Melkor Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Hey there! I've been meaning to get around to finding a dedicated forum for Objectivism for some time. I moderate over at NationStates, and this is really my first attempt to branch out and discuss politics and philosophy with what will [hopefully] turn out to be a sympathetic audience. NationStates is dominated by mystics [primarily of the 'Muscle' variety] who don't seem to know their ass from the proverbial hole in the ground, so I thought I'd head somewhere where I might actually not be heckled for my knowledge [rather than beleifs] of philosophy and its nuances. If anyone is interested in seeing just what I have to put up with over there, sneak into the forums and run a posting history search on "Melkor Unchained." I have for some time now been more or less the only Objectivist on that entire forum, although a rather large contingent of like minded folks seem to have been coming out of the woodwork lately. Before I showed up in the General Forum [i roleplayed for the first couple years of my career there], it was dominated primarily by socialists and a small pocket of American "conservatives," but times seem to have changed. Now, for personal stuff: I'm 20 years old [21 on January 14th, woo!] and I've been an individualist since I knew what ethics were. My brother [who ended up introducing me to Objectivism--despite having been a Marxist in his youth] has often commented that I've been an Objectivist all my life, and I have to say I agree with him. A number of Rand's ideas had occured to me at a very young age. The first such incident occured when I was seven years old reading Dinotopia, where an inscription on a wall somewhere contained the edict "Others first, Self last." My mind instantly conjured this image of an enormous watering hole with a large line of pseudosentient dinosaurs lined up in front of it. Each dinosaur, adhering to the edict, moved aside when his turn came and retreated to the rear of the line. Eventually, they all died of dehydration. Ever since I've had something of a dim view of that sort of thing; which led me to Libertarianism [by age 13 or 14] and finally to Objectivism [last year]. I live in Columbus, Ohio and I'm the youngest of two. I love music, computer games and [as my posting history at NS clearly shows] tearing a proverbial new one for the political Left in online forums. Salutations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Welcome aboard! How did you find us? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melkor Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Basically through Wiki; I was reading up on some of the more recent changes they had made to the "Objectivism" entry [since I link to it on my sig from Nationstates], as I make it a point to watch it closely for any glaring inaccuracies. I hopped from site to site to site thanks to the multitude of links at the bottom, and eventually found a link to this board after reading the transcripts of Ayn Rand's testimony in the HUAC hearings on ORI. There were four or five boards listed, and I picked this one as it seemed the most comprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Yay! Another Ohioan! I'd say, check out the Ohio sub-forum, but unfortunately it's full of Texans, Pacific Northwestians, and Michiganers, so it's all gone to pot. DavidOdden lives in Columbus, too, and I live in Dayton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Hey there!Hey there. Go Bucks (or not, as you prefer -- I'm not actually a fan but I love those zero flags). Welcome to the forum - hope to hear more from you. I'd have to check to be sure but I think I did my job interview here when you were born. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melkor Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Hey there. Go Bucks (or not, as you prefer -- I'm not actually a fan but I love those zero flags). Welcome to the forum - hope to hear more from you. I'd have to check to be sure but I think I did my job interview here when you were born. Ironically enough, [despite my attendance to OSU this Spring], I've been a Michigan fan since about... oh, age 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanG Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 The "Texans, Pacific Northwestians, and Michiganers" were merely trying to bring some (much needed) class and sophistication to the ohio forum. /Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Such as their inability to capitalize "Ohio"? Is that an e.e. cummings thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidOdden Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 aLTHOUGH IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, THAT IS NOT THE MOST ANNOYING THING SOMEONE COULD DO. (signed, former 206, current 614) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 NOTHEYCOULDTYPEINALLCAPSWITHNOSPACESANDNOPUNCTUATION Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottkursk Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 Such as their inability to capitalize "Ohio"? Is that an e.e. cummings thing? Actually it's in Strunk & White: If another state is smaller than yours, you don't have to capitalize their names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanG Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Such as their inability to capitalize "Ohio"? Is that an e.e. cummings thing? No, that's a Bryan not paying attention thing. And it's Michigander by the way. (not sure why) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted December 16, 2005 Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 Because you're proud of your waterfowl, maybe?! Actually it's in Strunk & White: If another state is smaller than yours, you don't have to capitalize their names. WE MAY BE SMALL BUT WE CAN KICK YOUR . . . oh, wait that'd be Texas. Never mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entripon Posted December 16, 2005 Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 Hey, I used to play NationStates. It was fun for a while until I started getting a repeat scenario every day. Perhaps the reason people over there are "mystics" is that the book the game is based on (Jennifer Government) is blatantly anti-capitalist. It's still a funny book though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melkor Posted December 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2005 Hey, I used to play NationStates. It was fun for a while until I started getting a repeat scenario every day. We fixed that. There's over 150 issues now. Perhaps the reason people over there are "mystics" is that the book the game is based on (Jennifer Government) is blatantly anti-capitalist. It's still a funny book though. Yeah, I read most of it, and I happen to think it makes some pretty gross errors. It seemed to say to me "Corporations can do bad things, therefore we should limit them to the greatest extent possible." It never ceases to amaze me that the only real difference between socialism and blatant totalitarianism [in this context--I happen to think they're more or less the same thing in most cases] is the replacement of the word 'corporations' with the word 'people.' That said, the author is a funny guy; I'm kinda sorta acquainted with him through the site; he sent me a Christmas card a couple of years ago. I haven't really had the chance to butt heads with him over politics or ethics, and I don't think I'll ever bother since we both know where the other stands. I'm sure it tickles him pink that I've got to answer to him though. Also, most of the site's denizens actually haven't read the book; the reason that there are so many idiots on there is because most of them are teens going through their Socialist phase. Reading the book doesn't necessarily lead them to the site [quite the opposite in fact]. Galt's Gulch was a surprisingly large region last I checked, which was heartening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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