You're Welcome

I was reading a chapter in Ayn Rand's book The Virtue of Selfishness. The chapter was named The Cult of Moral Greyness. In the chapter Ms. Rand claims that our culture is dominated by people who refuse to judge others claiming that there are no absolutes only approximations. Ms. Rand then goes on to show that absolutes do exist and should be acknowledged. What Ms. Rand and the "cultists" fail to grasp is the distinction between morals/ethics and Justice . Two people may commit the same crime but do they both deserve the same fate? If one man steals to feed his family and another steals for profit, both are guilty of theft (absolute), but the penalty for each should be very different (approximation). - You're welcome

I was listening to Gary McNamara on red eye radio ( www.redeyeradio.com ). Mr. McNamara repeatedly expresses bewilderment about the motives of a feminist blogger (Amy Glass) who disparaged marriage and child rearing in her blog. If Mr. McNamara knew anything about post-Marxism then the aim of this blogger would be clear to him: World-wide socialist revolution ushering in socialist "paradise". Marxism claims that the revolution will occur when the workers rise-up and throw off their capitalist masters. Post Marxism posits that any organization/movement can start the revolution. Feminism is one such movement. Miss Glass expresses contempt for domesticity because domestic bliss is counter revolutionary. - You're welcome

I just heard Glen Beck on the radio say that greed is okay as long wait doesn't make you do something immoral(!) What? Greed is immoral! Greed is ambition taken to its illogical extreme. If Mr. Beck had taken the time to define his terms he would not have made this mistake. - You're welcome

In the current issue of The Objective Standard ( www.theobjectivestandard.com ) Mr. Craig Biddle wrote an article about what the government has done to fight terrorism. He concludes that it has done precious little if anything at all. He blaims relativism and religion for the government's reluctance to go after the real perpetrators of terrorsim: Iran and Saudia Arabia. The article shows more depth than other Objective Standard articles. However, I take issue with two things Mr. Biddle included in his article (government and relativism) and one thing he didn't (worldwide revolution). Since it is key to his article Mr. Biddle should have defined the word "government". Government is the apparatus that political parties use to wield power. It is the political parties and more specifically the people in those parties that make the policies to which Mr. Biddle objects. Mr. Biddle needs to identify specific individuals that are culpable (the president? the speaker ...

If the idealistic, particularly those of the political left, refuse to acknowledge reality how can they be politically effective? How can they effect change? I contend that the idealistic maintain political relevance with the assistance however unwittingly of the realistic (politically speaking - anti-socialists). The idealistic contend that reality, in order to be mastered, must be ignored. Whereas the truth is that change only occurs when reality is consulted. Since the realistic are so oriented the idealistic must psychologistically manipulate and intimidate the realistic to support their socio-political aims. - You're welcome

When analyzing current socio-political events I look deeper than just the surface issues. I look for what Marx referred to as the "superstructure". I look for psycho-social/cultural influences on the trends and ideas of today. I recognize two fundamental approaches to life: Idealistic and Realistic. Being idealistic means denying reality and recognizing only the psychologistic. It further means being epistemologically skeptical (nothing can be known with certainty) and ethically relative (the denial of universal rights and wrongs). Politically the idealistic pretend that the universe is malevolent (scary and unpredictable) which gives rise to the presumption for change (success can only be had by luck and/or cheating) and therefore the revolutionary drive for the perfect society. The idealistic are found mainly on the left but I contend that many conservatives are in fact idealistic as are Libertarians and Objectivists ( www.theobjectivestandard.com ). All of this is importan...

"The natural endowment of the intellect is not acutal knowledge but the power of acquiring knowledge. The mind is in the beginning without ideas, it is like a smooth tablet on which nothing is written. All our knowledge, therefore, is acquired by a process of elaboration or development of sense-knowledge." - Nichomachean Ethics - You're Welcome