Tweety

As a tattooed woman, I strongly feel like I need to throw my two cents into this discussion. Correlation is not causation. I thought about each of my tattoos beforehand for about 2 years before getting them. I have not regretted my tattoos. Yes, I know my skin will sag, therefore I thought about where to have them on my body. IMO getting tattooed did not hurt too much, so I would not put it into a category of major masochism. Surely one has to be a little masochist to do that, but I would say the same about squeezing into today's women's clothes as well. I am certain my childhood was not trauma-free, but I would not expect that of anyone being born in the world as it is.

It seems to me that there are different definitions of manipulation on this threat. In my view, first manipulation was determined as: "Due to the fact that manipulation deals with controlling someone by either lying to them or exploiting them in order to get what you want" "Manipulation is being dishonest for the purpose of altering the behaviors of others. Those behaviors are still voluntary" and then as "Obscuring an important part of the truth" and then as poisoning an apple. I would not agree that poisoning an apple is the same as controlling or exploiting by lying or being otherwise dishonest. From my own experience, not so much with philosophy, but my experience in my family, I would say that I do consider manipulation by emotional blackmailing by my parent very abusive. But then I suppose as a child, my behaviour in response to that manipulation was not entirely voluntary, but more like having a gun to my head. However, I would challenge the idea that the behaviour in response to manipulation is entirely voluntary, even as an adult. If truth has been withheld from you, are you free to choose the right course of action when you don't know all the true options? -Tweety-

Great to get such a positive welcome! Good question. It feels difficult to pinpoint one thing, but as I remember from the discussions that I had earlier this year and the effects the first FDR videos I watched had, it was the plain truth in the statements that if it is not ok to murder, then it is not ok for the soldiers to murder either and that nothing in reality changes when you cross the border or if you put on an uniform. And then slowly from there it was possible to subject other statist aspects to the same inspection. Perhaps having a couple of encounters with the police where the injustice of the system was revealed, helped to make the connections. In general it was easier for me to criticise the state and taxation first, before subjecting public education for the same investigation (let alone my family of course) because I always thought that I loved school. I just did not know how much information they were not giving me. How was it for you Kevin Beal? And all others too? Do you remember what turned you away from statism? As for passions, besides dancing, music and science to some extent, I think I am still trying to figure them out. I used to think that who I am is what others thought I was, so reconstructing myself as who I really am is an ongoing process. GraemeMuir: I'm interested in knowing, how did you discover that your relationship with your parents was not so great after all?

I was introduced to the ideas presented on FDR about 9 months ago, and I have not been the same person since. The change has been mostly positive and I have great hopes that finding truth will bring more happiness and enjoyment into my life in the future as well. I'm an ex-leftist ("ex" thanks to FDR) ex-"public education is the best" ("ex" thanks to FDR), ex-pro-state ("ex" thanks to FDR) female working in the academia (yes, publicly funded), and in my 30's without kids, so I do have a few factors in my life that the philosophy and discussions brought to the surface here touch, and frankly, make me see in a new light. It was, as has been described here too, as if someone would have lifted the curtain, or if the fog would have faded all of a sudden, when I was presented with the idea that "there is a gun in the room" - What an eye opener! I am struggling very much with the urge to go around the office and town and what not, shouting "Can you not see! There is a gun in the room! Can you not see! Your parents were not nice!". But the occasional "urges" aside, I am working on trying to apply morals in my life and balance them on both private and public sides. Enough ranting, I am sure most of you have encountered similar issues and feelings, and I am looking forward to the discussions! Will end with my favourite quote from George Orwell: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" -Tweety-

"I'm noticing that as I try and kill this animal it is producing the same reactions I would." "How do I feel when experiencing those emotions?... If I recall, I don't like being scared or cut open." "Hmm maybe because I don't like feeling that way, I shouldn't cause others to feel the same." I have never seen or heard any predator show by their actions that they would consider the survival instincts and fear of their prey in this manner, i.e. "I would not like to be/i would feel bad being chased and killed, therefore I should not chase and kill". I agree on what dsayers pointed out, that animals do not have the capacity for reason. Therefore, as Steph also mentioned in a fairly recent podcast, animals are not subjected to morality. "if One suffers, All suffer" - What do you mean by that?