I am glad to spend time with you and all Gulch members because I get value for value.

One way to lower your probability of offending people is to ask a question rather than make a comment.

You are a welcome addition to the Gulch, BenFrank.

Thanks, mamaemma. I'm glad I still have friends in this forum. To be honest, before I recommended that khalling re-read AS, I re-read the first chapter of Part 3 on Atlantis myself. I had always thought that Atlantis' immigration policy was pretty restrictive, but upon re-reading it, I had forgotten just how restrictive it was. It included no communication with the outside world (except for Rearden's note to Dagny), the radar shield, words and phrases like "scab" and "first trespasser", etc.

On a positive note, my dad saw my WIJG bumper sticker and asked. It was a pleasure to explain to him WIJG. At the end, he said, "Wow." Before his Alzheimer's disease, I am sure we would have had more of a conversation, but it was pleasant to explain to my father WIJG. After all, my father taught me the principles of Objectivism without ever having read any of AR's books. He has lived them all his life.

no offense. I am grateful that you spend time with me prof :)

I'm glad you could laugh about it. It was meant in a fun way. Sorry for the offense. I am looking up what I underlined in AS all the time.

I understand what you are saying. I am pretty new to Ayn Rand but I want to understand more. I am just trying to figure out how to approach understanding what I read with out offending when I make a comment or ask a question. Thank you for your feedback!

If this is really a place to has anything to do with its name then I would expect to enjoy the company of people here that already understand and are in basic agreement with the fundamentals. It would be so very refreshing to find a place like that. A place where you didn't have to start over with "existence exists" or A=A all the time.

That said you don't have to be an expert by any means.

Thank you, Ben! I got the feeling that you are a valuable addition to the Gulch, and I wanted you to stay.

Thank you everyone. This will allow me to better understand the context of the comments when I read them.

lol! I think you are about 10,000 points above me in IQ. I'm just happy I know who Euclides is!!

Thank you mamaemma. That gives me a clearer idea of how to understand the interaction that I am reading. I appreciate the time you have taken to respond

yes. I appreciate your work on this site, n :)

Ben, this is a place to discuss the ideas of Rand, objectivism, and anything based on reason. For instance, we discuss advanced concepts in physics that may be related to Rand, but only tangentially

In order for this to be a useful forum for discussing ideas there have to be some very broad rules. This is no different than any rational forum. For instance, if this site was about Euclidean geometry, you could not come in and discuss ideas that did not follow logically - on purpose, or ideas where two parallel lines intersect. The same is true here .

Well put. And that's funny about AS. Anyway, as you go through it again, I hope you'll make note of your favorite passages and add them to the thread.

http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

Yes, this is a place you can come to learn about Objectivism.

Like any internet forum though, be certain about the source, before you believe what they say. This is not a straight up reference site for Objectivism, but you will see reference to those sites.

Just remember, it is the internet, so their will be bad to go with the good in here.

Jbrenner, I have to give you kudos for having the cojones to tell khalling she needs to reread Atlas! Of course, it says a lot about her character that you knew you could say it to her. Two of many people who I am proud to call my friends in the Gulch.
My daughter has goaded me into a reread, as she is rereading herself. :)

Yes. This is a place where the curious can come to learn more about Objectivism.

However, this is not a free for all. If you want that, go to Breitbart or Huffington Post.
As Db put it the other day, I do not learn anything about physics talking to astrologers. Same applies on this site.

This is my suggestion, not everyone will agree. Asking questions, if you are uncertain what O point of view is, is a great way to learn more, if that is your goal. If you want to argue against an Objectivist position or Rand, then be upfront. Failure is to consistently here to undermine Objectivist principles, means you should probably go somewhere else. There are many here (religionists for one) who disagree with Rand on concepts. They are open about this and state their principles upfront. I admire that. There are others who have been on the site for months/a year-more who do not make plain where they disagree. They just argue. They do not want to increase their knowledge. That's ok, but they'll get called out. A is A. You will experience dissonance on this site all the time. :) I am thinking of the other day when jbrenner told me to re-read AS. At first I was indignant and then I had to laugh at myself. Yes. I need to re-read Atlas Shrugged. Yes. and so, I started again last night. I'll let you know how it's going :)

Ben, I might be a good person to give you my perspective. I read Atlas in my teens and it struck a chord. It didn't make me think differently, but it defined and crystallized what I already knew and felt. So I consider myself a strong advocate of Rand.
On the other hand, I have not studied Objectivism in depth, and don't consider myself to be an expert in any sense, so I am probably similar to many of the people in the virtual Gulch.
My observation has been that there are comments made in the Gulch that are anti-Rand and anti-Objectivist. Some are on purpose,many are due to a lack of knowledge or having thought something through. And I have seen comments saying, "you don't belong here", but the only time I have seen those comments are when the previous commenter is being deliberately obtuse or Anti- Rand.
So my very long answer to your question is that all fans of Rand and her literature and thinking are welcome here, no matter their level of knowledge. If only the well versed belonged here, I would not belong here, and I have not only learned a lot and had a lot of smiles and fun, I have been made very welcome.
Whew! I am usually concise!