Comments for The Rational Mind

Comment on An Objectivist wedding ceremony by Simon Gibbs

Simon Gibbs — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:01:21 +0000

Inspirational stuff. Well done.

Comment on Pro-down syndrome: a moral atrocity by calculador hipotecas

calculador hipotecas — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:24:59 +0000

calculador hipotecas…

[...]The Rational Mind » Pro-down syndrome: a moral atrocity[...]…

Comment on Pro-down syndrome: a moral atrocity by Money

Money — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:21:39 +0000

Money…

[...]The Rational Mind » Pro-down syndrome: a moral atrocity[...]…

Comment on Loving strange food or: how I learned to stop being picky and love food by Jason Ross

Jason Ross — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:47:17 +0000

An excellent post. I have applied a similar approach myself and now find that I am able to eat almost anything that is properly prepared. That being said, I continue to be surprised that you don’t seem to be compelled toward vegetarianism (full disclosure: I am a convert.) I am fairly sure that you do not have any religious dogma driving you to dominate the creatures of the earth, and while I know you are not a believer in “animal rights” (nor am I,) there is the quite different ethical concept of “animal welfare” which I would think might appeal to you– the notion that it is wrong to initiate force against human beings would seem to marry well with the notion that it is also wrong to initiate force against any living creature, especially when it is not required for survival. I imagine that you realize that eating meat is neither biologically necessary nor is it the most economical option; plant-based foods are far richer in terms of quantity and variety of nutritional value than animal foods, by volume, and also are considerably more energy efficient to produce and thus more cost effective and less wasteful. If you disagree with any of that, I’d certainly enjoy reading your argument. I will admit that I personally feel it is unethical to use animals for food or goods (what they do to dogs and cats for fur in China I think is entirely barbaric and intolerable, though that is as much an emotional response as a rational one.) However, I also accept that it is human nature and I don’t think that someone who eats meat outside of necessity is behaving immorally so much as that they are not embracing the full potential of the rational mind. If it is good to respect human life and human liberty, it should also be good to respect the life and liberty of weaker and simpler creatures, for once we were as they are. As you have quoted from the Tao Te Ching, “Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self requires strength”– should we not strive for the strength to master within ourselves and thus subjugate the need to exploit that which is weaker not only within our own species but beyond? I don’t think the two efforts can logically be divorced, though I respect that many a great thinker may disagree. I’d love to know what your thoughts are.

Comment on Toddler’s water-filled sippy cup leads TSA to humiliate mother by Baby Non Slip Bath Mats

Baby Non Slip Bath Mats — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:41:03 +0000

Baby Non Slip Bath Mats…

[...]The Rational Mind » Toddler’s water-filled sippy cup leads TSA to humiliate mother[...]…

Comment on An Objectivist wedding ceremony by Michael Carr

Michael Carr — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:04:31 +0000

Your link to the wedding on the subdomain is broken, or the content has been taken down. What readings did you use?

Comment on The Bill of Rights versus the “War on Terror” by David Veksler

David Veksler — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:30:06 +0000

Hi Max,

“al-Awlaki was a Jihadist you moron who was orchestrating Jihad attacks against America.”

This is not true. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki. He advocated violence, but that as I stated in my post, is not an act of war. What about his 16 year old son? He did neither.

“But more, Islam itself represents the never-ending, ceaseless, perpetual call to kill, conquer and subjugate non-believers in the name of Allah and his prophet.”

Even if that is true, what point of mine are you refuting?

Do you think your government should be able to kill anyone, U.S. citizen or otherwise, without any legal process or Constitutional basis?

Comment on The Bill of Rights versus the “War on Terror” by madmax

madmax — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:28:31 +0000

This is your worst post ever. It is libertarian drivel. It is *not* Objectivism. Our enemy is Islam and the *ummah*. Iraq and Afghanistan are bad wars because they are Leftist social engineering crusades meant to transform Islamic society in order to buy us peace from Jihad. This is delusional as there is no reforming Islam or Islamic peoples.

al-Awlaki was a Jihadist you moron who was orchestrating Jihad attacks against America. He was the initiator of violence against innocents. But more, Islam itself represents the never-ending, ceaseless, perpetual call to kill, conquer and subjugate non-believers in the name of Allah and his prophet. That you don’t know this yet at this late date is a disgrace.

You are a sorry excuse for an Objectivist. The Objectivist movement is pile of shit right now thanks to libertardian shit-heads-pretending-to-be-Objectivists like you.

Regards

Comment on Three Proofs Against the Existence of God by Joseph

Joseph — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:52:28 +0000

I noticed that the subject of capitalism came up. I am going to check out that web site. Let it be known here that Ayn Rand was a hard core Atheist, and she was also a hard core Capitalists, which I might assume to be congruent with the Darwinian model, and she was absolutely Laissez Faire- Free Market Economy. She had migrated from Russian, she was really pissed off at Communism and Christianity both and it shaped her life, not to mention her love of the States.

Comment on On Down Syndrome and other self-inflicted tragedies by Shan

Shan — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 11:23:51 +0000

Hey David, did you know that there was a really cool guy named Adolf Hitler and that he pretty much felt the same way about Down Syndrome kids.

In essence, Mr. Hitler called those “adorable children” with Down Syndrome “worthless life” and he had them all thrown in the gas chamber.

There’s a novel idea David to your Down Syndrome issue. Why don’t you write to the Democrat Party of America and tell them of what a great idea Adolf Hitler had for adorable babies with Down Syndrome.

After all. Both you and Adolf both believe that kiddles with Down Syndrome are “life not worth living.”

Comment on On Down Syndrome and other self-inflicted tragedies by Shan

Shan — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 11:10:53 +0000

Let’s hope someday when you have dementia and are a burden on society, that people see you as a worthless piece of crap and try to exterminate you from the human race.

Comment on Three Proofs Against the Existence of God by Krishna

Krishna — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:34:23 +0000

Everyone says that nature is created by god. The meaning of nature is A thing which is not created or can be created. If it can be created it is Artificial. So nature is not created, I mean, world, sun, moon or whatever ppl call nature. So no one created nature and hence there is not creator or god.

Comment on The case for evidence-based medicine by Jared

Jared — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:35:08 +0000

David,

You make some good points about rationality versus irrationality, but the evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement is unfortunately a mixture of good and bad. In many circles it has come to mean the practice of medicine by statistics. To the extent that statistics are used as a wholesale substitute for observing and determining what is best for a particular patient, EBM is, of course, wrong.

Whether the growing over-reliance on statistics is a corruption of evidence-based medicine, or what the advocates of evidence-based medicine had in mind all along–to treat the collective rather than the individual–is another topic.

Comment on A review of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” by Faith is emotionalism, Part 1: Epistemology | Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:21:13 +0000

[...] removes the option of achieving future values, while lack of purpose destroys values as such. (See my essay for more.) All religions present man with a basic alternative: accept the supernatural as your source of [...]

Comment on Essays by Debater

Debater — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:54:14 +0000

Hi David,

I just wanted to leave a comment saying that I appreciate your extensive research into philosophy and issues of this day and age. I am a debater and have found your essays very thought provoking and interesting in writing my arguments. I wouldn’t have thought of a lot of the thoughts and philosophers that you used. Thanks!