  Nathaniel Branden Interview, Pt. 2
by Alec Mouhibian
[Editor's Note: As a special treat for SOLOists, I'm reproducing here the much-acclaimed interview with Nathaniel Branden published in Issue 64 of 'The Free Radical.' I don't usually publish material from the hard-copy version so soon after it has come out, and I would not want to encourage folk to think I'm going to make a habit of this or that they should not subscribe to 'The Free Radical' in hard-copy. A website print-out is no substitute for the beauty of the original. And most of the hard-copy content is never posted on-line *at all*. I'm making an exception in this case because I know there's a great desire on the part of many SOLOists to "chew" many of the points made by Nathaniel in this interview (so ably conducted by Alec Mouhibian, who more than lived up to my trust in him to deliver a scintillating result). Posting the interview here on SOLOHQ, of course, does enable it to be "chewed." I'm spreading it out over four nights. Tonight: Part Two ... Rand, Psychology, Ideology and more. - Linz] (Read more...)
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Nathaniel Branden Interview, Pt. 1
by Alec Mouhibian
[Editor's Note: As a special treat for SOLOists, I'm reproducing here the much-acclaimed interview with Nathaniel Branden published in Issue 64 of 'The Free Radical.' I don't usually publish material from the hard-copy version so soon after it has come out, and I would not want to encourage folk to think I'm going to make a habit of this or that they should not subscribe to 'The Free Radical' in hard-copy. A website print-out is no substitute for the beauty of the original. And most of the hard-copy content is never posted on-line *at all*.
I'm making an exception in this case because I know there's a great desire on the part of many SOLOists to "chew" many of the points made by Nathaniel in this interview (so ably conducted by Alec Mouhibian, who more than lived up to my trust in him to deliver a scintillating result). Posting the interview here on SOLOHQ, of course, does enable it to be "chewed." I'll be spreading it out over four nights, beginning tonight with Part One ... Introduction and Current Events - Linz] (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 13, 2004 |
A Modest Proposal
by Eric J. Tower
For the prevention of the productive and more able members of New York State from brining harm to the assistance dependent, the less fortunate or their government servants; And for making them better servants of their fellow man. (Read more...)
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A Ban on Objectivist Cloning
by Joseph Rowlands
If ideas are destroying the world, provide better ideas. (Read more...)
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U.S. Election Outcome - Still in Two Minds!
by Ashley Chan
Below is a summarised compilation of various email correspondences to and from colleagues based in Hong Kong and the States, regarding the outcome of the U.S. election. These were all hastily written, so I apologise in advance for any logical flaws and illogical assertions! Plus I have done the compilation, so my biases are evident. But they do offer a different viewpoint. (Read more...)
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Of Orion, Islam ... and the Contest of Ideas
by Lindsay Perigo
The long & the short of this is that I have no perfect answer - but I'm always going to err on the side of the open exchange of ideas, even though I'm under no obligation to. We've all always known that upholding freedom of expression means upholding that freedom for its least attractive practitioners, as Ayn Rand once put it. (Read more...)
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The Matter Of Matt
by Lindsay Perigo
Most of the time I have kept quiet, in the interests of free & open discussion, which is part of Objectivism as it might be and ought to be. Occasionally I have exploded - & then the issue has become ... not appeasement, not Saddamism, not the filth that is Islam, not the mass torture/murder that Osama/Saddam want to install in place of everything we hold dear ... none of those things ... the issue has become: Linz hurt someone's feelings. (Read more...)
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"Logic Has Nothing To Do With Reality." Yeah, Right!
by Lindsay Perigo
An attack on the perversion of philosophy exemplified in contemporary academia, which attack sparked a long exchange on the nature of logic, in which even David Kelley weighed in on the side of logic divorced from empirical fact. (Read more...)
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The Sky Is Falling (or - Why I Believe that Everyone and Everything Sucks)
by George W. Cordero
If you ask me, there really is very little to live for. Obviously your only option is an armed revolution to overthrow this vile dictatorship that you live under. (Read more...)
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A Is A
by Luke Setzer
This Toastmasters speech served as a test speech for two different Evaluation Contests in 2003. The resulting evaluations proved insightful. Even the ones who disagreed with the precept that miracles cannot happen appreciated the demonstration of the prop. (Read more...)
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Listen Up!
by Lindsay Perigo
In lieu of a regular article tonight is this irregular article by me *about* articles! (Read more...)
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Greetings to the FBI
by Adam Buker
Greetings to all of you at the FBI who have been following my internet browsing. I am not going to reveal how I got information of the fact that you are unconstitutionaly violating my right to privacy except to say that someone that I know who is involved in the armed services informed me that I was on the FBI watch li... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 29, 2004 |
Kant Didn’t
by Peter Cresswell
Peter Cresswell’s reply to Fred Seddon’s disgraceful defence of Kant as a ‘Proto-Objectivist.’ (Read more...)
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Firearms and Self-Defense
by Duncan Bayne
I was, for many years, an opponent of personal firearm ownership and use. However, in the last few years, I have realised that position was without rational support. Since then, I've been studying the subject in detail - the truth is somewhat distant from the claims of anti-gun groups and politicians. The follow... (Read more...)
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Thursday
September 23, 2004 |
Out-Foxing Animal Rights
by Marcus Bachler
Last week the pictures of pro-fox hunting protesters breaking into the houses of parliament in London went around the world. So, what’s all the fuss? What is the argument for the rights behind legislation that prohibits cruelty and suffering to animals? (Read more...)
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How Marcus Was Won!
by Lindsay Perigo
[Editor's Note - Accompanying this article on SOLOHQ today is one by Marcus Bachler. It struck me as an opportune moment to recall a time, not so long ago, when Marcus was neither a libertarian nor an Objectivist. The following is republished from The Free Radical 46, in which I penned an editorial, Mollifying Marcus, responding to various points critical of free market economics and the Objectivist esthetics that Marcus had written in the previous issue. I offer this, not to gloat or boast (after all, coming round was ultimately Marcus's own work), but as affectionate evidence that in the war for men's minds, there are sometimes victories.] (Read more...)
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Thursday
September 2, 2004 |
The Liberty Pledge
by Duncan Bayne
People everywhere, especially those involved with minority parties, are familiar with this 'chicken and egg' problem: a voter may be reluctant to vote for a minority party, fearing his vote would be wasted. Here's how to fix this problem - use a "Liberty Pledge". (Read more...)
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Hicks on Kant
by Fred Seddon
In this article I examine Hicks' view of Kant's philosophy as stated in his recent book, 'Explaining Postmodernism.' (Read more...)
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SOLO: Past, Present and Future
by Joseph Rowlands
I just got back from a few weeks visiting Mr. Perigo in NZ. Aside from relaxation, good food, and good company, we spent a bit of time discussing SOLO. Periodically we try to go through what we've accomplished, and what we should be doing in the foreseeable future. We went through our old lists, and created some new lists in the process. (Read more...)
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Damn Statistics!
by Marcus Bachler
Remember Benjamin Disraeli? That 19th century British Prime Minister and champion of classical liberalism, and his now infamous quote, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics"? (Read more...)
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Barriers to Tyranny
by Joseph Rowlands
Government has slowly crept towards tyranny. More and more of the government functions go beyond the enumerated powers, and encroach on our lives. They tell us how to have sex. They tell us how much water we can flush a toilet with. They make us pay for things that we don’t want. But the government has not grown unchecked. There are at least a few areas where the government hasn’t been able to completely take over. (Read more...)
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An Open Letter to Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by George W. Cordero
America is 4 years into the 21st century, and she has never stood taller than she does now; she has never before been a greater beacon of truth, freedom, and reason than she is now. (Read more...)
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Rallying to the Underdog
by Joseph Rowlands
By treating the weakest or least able as the highest moral end to which you can put your resources, you learn to favor the weak over the strong. (Read more...)
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Two Sides of Libertarianism
by Joseph Rowlands
The distinguishing feature of libertarianism is not just that you can't be the first to use force, but that if you do, force will be used against you in return. (Read more...)
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Argumentum ad Experientiam
by G. Stolyarov II
Certain ad hominem appeals, to race, gender, or nationality, for example, are bigotry in the most transparent sense. However, the ad hominem appeal to an opponent’s inexperience is a more subtle variation of “poisoning the well,” and thus still retains considerable respectability in the modern culture. (Read more...)
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