TheMatrixHasMe

Not sure if this is helpful for you, but I have tried to arrange your post into a logical argumentative form that might help you see what you've written, if only a little more clearly. Premise 1: Everyone is pretty much poor in Africa. Premise 2: Bill Gates is not poor as a result of laissez-faire capitalism. Conclusion: If laissez-faire capitalism were mandated on the continent of Africa, everyone in Africa might become as smart, skilled, motivated and as rich as Bill Gates. Is this helpful?

Man, that is some difficult stuff to go through. You're lucky to have survived the attack from the 14 year old. Wasn't there anyone around to keep an eye on you at the playground? It's tragic that your uncle, who had suffered abuse, was telling you that he wanted to bring harm to your mother for protecting your well being at 6 months old. Where did your mother take you? Did she go back to your father?

That is a really painful letter to read. I think it is honorable that he wrote the letter, and did not attend the funeral. That he is not writing from a prison cell for murdering his abuser is nothing more than miraculous. With all due respect to the letter, and your uncle's ability to have survived, why did your mother runaway with you when you were an infant?

Obviously, it's ultimately up to you to decide on the best course of action or strategy. Having a professionally trained therapist who specializes in the subjects you would like to address with family members, would (hopefully) help you feel safer and calmer by creating an environment with safe emotional boundaries. This could be a positive buffer between you and your family of origin if communications should become challenging. Here are two short videos that might help by Daniel Mackler. Part 1 9 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua47SXnthxA Part 2 7 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVrPgatTWS8 Please let me know if any of this is helpful, or if I have misunderstood any of your concerns.

Welcome! -Steve

"These meetings have been less dates and more walking around the park at night." Wait a minute—this woman is concerned about getting involved with abusive men, but insists on talking walks around a park at night with a guy she only recently met on the internet? What is standing out for me is that you might be ignoring your own self protection. Do you think tho might be the case?

Tough question, but a great one, too. First, I am curious. Have you tried to explain your childhood experiences to your family? I ask, because the nature / quality of your experiences might be more important than trying to jump into a political/apolitial debate with them. I certainly understand the reasoning why one might try that approach to a lion's cage. A ten foot pole can come in handy, but why do you think you might be holding the pole to begin with?

Those software packages can be difficult to learn for many people. That you are already grasping the "big 3" Photoshop/ Illustrator/ InDesign in high school could be a really great advantage for you if that is something you might like to pursue. We can go into the advantages later if that's something you want to discuss. As you probably know, Photoshop is a very powerful program with hundreds of different ways to achieve the same task. Some are ore efficient that others, and that is why it can be so difficult to master. To truly understand the program (and the rest of Adobe's software) and use it with any degree of efficiency is a challenge. In order to use any of those software packages with any degree of competence can take patience and fortitude to understand, let alone use them with speed and competence that would make you valuable to a company or client in the future. If that's something you'd like to do. It is also worth mentioning that the traditional design, drawing, painting, photography, composition, animation, and usability skills required to create things with any software often requires an additional layer of unique skill sets and abilities. I mention this because you might be experiencing difficulty transferring those UX designs/sketches to digital because there are certain design principles, skills and knowledge that might not be foundational to the original sketches. It's hard to say for sure since this that is another topic altogether. This next few questions I have might appear to be completely off the topic with regard to what you're going to do with your life at this stage...but I think they might be helpful for you to think about, or not. You mentioned that you became interested in web design and Adobe software in high school. That made me wonder if your parents ever take an interest in you when you were a child growing up. Did they? Did they spend time with you? Did they ever ask you questions about what you like about a particular game, or what you like about the way a website is laid out? When you were a child, did they play with you? Did they ever take interest in helping you to uncover the deeper layers and foundations of the things you were interested in? To get back to your original post, are you still feeling pressure from your parents to go get a college degree simply because they have a college degree? Lastly, (and this is important) If you were to go to college, would you be living at home or would you be living near college or on the college campus?

Yeah, the quote below is tough to fit on anything but a board post here, or maybe wrapped around a double decker tour bus a few times as a great public service announcement—but it's the spirit that counts, pun intended. We can’t just say to people “I think your religious delusions are bad for you, and I think you should give up your delusions about there being an all loving water bed of infinite deification that’s going to catch you when you fall out of this flat mattress of meat called life!"

I am sorry that I am still unable to make myself clear about what I am asking you. As such, the only thing that I know for certain is that— as an infant— I was circumcised against my will, and under the direction of my parents. I happen to know that many males from the region you inhabit have also suffered circumcision against their will. With that in mind, please let me know if you think this video, if ranslated into Hebrew, might help the people you wish to help, and in the manner you wish to assist them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_klThwMomMo

Hey ThoughtDog I'm not saying your wrong for posting here, or that you shouldn't be checking other resources, but I'm curious about what brings you here searching for something that you should probably be getting from your therapist. Would you be willing to let them know that you feel like you prefer to be working in the area of self assertion together? If not, why not? Hope this helps. Let me know if I missed something.

I am terribly sorry to hear about your trouble with your family. How old are you? Maybe there is a former friend or classmate who has a couch for you to crash on? If not, maybe there's a temporary shelter you can stay until you have a clear head on what to do next? Can you get a job?

Arielle : In your original post you wrote "I've been in a relationship with a virtuous and intelligent man " If the man you're referring to is virtuous and intelligent, then there probably shouldn't be any trouble waking him up to empirical philosophy, the non- aggression principle, universally preferable behavior, and the power of real time relationships here on FDR. Assuming I am wrong, what evidence do you have that he is virtuous and intelligent?

Shirgall: My asking you when, where or how you are drugging your children, and/or why you are placing them in a school— let alone a religious school—is neither an insult nor is it ignoring years of experience. My standard of kindness is letting you, a total stranger to me, know that you may be causing your children irreparable harm by placing them on drugs AND in a Christian school. Nowhere did I minimize anyone's experience or insult anyone. In case it hasn't crossed your mind, drugging your kids to comply to some Christian standard of pseudo education may be double dipping the actual needs of your children into the manure of a pseudo- educational dog and pony show for the sake of conformity. Now, if you want to twist my curiosity of asking you why you're placing your children on drugs so they can play a little ditty on a god damn piano into an insult, then that is, sadly, your prerogative being excercised to the expense of children who don't sound like they have any choice. If I have to choose between some aesthetic preference of kindness over truth in a philosophy forum, I choose the latter.

Same here, big time.

Compared to placing your children on drugs, my comment is unfair? Would you kindly explain? I was not aware that you are entirely new here. For some reason I was under the impression that you were just popping in to the community to get what you needed, and then split. Projection on my part? Perhaps. I value the community here. I have some frustrations with the way the world treats this incredibly valuable resource, and am protective of it. Now that I see that you are a new member, I can see that my response to you has a tone of considerable insensitivity. I hope you will consider accepting my apology. So, I say "welcome" with mumbled tones as I dislodge my computer keyboard from my mouth. Not that you would ask after this initial interaction with me, but if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. In my defense, I did post "If I am missing anything here, please let me know." Thanks for letting me know.

Before I address anything, have you tried to get any type of design work on your own? In other words, have you dipped your toe into the pool to see if you like the field you want to study in? Have you tried redesigning a menu that is hard to read, or sketch out an alternative steering wheel and dashboard for an automobile? Both of those, are in fact a type of UI. This is a decent book in the filed of UI, even though it doesn't necessarily address mobile desktop design, it does address the thinking behind the things people use everyday. http://www.amazon.com/The-Psychology-Of-Everyday-Things/dp/0465067093 I don't want to come across as being adversarial or contradictory to the information you are receiving, but a piece of paper/diploma does not necessarily raise your value in a society. However, it might increase your value in some, but not all areas with enough employment opportunities that will allow you to survive in the current economic conditions, or it might not. I'm not knocking pieces of paper, or certificates or degrees. After all, I went to school for a BFA degree 20 years ago.It is worth mentioning that I've done work for a variety of high profile companies, and not one ever asked to see my degree, they only wanted to see my portfolio, or tested me on the spot to see if I could do the work. In order to get work as an artist/designer/ UI designer all you need is a portfolio of great work that shows real world examples relevant to the business/company you want to work with, either on a staff or freelance basis. lynda.com offers certificates of completion that you can save to prove that you have completed a course, and a premium subscription can give you access to files that can help you to create your own real word projects, all for about $400 for an entire year of full time study. For the price of one year's worth of an undergraduate degree (anywhere from $10,000-40,000 per year) you can get a great computer that can run the entire Adobe Master Collection, and a subscription to lynda.com, AND probably a couple of decent continuing education courses at a reputable art/design school, or even some less expensive online programs . (I'm thinking "full sail university" or the http://new.artinstitutes.edu, something along those lines) Let me know if this is useful, or the most annoying crap you've ever read. : ) Either way, best of luck in YOUR decision.

Sorry I wasn't clear. The questions were really more for you to ask of yourself. When I refer to master/slave or slave/master relationships, it is in the context of how people are treating themselves at the personal level. For example, if I force myself to go to a job that brings me little or no satisfaction other than a paycheck, and misery replaces my bone marrow, then the relationship I have to myself (or parts of myself) might be a master/slave paradigm. In other words, society and my family might rejoice at the art work I produce, but the creative little kid inside of me is kicking and screaming all the way. If I am living in a manner that is immoral toward myself, and I come in contact with someone who is self-aware and living in a manner that one could say is moral toward themselves (and others) then that is likely to generate feelings that might include paranoia. Or, it might not, depending on the person or people involved. Now, I'm not suggestion that this is what is going on with the people you are surrounding yourself with, but many people are not aware that this type of inner master/slave dynamic is occurring for them internally, and is a sort of inner violation of the nonaggression principle- if that makes sense? So when these people come in contact with someone like you—a person who is pursuing self-knowledge, it is THEIR emotions that is getting triggered. If so you might be misinterpreting their feelings as your own. In this case, paranoia. To recap, the questions I asked were things for you to consider and to ask of yourself in an honest and curious manner so you can begin to have a clearer understanding of where those feeling might be coming from. Also, did you watch the video I posted above? If not here it is again. Freedom From The Fears of Others

I agree. I think the passive role he took likely saved him from state persecution. The state IS daddy.

I don't want to have this thread hijacked either, but as a listener to this show, are you not aware that the use of mind/mood altering drugs on children is dangerous? This is pretty serious stuff, dude. Your children's lives may be at risk, even though you may not think so. I mean, putting a kid on drugs because they're having trouble learning piano? Really? Would you mind starting a new thread? Maybe under the Freedomain Radio Topics / Peaceful Parenting header? Also, I would strongly suggest emailing [email protected] and request a call.

Hey there Phuein, I've spent a fair amount of time and energy trying to learn what makes Israelis different from other people so I can help YOU as per your request. You still haven't answered my questions, and then the only response you can come up with is "All truth's are relevant'? Care to explain your response to me?

If I understand your post correctly, you want to bring philosophy to your relationship. Is this correct? If I am correct, then I can't avoid asking why you only have 3 posts total. I'm not saying that there should be a post requirement, nor a donation requirement, but how can you expect your significant other to both embrace and live philosophical principles you consider important when there doesn't seem to be a whole lotta evidence of your doing so yourself? If I am missing anything here, please let me know.

Why are you sending your daughter to a Christian school, and how old is she?

So, how do you know for sure that derailed your conversations during the meetup? How do you know that you are emotionally toxic, and how did that take form during the meetup? Since this was your first meetup, it might be helpful to know that attending a meetup for the first time can be a very complex and emotional experience for some people. If you attend meetups on a regular basis, meeting new people for the first time can be very complicated as well. It might be worth mentioning that not all FDR meetup group attendees are fully aware, tolerant, virtuous individuals who are aware of their own defense mechanisms, biases, judgements, or hidden agendas. As far as I know, there is no way to verify or certify FDR meetup attendees. Some might be Zeitgeister infiltrators, trolls, hard core Randians/ Objectivists piggy backing on FDR, or NSA operatives for that matter. I don't want to make it seem that people who attend FDR meetups are a bunch of swarmy, duplicitous, gossipy individuals, who are out to get you, but in my opinion, one needs to be careful about who the people claim to be in any given meetup group. I mention this because what you were feeling might not have been coming form you.

You're welcome. I am an aspiring writer. I'll let you know when I have something i consider to be finished. Thank you for your interest! Let me know if you decide to publish anywhere.