Hello to everybody on OL!

[Reason Man]

Hi everybody,

I am retired (55) and invest in stocks now. I am not a philosopher by profession, but my observation of overall social situation in India (‘untouchability’, religious schisms, oppression of ladies, poverty consequent to orthodox fanaticism despite a huge pool of intelligent and open-minded people) + reading of American books (in particular Ayn Rand) etc led me to think about the effect of philosophy on human societies. But I have had no chance to air these views because of social surrounding etc. (and experience showed that reasoned arguments bring only disadvantages). Nowadays there is more openness in some social strata, and there are better minded people available, but there are a lot of barriers for me to join them because of age etc. Also, despite education, I am not Internet savvy – in fact only in 2008 I came to know that it is possible to join large groups of discussion like this one. (After seeing some Objectivist sites, I was pained to note that the small following of Objectivists is also a heavily divided community, with some groups considering each other to be bigger enemies than the erosion going on in America. I am neutral to these groups because it is not possible to go into these details. I wish to discuss ideas with people where a lot of agreement is seen.)

I have some thoughts in particular about the erosion of reason in the US, the country specifically built on reason as its foundation. Hope that my posts will be seen with interests and discussed by people.

Thanks to the administrators / owners for making such a facility available

Best Regards To Everybody

[Selene]

Reason Man:

Welcome to OL.

Do you reside here or India or elsewhere?

I am always interested in a married male who is seeking a female. Planning a conversion to old Mormonism or current Islam?

Adam

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Nitin,

Welcome to Objectivist Living.

India?

Cool...

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

If he lives in India does this mean the rest of us live in Outdia?

--Brant

[Selene]

If he lives in India does this mean the rest of us live in Outdia?

--Brant

Ahh. I wish I had known you in the 60's and 70's Brant, we would have broken quite a few windows.

That was funny.

Adam

[Reason Man]

I am always interested in a married male who is seeking a female. Planning a conversion to old Mormonism or current Islam?

Adam

That was very perceptive Adam, didn’t occur to me. So I had better come out with a good response: else you have taken my wicket in the very first ball  effect of popularity of cricket in India, it means he got me out at the opening itself.

Actually, these things one can know only as the acquaintance grows: but my personal introduction itself, particularly the sentence “But I have had no chance to air these views because of social surrounding etc. (and experience showed that reasoned arguments bring only disadvantages)”, is a mild indication of things.

Despite that the main reason is totally different, though the consequences didn’t occur to me then. As I went on filling the registration form, this option came. When I opened the button I was about to bypass it – but suddenly, just as a reflex action, clicked “female”. Then I smilingly went ahead thinking “why not” to myself – and the next thing was Adam’s observation. (If that choice had not appeared there, this would not have happened, and I don’t indulge in this option on other sites, not a member anywhere else for such a purpose.)

Actually, I am sufficiently married to Objectivism itself – i.e. not professionally, but for the sake of applying it to my life. It would not be proper for me to immediately tell the story of my life from several angles, but given the preponderant influence of religion in undeveloped societies, many surprises are possible – emerging societies are actually emerging from whatever you can imagine -- or may not even be able to imagine. Recently a close person (I have only 2 left now, a lot of society has / had joined hands to cure me of "evil egoism" etc) asked me “How could I spend my time, given my first 30 years in a not even emerged but yet to see the first sun-ray type of surrounding / upbringing?” That is the type of difficulty O’ism can put one into – also seen in a good post on this forum “O’ism and Rage”. At the same time – only because O’ism is so very good a philosophy I could survive! Anyway, we cannot consume all the space and time here over this, but thanks for raking up the issue so at least something is out. You can again re-read the intro and imagine a few more things – and hopefully, someday I will be able to say more on this – publicly.

Nitin,

Welcome to Objectivist Living. India? Cool...

Michael

Thanks to Michael (and others) for the welcome – now it’s “cool” here only in the sense of being bearable. Few days back it was so cool that 150 – 200 people died in North India. (I am in Mumbai, slightly to the South of Center.) Same time, several years’ record low temperatures were seen in most of the world, China – Korea, US etc. I wondered what happened to global warming – some conspiracy by nature?

[Selene]

Reason Man:

Not a problem. I will of course be quite content for you to use your rational judgment as to what you can say or not say publicly on this forum.

You can also avail yourself of the instant messaging with anyone which is somewhat more private.

If you wished to contact me, my e-mail is jgalt44@yahoo.com.

India, I believe, has the second greatest interest in Ayn next to America. It has been discussed on another thread here and some of the members have expressed an interest in some projects involving objectivism and India.

Moreover, you are in the largest democracy in the world, your nation is becoming a serious nuclear power and is, in my opinion, critical to the survival of the US short and mid term.

Mumbai... hmm kinda right on the Jihadi bulls eye.

Were you affected directly by the vicious attack?

Adam

Edited January 10, 2010 by Selene

[Reason Man]

Reason Man:

Not a problem. I will of course be quite content for you to use your rational judgment as to what you can say or not say publicly on this forum.

You can also avail yourself of the instant messaging with anyone which is somewhat more private.

If you wished to contact me, my e-mail is jgalt44@yahoo.com.

India, I believe, has the second greatest interest in Ayn next to America. It has been discussed on another thread here and some of the members have expressed an interest in some projects involving objectivism and India.

Moreover, you are in the largest democracy in the world, your nation is becoming a serious nuclear power and is, in my opinion, critical to the survival of the US short and mid term.

Mumbai... hmm kinda right on the Jihadi bulls eye.

Were you affected directly by the vicious attack?

Adam

Adam,

By publicly I mean my observations / experiences about religious upbringing / life in a book form -- some time later, and possible considering I have taken retirement precisely for the purpose of writing -- but there also obstacles like persecution, victimization -- still let's see.

Thanks for email etc offers, I will increase my contact with a lot of people on this site.

Please give me the thread about O'ism in India unless it is Ed Hudgins' article which I have read -- also, the names of these other members. And I am interested in knowing their India counterparts.

Democracy is something I wish to write about on this and other O'ism forums. Please read in next few days -- and comment.

Jihadi attacks did not affect me directly.

Thanks and regards, I now shift to that matter about democracy.

[Chris Grieb]

Let me join in welcoming you to OL.

[ValueChaser]

But I have had no chance to air these views because of social surrounding etc. (and experience showed that reasoned arguments bring only disadvantages). Nowadays there is more openness in some social strata, and there are better minded people available, but there are a lot of barriers for me to join them because of age etc.

Welcome to Objectivist Living! I am also new here. Unfortunately, there is a similar "social surrounding" in America; the middle-class is not particularly fascinated by philosophy, yet it does have a good "sense of life", which is a term of Rand's.

But ageism is pretty much non-existent in terms of religious/philosophical groups in America.

--John