivism besides what Zathras and other people said. I thought it was just a variant of Anarchism and, if you go by their posts, that's what you'd think. It was wrong of me to judge it that way, and as soon as I started reading it for myself, I realized how full of crap they were.

One thing I've come to notice is that, while I don't think it's fair to call myself an Objectivist, I've always held rather Objectivist-like principles. My whole life, I've had these thoughts that I couldn't quite put into words, because I'm not very good at expressing my opinions in actual words. Rand, on the other hand, had an extraordinary gift for putting the most abstract of thoughts into words that make sense, and when I'd read it for the first time, I'd think "wow...I've thought that for a while, but never knew how to express it until now."

I quit believing in God 2 or 3 years ago, but never actually admitted it until about a little over a year ago, for several reasons. Once I admitted it, though, everything else fell like dominos, and I am now researching Objectivism. I've still got quite a few things to work out, but I'm working on it, albeit rather slowly due to the fact that I'm also working on a Master's degree.

As to what I think of you and other Objectivists. You're much more pleasant to converse with than the people on Hobbes, because you don't resort to ad hominem attacks and you actually provide something of a factual basis for your beliefs. The people in the philosophy and politics forums on Hobbes are just embarrassments to the human race, assuming they are in real life the way they are on the internet (which is probably not really the case).

My only qualm with the people on this board is that many of them seem too...stiff. I, personally, think that things can be funny even if they ridicule something or someone that I value. I think a lot of people need to lighten up a bit when it comes to things like movies and music. Yeah, the philosophy in certain forms of entertainment may not be great, but I don't generally go to the movies to see something that I think will present a good philosophy...I go to be entertained, and I am able to overlook whatever philosophical flaws they might have, as long as they don't pass the threshold of complete idiocy.

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