Walt

FDR has a way of hooking you in for one thing and then keeping you for others- I'm sure that by the time your an active member here politics and philosophy will be as important to you as self-knowledge, psychology and a whole slew of things that you didn't even realize you cared about. I heartily welcome you Lauren.

Thank you Rob and Wesley. I hadn't thought it would be too much of a bombshell, given the way that everything seems to be connected online but Wesley you are more than justified in your confusion as it was a pretty amazing sequence of events that led to my enlightenment. It was toward the end of the republican primaries for the presidential elections and I was so misguided I was supporting "Kill them" Gingrich purely because of his challenge to Obama regarding Lincoln Douglas style debates versus the current sham that they call a debate. I had never listened to Ron Paul, I really didn't have any passion or principles other than a hatred for democrats. I'm really quite embarrassed to remember how foolish I was. So I wanted to stay abreast of current events and the primaries- filtered through the correct ideological bias- so I sought out free recordings of the Limbaugh show. After a lot of searching I found an App in the Android Market called Conservative Radio by DAR.fm. I fell in love with the on demand convenience of the whole thing and I grabbed their partner app Libertarian Radio because they had Penn Jillette (whom I came to enjoy from the Bullshit series) and Stossel (Fox contributor)- I knew absolutely nothing about libertarianism at the time. Among the 'stations' available on the app was our very own FDR. The first podcast I listened to was Space Aliens from Luxembourg, there were no direct references to anarchy and I didn't realize what I was in store for, the title just jumped out at me, and then the content haunted me. It was a few days until I could listen to either the conservative radio or FDR, I had been shaken up a great deal. I think I listened to a few innocuous car ride podcasts from the first year. It was easier to listen to Stef instead of Rush, his points were better laid out rationally and his show wasn't 4 hours long so I became addicted and my years of brainwashing slowly became apparent. And what finally did it was when I listened to a podcast that referenced prison rape and then I listened to Stateless Prisons, I knew then that I could never go back to believing the authority or power of the government. I was almost certainly an anarchist by the election but I was also very angry at myself for listening to those two podcasts in that particular order, and couldn't bring myself to jump out of my statist nest. My whole life I had used politics to connect with the men in my life since I had no love for anything that would typically be considered 'male', and I convinced myself that knowledgeable voting was among the highest virtues. It was my first presidential election so I voted for Gary Johnson, but my heart wasn't in it, and I knew when I got the american flag sticker that I would never vote again. Its been a little over year since I first heard Stef and my life is almost unrecognizable, even retelling this story seems like I'm talking about someone other than myself. I don't know whats more unbelievable, the fact that I got here through conservative radio or the fact that Stef's brevity was the key factor that kept me listening. If I had listened to the podcasts in any other order I think it would have taken me many more years to reach this point in my life. Shame we can't replicate the experience for the rest of Rush's audience- he could become an affiliate .

Hello, sorry for taking so long to do this- I signed up a few months ago and lurked around before finally getting around to introducing myself. For a long time people have been calling me Walt and I accept it, though my legal name is Justin and you're welcome to know me by either w.a.s.p.-y moniker. I grew up listening to talk radio every morning with my father- a police officer who was abusive when I was younger and has taken to physical intimidation now that I am his size- so I was very receptive to FDR. To give you an idea of how far I've come, I actually found Stefan while attempting to find a way to record the Rush Limbaugh show so I could listen to it in its entirety. It was very easy to be a brainwashed conservative when you listen to the same man for four hours every day and thankfully I've abandoned all of the partisan demagoguery in favor of principled reasoning- and my life has been immensely improved for it. I came for the politics and stayed for the radical transforming effects of empathy, honesty and self-knowledge. Since devoting a good deal of time and energy into reason I have noticed an improvement among my current relationships, my general mood, and my inner dialogue. Stefan, or rather the truth that Stef exposed me to, has improved my life in so many ways and I couldn't begin to show my gratitude. I look forward to being completely honest with a group of people for the first time in my life and I hope to enjoy many long discussions with other freedom minded individuals.