Hi, I'm a young anarchist new to the community

[BradleyHillman]

I'm Brandon Lee Hickman.  I'm a new member of the FDR website but I've been a dedicated listener for a few months now.  It all started with "The story of your enslavement" which while a lot of it only confirmed things I had felt to be true for some time, also taught me a lot about the history of statism and ultimately convinced me Stefan Molyneux is an enlightened philosopher and teacher worth (at the very least) giving a chance.  Since then he, with the help of you guys in the community and your calls in to his show, has taught me a great deal.  I refer people to his books and videos every chance I get, I run a blog here where I promote a similar message of liberty, and I've decided to dedicate my life to furthering the messages of Stefan Molyneux and Ron Paul.  Below I will elaborate a little on who I am and what I believe, but don't feel obligated to spend your time learning about me (a newbie to the community and little more than a child in comparison with the competence and wisdom of Stefan and other prominent members of this community) as I'm sure there are better, more productive ways we all can spend our time.  I look forward to working with you all in achieving a better world and society for all people regardless of ideological differences.  

I'm an atheist anarchist.  I'm fiscally conservative and I'm 21 years old.  I'm unemployed (though seeking employment) and have never had a job in my life.  At the very beginning of adolescence I became very enamored with black/hip-hop/African-American culture despite the fact I'm a white boy from a southern lower-middle class family who went to majority white private schools his entire life and this created a sort of conflict of interests in my development into adulthood.  Lupe Fiasco (a rapper) and other "conscious" hip-hop artists helped in indoctrinating me into socialism and big-government ideas at this critical phase of my life which ultimately led to a lot of contradictory views and ignorant beliefs on my part.  I was a socialist by age 16 and have been very interested in politics ever since.  Being a leftist I always blamed others for my situation, a struggle I still am learning to overcome today, as now I'm forced to take responsibility for my situation in life (21 and unemployed leaching off of my parents and wonderful fiancee who works 5 days a week).  Stefan probably saved my life, truly.  I was forced to see the truth through his show that I am emotionally manipulative and leaching off of other people's hard work, that socialism and taxation is theft, that the answer to society's ills is not through gov't and law but instead through raising children correctly.   I was spanked as a child as well as coerced through manipulation of my emotions and undeveloped mind, and I've already begun to inflict those things on those I love as a result of this (something I must discipline myself against or risk losing what I hold most dear to me).    I come from parents who work hard, sometimes hundred hour weeks, to put me and my two sisters through private schooling and ensure the best possible future for us.  My parents however were ignorant to the importance of being there during our upbringing and that's something I wish I knew how to talk to them about.  I wish they would've cared more about having time for us and helping shape our personalities than just paying for schools that, in all honestly, while they had higher standards of education than the local public school also religiously indoctrinated me in ways that resulted in long-term mental illness and problems with authority and connecting with others.  I was religiously indoctrinated by the roman catholic church from age 4 til 13 and can say from my personal experience that this is child abuse that cuts deeper into the psyche than any amount of spanking ever did (not that I'm advocating hitting children, I'm strictly opposed to it, thanks for that also Stefan) because I feared not only the fire and brimstone of god's negative judgment but also the disconnect from all of those who I love that aren't catholics and therefor was told they would either burn in hell or wait in purgatory.  It doesn't help that the old stereotype about catholic priests isn't a lie, in my experience, but I don't want to go into that because I hope one day to have the courage to show this to people close to me such as friends or family.    


Anyway, that's a short summary about me and what made me who I am, now lets be friends and help shape a more positive future together you heroic lovers of liberty  
 

[Renaissance Man]

Welcome! I'm sorry for the terrible stuff you went through. It isn't easy to break that level of indoctrination. I certainly look forward to any contributions you make to the community, and I hope you get much more out of it as well.