caroljane

Kyle, you are right, Jerry is being coy in his usual endearing fashion. What he is saying is, "If Objectivists are so smart, why aren't they happy?"

In re heroism, in Objectivism to struggle in pursuit of one's own happiness is heroic, if the struggle is against proper targets. Thus to struggle against bad premises, wrong actions etc in trying to defeat one's own depression would constitute heroism. Of course being depressed in and of itself cannot be heroic.

Tony, your speculation is interesting and imo valid. It is documented that Rand got depressed after finishing Atlas. This could be a bookend to a possible early "existential angst". (I did not consciously intend that pun btw). Depression is often described as "anger turned inwards". Rand had a lot of anger, and it was for most of her life directed outwards.

lol

I shocked that you two do not read my posts anymore! On my typo-titled SOLIST thread I discussed the fact that Unterkommando Bandler of the Swamp Squad not only has read it, he is the subject of it. It is a sad day when OLers are scooped by SOLISTS!

Becoming clinically depressed is the same as breaking an arm, or developing benign tumours. It has no conjunction with philosophy

Thanks Mikee! Great bias confirmation for me. I don't know about other sports, but there are plenty of examples of hockey players who demonstrated high intelligence and achievement after their playing days. Tim Horton sure got his name out there. Superstar goalie Ken Dryden became a lawyer and author, and his books are excellent. He also performed well in the impossible job of Leafs GM, then entered the easier field of politics where he is now a federal MP.Emile ("the Fox") Francis (inspiration for my Emilie Goalpost advice column) was in fact a goalie who became one of the chief architects of what is now the NHL. Actually the goalies seem to outnumber other players in this category. Maybe because they git hit in the head less often. Another factor is education. More and more players choose the college route over going pro at 18. This in itself is intelligent, since most players are not ready for the NHL until their 20s anyway. And unlike college football players, they actually get educated.

And basketball players are unhappy because they are so abnormally tall. This is why Zdeno Chara, though a hockey player, sometimes gets depressed.

Football players are unhappy because they have to play football. Baseball players are unhappy because they have to take drug tests. Hockey players are happy.

If they're so rich, why are they unhappy?

Speaking of the public and the power of employees to quit, the Mayor of Toronto has just lost, or turfed, another member of his personal staff. That makes it 12 and counting, in a staff of 16. Moreover his heretofore chief media cheerleader, the Toronto Sun, is now detailing the extensive Ford history of involvement with drug dealers and/or addicts, including a heroin-addicted sister and his brother and co-mayor who was a dealer in high school. Colourful stuff. It does not look like his new Communications director has got off to a good start.

If the beloved is a finer, better person than the lover, then it is sane.

Throwing rubber things around the grass really is dumb. But pushing rubber things around the ice is brilliant.

If they're so dumb, why are they rich?

, lol, it is even worse than that. I am irresistibly drawn to the posts of the Principal himself, the Linzard King! I gaze upon the benevolent countenance behind the mighty thoughts and drift into a trancelike state... Nor am I alone. Dear Leader has recently shared that women (or "anchovies" as he delightfully dubs us) have always thrown themselves at him even though they knew he was gay. Not just when he was young and handsome either, but now, when he is old and ugly. Inspired by the discipleship of DB, much as Rand was by NB, Mr. Charisma is readying a new KASS version of Objectivism stressing the importance of misogyny, racism and Islamophobia. This will give humanity one last chance to save itself, and hasten the day when "millions of morons get their just desserts" (sic). And sick.

Yes.

ugliness and beauty are cultural, not moral.

Mikee, was your experience all in group therapy? I had been thinking just of one-on-one, I do not know the differences,

Breaking news, "morality " has been designated as a 'death knell' for some reason or other, on Solo .So anybody who thinks he is moral had better watch out, because other people know better.

Again with the rhetorical questions, Brant. You know the answer.

If you do not want to be creeped out, don't hang around here. The most innocuous reference will set us off. There was briefly a maniacally prolific poster here, Mr Benjamatic, who once mentioned that his father had told him he was "wilder than Oscar" That father was also a dictator and slave-owner, according to Mr B, a creature of unimaginable evil who wantonly destroyed his own son's creativity. This popped into my mind with the recent news about Amanda Bynes. Some here will conclude that she just did not eat properly. Be warned.

Apologies to Const, Scott, I got your name backwards. Maybe I got it confused with your compatriot Scott Terry, or is it Terry Scott, currently on leave with full pay as he awaits trial for making child pornography (not watching, making) and various other charges. He has shown his innate virtue and productivity while on leave by earning good money by what legal experts have called "a full-time second job." In addition to his hundred grand plus, this should cushion him from the vicissitudes ahead, if there are any. )

I will say further on this. My husband also was separated from his mother for the first two months of his life ( we did not know this until we had been married for a few years). He was in an Edinburgh hospital, incidentally one referenced in the "failure to thrive" studies. He was born severely underweight and missing a rib due to maternal malnutrition ( his mother gave most of her rations to her two older children - it was wartime). He remained underweight but did not die. the regime was a four-hour one, change and feed for the overworked nurses. After two months his mother begged to take him home but was refused . It took a demand from his father who got special leave from a Birmingham munititions factory, to get him out, The family story goes that the |Matron took a fancy to him, picked him up and cuddled him and harboured thoughts of adopting him, regardless of regulations. When he got home he was still underweight and pretty unaesthetic. As his older sister said, he was not like any baby she had seen, he was "All eyes". Despite the rib his life showed that his heart was XXL. Thank you Matron, wherever you are. You saved his life with love, and spread love unto the generations.

This strikes a chord with me. For the first two months of my life my mother was unable to care for me. If I had had no present father, no other family, no one whose responsibility it was to preserve my life, there would be no me.

In altruism I think there is implicit a sense of "paying backwards", of remembering those who have helped us or enabled us to survive threatening situations. Rand, who notably said "Nobody helped me" and considered herself a lone, persecuted individual, does not address this aspect of life, as far as I know,