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So you had a suspicion based on observable patterns, which turned out to be correct...and you are ashamed of yourself? Sorry I don't see why.

Hello Guys This will be a very long post... I want to share with you my journey with FDR so far: I discovered Stefs podcasts on youtube about three or four years ago (I am now 27). I was watching a lot of political and atheist debates at the time. I think it could have been the video “19 tough questions for Libertarians”. Anyways I started to watch more and more of his videos and just loved the stuff. The NAP videos, the property rights, it all fit together and that was great, since in what I have heard before, there was always somewhere a hidden contradiction. The next big milestone I think was the argument from morality and the UPB book. My interest started to shift towards ethics. (It had come from atheism over politics, society / economics, libertarianism / freedom). So I started really digging into the idea of rational scientific ethics, which I still find extremely fascinating and important. I am also currently working on a book of my own trying to improve UPB. I want to share it with you some day, but so far it is still not ready. Also the RTR book was a real eyeopener for me. I think around 2 years ago I read it and also introduced it into my relationship with Rahel, my girlfriend. It had a truly wonderful effect on our relationship and allowed us to come closer and closer to each other ever since. Then in November 2015 I saw the truth about circumcision video. It hit me like a hammer blow to the head! I have seen the video in the recommended videos on youtube for probably 2 months before I finally watched it. I think I was afraid of it. But I also wanted to see what Stef had to say about it, since it also pertains to me. I grew up Jewish, so I was circumcised just after birth. I was very shocked and confused and I went to Rahel and asked her to watch the video with me. She also was shocked and said that she had never thought about it, (Circumcision is not common in Europe), but that for sure we would never do this to our future kids. The following month I was very shocked and disoriented, and I could barely think of anything else. I just could not grasp it that I was the victim of a human rights violation and that my parents were the perpetrators. In January 2016 I wrote them a letter that I handed to my mom when she came to visit the town where I now lived. I was stomach-turningly nervous and so was Rahel, when we went to meet her. (She came with me to assist me in this difficult task.) In the letter I told my parents that I have come to realize that circumcision was wrong, that I want to talk about it with them and that I expect an apology from them. I also put the link to the video in there. They have been very uncooperative in finding dates to talk about it. In the past 1.5 years we have maybe had 5 conversations about it, always initiated by me calling multiple times and insisting on it. It is now also just one year that I started going to therapy. It was very hard for me to start going to therapy. I talked a lot about trying it to Rahel, but I never actually went and did it. In fact she started to go to therapy before I did because of exam anxiety. I supported her going to therapy very much, but I myself kept merely talking about it. At some point she kind of kicked my ass to just go and do it, which was a very good thing. She finished therapy after roughly a year, I am still in therapy and probably will be for some time to come. I think I am now at the point where my emotions start to come back to life. I am still often dissociated, but sometimes I feel a lot of sadness or anger. It has happened twice in the past 4 weeks that I really broke down crying and sobbing. Also just two weeks ago I felt for the first time real anger towards my parents for an extended period of time. It was not just like a flair up that I immediately suppressed back to zero, but it lasted for around two days. The reason for this was that my mom has written me to invite me to a dinner at my grandparents birthday. I called her and said that I dont want to go there and act all happy as if everything was fine, but that I first want to sort out the things that we still have not sorted out. I also said that Rahel has offered to act as an arbitrator between us, since she felt (correctly) that we were not getting anywhere. So my mom said that she would talk it over with my dad and that we could maybe meet the following weekend (14 days ago). Then the next day she sent me a text that we could not meet on the weekend, because my dad was planning to go on a skiing trip the week after and these conversations make him feel unstable. (That btw was their reason why we could not continue the conversation for the past 7 weeks). So I felt that I got really angry. And the anger stayed with me. I called her the next evening and wanted to say that I was angry, but I could not bring myself to say the words. But I was so loaded, that she perfectly heard it out of my voice anyways. She then tried to calm me by making one concession after the other, until she offered that we could meet just the two of us on the up coming weekend (14 days ago). So we met to talk together. She had asked again that she still does not understand exactly what I want from them. So I said again (probably for the third time) that I want to be able to have a real relationship with them. I want to be able to share thoughts and feelings that are important to me and I would also like that they would share more important memories, thoughts and feelings with me. And that being able to have a real relationship requires that they respect me as a fully fledged human being, which means for one, that they do not have the right to cut of an important body part of mine. And then it started again with the evading and fogging and so on and I felt that I got angry again. I said that this is a prime example of what I am talking about, since I am explicitly stating a feeling and a desire of mine and now I am again in a position that I have to justify myself instead of being heard and understood. She said that she and my dad would be willing to come to a psychologist of my choosing with me, of which I was positively surprised. But at the end of our conversation I felt very strongly that there is no point to it. I felt that we would just go through the motions but nothing would come out of it. It was a weird feeling, it felt like a cold kind of certainty. I am not sure what will come next but this feeling has not changed since then. I feel like the guy that has always tried to find the hidden door in the wall of a castle, and has suddenly realized that there is no door, just a wall. So now I am standing in front of the wall kind of dumbstruck and sort of starting to look around and trying to regain my orientation. It is a really weird but also kind of a good feeling. I also feel like I have a ton of sadness inside me which I sometimes feel, but mostly I am dissociated from it. Even though I often feel a lot of sadness and sometimes anger, I generally feel much better and happier than I ever did in the past 15 years. I am happy that I start to have feelings, even though it is kind of unfamiliar and a bit curious. I am happy that I feel my confidence rise and that I can start to stand in for myself. I am happy that I have such a wonderful relationship and a wonderful vision for my future family (unschooling, peaceful parenting, attachment parenting). I am happy that I have a good compass (ethics) to navigate by through the difficulties of life. Philosophy is a stony road and I sure have many stones still before me, but I feel that I am on the right road and that makes me feel positive and happy.

What about in muslim countries?

Adding the word voluntary in front of slavery doesn't make sense. That's like saying voluntary rape. Well which is it? Slavery? or Voluntary?

@Soulfire, save your arrogance for the Muslims who might potentially gang-rape you. We'll see how your stupid religion of diversity works out for you then.

White Sharia started as a joke, but everyday I see more and more need for it.

Word of advice to all of you, this is what happens when men fail to put women in their place. It sends a signal to the women that there are no men around, so the women have to look for men elsewhere (Muslims in this case). @Soulfire who will you run to when you are being raped by these people? The same people you have equated with IQ 85 cousin f---ing rapists?

I put it a little differently. They *coldly* planned the repeated mass murder of innocents. The intent is to bring about political changes. Their vision for these changes is diametrically opposed to a free society, reinforced by religious teachings who baseline understanding of consent is incompatible with Western common law. The only possible merging with Western culture they see requires one-sided reform of Western culture. The answer is, "no."

No. You get peace when everyone has a gun. Or none. But people who do not care about your plea for peace, will most certainly have a gun, so then only the first option is realistic. Animals are smart, and they have various weapons or ways to defend themselves, because their predators don't care about their plea to let them be.

Could you clarify what is wrong with this answer? The way I see it any widely perceived value of a stable, fungible medium prior to coercive imposition shows its possible application as a form of money. Whether or not this application materialized under the purview of the state I think is irrelevant to its source of value and efficacy as a medium of exchange. To dismiss it as a source of legitimate value because it was only employed for vanity would be to argue against the subjective theory of value, which I assume you agree with. To say the utilitarian uses for gold were not achievable at that point in time, therefore it has no intrinsic value, I think, is a mistake. We know that value is more than just utility, it represents human desire. People may desire something merely because it is difficult to attain, so they can count themselves among the few that own it or so they can have a trophy of their accomplishments. Add to that the durability and aesthetically pleasing appearance and I think there is a reasonable case to be made for gold's intrinsic value absent violence. Oh!-Almost forgot to mention probably the most important aspect of "shiny things" - they get you laid. It would be seen as a status symbol for resource gathering that would attract fertile women and allow your genes to continue. Perhaps there is an error in my thinking, and if so then I am curious why gold was chosen as the medium of exchange to be given artificial value through violence and not some other medium with aspects more conducive to ruler/state control.

It is good to speak up in the presence of wrongdoing. Don't be a pussy.

Yay, gratuitous amounts of feedback! LOL, okay, one at a time here. RoseCordex: I can't believe I'm quoting him again, but as Stefan says, "To see the farm is to leave it." So get up and leave the farm, my friend. I'm waiting on the other side of the gate. And of COURSE I was ashamed of myself. I'm always telling people I know not to paint everyone with the same brush, and my stupid brain went on media-created autopilot and said "Oh, a Muslim...of course...". And I'm just like, brain, FECK OFF. Things like that shouldn't be there if you're me. I try to be as open-minded as I can be, see. Neeeeel: No, I think it's more of a creation of what we've been taught through ancestral tradition: that our people are better than any other people, and that our people should fit into a certain form (white, preferably male, heterosexual, able-bodied, Christian) in order to be considered our people. That's not cool, because, as I said, to create an "other", one that does not fit into the false archetype, is to create your own so-called enemies. That's bullshit. RichardY: Honey, you know I love you, but that's my point exactly. They weren't "playing fair", and nobody ever does when they're brainwashed and afraid. Fear will make you do as you are told, and to do as you are told is both stupid and boring, because you're not following your own compass. I believe in Tabula Rasa, yes, but in line with that I believe that all people are born good. We have to be TAUGHT to be bad. And unfortunately, if you're taught too thoroughly, you'll make bad things happen. No one has the right to attack children, or anyone in general who can't fight back. It's that early, negative conditioning that makes such a disconnect happen in the mind. A4E: I said nothing about appeasement. I said for "us" to leave well enough alone. Someone has to drop the gun first in order for peace to happen, and I don't care what so-called "side" it is, but because we're supposedly so intelligent and civilized, I figure it might as well be "our side". Are we no better than animals that we should cling to our weapons for constant fear of attack? Bullshit.

@ Erwin, LOL...you're cute. ♥

What, my Pantheism? To believe that everything is God (yes, including you) is not a crime. In fact, it's the greatest equalizer as well as the greatest affirmation of human goodness of which I am aware. And you can save your misogyny and xenophobia for someone who gives a feck. I do not, however, give a feck. PS: Beck. Just because.

Damn straight, Killian! And yes, I'm aware of what sarcasm is. Here's the sound of me caring. ................................................................................................................................. But for serious, if we want peace, we have to start treating people like people, like equals. Are we not all biochemically equal anyway? Besides, human beings as a species are still 98.8% similar to our primate ancestors, so what are we bragging about? But we're smart enough to be able to evolve past that. Human evolution is significant in that, despite our physical changes, the greatest evolution took place in the mind. Why not use that for cultivating a life that everyone can live? It's bullshit to carry on as animals would, warring with one another and hoarding our possessions and creating false barriers between one another. If people are so great, and I think we are because I'm a humanist, can't we do better than that?

Neeel: To treat someone as an equal would be to treat them with the same degree of respect as you would prefer to be treated with yourself. You know the whole Golden Rule thing? Literally every religion has a version of that rule: do no harm to others if you would not have them harm you, and so forth. As for why we ought to be peaceful, as I say, are we no better than animals or Neanderthals flinging rocks at one another? If humans are as great as we think we are when compared to the animals, as I do because I'm a humanist, I think we ought to put our money where our mouths is (mouths are?) and live up to what we have the potential to be. Besides, why not get along? It's easier. A4E: Your statement was that the West treats people as equals and I was responding to that statement. In terms of Islam, no, they don't. And neither does any other religion or philosophy. Except Pantheism but I won't go there unless you want me to. Point is, we can, collectively, as a species, do a lot better than we're doing.

PS: I have a -11 ranking now! WOOOOOOO, double digits! For every thumbs-down I get, I consider myself the more honoured, because it means I'm fighting the good fight against trolls and bigots. WOOOOOOOO!

This might be a long one, and I apologize in advance for that. Also, if I get hit points on my account for this, I don't really care. I have something to say. This morning, when I heard on the news that it was a guy with an Arabic-sounding name who committed the bombing, I swear to God I thought to myself, "Muslim". I was SO ashamed, totally disgusted with myself. As if my brain were just on autopilot and thinking that it would have been a Muslim to conduct those bombings. Kids, don't do what my stupid head did. I know it's hard, because every single day in the media, there are those stupid little micro-aggressions that add up to a really big problem, directed at the minority group of the moment. Every century picks a new minority group to pick on: disabled people, gay people, people who just aren't white, anyone of a different religion, and so on. This decade, it's Muslims...and a whole bunch of others (thanks Trump), but mostly Muslims. We brand people as "other" or as "enemy" or as "different" in the negative sense, but it's these labels that CREATES the so-called "other" or "enemy". People honestly don't get this and it's REALLY annoying, but it's like saying to someone that they're a piece of shit. The more you say it, the more it gets ground into that person's head, and, despite whether it's true or not, the more the person will start to believe it. It's called the "thousand paper cuts" phenomenon: a paper cut is one little thing, but then cut and cut and cut away until BAM, you've bled out, or are so injured that you just can't function. I am NOT condoning what happened in Manchester. Not in the slightest. I think that people who attack others and especially children or animals (i.e. groups that can't defend themselves) are terrible. However, it may indeed be the case that they are terrible because they themselves have suffered greatly. Think about what's gone on in Syria: can you honestly imagine being so incredibly oppressed by your government that such a large proportion of people choose to leave a country? It's very difficult for anyone living in Europe (at least Western Europe) and North America to imagine this, because we have always lived lives of relative ease compared to those who live in war-torn nations. It's called white privilege. Whites, myself included, have had the privilege to live in these relatively peaceful, orderly nations, but very much at the expense of nations in which these privileges are not at all present. I've made this point on another page before, but it is fear that most often makes us revert to the mindset that we must kill in order to live. But why should we have to kill in order to live? I see no reason for that other than those reasons that are found in a mind that has been warped by fear: fear of death, fear of retribution, fear of the pyramidal structure that our world has become, and so forth. And it will be fear that makes people retaliate, and blame the "other", while in reality we create that "other" by aiming guns rather than reaching out hands. I do NOT believe that this issue is beyond repair, mind you. It's going to take some doing, but for God's sake, people, I have just two things to ask of you, and this applies not only to anyone here who cares but to the world generally, if I may be egotistical enough for a moment to make such a bold request... 1. Put down the fecking guns 2. Stop saying "us versus them" and "the other" and "the enemy"; it's not helpful And I'm done. Like I say, I don't give a damn if I get bombarded for this. People who feel the need to perform violent attacks are only ever doing so out of fear, which comes out as aggression because we as humans know of no other way to deal with fear. And that's all I have to say about that, except to express my condolences to anyone here who's from Manchester and witnessed this shit go down first hand. No amount of money or compassion towards the families that now suffer could ever compensate for such losses, ever.