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He created the Atlas Award and sculpted the original statuette a copy of which is given to winners of the award. However there is a preceding story, unknown in Objectivist circles – among the rank and file if not the leaders. Who Is Richard Minns ?

Yaron Brook on How Not To Persuade If you want to see one of the funniest interviews involving an O-Land bigwig, you need look no farther. In all my years doing this O-Land stuff online, the interview below is the weirdest and most hilarious. What's worse, Peterson, a person who has some very strange views, made persuasion mincemeat out of Yaron Brook, who has some strange views of his own, but nowhere near as strange. Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, a black man, was defending white authority in America, even calling President Trump "The Great White Hope." And he was serious, not sarcastic. But he turned Brook into a foaming at the mouth fringe irrational hater. This video is a virtual lesson in how not to persuade anybody on any issue whatsoever. So much so, I'm putting it here in the "Persuasion Techniques" section of OL. I swear, it's the funniest thing I have ever seen in our subcommunity. LOL... In persuasion terms, I believe most people will think Peterson is misguided, but they can see who he is attacking pretty clearly. Despite his weird rhetoric and arguments, it's clear he wants the black community to improve education-wise and job-wise. He loves America. He doesn't like slackers. And so on. He comes across to me as someone who can't stand the left. He positioned Brook as a kook who doesn't care about anybody except Jews and illegal immigrants and Brook backed it up with his demeanor and words. Brook was so triggered, he didn't even detect this. Peterson constantly looked calmly at Brook with no hurry to look away. Brook's head was bobbing all over the place as he talked. He looked--and, frankly, sounded--evasive as all hell. Especially on not answering a question that was asked, but trying to make a speech instead. On first blush, I got the impression Peterson regularly uses the "shock jock" technique of letting fly with something outrageous in order to push the buttons of his guest. So, I believe, some of what he said was, most likely, tongue in cheek. And Brook fell for it hook, line and sinker. Brook did the Number One Mistake in an interview of this nature. He let it get personal and kept defending himself as if he were someone on trial. (I'm not a racist!... I'm not a racist!... I'm not a hypocrite!... I'm not a hypocrite!... etc., while at the same time accusing Peterson of being a racist.) And he used the form of talking and talking and talking nonstop, getting faster as he went on, as if he was trying to shut down Peterson, not through logic, but through sheer emotion, through fuming at him. Almost through bullying him. Brook did not look like he was in control of himself enough to make a cogent communication. Think about it. What comes off stronger in an interview? Peterson lets fly with something like, "Do you love white people?" And repeats it several times in a firm, but disciplined manner. Brook responds to this defensively with (I paraphrase) "I don't even know what that means, blah blah blah, I don't love all blacks I don't love all whites I don't love all Jews, I love some blacks and I hate some blacks, I love some Jews and I hate some Jews..." etc. What's worse, he went on and on like this in a rapid-fire manner not pausing for reaction. Man, did that look insecure... If you look at the comments, you see Brook fans, ARI people and the like congratulating Brook as if he wiped the floor with Peterson. But if I were a person who didn't know anything about Rand's ideas and stumbled across this video, I would think Peterson was out there, but this Rand stuff looked even worse. Man, these Rand people look like weirdos... Now for the Grand Finale. Peterson got Brook smirking at him in the end, which is the weakest persuasion position of all. One does not smirk when persuading. That's a deal-killer for a target of persuasion (meaning the undecided people in the audience). To get the smirk, Peterson ended by telling Brook, "Thank you for coming on.... Let you're wife know you're BETA... Thank you, man..." (Smirk from Brook.) Click... LOL... Oh the pain, the pain... Michael

Watching this youtube lecture you can see, Yaron Brook, foremost communicator of Objectivism, in a valiant, but it ultimately dull performance. It probably evokes at most, a loud, wailing yawn. Looking around the room, the level of boredom is almost felt palpably. Blanks stares throughout, as if they are watching not a real man in front of them but his holographic projection. It has only 1,246 views and counting. The Ayn Rand Institute, a 40 year old organization with millions of dollars in endowment, has only just over 12,000 subscribers on Youtube. A sad, sad state of affairs and pitiful in this age of million+ views for cat and dog chasing videos. Compare this with TED talks which routinely posts videos that get millions of views. As you can see, good presentation doesn't just make a difference, it makes a HUGE difference. And the issue is not that people don't engage intellectual ideas, they don't engage boring ones. Not all of the blame for this can be cast upon the public. At least part of the blame is because ARI is simply too boring for it's own good. Nobody was ever won to a noble cause by boredom. Especially not young people. As I highlighted in a previous thread (among others) Donald Trump gets this. I disagree that movements somehow "must" take several generations to come to full bloom. You can speed up the process. This requires a talented communicator. Presentation, charisma, delivery and ease of talk. All that + infectious enthusiasm = more followers to the cause. IMO Objectivism would be better off hiring a TV pitchman at this point. Really anyone with half-decent sales skills and/or acting chops. We need to bring sexy back. How can we do it? That's what this thread is about.

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Never listened to Amy Peikoff's radio blog - probably because I didn't even know it existed. Anyway, she has Yaron Brook on for a full hour on Paul Ryan, and practically everything or issue that could be brought up in that Grand Canyon-sized subject. It's too long to summarize, he brings up most of the points that others have made here on OL (is he a "closet" reader of this forum??). Actually, this is a very good discussion and more realistic than past ARIans might have been. But don't read too much into what I am saying, just listen. Here is the link, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/amypeikoff/2012/08/13/dont-let-it-go-unheard