J. D. Stembal

This movie should be screened in every sex ed class in the country by now. One day... one day.

Accusations of brainwashing is the go-to castigation for feminists. The patriarchy has supposedly succeeded in brainwashing women over the centuries, but when a man decides to think for himself for a change (instead of thinking with his genitals), he is suddenly a victim of whims from outside of himself, and can't possibly be following logic or reason. In my last relationship, I was cherished for being passionate about my beliefs. I was an inspiration to my mate. When I told her that I had decided that I would not have children with her, she set forth a string of accusations against me. I was no longer passionate, but obsessed with the voluntary family. She characterized herself as crazy to have considered letting me home school her children. I was no longer an inspirational free-thinker, but a mindless drone that had been brainwashed by a philosophy cult led by a man whom I have never met, which is amusing because I am one of the most openly critical contributors of the FDR community. Women would like to believe that we can be tricked into falling in love with them and raising their children, but the truth is that we can be very discerning when we are mindful to think things out before jumping into situations blindly, such as moving in with a woman while we still have doubts. Don't do it, ever. Keep your autonomy. Keep a separate residence. Stay safe; stay sane.

I empathize with you as I also have terrible parents, and fear social situations. Sometime, I have trouble initiating conversations with people I know. If you are imagining violent confrontations with people around you, even at work, it changes your body language, demeanor and mannerisms. People will sense your fear, and attack it, or flee from it. In the past year, I've learned that by simply changing my inner dialogue, I can affect the way people react to me in public. If I'm anxious, troubled, nervous, or angry, people sense it and refuse to engage me. If I'm having a great day, and the world tastes sweet on my lips, perfect strangers will chat me up. It's very chillingly obvious when you think about it, but still seems a bit like magic. It's not so much about the work, or your co-workers, but it's about you and what you are experiencing inside. If you go into work dreading another day of feeling this way, everyone will know without exactly knowing how they know it. If you go in with the mindset that you are going to kick ass, and be the best employee you can be, I guarantee that people will treat you differently.

I've struggled with my conscience over reporting a neighbor to Child Protective Services. I'm not sure that single mother who lived upstairs physically strikes her daughter, but the girl is suffering from abandonment symptoms. She screams and cries at all hours and is largely ignored or "cooed" into stopping. I frequently hear her cry, "I want my daddy!" through the ceiling. Part of me is relieved as the single mother is engaged to another man, and she recently moved out to live with him. She may have gotten back together with the father, but I doubt it. However, she quite frequently comes back to leave her girl with her parents so she can have a night out or an evening alone. Can you call CPS to report bad parenting, or does it have to be physical violence?

I have a personal rule, and it's called no apologies. There is a very supportive group of people in this community, and we understand that life lessons must be learned experientially. You will usually fail many times before you succeed. I've had to learn and re-learn these lessons for myself. As we commit the virtues to memory, we become stronger as individuals and as a community. As for finding a virtuous mate within the FDR community, there will be a lot of pretenders who come along attempting to snag the young and the vulnerable with fertility and irrationality. One day, I will come out of my self-imposed celibacy in order to reproduce, but I'm not going to compromise my values to do so. I'm on the lookout for the pretenders (in order to avoid them, and assist others in avoiding them) and the real virtuous ladies. I'd welcome PMs but that ability has been administratively removed from my account. There are plenty of other ways to contact me.

I'd love for ants to have hearts. Animal hearts are pretty damn tasty!

It's almost impossible to have a conversation with another person around the holidays without speaking of family, so bioproject can use the occasion as a wedge to open the door to purposeful conversations. I'm finding it incredibly difficult to avoid conversations that do not somehow lead to family, as I do not speak with mine. As a consequence, I have been having several deep and meaningful conversations.

I would also suggest getting a different therapist solely based on her outlook on parenting, and morality.

I used the against me argument on my ex-girlfriend and she utterly failed it. In fact, the very act of me suggesting the hypothetical question shocked and appalled her. I suggest that you do the same before you think about bumping uglies with this person. Remember, you cannot reason people out of beliefs that they were not reasoned into.

In before the our side fights for virtue, philosophy, democracy and civilization justification.

Are you aware that religions and nations are abstract concepts that do not exist?

It is safe to assume that they can see the fear and uncertainty within you, which is why they target you.

While I agree, that the State irritates religious and cultural differences, I did not see much of an indication of the overarching message in the video in question. Also, Stefan has several times extolled the supposed virtues of Christianity in the past year, in particular. I'll chalk it up to a cultural blind spot. If it's all around you, it doesn't look as evil as if someone points at it from afar.

The West is not a hungry person stealing a loaf of bread to feed itself. The violence of the West is on par with the violence of Islamic extremism, if not worse. How much does the U.S. spend on the military? Isn't it more than the next ten world powers combined?

Very well said, J.P. I would go so far as to say that believing in an authoritarian deity while having children is also violence against the children because you have to teach fear and anti-rationality for them to accept the god (the authority) as real. An atheist family is a prerequisite for the peaceful and voluntary family. It does not prime your children to be obedient slaves to state propaganda. We need to be giving birth to free people, not more traumatized tax cattle. We will have more rational people asking the critical questions of our time, and following more rational behaviors. Saying your against Islam is like saying you are against Libertarians. The implication is that the other alternatives are acceptable to you. All options promote violence. Why would someone bother characterizing one world religion as violent unless they had some sort of hidden agenda? The United States is the most violent entity of state-sponsored terror in the world. Let's oppose the religion of nationalism as well as the religion of coercion, manipulation, and violence.

What are people's thoughts on using cannabis to relieve pain and lower inflammation? It is well documented that tobacco and cannabis have healthful properties for reducing pain, inflammation and muscle soreness. I use tobacco and cannabis for the therapeutic effects in conjunction with sports. I endeavor to push myself hard at the gym and get the most bang out of my buck, and as anyone with a fitness background can tell you, muscle building initiates catabolism and local inflammation within joints and muscles, especially.

What about a deep voice, hair, muscles and physical strength?

Silver spot price is down for the 15th trading session in a row.

The Hidden Secrets of Money, Part 6 is out:

Tonight, I bought a roll of these babies for just over one BTC. With the price of silver steadily going down and the price of BTC going up, it is the sensible move right now to start trading your digital currency for silver, the people's money.

Walking helps me think, reflect, and relax. I walk an average of 80 miles in a month, and it melts fat. It feels good, and I can sprint like the wind, too.

Finally, a philosopher that gets it.

All religions are based on violence. We shouldn't be picking and choosing among ignorant and violent world beliefs to find which are more noble or virtuous.

The objectivist, ancap, libertarian group on Facebook, "For New Intellectuals" is awash with articles seeking vengeance against State-sponsored Islam. There was one article clearly stating that we should pull out of Iraq and then annihilate Iran from afar, for starters. I am amazed at how much of a warmongering sentiment Americans have for a tragedy that did not even occur within the borders of the country. France has already retaliated against ISIS targets. When will people learn that we should be fighting statists, and not Muslims? Local police in the United States kill more than twice as many people each year than were murdered in Friday's attack. Our worst enemies live among us, not on the other side of the world praying on a carpet. Stefan should back off on feeding the anti-Muslim sentiment. All religions and states should be our ideological enemies - as they are anti-rational and condone the use of force - not a specific group, nationality or skin color.