| | To Joe, the Patrons, and all the Contributors,
Let me extend my heartfelt thanks for the existence of this site and the general quality of discourse displayed here.
I must especially point out my praise for the design of this forum, which even ignoring its content, is the best I have come across on the web.
Although this is Joe's "moment" from which I do not wish to detract, I would like to make an aside.
My contact with the wider Objectivist community has been in three major stages. The first was from 1984-1987 or so, when the Objectivist Forum folded. After discovering Rand and sending in that little card I briefly subscribed to the Objectivist Forum, which was the extent of my contact with any self-described Objectivists. I was never very impressed with the OF, but I did like Michael Newberry's paintings being offered there in an insert. I remember only two of the articles, one on Mary-Lou Retton, and the other on goal-directed action in biology. When it became possible for me to attend a lecture being given by the author of that article on a different subject at the University of Pennsylvania, I jumped at the chance. That event was quite an eye-opener. I was treated to smug self-referential preening, a mocking attitude toward anything and everything not deemed orthodox and vetted, and even a few gratuitously insulting personal comments. I did not drop Rand, but I did wash my hands of the "movement" at that point.
In the early 90's (1992, I believe) I was living in New York and found a flier for an open meeting of the NYU Objectivist club. When I walked in in a heavy-metal t-shirt and jeans, I remember thinking that I had obviously missed the memo on the dress code. The club as represented at that meeting consisted exclusively of male students almost uniformly dressed in white shirts, dark pants and dark ties. I remember thinking of the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies, (no offence to nerds) and cannot decide whether my remembrance that half the attendees were wearing pocket protectors was real or a later confabulation. Nonetheless, our association ended abruptly once I mentioned the fact that I lived with my boyfriend in the Bronx during the meet-and-greet part of the program.
My next extended participation with the Objectivist community began in 1997 when I found the Cornell discussion group run by Kirez Korgan on the internet. Boy, had things changed. There had been some more schisms, IOS was now an independent concern, which I was happy to see was lead by the author of the only major new post-Randian Objectivist work of which I was aware, Evidence of the Senses. I began my posting career by strongly disagreeing with the consensus denunciations of the recently deceased Princess Diana. I then faced some sympathy but a lot of aggressive questioning when I mentioned and defended my bisexuality on the forum.
Many of my arguments there were not only unorthodox, but unprecedented. I immediately found one very strong opponent in a gentleman by the name of Bill Dwyer who was consistently skeptical of my arguments, but in a very civil and principled way. I do not know whether Mr. Dwyer remembers this at all, or in the way that I do. But after several months of being initially on the opposite side of just about every issue, we came to have a quite cordial and apparently respectful relationship. I remember awaiting his moderated email posts eagerly, and we did correspond directly on a few occasions. After some time, I had set up my own website, which I am preparing to reprise (it will be content, and not forum oriented) and was getting interest from various quarters, including many people who post now on other websites for various reasons. Chris Sciabarra and I corresponded, and he brought me to Lindsay Perigo's attention. In more recent correspondence, Lindsay says that he does not remember this. Given the lapsing of my site and my absence from the on-line scene after 2001, this is not surprising.
Then, after some illness and a surgery this last year, and my acquisition of a new computer that did not crash on me daily, I again sought out on-line contact with other Objectivists. I first searched out Bob Bidinotto with whom I had had some pleasant interaction in the late 90's, and through his site came to find Rebirth of Reason. It was when I saw that Bill Dwyer was posting here that I knew I had found the place I was looking for.
I would like to thank Joe, and everyone else, for providing a forum where someone with my sometimes "bizarre" takes on matters can get not only an intelligently critical, but also, for the most part, generous and polite consideration. I find that I myself sometimes get a bit carried away by my emotions and resort to invective. I am happy to know that of all the violators of civility, it is usually I who am one of the worst offenders. In analogy to Rand, its better to be the least polite among very polite people, than to be the most polite among impolite people.
God bless the Rebirth of Benevolence!
Ted Keer, 02 December, 2006, NYC
(Edited by Ted Keer
on 12/02, 1:27pm)
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