 Like a Lamb to the Slaughter
by Michael Stuart Kelly
Personal memoir of love, betrayal, survival, growth and triumph. (Read more...)
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 The Non-Art of Objectivism
by Marcus Bachler
There has been much criticism, on this website and elsewhere over the years, of the moralizing and cultish behaviour of Objectivists who digest and regurgitate Ayn Rand’s opinions and her philosophical pronouncements. I always believed that this dogmatic adherence to Objectivist doctrine was quite a recent phenomenon, probably encouraged by Ayn Rand herself and continued by her protege Peikoff. However, I’ve had to revise that opinion, because in The Art of Non-Fiction, I found exactly the same type of Objectivist cultish behaviour being criticized by Ayn Rand herself. (Read more...)
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The Passion of Barbara Branden
by Barbara Branden
I am proud of The Passion of Ayn Rand. I told the truth about Ayn Rand, to the best of my ability, knowledge, and recollection. That is all I needed to do. But I would like to say something about why I wrote the book, since my reasons have proved to be of interest to many of my readers. (Read more...)
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This Boy's Not For Turning
by Lindsay Perigo
I will not let my fire go out—or allow anyone to extinguish it—"spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all." (Read more...)
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 Daily Linz 15 - This Cheek's Not For Turning
by Lindsay Perigo
Michael wants to do his bit in ushering in the age of the soft-sell and bringing an end to religion-“bashing.” Well, if he were advocating clarity without dogmatism, KASS without hysteria, reasonableness without appeasement, I would agree with him. But as far as I can tell, he’s pitching for an Objectivism that is New-Aged to the point where it is not only unrecognisable as Objectivism, but is antithetical to it. (Read more...)
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The Passion of the Critics of Ayn Rand's Critics
by Lindsay Perigo
I was one of those who resolved not to read James Valliant’s book, The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics, openly touted as “The case against the Brandens.” Still, I got talked into reading it in a thread right here on SOLOHQ. And I’m glad I did. (Read more...)
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Capitalism Soaring Into The Heavens
by Jeff Landauer
It’s Sunday, 10:01 PM. My friend Phil and I stop at the grocery store 2 blocks from his house in Santa Clara, CA to buy 2 cases of Mountain Dew. We will need the caffeine.
Six and a half hours of crazy night driving south through the central valley and up into the high desert North-East of Los Angeles, and we arrive at the Mojave, CA airport, in just one of thousands of cars arriving. The highway is already getting significantly backed up as the cars try to get into the two lane entrance. It’s 4:30 AM on Monday, June 21, date of the launch of the first civilian spacecraft. (Read more...)
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"And I Like That Idea Very Much"
by Eve V. Stenson
By the time I was halfway through college, I had concluded that I was a terrible human being, "too selfish and too weak" to change. I had become resigned to a life without friendship, since any genuine trust would inevitably lead to the other person despising me, once they got to know me better. Then a friend recommended Atlas Shrugged. (Read more...)
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 Daily Linz 13 - A Salute to Joe Rowlands
by Lindsay Perigo
SOLOists, savour this guy. He is a KASS-NEM par excellence. He will have a place of honour in Objectivist history. He is living proof that the heroes in Ayn Rand’s novels not only can exist, but do exist. (Read more...)
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A Sense of Life
by Derek McGovern
Linz remains an enigmatic figure to many. So what's he really like? Let me try to untangle the myths from the man. (Read more...)
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 Please Don't Feed The Trolls
by Adam Reed
The troll's long-term goal is to make converts, but in the short term his goal is to get his marks to consider his crackpottery intellectually respectable. His "proof" of purported intellectual respectability is that rational people consider his crackpottery debatable. The only effective countermeasure is to refuse to be drawn into the troll's project. Please don't feed the trolls. (Read more...)
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 Ayn Rand? Jealous?
by Robert L. Campbell
I strongly encourage everyone who wants to see Rand’s ideas treated fairly and objectively to read The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics. Not because Mr. Valliant’s assessment of Rand can be counted on to be fair and objective, but because Rand’s journal entries need to be consulted by anyone who wishes to make his or her own fair and objective assessment. (Read more...)
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To Turn or Not to Turn - A Question of Cheek
by Michael Stuart Kelly
Are religious principles like turning the other cheek really anti-Objectivism? There goes that little child inside me again. He tells me that Ayn Rand’s heroes turned the other cheek all the time in her fiction. (Read more...)
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Understanding Addiction -- One Objectivist's View
by Michael Stuart Kelly
The universal aspect of all addictions is that the sense of identity has been contaminated and the faculty of volition has atrophied. In the case of drugs and alcohol, there is a chemically induced craving. These are the parts of the mind and body that need to get better. Then the rest will follow. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
October 12, 2005 |
The Backbone of Benevolence
by Andy Postema
Objectivism gives benevolence a backbone that has little to do with being nice and everything to do with being rational in an irrational age. (Read more...)
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The Path of Most Resistance
by Joseph Rowlands
This is the story of a man. Let's call him Bob. He's a young man in a good college, very bright, and with a huge future ahead of himself. The sky is the limit, and he can do anything he sets his mind to. It's the picture-perfect benevolent universe premise. (Read more...)
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The Morning of June 4
by Hong Zhang
As I try to write down my experience during the spring and summer of 1989, many details have started to fade, but I still feel deeply the emotions - the exhilarations and the agonies - that I had gone through at that time. May it never be forgotten. (Read more...)
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No
by George W. Cordero
I cannot help but feel that the moment in which paradise and innocence are truly lost, is the first moment of your first "yes" to an unearned guilt or injustice; the moment in which you accept ‘pain’ as a normal state of being. (Read more...)
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Letter to Madalena ... An Homage to the Value of Valuing
by Michael Stuart Kelly
A tribute to a dear woman, with unwavering love and gratitude .... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 7, 2005 |
What I Saw In and Out of the Trenches
by Jody Allen Gomez
As the author of our current poll, which asked what philosophical skeletons we have in our closets, I thought it only proper that I weigh in with my own story. The poll, more than anything, is about our individual journeys and the wars (cultural and otherwise) we had to fight to get here. So here are my unadulterated thoughts from that initial post ... my reminiscences of the past, and the vision that the poll itself elicited. (Read more...)
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 The Ayn Rand Centenary: Taking It Personally
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
[Note from Linz: This is the twelfth article on the Rand Centenary that The Free Radical has run this year. It is from the current issue. It is the only such article being made available online at this point. I urge SOLOists who have not already done so to subscribe to the hard-copy version & so help promote this SOLO-affiliated magazine & have it achieve the ascendancy over the competition that it deserves. Subscribe - and spread the word!]
I have spoken of Rand’s cultural impact, political influence, and radical legacy. But it is ultimately a personal liberation that Rand’s philosophy offered me, making all those other liberations of culture and politics possible.
(Read more...)
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Objectivism: Not Just a Better Set of Rules
by Joseph Rowlands
Perhaps they think that Objectivist morality is just another set of rules, just like other obedience-based moralities. They may even believe that it's a better set of rules. They can argue that since the rules are designed to enhance your life, the rules work better in practice. (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 26, 2005 |
Academia is so Open-Minded, Its Brains Fell Out!
by Marty Lewinter
My college is planning a year-long theme that has to do with Muslim culture. A professor (whom I call YYYY) posted an opinion implying that the problem (ignorance) lies with us. I responded. Another professor (XXXX) attacked me. Finally, I responded. It's a jungle out there! (Read more...)
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 Stylized Life
by Glenn Lamont
Objectivism provides you with the tools to make your life extraordinary, to make your life like the pages of an Ayn Rand novel. I call this living a stylized life. (Read more...)
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My Journey to Atheism
by Eric J. Tower
When I chose to live my life as an atheist I did so not because I wanted to be different, but because I lived through the real dangers of theistic life both psychologically and physically. Theistic belief hindered my growth as an individual. When I finally chose to shrug these chains I found I was able to live my life freely. No longer impeded by unearned guilt or baseless faith, I was finally able to grow as an individual. (Read more...)
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