Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Objectivist Blog Carnival #150

Hi and welcome to the latest Objectivist Blog Carnival. This edition is choc-full of mental goodness for you to feast upon, but first, some background.

Objectivism is the philosophy created by novelist Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as well as non-fiction works like The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism The Unknown Ideal.
Here is a quote from her to get things rolling:

"The Objectivist ethics proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness—which means: the values required for man’s survival qua man—which means: the values required for human survival—not the values produced by the desires, the emotions, the “aspirations,” the feelings, the whims or the needs of irrational brutes, who have never outgrown the primordial practice of human sacrifices, have never discovered an industrial society and can conceive of no self-interest but that of grabbing the loot of the moment."

Here's one more quote:

"The Objectivist ethics holds that human good does not require human sacrifices and cannot be achieved by the sacrifice of anyone to anyone. It holds that the rational interests of men do not clash—that there is no conflict of interests among men who do not desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor accept them, who deal with one another as traders, giving value for value."





Welcome to the May 27, 2010 edition of objectivist round up.



Roderick Fitts presents Part 5: Errors vs. Moral Breaches posted at Inductive Quest, saying, "A post on Peikoff's and Kelley's views on errors of knowledge versus breaches of morality. We also learn about the role of philosophy in history and the higher standards of experts in relation to ordinary people."




Rachel Miner presents Make It Less Messy posted at The Playful Spirit, saying, "Sharing some fun tricks for making things less messy, especially as the summer approaches :)"




C.W. presents What next? Negative Interest? posted at Krazy Economy, saying, "Fed. target discount rates has gotten lower each cycle. What could happen next. Not good."




Edward Cline presents Obama: Neither Naïve nor Foolish nor Misguided posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "With some minor editing, I sent this letter to Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist for the Washington Post and other newspapers, in response to an article severely critical of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. In it, he points out that Obama’s “make nice” policy and obsequious deference to statist regimes are backfiring."




Mike Zemack presents Christie's "War on the Court" posted at Principled Perspectives, saying, "The highest budget deficit in the nation on a percentage basis; out of control, record high state spending; record high per-pupil education costs; coupled with record high income tax rates and property tax rates– that’s New Jersey. Gov. Christie places major blame on an “activist” state Supreme Court, which in the 1970s imposed a system of state financing for local public schools along with a state income tax to pay for it – by judicial fiat. But was an “activist” Supreme Court the cause of NJ’s budget woes, or can the blame be placed upon the NJ constitution, which mandates the state to provide “a thorough and efficient system of free public schools”?"




Michael Labeit presents Against Democracy!?! posted at Michael Labeit at EconomicPolicyJournal.com.




Stella presents A sale would be cleaner posted at ReasonPharm, saying, "This week's New York Times Ethicist column illustrates why forbidding organ sales creates unnecessary dilemmas."




Diana Hsieh presents Pay Me to Podcast on Finding Romantic Prospects posted at NoodleFood, saying, "I'll produce a podcast on finding good romantic prospects by June 10th... if people are pledge enough money to justify it. (Only those who pledge will get it before OCON.)"




Ari Armstrong presents Rand Paul Wants Total Abortion Bans posted at Free Colorado, saying, "In light of Rand Paul's views on abortion, reproduction, and end-of-life decisions, nobody should be asking whether Paul advocates too much liberty."




Paul Hsieh presents Leonard Peikoff Interview With Magician Steve Cohen posted at NoodleFood, saying, "Magic, Objectivism, and Peikoff -- what more could you ask for?"




Rational Jenn presents MiniCon Class Schedule posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "The MiniCon Schedule is up on the Atlanta Objectivist Society website! Check it out! (Coming soon--a registration form, whee!)"




Shea presents Putting the Cause Before the Truth posted at Shea's Blog, saying, "My first substantive post at my new blog. Why would someone advocate an idea that he knows to be false?"




Martin Lindeskog presents INTERVIEW WITH JOHN COX | EGO posted at EGO.




Roderick Fitts presents Part 6: Tolerance posted at Inductive Quest, saying, "I wrap up my series with a shorter essay on Objectivism's application to tolerance, contrasting Kelley's view of tolerance with that of Objectivist Tara Smith, showing him to expand the role of "tolerance" in our lives past legitimate standards."




Roderick Fitts presents The Vampires of Objectivism posted at Inductive Quest, saying, "Part-calling out "Objectivist pretenders," part-"call to action," I'm posting this to alert any susceptible Objectivists to the "vampires" among us, from whom we should only expect negatives, loss, and the lowering of the credibility of Objectivism, Rand, and unfortunately, ourselves. Let the warding off commence!!"




Jeff Montgomery presents Mountain Micro Capitalism posted at Fun With Gravity, saying, "This is a small instance of free enterprise in the Colorado hill country, suggesting that the world will not spin out of control simply because we grant people freedom to act on their own."




Edward Cline presents Flirting with Tyranny posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "The title is intriguing, tempting, and ostensibly relevant in today‘s culture: The Treason of the Clerks (La Trahison des clercs), by 20th century French novelist and critic, Julien Benda. By clerks, Benda meant Medieval scribes, a small class of men who could read and write and understand what others read and wrote."




David C Lewis, RFA presents Life Insurance: What's Wrong With Non-forfeiture Laws?: Life insurance | Precious Metals | Retirement Plans | Financial Planning | Investing | Saving Money posted at A Revolution In Financial Planning.


Editor's Note: Anyone familiar with HTML--can you email me on how to eliminate the spaces between entries? Thanks!


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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Are the Greek Riots A Picture of Our Future?

Ayn Rand was right. Altruism, the dominate moral code of the world, is leading us toward destruction. While dominant, it is not the only moral code vying for people's minds.

In the US, 40 to 45% of the population lives on government "entitlements" which the vast majority of them think is theirs 'by right'. [!] Wrong.

Greek Riots

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Smokin' Hot!

I saw this hilarious YouTube video at Noodlefood. I totally agree!


Restore Joss Whedon