So, apparently there's this movie that is just causing all kind of trouble.  It's called Fitna and it's by a Dutch guy named Geert Wilders.

It was launched last night on YouTube, but YouTube took it down and suspended the account.  Network Solutions even took down the movie website claiming that it is being reviewed for violation of terms of service.

When I started looking into it earlier today, Part 4 was still available.  It was very predictable content.

The Koran is full of versus calling for the butchery of non-Muslims.  The history of Islam is basically a long ballad of violence laid over a staccato rhythm of annual bouts of stupidity, violence, and stupid violence and punctuated with fantastic events of breath-taking violence.

Oh and it's all very, very stupid.

Nevertheless, they get all offended when folks document this.

More accurately, folks get all offended with someone says that these acts of phenomenal barbarism are rooted in the system of ideas called Islam.

What bothers me is how so many people are cowering in fear of reprisal by Muslims.

Update: LGF has a link to the video. Well, it claims to be the video.  It contains none of the footage from Part 4 of the YouTube videos I saw before.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 09:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Category: Importance of Ideas
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I've just finished reading Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics by Tara Smith who was recently named the first chair of Objectivist studies at UT Austin.

I wasn't sure I was going to read this one because Tara Smith is an academic and academic books on philosophy can be very dry and boring.  But then I read Diana's review of the book from The Objective Standard -- you subscribed, right? -- and I was convinced to give it a try.

The book is written in very plain, accessible language.  Dr. Smith gives not only a clear, intellectual account of Ayn Rand's particular view of virtue, but also very simple, everyday examples of practicing virtue. 

There are no drowning babies in the middle of a deserted wood, space alien hostage situations, or scenarios where you're chained to your mother and starving to death in this book.  The focus is how a rational egoist actually lives his life in the real world and defends the proposition well.

I think this book is a must-read for anyone who thinks that Objectivists are cold-hearted assholes aspiring to an impossible standard.  Objectivists already know that reality is primary and using one's own life as a standard for principled living is not only primary but required to achieve happiness, but this book can lend more nuance and clarity to virtue according to Rand. 

Diana's review is very thorough, so if you'd like to hear more about it before making up your mind, check it out.

For my part, I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 09:03 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Category: Importance of Ideas
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Register by March 31st to receive discount pricing at OCon in Newport Beach, California!

They have the session schedule listed now and as usual there is a bevy of mouth-watering lectures and classes.  It's sure to be a lot of fun.*

*Sadly, I've never been.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 03:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Category: Importance of Ideas
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I've enjoyed all of Paul McKeever's videos that I've watched.  He's one of the YouTube Objectivists and I mentioned him in my last video.  He's very clear and direct.

Anyway, he has a new video up addressing an essay by Mike Huemer of UC Boulder.



On a couple of non-essential notes: 1) I really like the orange color he uses in his credits and 2) he has pretty Canadian O's that are fun to listen to.

Update: Sorry.  Had the wrong video in there.  Fixed now. Thanks, Diana!

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 01:38 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Category: Importance of Ideas
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