Stephen Speicher's ill health

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I went to the Speichers' forum just now and came across this thread: Stephen's Health. Here is a quote from the post yesterday by Betsy Speicher:

This morning he had a heart attack, this afternoon he had emergency triple-bypass surgery, and this evening he is recovering in the Coronary Care Unit at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks.

His surgeon tells me the operation went well, but that Stephen will be in intensive care for a few days and in the hospital for a couple of weeks.

Although we have many differences, this is a moment to set them down. After all, we are all on the side of reason. (And I haven't even crossed swords with this man yet, so his ill health is premature...)

Joking aside, Kat and I would like to extend our deepest heartfelt wishes to Stephen Speicher for a speedy recovery and one that is as painless as possible—and our wishes that his family and loved ones suffer as little as possible from this ordeal.

We wish you well.

Michael

[Greybird]

I'll second Michael's sentiments above. Unlike him, I have indeed crossed verbal swords with Betsy's husband, but misfortune like this tends to put any intellectual battles royal into perspective.

[Brant Gaede]

Heart attack first aid:

--if you think you are having a heart attack, ingest a ground up aspirin and get to the hospital.

--if you feel yourself losing consciousness give yourself CPR by hard coughing. 90-95% of heart attack victims who arrive at the hospital unconscious either die or suffer permanent brain damage.

--Brant

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here is an update for those interested.

The good news is that recovery is progressing.

Michael

[Bidinotto]

I've had sharp disagreements with Mr. Speicher, but I certainly wish him a full, speedy recovery. I posted about this some days ago on my blog.

[Greybird]

Betsy Speicher has been providing updates. From the latest two (here and, just now, here):

He had a triple-bypass operation. After some temporary renal (kidney) failure and a sizable and persistent infection, he was transferred to UCLA Medical Center last weekend, one of the world's premiere cardiac facilities. They are waiting for the infection to subside before using a ventricular-assistance device. They're also striving to arrange a heart transplant, for which operations UCLA has a stellar record, both in quality and quantity.

This is truly upending their lives. I sent a private e-mail and, as someone on that thread wrote, it's entirely proper to offer strong hopes. Many who are religious among those I know call those "prayers," and I rarely dissuade them from saying so, as I know what the rational analogue is anyway.

[Greybird]

Another update says that his condition is still fragile and that they're waiting for the persistent infection to subside before installing a ventricular-assistance device.

Apparently many of UCLA's top-flight specialists are assisting. Betsy noted that she's asked questions of them, then done her own researches at UCLA's biomedical library, where many of the journal articles are written by the same attending physicians.

One sidelight from this thread that we could all take heed about:

Betsy is trying to get past her husband's passwords in Outlook for Windows XP so that she can deal with some accumulating e-mail. It seems they had no other record of those passwords, and he's in no condition to be asked about them.

It'd behoove all of us to keep a separate record of all such computer, e-mail, and Website user names and passwords. And to have a copy on paper, in a secured place known to our closest relatives or associates.

I've done so, with the passwords — 16 permutations of letter and number blocks — recorded in their own arch bit of semi-code documented yet elsewhere. But I haven't updated that written record for over a year. I think I'd better get out of here and go do so ... {rueful smile}

[Greybird]

A blank posting ... apparently the last one didn't register properly, as it doesn't show up on the main page for this forum

[zantonavitch]

Everyone is wishing him well. If the circumstances were reversed, would he wish you well? Would he even say hi or give you the time of day? Does he let you comment on his forum without censoring it and excommunicating you?

What of the sanction of the victim? What of justice? What of self-respect and the sanctity of your own life?

[Barbara Branden]

Everyone is wishing him well. If the circumstances were reversed, would he wish you well? Would he even say hi or give you the time of day? Does he let you comment on his forum without censoring it and excommunicating you?

Kyrel, the answer to your questions is "probably not." But no one, I assume, believes that the appropriate penalty for Stephen's attitude is death -- and so we can wish him good health. Life is precious, and it is not the sanction of the victim to hope for its continuance, even among people who have treated us badly.

Barbara

[Greybird]

I'll second Barbara's comments, immediately above.

For me, intellectual opponents certainly don't deserve such misfortune. Nobody does. The human organism is fragile enough as it is, without our wishing it to fail for anybody.

Kyrel Zantonavitch wrote:

> Everyone is wishing him well. If the circumstances were reversed, would he

> wish you well? Would he even say hi or give you the time of day?

Perhaps not. I quoted him, as it happens (and before his illness), on my introduction thread, talking about me. As with most such hyperbole, especially from those who've never met me, I had to laugh about it more than be upset.

> Does he let you comment on his forum without censoring it and excommunicating you?

He wouldn't, if I bothered to sign up for his forum. (As has been true for others.) Yet I knew that going in, from his past actions, and thus never would have signed up anyway. Still, uncivil and censorious attitudes don't deserve the "death penalty."

> What of the sanction of the victim? What of justice? What of self-respect and the

> sanctity of your own life?

Would it be just to wish him dead, from something not of his own choice, because of intellectual and personal misbehavior? I don't think so. I can distinguish, as Rand did, between the metaphysical and the man-made. Human beings' bodies fail, ultimately at a rate of 100 percent. That's metaphysics, and is unlikely to ever change. It'd be a mistake to conflate that with anything he's said.

[Brant Gaede]

Everyone is wishing him well. If the circumstances were reversed, would he wish you well? Would he even say hi or give you the time of day? Does he let you comment on his forum without censoring it and excommunicating you?

What of the sanction of the victim? What of justice? What of self-respect and the sanctity of your own life?

I hope he survives this ordeal and regains his health.

--Brant

[Chris Grieb]

Let me say I agree with Brant, Steve and Barbara. I don't got to Mr. Speicher's forum but I hope he gets through this in the present with continued good health. It is very clear to me that life is too short.

Edited March 31, 2007 by Chris Grieb

[Victor Pross]

It has come to my attention that Mr. Speicher has passed away. I didn't know the man, and yet there is a very sad feeling I have. I have signed on there to see if I can--in time--cheer people up and do what I can. I didn't know him, as I say--except as a man who admired Ayn Rand. That alone, is one thing I can respect. I want to give my condolences to Betsy, his wife.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Victor Pross

[jordanz]

This is horrible. I'm terribly upset by this. I never met Stephen, but over the past months I've come to enjoy spending time at his and Betsy's Forum. This is just so god damned awful.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The announcement of Stephen Speicher's passing away is here.

Kat and I extend our deepest condolences to Betsy and his loved ones. Stephen fought for what he believed in, produced what he valued, and he will be remembered as such.

Michael & Kat

[jordanz]

Stephen and Betsy's forum gave me true hope for the Objectivist community. The Speichers are "ARI-types" but show a streak of independence and openness that is extremely rare for that side of the community. I didn't know Stephen at all (other than his various posts over the years) but I feel such a deep loss because of his openness.

[Chris Grieb]

This is very sad news.

[Bidinotto]

I am greatly saddened to hear of Mr. Speicher's untimely death. My heart goes out to his wife, family, and many admirers.

I have posted my own brief tribute here.

[John Dailey]

~ I've not been a 'member' at their site, hence can't log in, nor have I personally known them cyber or otherwise; but, I have been reading their threads for a couple years, originally and primarily the science ones. Then I segued into the others, and found all, including the recent nuisancely-pointless hoohoraw over Stephen's 'censoring' and 'history ignorance'...too interesting to ignore...especially his intelligent responses.

~ Some clearly had personality probs with Stephen (and still do, if the Speichers' NOTICES is any indication.) But I, for one, will miss learning from this par-excellence mind. When such leaves, the world is a much lesser place. Hope Betsy can handle this; they obviously were a solid match.

LLAP

J:D

Edited April 1, 2007 by John Dailey

[James Heaps-Nelson]

The suddenness of this was a great shock to me. I wish Betsy and all those who knew Stephen the best during this difficult time.

Jim

[Greybird]

I didn't want to see him gone like this. I feel for Betsy, especially, with whom I've also sparred, but who doesn't deserve this sudden shock. My sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Greybird

[zantonavitch]

[N]o one, I assume, believes that the appropriate penalty for Stephen's attitude is death -- and so we can wish him good health. Life is precious, and it is not the sanction of the victim to hope for its continuance, even among people who have treated us badly.

Barbara: I have a lot of respect for you, as I've long stated, but I have a few disagreements with you too, as you well know. Pretty much all of them have to do with the phenomenon of cultism. So too here. Still, I'm happy to have your views on just about any topic you care to discuss.

When you say "Life is precious, and it is not the sanction of the victim to hope for its continuance, even among people who have treated us badly," that sounds to me exactly like the sanction of the victim. It's evocative of Christian tolerance, forgiveness, and love. I wonder: How rotten does a person have to be before we're allowed to wish them ill? What about Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton? What about Kim Jong-Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinijad? I think self-esteem and the specialness and holiness of our own values, prosperity, and existence demand more. I think society demands more.

I quoted him, as it happens (and before his illness), on my introduction thread, talking about me. As with most such hyperbole, especially from those who've never met me, I had to laugh about it more than be upset.

I read his evil, hateful comments about you, Greybird. Typical. Are you sure that the above is an appropriate, self-respecting, moral, just, Objectivist, rational, or noble response?

Stephen fought for what he believed in, produced what he valued, and he will be remembered as such.

I have memories of my own, Michael. He treated me worse than Greybird above. He went far out of his way to be malicious and destructive to me on ObjectivismOnLine.Net and 4AynRandFans.com. I was censored and banned repeatedly despite extraordinary efforts to be polite, self-effacing, dronelike, and cultist.

Stephen and Betsy's forum gave me true hope for the Objectivist community. The Speichers are "ARI-types" but show a streak of independence and openness that is extremely rare for that side of the community.

But they don't allow any independence or openness to anyone else. Where's the hope in that?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder -- does anyone actually see this issue for what it is? I'm pretty sure I can channel Ayn Rand with complete accuracy from the grave: Sympathy for the evil is treason to the good.

[Greybird]

Kyrel Zantonavitch wrote:

> [...] I wonder: How rotten does a person have to be before we're allowed to wish

> them ill? What about Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton? What about Kim Jong-Il and

> Mahmoud Ahmadinijad?

Please use some proportion. Stephen Speicher never, as far as I am aware, defrauded anyone (morally or legally) under the guise of religious fiction. Let alone ordered anyone's death.

Making categorical identities between evils or immoralities of all sizes, regardless of nature or scope, is the Randroid imbicility that David Kelley and others rightly decried ... and that both of the Speichers have practiced. Let's not make their mistake of omitting the relevant moral measurements.

Apart from that, it's not that one should "wish" anyone "ill," literally or figuratively. It's that one should seek justice, in the appropriate setting or dimension. I joined with many to eviscerate the Speichers' absurd arguments, especially his advocacy of aggressive war, in forums such as h.p.o. That was action appropriate to his (intellectual) crimes. It was delivering justice, even if only in the discussion sense.

I don't rejoice in anyone's death like this, especially with its being this sudden. He left a loving wife and son, and that is not immaterial. Indeed, it's core to a rational response. One of their highest values was obliterated by the metaphysical facts of the human organism. Why should I delight in that?

I could show, and have shown, pleasure in genuine force-wielding marauders getting their just, forceful, self-defensive response, even unto death. Yet I tend to agree with L. Neil Smith's viewpoint on this, that capital punishment is generally a useless and repulsive ritual ... except at the scene of the crime, preferably at the hands of the intended and well-armed victim.

Speicher, though, never deserved anything close to this.

Kyrel:

> Greybird:

>> [...] As with most such hyperbole, especially from those who've never met me,

>> I had to laugh about it more than be upset.

> I read his evil, hateful comments about you, Greybird. Typical.

Yes, they were. And they extended over several years. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate your saying this, more than you can know. And yet ...

> Are you sure that the above is an appropriate, self-respecting, moral, just,

> Objectivist, rational, or noble response?

Well, I said "more" above, didn't I? Yes, I was infuriated, in part, especially at the points and occasions of his verbal spears. That reflected my being boiled over his injustice. Yet I also had to laugh at the absurdity of it all, on all counts.

It was obvious to any rational observer — which, here, omits Peikovian "constant valuers" like the Speichers — that such long-distance moral assessments were nonsense. He fully showed his fulminating, bloviating side, in this and other respects. To me, to you, to a host of others.

If I'd let it grind away at me, he'd have "won." What would have been the point in sacrificing even my digestion, let alone my emotional life, for that? Is that something Rand would have admired? I seriously doubt it.

What was it Dagny said in her fugue state to John, after crashing her plane? "We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?" Well, that's true of most of the world's idiocy, in the larger, longer-term perspective, one appropriate to rational beings operating at their best.

> [...] I wonder -- does anyone actually see this issue for what it is? I'm pretty sure I

> can channel Ayn Rand with complete accuracy from the grave: Sympathy for the evil

> is treason to the good.

With all due respect to how he injured you, as well as me — trust me, I can empathize — I don't believe you are thus channeling her.

None of us are showing "sympathy" for intellectual "evil," nor excusing it. The late Mr. Speicher practiced it on occasion. There are better and worse times for limning it and concentrating on it, though, and this is one of the worse times.

Even this man had values in his life, as he was one for others. I had no sympathy for his behavior in intellectual battles, but I do for those who cared for him suffering sudden loss, which they have.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Greybird

[Chris Grieb]

Steve; Very good post! Your post makes me glad I joined Objectivist Living. I never got the full joy of having to put up with Lindsey. I am still sadden by Stephen Speicher's death. I have always wanted to reach the point in the line from Atlas "of not having to take any of it seriously'.