RyanT

Just out of interest sumpm, have you donated yet?

''Social anxiety is being around people who are resolutely opposed to who you are'' Really struck a cord with me.

Spot on cynicist, I've suffered from those thoughts myself and like you say, you're not in a good place at the time. For me they seemed to come in waves lasting no longer than a few hours, so had I acted, it could hardly be considered rational and sane. Especially since they often came about from relatively trivial events, that could very easily be resolved, while conversely the slightest glimmer of hope, like someone showing me empathy and compassion, could often have a massive positive effect on my mood.

There's a really good listener conversation on this subject in the premium section, http://board.freedomainradio.com/files/file/126-polyamory-and-history/ hope that helps.

'Society is addicted to betraying the victims of evil'

One question that jumped straight to my mind is, 'If someone is really serious about ending their life (rather than doing it as a cry for help ect) why would they put themselves in a position where someone might find them and intervene?'

I reckon dsayers on the money here, The concept of voluntarist living openly in close proximity to each other is an absolutely brilliant idea, but the minute we translate that into; 'but first we must buy-up some tiny village in the middle of nowhere, .....so we can avoid paying property tax' It just becomes another fantasy we can fall back on, to avoid examining how our own lives hold up to our professed ideals.

All the more reason to stop coming on FDR and continually posting these long rambling post, that you know by now, most on here don't find particularly engaging? You’re criticizing the community here for a supposed lack of compassion, but could your demeanor be provoking this response in people? That’s what I was alluding to last night when I said you were here to incite your own ostracism, Certainly after reading through your posts, which I found incredibly pompous and condescending, I felt little compassion towards you and instead felt a strong motivation to respond with ridicule. So instead of 'firing off' I decided to remove myself from the conversation and process it, realizing that’s exactly the reaction you crave.... (...This is why Stefan calls people on giggling while sharing often horrendous childhood trauma, and asks them to refrain from it if they want to continue the conversation. Superficially they're saying, 'Please give me compassion and empathy' while encouraging him to sadistically laugh at their pain and thus minimize it...)

Yeah, to be fair Stef's highlighted Rand's many shortcomings, sometimes at length, numerous times, so accusations of bias would be pretty flimsy. I think the whole idea behind the 'truth about' series is to reach out to the 'general public', who've probably never really looked in philosophy and so take their cues from the mainstream media and popular culture. Where Gandhi, MLK and Mandela enjoy largely unquestioned cults of personality, literally elevated to status of 'secular saints'. While outside small conservative/libertarian circles characters like Rand and Thatcher, are already hate figures. Still should make for a very interesting video in the series though, and maybe even shake a few lefties into giving FDR a fair listen.

That's the rub of it, Why not work on self-knowledge? People are spending thousands just learning how to flirt with women, imagine if they actually put that money into going to therapy?

I reckon my point was quite clear....

Yep, think it was Mike that said it, some people blatlenly come here to provoke their own ostracism...

Yep Male host, *laugh* 'women have never controlled our lust' As for her comments on hitting children, for me the worst part was the look on her face, A bit of a wince that seemed to say she's thinking 'I don't know if I'll get away with this' Which suggests on some level, she knows what she's doing/saying is wrong.

Well we just have to universalize a bit here, Male Guest; 'my wife said we'd have more kids, now she wont, should I pin the condom' Male host; *laugh* 'well I'm not telling you to do it but........'

Definitly sounds like there's something odd about it all, It's easy to say she's some 'controlling b*tch', chances are she is, But obviously you're friend chose her and's going along with it, How was his childhood? Remember Stefan once suggesting that, after some people have been starved of affection as children, When it finally does come along they use that relationship to fill all the gaping holes in themselves. Certainly I've experienced this myself and you totally decend into your own private little world, You want to spend every second together and silly little 'us' things take on great significance, While everything else (like supposedly tight friendships) suddenly seem quite meaningless, Its probably just how unhappy people feel when they start snorting coke, 'wow how did I live without it', (addiction is addiction is addiction) You could always suggest he reads Real Time Relationships, (Obviously not in terms of 'and this'll show how yours is dysfunctional') But he may see similarities with his current situation. Realistically though like most addicts he probably does need to hit rock bottom, Which from what you've said may not be that far away...

ooops double post.

Yep, looking at it again can't help being reminded of this haunting image,

Yep, seen as Peter Joseph simply dismissed Stefan's arguments as 'bullshit' and 'nonsense', it's not too hard to see how this'll play out... Certainly, my money's on the 'winner' being some pretentious little socialist, who like TZM, attempts to communicate his ideas almost exclusively by spitting out, 'big made up words', which of course to some will seem like an high brow intellectual debate, but to the rest of us will be like watching 2 nerds talk about dating girls, ....in klingon.

Very true, I also reckon immigration control has doubtlessly played a massive role, Little over 100 years ago it was mearly a case of buying a ticket and getting on the boat. Now it's all visas, work permits and mountains of expensive bureaucracy... I've heard it said a few times that for a Brit to get a 'green card' you're looking at spending £10,000+

Trying to change society without examining the family is like trying to move statue by pushing it's shadow. People's expectations of us, are almost always who we become.

Absolutely brilliant advice mate.

Oh of course what his daughter is doing is an horrible thing, and as you correctly point out she is now an adult and totally responsible for her own actions. For me at least what's slimy about the whole thing is his total refusal to take any responsibility whatsoever, All the way though I was just waiting and waiting for that old cliché 'we didn't raise you to be like that'. Well who did? and why didn't you do anything to stop them? There's only one word and that's hypocrisy Its just like these parents who's kids end up living a life of drugs and promiscuity, then they end up on one of those god-awful talk shows self-righteously lecturing their kids, .....about what crappy parents they are. and all the lemmings in the audience cheer and clap and nod their heads.....

Just curious mate, are we talking looks or personality here? Only I also formed a series of overpowering and drawn out crushes in my mid to late teens all the girls involved were pretty enough, but not the 'top 10 girls in the class list' material. Indeed most were seen as 'plain', but for me there was just 'something about them'. Which I later came to realize was they were all very disturbed, .......just like me at the time. Seriously back then you could bet your life savings any girl I was strongly drawn to, would turn out to have a series of self harm scars and an horrendous life story, and we're talking everything from wholesome looking, straight A 'good girls' to plugs in her ears, bright red hair, DM boots and smoking weed daily. [Edit: Had a think about this, here's what I've got.] but that only became obvious when I actually started dating some of these 'special girls' (in 2 cases the very same girls I'd actually had crushes on in my teens) ........and that's when the real trouble started. Now we all know statism has hidden cost for every visible benefit, well with people it's often said to be visible costs, hidden benefits. So with my crushes It could be said I was purposely avoiding 'taking it further' (like I said twice I later 'got the girl' so can't be they were 'out of my league'?) How was I benefiting there? Well like the moth circling the light bulb when I actually 'touched it' I got burned pretty bad, mind-games, manipulation....getting drawn into feuds with other unstable young men. While ever I kept them safely in fantasy land I was sheltering myself from all that. More importantly though, Subconsciously the 'Malcolm Gladwell Blink effect' already told me they were messed up, yet until I'd actually got close to them I had 'plausible denial', you can ignore gut feelings, but when it's right there smacking you in the face? So I was able to continually avoid asking myself the question; 'why am I a huge powerful magnet for dysfunctional girls?' .....That's the sort of rabbit hole who's 'entrance fees' make celibacy and solitude seem a fair price. (Obviously just my personal experience and armature ramblings but I hope it helps.)

Ah Prairie just can't beat universalism, Can you imagine the conversation? Dentist: 'Well Mrs Smith little bobby seems to have a cavity would you like me to book him in for a filling' Mrs Smith: 'I don't know, I've herd fillings can come out and it could get an infection behind it, could you just pull it out, I mean it's only a milk tooth anyway'. or Doctor: 'That splinter in Bobby's finger seems to have caused a minor infection, nothing a dose of antibiotic wont clear' Mrs Smith: 'No antibiotics they're against my religion, can't you just amputate, it's only the last digit of his pinkie, it's not like he's going to miss it, I mean what use is it? just another fingernail to clean and trim if you ask me. or 1:00-1:56