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A New List: OActivists

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By Diana from NoodleFood,cross-posted by MetaBlog

A message for Objectivists:

We Objectivists often lament the sorry state of the culture. Too often, faith and emotion are lauded as superior to reason, the individual is merely a means to some collective, service to others is deemed more noble than personal happiness, and rights are nearly forgotten in politics. Yet we're also inspired by the unexpected inroads forged by the Ayn Rand Institute over the past few years, particularly by the wild success of their program offering "Free Books for Teachers."

However, the Ayn Rand Institute cannot change the culture on its own, not even with our financial and moral support. It's just too big a task for a few dozen professional intellectuals. Objectivists must effectively advocate their values in the the forums open to them, if they want to see substantial and enduring change in the values of the culture.

Thanks to Lin Zinser's FIRM (Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine), I'm now convinced that so much more is possible than most people imagine when like-minded people join forces in a loose, ad hoc way. In those ongoing efforts, FIRM's "Activists" mailing list for people committed to promoting freedom and individual rights in medicine in Colorado has been of surprising value. It enables us to quickly and easily alert each other to opportunities to advocate good ideas, to discuss effective methods of argument, to praise and encourage the work well done, to report on our own accomplishments, to marvel at our impact on the debate, to inform others of useful sources of information, to brainstorm about venues for advocacy, to announce upcoming events, and more.

I've realized that a mailing list modeled on similar lines -- but specifically for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural change -- could be of similar value. So I've created OActivists @ OList.com. Here's the basic list description, including the requirements that all subscribers must satisfy:

OActivists is an informal private mailing list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural change by effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest to Objectivist activists, such as opportunities for advocacy, methods of persuasive argumentation, announcements of upcoming events, useful sources of information on issues, examples of advocacy, and the like.

To join the list, you must be an Objectivist, meaning that you agree with and live by the principles of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. You should support the mission and activities of the Ayn Rand Institute. You must also be committed to engaging in intellectual activism to promote Objectivist ideas in online or print forums on a semi-regular basis. (Notably, arguing with other Objectivists does not qualify as intellectual activism!)

If you meet those criteria, please subscribe via the web interface. If you have any questions about the list -- including whether you qualify -- please e-mail me, the list's owner and administrator, at [email protected]. Subscribers will be expected to respect the purpose of the list. Those who prove themselves disruptive to its basic aims will be removed.

To give people time to subscribe, the list will not open for discussion until Tuesday, February 26th.

Finally: OActivists is not an Objectivist discussion list. Objectivists (including myself) have wasted far too much time and energy arguing amongst themselves about minutia in far-off corners of the internet. We can do better. We can defend our values from attack in debates that matter. We can refute the standard strawmen of our philosophy. We can introduce people to rational, principled philosophic ideas. We can do all that more effectively if we communicate. That's what OActivists aims to make easy.237526957

http://ObjectivismOnline.com/archives/003300.html

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FYI, the following is an example of an easy opportunity to advocate good ideas; alerts like this will be posted to the new OActivists mailing list.

Via my "Ayn Rand" Google News alert, I found this lovely little opportunity to post a positive comment supporting ARI's opposition to the proposed Mississippi law "that would revoke the business license of any restaurant that serves food to fat people." It's an OC Weekly blog post that explicitly mentions and quotes from this ARI press release.

Here's my comment.

This proposed law is really too stupid for comment, but it's exactly what opponents of blaming tobacco companies for smokers predicted.

Restaurants should not be charged with the chore of refusing food to fat people. It's the job of the fat person to eat healthy food in moderate portions. Obviously, it's just as possible to do that well or badly at a restaurant as at home.

What's next, making sure that dorky people are well-dressed before allowing them to leave the house?!? Fat police, fashion police, it's all the same nanny state inanity.

Notice that my comment isn't a masterpiece of fresh, original, or insightful argumentation. I wrote it quickly, as my purpose was to just express my support for ARI's position. That's all that's required to be an activist for Objectivism.

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  • 1 month later...

Taking inspiration from Diana Hsieh, I sent the following email to Google today, after viewing their "turn the lights out" campaign. Below my email is Google's page that was the impetus for my email.

To whom it may concern:

I propose you stop this foolishness immediately. The goal of supposed "environmentalists" is--and has always been--the destruction of Western ideas, values, and progress, and indeed the end of individual rights to life, liberty, private property, and the pursuit of happiness.

Sacrifice is NOT a proper value. Free individuals and companies trading with other individuals and companies--for example, an electric company selling me the power to cool or light my house for my rationally-selfish desire for comfort and health--is not immoral. And if it is not immoral for 23 hours per day, I assure you logic dictates that it is not immoral for the 24th.

I claim the right to complain about your participation in this movement against human life as a long-time customer of Google. I spend, via my company, over one-thousand dollars per month in pay-per-click advertising. I pay you because you are the best at what you do. You exist because of the industrial revolution--do not spend your social and financial capital assisting in its destruction.

Best regards,

George V.

=======================================================================

Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Given our company's commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency, we strongly support the Earth Hour campaign, and have darkened our homepage today to help spread awareness of what we hope will be a highly successful global event.

Why did Google choose this specific organization?

We believe in doing our part to help combat climate change, and found the Earth Hour initiative to be a timely, important event. Further, we think the "lights out" idea's individual-centered nature is something that millions of people worldwide can participate in. In short, we really like it. So we did something about it.

How can I get Google to do something similar for my organization or project?

We welcome your ideas on how we can become more socially and environmentally responsible. Although we can't guarantee either a placement on the Google homepage or even a response to every query, we do read every email we receive and welcome your ideas of organizations that you believe we should feature. If you'd like to submit a proposal, please send it to us at [email protected].

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To whom it may concern:

I propose you stop this foolishness immediately. The goal of supposed "environmentalists" is--and has always been--the destruction of Western ideas, values, and progress, and indeed the end of individual rights to life, liberty, private property, and the pursuit of happiness.

Sacrifice is NOT a proper value. Free individuals and companies trading with other individuals and companies--for example, an electric company selling me the power to cool or light my house for my rationally-selfish desire for comfort and health--is not immoral. And if it is not immoral for 23 hours per day, I assure you logic dictates that it is not immoral for the 24th.

I claim the right to complain about your participation in this movement against human life as a long-time customer of Google. I spend, via my company, over one-thousand dollars per month in pay-per-click advertising. I pay you because you are the best at what you do. You exist because of the industrial revolution--do not spend your social and financial capital assisting in its destruction.

While I both admire your enthusiasm and I think that you have identified an important issue to take activism on, I hate to tell you that your letter to Google serves as a paragon on how not to promote the ideas of Ayn Rand to the general public.

Just look at your first paragraph from the perspective of an employee at Google who may be very well educated but might not know much about the ideas of Ayn Rand at all. Such a person might associate "environmentalist" with "a person who wants to reduce pollution, promote recycling and combat climate change." To draw this conclusion requires an enormous context of properly integrated knowledge and presupposes recognizing the Objectivist concept of environmentalist, that is, someone who wants man to sacrifice to the environment (and an ability to differentiate it with individuals who are pro-human civilization but just anti-dirt.) Your first paragraph is going to come off as hyperbole, if not downright crazy. It will also most likely cause your e-mail, which will arrive in a flood of other irrational e-mails to just be deleted without having the rest of your letter read.

Anyway, I can continue this critique, but I think my point is clear. In my opinion it would have been overwhelmingly more effective to discuss the significant economic opportunity costs of such a campaign, if everyone were to participate. For example, many manufacturing plants (e.g., steel, automotive, etc.) in the U.S. work three, eight hour shifts. If they were to participate, there would be a significant loss. Furthermore, you could have discussed the personal inconvenience of any individual participating in this.

When you want to promote an Objectivist idea to a general audience, you must consider their context of knowledge. That is, present your argument in a manner in which they can relate to and be persuaded by.

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Hear, hear, DW.

Too often we forget that we operate in our own contextual "bubble" which is very different from that of non-Objectivists. And this is a prime example. The enviros have sold themselves as people who care about clean air and water and beuatiful natural parks, after all who wants to live in a grungy cesspit? And after all its for our own good that we not destroy the eco-system that we depend on. *That* is what most people think environmentalists are after. In fact many serious environmentalists themselves believe this is what it is about. And that those few guys who want to kill off humanity are just the nutty extremists.

My own personal bugaboo is having to be very careful with the word "selfish" which has an absolutely awful connotation to most people. I won't even use it to a non-Objectivist until after I have patiently explained the whole concept.

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