Greybird Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 (edited) Hello, OLers ... It's a pleasure to find a place of such civility and benevolence, and I've spent a few days reading what I've found to be a wealth of clear thinking.I'd say one way to plunge into such an Objectivist forum is to find a unique way to encapsulate my feelings about, well, Objectivist forums, at least thus far.So here are a few words of especially prized country-music wisdom from the late, great Eddie Rabbitt.I've always been the kind of manWho doesn't believe in stringsLong-term obligations are justUnnecessary thingsBut girl, ya got me thinkin'While I'm drinkin' one more beerIf I'm headed for a heartacheThen why the hell am I still here?That was from "Every Which Way But Loose," the title song for the movie of the same name, which coincidentally was released about the time I decided I was an Objectivist, in 1978.Yes, in this setting, the girl is indeed one Alissa Rosenbaum. The unafraid child who delighted in existence while climbing those rocks in Switzerland, in a vivid image for me from Barbara Branden's superb biography.She had a compelling joy behind her achievements, one that came through to me. Especially when I saw the movie of "The Fountainhead" on our black-and-white set in 1976, at my dad's recommendation. And then looked up the courtroom speech of Roark in the high-school library, at my mother's request, a few weeks later. And then took in the whole Rand corpus as I went off to college.A joyous feeling that would have had even more prominence had it not been, ultimately, buried or obscured by her disappointments, by the limitations of intellectual movements ... and by the effects of the detritus, bile, and bitterness of, now, nearly forty frigging years of infighting. Some of it heroic and necessary, such as that of David Kelley, the needed Martin Luther. (After the Brandens, Paul and Pauline of Tarsus. And you all know who the Pope is. Yes, the analogies are religious, but appropriate.) But all of it wearying.In thirty years I've been a part of or lurked around a lot of Objectivist(ish) venues, all of them in search of good discussion: a campus club I co-founded at Northwestern; injections of sanity into same as an alumnus; Peikoff's tapes of his first Objectivist course; editor and, later, publisher of Nomos magazine (R.I.P.); running CompuServe's "Individualism" board in the Issues Forum; AOL discussions; Usenet's a.p.o and, later, the cloistered h.p.o (and I voted "no"); Atlantis, until Jimbo pretty much wrecked it; Atlantis II, until Yahoo! Groups' limitations worked against it; and a recent gander at SOLO and its progeny until I ran screaming the other way.(On the parallel track of Libertarian activity: campus organizer in 1980 for Ed Clark, with his biggest speaking gig; Illinois state party chair; official and convention organizer in two other states; ballot-access PAC; member of the national Platform Committee; and, most recently, Internet aide for Los Angeles' stellar Karl Hess Club.)This venue resulting from Michael and Kat's efforts (whom I've not yet cyber-met, but look forward to doing so) seems, in its congenial nature and civil tone, to be among the best thus far. With many fine people I hope to reconnect with that I recognize, among them:~ John Enright, provocative poet, from my Chicago Nomos days. I believe I once met Marsha, as well.~ Jerry Biggers, met at the above Peikoff tapeplaying, who kindly loaned me his NBI record of Nathaniel's "The Concept of God" so that I could make a tape copy.~ Stephen Boydstun, whose lecture on "Quantum Mechanics and the Objectivist Metaphysics" I still remember vividly after a quarter-century.~ Ross Barlow, whose missives from Thailand and on every 2 August (more for you folks later about that) have been welcomed, even with my being too ill for a while to reply.~ Chris Sciabarra, whom I met 25 years ago in New York and have had occasional, valued correspondence with since (and he's the Giordano Bruno, by the way).~ Barbara Branden, with whom I had a well-valued correspondence through Atlantis for some time, until I took some damn-fool umbrage with her out of all proportion, which I genuinely regret.~ Roger Bissell, the same. Though we did manage coffee at Disneyland!~ Chris Cathcart, Wolf DeVoon, and other sane folk from h.p.o.~ Ellen Stuttle, who gabbed on the phone with this fellow Wildcat to his sheer delight for nearly two hours.~ Other fine people from Atlantis and A2: Brant Gaede, Christian Ross, George Smith, Mike Hardy.~ Stellar thinkers like Nathaniel Branden and Tibor Machan, whom I've each met more than once.With more to come, I hope!"Greybird" is my usual nom de Net, and I'll keep it here, at least for now. (He's the younger brother of my favorite character in the underestimated Romantic realm of comic books.) My personal photo in my profile (I won't say how much of it is really me {wicked grin}) is wishful thinking.Art showing winged humans is my esthetic passion, for forty years now, with a Yahoo! Group for it, and a gallery of my favorites that would, I hope, take your breath away, if you care to look.My pages at Elfwood SF & Fantasy Art and deviantART show stabs at fiction and other whatnots. Many of them from my being in fandoms ... which I've given up on, as constricting my spirit. Thereby hangs a new article, soon to come.I make what living I can scrape together doing a host of things, all never with enough clients: individual Windows setup and training, fine typography, publication design.So, about enough personal history and cheerful egotism for one such post, eh? I look forward to meeting and talking with all of you, trying to find more net.succors of the spirit. Edited March 8, 2007 by Greybird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Welcome, Steve!Judith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Welcome; We have been at some of the same places. I don't think we have meet but maybe we will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Steve,Welcome aboard. You sound like you've been around. I look forward to reading your thoughts and discussing things with you.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Welcome aboard, Steve! I checked out your profile and had a good LOL over that pic. Also, the articles that you're planning on writing sound really interesting. I look forward to reading them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Barlow Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Steve, it is great to cross cyber-pathways with you again. I thought you had fallen into a black hole somewhere. Hope you are feeling better. I look forward to reading your posts here, as I have always found them to be enlightening and fascinating. You will always be my movie guru. -Ross Barlow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Pross Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Steve, it is great to cross cyber-pathways with you again. I thought you had fallen into a black hole somewhere. Hope you are feeling better. I look forward to reading your posts here, as I have always found them to be enlightening and fascinating. You will always be my movie guru. -Ross Barlow.Steve, Welcome to OL. If you really are a movie guru, please speak to me. I am a movie fanatic! :w00t: -Victor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyau Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 (edited) Hi, Steve!#28 and #26 take my breath away, you bet. Edited March 7, 2007 by Stephen Boydstun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Steve and welcome to Objectivist Living. It's great to have you here!Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi Steve. Re your signature's epigraph, "There is only one way to come into this world; there are too many ways to leave it"--I would comment that there is, rather, only one way to leave this world.However, it is one too many--so I have to say I agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybird Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 (edited) Thank you for all of those warm welcomes thus far!Chris ... If you've been to very many Libertarian Party national conventions — as I have since 1981, and as other postings here have suggested for you — we've very likely been in some of the same rooms, at least.Kori ... Friends can do intriguing things with Photoshop, eh? If you aid and abet them with scans {grin} ... The fandoms article will probably come first, as another one just went sour on me. Passions shared about one work or creator don't always translate to such sharing in other areas. I've seen more forums "for Ayn Rand fans" blow up than I have for "Objectivists," though. Passions coming from principles have more staying power.Ross ... I'm glad you're enduring the Thai heat, and you'll have a longer personal response soon.Victor ... Ross refers to many movie posts that I made to the late, great, Jimbo-and-Kirez-gutted Atlantis mailing list. I have a piece about 50 favorite films, and why, that I posted there, and intend to revise and re-post here very soon.Stephen ... Like I said about Photoshop above! The ones you admired are by James Porto. ... Are you still publishing "Objectivity"?Rodney ... You and others might find my thread about Donald Harington, with links to an article I wrote about him and to some suggested novels, of some interest.* * *And now, a long-ago-posted .sig noting just how polarizing I can be, dredged from my Atlantis-list files during searches yesterday, and causing me to ROTFL at the memory of it.Two people I'd find, well, interesting to meet in person someday:"Despite his facility with words, despite his quoting of history'swriters, when he is amongst friends Steve Reed openly reveals thekind of human being he is — a slimy one." ~ Stephen Speicher, in humanities.philosophy.objectivism, 17 April 2000"If Steve Reed slurs Petey Schwartz, more goddamned power to him."~ Chris Cathcart, same venue and date Edited March 9, 2007 by Greybird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Steve; Anybody who gets into trouble for attacking Peter the Enforcer Schwartz is my kind of person. Welcome again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Jones Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Steve: Wilkommen!!! Anyone who loves "Little Miss Sunshine" is right up my alley! I was cherring when Arkin won his best supporting actor trophy.Oh my God: Eddie Rabbitt died? When was this? Til this very day, when I'm driving, I cannot but help hear his song "I Love a Rainy Night" playing in my mind to the rhythm of the windshield wipers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybird Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 The full thread title: Looks like a congenial place ... for this sectarian-weary O'ist, anywayFrom the first post: It's a pleasure to find a place of such civility and benevolence [...]............Well, for the record, I was mistaken.I have rarely, in more than three decades, been so utterly mistaken.I'm not proud of such misunderstanding on my part. Neither am I upset by being misled on others' parts. I'm just, more than anything else, tired of its continuing to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiodekadent Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Well, for the record, I was mistaken.I have rarely, in more than three decades, been so utterly mistaken.I'm not proud of such misunderstanding on my part. Neither am I upset by being misled on others' parts. I'm just, more than anything else, tired of its continuing to happen.It pisses me off too.But some of the things that Perigo has said and done do make me at the very least strongly dislike him. I cannot blame MSK for being hostile to Perigo. Certainly I agree TAS made a decision that, while good intentioned, is possibly naive. Regardless I can see why schisming sucks. Who hates who? What are the factions and who do they hate? Its more convoluted than English history. Regardless, all this O'ist sectarian rivalry makes me want a drink or twelve. I should add, OL has been more open to me than any other Objectivist forum. Its not as hostile as many others... its the closest thing to a non hostile Objectivist place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Andrew,Why on earth would I be hostile to you?It takes about 6 months or so of bashing and/or trolling to get me riled enough to be hostile. (Then it is tough to get me to stop.)But you haven't even done one day.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiodekadent Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Andrew,Why on earth would I be hostile to you?It takes about 6 months or so of bashing and/or trolling to get me riled enough to be hostile. (Then it is tough to get me to stop.)But you haven't even done one day.Michael,Thankyou very much. Some people consider my criticism of some of Rand's pronouncements to be "bashing" (I got kicked off Objectivism Online (aka Rationalist Randroid Central) for that), and also for my criticism of some aspects of her character (which are understandable, given the lonely, isolated battle of ideas she thought, nonetheless these aspects should not be airbrushed in an orgy of philosopher necro-worship). Obviously you are levelheaded enough to differentiate between the philosophy and the philosopher.Also, I do have some disagreements with Barbara. But I accept PAR is accurate and personally I found it a beautiful, touching, and remarkably understanding book. I do not think blaming Barbara for "defiling Our Lady" (which I don't think PAR did, it did not make out Rand as some demented demon, it simply showed how such great genius is often tortured and loathed. After all, the man who discovered fire "was probably burned at the stake he taught his brothers to light." Why do people have such a propensity to kill their saviors?) is either rational or useful. I dont need a flawless Ayn Rand to admire or hero-worship. I just need to look in a mirror to see something I can admire But no, seriously, Im glad you are one of the sane and levelheaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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