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So I just watched the full video of the audio of the interrogation of Lindsay Shepherd. Wow. I am blown away by what I heard. I knew that leftists believed their bullshit, but now I hear them saying that their worldview is that people aren't left enough! It's a disturbing listen, so those who look up this video (provided by 1791L youtube channel), be forewarned, it is both dull and horrifying all at once. For those who don't know, a graduate student Teacher's Assistant, Lindsay Sheperd, played a few minutes of a youtube video of a Jordan Peterson discussion in a classroom setting. Some students complained, and she was disciplined for her actions. As a result of the ugly process she was put through, she's grown totally disillusioned with academia and is going to leave the university setting. This video is just the audio of the meeting in which the administration grills Ms. Shepherd for playing Jordan Peterson, and it was just the beginning of the trials and tribulations for Shepherd... all because some students' feels got hurt. As someone who lived through something similar, this disturbed me greatly. Listen at your own peril. Thoughts?

I am a psychology major undergraduate and have a couple days to apply for a job/internship at the Centre for Cognitive Work and Safety Analysis which is a part of the Department of Defence Science and Technology, Australia. Australia is an ally of the United States of America and fought beside them in all the major wars. Australia is a Commonwealth so if Britain declares war, Australia must contribute to the war effort. Australia is actively involved in the war in Afghanistan and the war against ISIS. Australia is also part of the Korean war. My duty might involve improving the displays of fighter aircraft which would directly effect bombing missions in the middle east. Other duties I could be involved in is research, transcribing, conducting interviews and analysis. This internship would last for 4 months maximum. There are many benefits to getting this internship. There are not really any other jobs in the market for students that would challenge my research and cognitive skills. I'm thinking of becoming a neuropsychologist so it's really important, especially when I go for PhD (In Australia it is required). Also, the pay is good and I have no shame for taking taxpayer money while I am young. Also, the centre is literally in the same suburb that I live in, and halfway between my house and my university. Also, it could teach me something about the psychology of those in the military which is very unique knowledge for a libertarian to have. If it were not for the initiation of force, there wouldn't be many better jobs that I could be doing at the moment. While what I'm doing might be directly working for the military, but morally speaking, it's not necessarily different to other work I could be doing because my taxes would go towards the military anyway. Violation of the NAP is wrong, but what I could be doing could help me prevent violations of the NAP more than actually violating the NAP. Also, if I were at any time uncomfortable, I could quit. Still, it bothers me that what I would be doing would be directly contributing to the murder of innocent people. How could I find a balance in this scenario? (did you forget it's valentines day?)

I was at the university the other day and I passed in front of the social science department and something so outrageous happened I thought I'd share it with you guys. The building had speakers all around it so that people walking on the sidewalk could hear loud and clear what the speaker had to say (right there you get this 1984 Orwellian feel from the setting =P). The guy that was talking was making some anti american, anti republican, pro communist speech. The kinda thing you would expect from social science. What struct me was that he never used the words: Marxists, communist, socialist.. The way he worded it was ''the republican elites are so greedy, so capitalist, that they are against economical equality''. And I stopped right there on the sidewalk. I had a million things to say about this buzzword salad that was utter garbage. Instantly I was looking for a way to go talk to that guy and set him straight, but I came back to my senses knowing that he was probably in a room that I did not have access and probably would have gotten arrested or thrown out of the university for harassment. But the level of bullshit in that sentence was EPIC. You could have smelled the stench a mile away. Sorry, but I need to deconstruct this bullshit: - right from the start, this is typical leftist propaganda. They redefine words. He didnt use the word ''communist'' because it has such a bad quo notation to it. He went the feminist way and used the word ''equality''. Because, who in his right mind wouldnt want equality in the word... you must be a greedy monster if you dont... Bullshit. What his words means is that he wants a redistribution of wealth through the coercion of the state and some uneducated people are going to fall for it... - And he tries to portray the republicans has the evil people who wants to keep poor people in misery. This is stupid. Of course republicans are against communism. It is the system that has created nothing but death and suffering, it is a system that robs you of every freedom you have. People starve by the tens of millions under communism. Capitalism, on the other hand, has brought 2/3 of the worlds population out of an hopeless misery and has been the system that has ended the most hunger in the world. - Thirdly, I find it funny that he calls the republicans ''elite''. This is typical leftist propaganda to turn things around and accuse the enemy of all the thing you have done (i'm not sure my sentence is quite clear). We have seen this throughout history: the left blames the right of slavery and racism when it was the republicans who were the abolitionist party and the democrats were the party of slavery. They blame the right for Mussolini and Hitler, when these 2 monsters were on the far left and followed the Marxist doctrine to the letter. They blame Queen Victoria for oppression and slavery around the world, when she spent her life abolishing slavery around the world and bringing wealth and prosperity to her empire. And today, they say that republicans are the elites. Well, most republicans are honest folks who are hard working. Many of them work in factories or do some for of hard labor. The ''elites'' are the democrats and liberal who own multinational corporations and want to piss on the little guys by flooding the country with 3rd world population to bring down wages so they can save a buck.... You know, its always striking to see how far this Marxist cancer has grown and how it is still growing. October is coming and I can see flyer of the communist flag on lamp posts. You see antifa and feminists doing marches in the streets. Some countries live under a complete information lock down. You see Theresa May and Merkel controlling all information in their countries. We werent paying attention and it creeped out on us. We are living in 1984. Its no longer fiction. =(

The world needs more freedom. We know that. How do we get there? Spread knowledge. How do we spread knowledge? Learn the knowledge and learn how to spread it. How? Well, what are we giving to people? Some give knowledge about economics, some philosophy, some ethics, some freedom of speech, some politics, some current affairs, some immigration, some documentaries, ect. There's a lot of components to it. It requires specialisation. Stefan has encouraged a few times for young people to become entrepreneurs for freedom. It seems like a fuzzy buzz word that makes you think of motivation and getting things done but I don't see how to translates into practice. I can understand financial entrepreneurship, starting businesses ect, but what does if have to do with philosophy? What does it mean and how is that different (if it is) than going to university? Maybe education is really going to the dump in America but in Australia, I haven't seen this degradation of education. Maybe it's not about specialisation. Is it a matter of moral courage? Just spreading the 'word'? Maybe it's a matter of spreading UPB and the idea of the false self? The words have already been spoken on this show. I don't think there's much to be courageous about at the moment other than private life matters. I can understand telling friends and family about UPB and about my insecurities but I don't think that's entrepreneurship. I know some stuff sure, but there are other people doing way better than me so I don't understand why an amateur opinion has weight in the free market of ideas. To be an entrepreneur you have to give something of value. That's why I want to go to university and become a psychologist. Perhaps I'll find myself teaching parents about child abuse. Perhaps I'll do something Jordan Peterson style. Perhaps I'll write a book about morality and psychology. Perhaps I'll find out I hate psychology and quit. Perhaps I'll start a YouTube channel. One day I might start a YouTube channel but that's definitely not something I should bet my all time on. I'm still gaining the knowledge for that and I don't know what I don't know. Therefore, I don't know how much efforts that's going to take. That's why you explore. That's why I want to learn about the mind and meet other students and network. Starting a YouTube channel is something you do when it calls to you when you've gained the knowledge required. That's how Stefan started FDR. Debt for university? Sure but why should I worry so much about money? It's the 21st century. I'll be able to afford what I need for a comfortable life. Why put all your eggs in one basket? Money isn't the eggs. Time is the eggs. If you were made out to be a YouTuber why don't both go to university and try starting a channel? Figure out what works and what doesn't. If going to university was the best thing ever you'll be happy you didn't put it off and did it while you were young and could afford to take potentially useless courses. If it was useless going to university what difference does it make? Some money which you didn't really need. Time? No. It doesn't take concentrated effort/time to figure out what makes the world go around. It takes experience and trying different things which there's plenty of time for in university. Once you've figured that out that's the point where you decide whether to stay in university or not. As for spreading knowledge? All the big voices are held up by the pillars of writers, psychologists, economists, etc. If someone is more eccentric than I am, it makes more sense to be their support than to be another voice. People have different personalities. Is everyone cut out to be an entrepreneur? I don't know. And again, there's no issue with both going to university and having a voice. In fact, I'd say it's preferable even if it's a COMPLETELY useless degree. I'm looking forward to joining freedom clubs and debating clubs and making friends with intelligent and like-minded people To summarise, TL;DR: What I'm not understanding is what does Stefan means by entrepreneur. It's ambiguous to me. Is getting a formal education not being an entrepreneur? If you are rational and willing to find what drives you, the only real loss I see in formal education in Australia is money spent that you don't need anyway. If I didn't go to university I'd probably be making a living wage and reading Atlas Shrugged for the rest of the day. I don't know what else I'd possibly want to do. Conversations on this show about being an entrepreneur and breaking the matrix and escapaing the false-self has provoked a black and white thinking inside me and sometimes I believe I must be inferior but perhaps this belief is false.

Hello everyone, I've been trying to figure out my own self-study program to learn philosophy and it got me thinking about how much fluff is added into your average university major. It seems that much of what is taught could be distilled into half a dozen or so courses that strike at the core of any given subject. For instance, I attempted to condense the UC San Diego philosophy degree and ended up with the following courses. (Feel free to post your own condensed versions of your university major program.) Introduction to Logic Symbolic Logic I History of Philosophy: Ancient History of Philosophy: Early Modern History of Philosophy: Late Modern Metaphysics Epistemology Philosophy of Science Which brings me to the question on the thread. Q: If a Bachelors Degree in Freedomain Radio existed, what would the course load look like and how would it be structured? Would a Freedomain Radio degree be strictly focused on philosophy? Should it be a (B.S.) degree or a (B.A.) degree? Would the course load consist of just reading Stephan's books, or would the course work also need to teach elements of statistical analysis, computer science, and history? What do you all think?

Good morning! I just wanted to say that I decided this morning (around 1 am) to go back to college and finish my degree. I had gone to a decent state university for a couple of years, my parents paying everything, and dropped out because I thought I wanted to be a "real" artist and that college was basically bullshit. Almost two years has gone by. I was playing local bars in a band, getting high often, and living with my girlfriend. I was generally depressed and anxious. About a year ago, I got a job at butcher shop (to be more of a man), started to listening to FDR, and realized it wasn't school that I really wanted to drop-out of, it was my family of origin. Since discovering this truth, I have been worried about my future, setting goals without reaching them, and just all around foggy. I have been thinking about finishing college, but I was worried about paying for it myself, since I had de-FOO'd, I'm pretty much on my own for the first time. So, FINALLY, with a ton of help from the FDR1534 - The Case for College podcast I decided to go back and admit I was wrong about higher education. I'm looking forward to getting everything I can out of it! Has anyone else had a similar experience? Or have any tips for college? Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your day!

Here's the Altantic Monthly article on the college: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/08/the-future-of-college/375071/ They plan to reject all government aid because of the distortive effect it has on education. Their whole system of teaching is (they claim) innovative, based on research instead of what's been done for the last 500 years. Also interesting, while a U.S. college, they plan to have mostly non-U.S. students, eventually. If I were a libertarian thinking about where I would go to college, this one seems to have some potential. Thoughts? EDIT: That article also links to this article which catalogs many of the problems the U.S. government is creating for college education. Most of it probably won't surprise you, but it's good to have a nice source like that. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/08/the-law-school-scam/375069/

http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaaf/eye-on-college-football/24501646/college-athletes-players-association-wins-case-at-nlrb This is my first post on the FDR forum so here goes. 1) What do libertarian-minded free-market types think about this recent development in college athletics? Is this a step in the right direction towards the free market? 2) Many typical anti-union arguments are being thrown at this. Examples: Democrats like unions. Republicans hate unions. Unions are bad. Aren't students being compensated with an all expensed paid education? Why stop with the athletes? What about the marching band, cheerleaders, debate team, engineering team. Won't this destroy college athletics?

Boy, oh boy. I just got out of my BS geology class at uni, and my prof was spewing so much statist propaganda for over half the class period talking about natural threats to humans on this earth of ours, and how it's the governments responsibility to protect us with their money. In my mind, I could see myself jumping up on stage beside this human microphone for blindly consenting to evil, and debate him on every point he made. I have a feeling it's going to be a long semester for me, and I don't know how long I'll be able to hold my tongue before I verbally lash out at this guy from my front row seat in our auditorium style classroom. I feel frustrated, annoyed, and helpless. I understand of course it's my responsibility on whether not I engage this man or not on his misguided and destructive theories about how state power should be used to fund his rock hobby. Honestly, I could care less about what this asshole thinks, but it's just that there are roughly 300 of my fellow students may actually believe what he says. I have another professor for my sociology class I have to leave for in just a little less than a half hour, and she's the bad kind of feminist as well as a statist. I can't just help, but think about how these two instructors of mine have failed in the private sector after they had graduated with their degrees to turn back around to the state out of their udder incompetence to suckle from it's tits like a baby without the ability to function outside from under the breast of the state.

This past week I started attending my first year of law school in Ohio. I became an anarcho-capitalist/voluntaryist about 8 months ago, which was a few months after I decided to attend law school. I examined how I felt about my decision to continue down this path and while I know there are going to be many career paths and decisions closed to me, I still felt/feel that this is the correct path for me, where I can use my skills and my mind in the most productive way possible and hopefully I can find a niche where I can advance or exercise many of the principles of philosophy we discuss here at FDR. However, even I didn't realize just how into the belly of the beast I was headed. I have been sick for about 2 weeks, so I wasn't able to really prepare myself as fully as I had hoped and the emotions and thoughts have been coming one after another. It's true what they say-you can't unlearn what you have learned going down this anarchist path, and you can't unsee what you have seen. While it is an exciting field, the fellow students often brilliant and thought provoking (as are the teachers), and the subject matter and dreams of grandeur, wealth and purpose permeate the halls, I can't blind myself to the blood underlying the system. Every time a profesor speaks of regulations, laws, taxes, statutes, etc. without flinching, acting like they are just words on paper and aren't words with the power of guns aimed at peoples' heads, I cringe twice. When they speak in awe or reverance of politicians, judges, etc. with glowing language for the good they do, for the good our nation has done in the realm of liberty and legal freedoms (which in its small defense is more than other "nations") I can't join in, because I see the pain underneath it all. And the desire to forget, to bend on principle, to "play the game" ill be there, every day, for the next 3 years and beyond. It hasn't been bad yet, but making it through the classes, the internships, the bar, etc. while maintaining my integrity may be the hardest thing to do, and the desire to sell out in some small ways, to paint myself as just a very conservative, libertarian leaning student who still fits within the normal "allowed" spectrum is something I will have to wrestle with. I don't know what will happen if someone (especially a prof) asks me point blank what my religious views (atheist) or political views or familial views are-in that instant, should I stand on my principle and shoot myself in the foot in some ways, or should I find a diplomatic answer and trade the integrity of a fleeting conversation inn the moment for the ability to achieve greater goals in the end. I don't know how this year will go, nor do I don't know what decisions I will have to make or how they will turn out. If any has entered law school as an AnCap before (or changed partway through as well) any advice, tips or just your story would be most, most helpful, and anyone else with advice on how to conduct yourself with integrity in similar situations would be helpful and appreciated as well.