(Essay) Guide To Objective Parenting

For a limited time, the editors of The Objective Standard are making the cover article, “How to Raise a Life-Loving Child,” written by Sarah and Craig Biddle accessible for free. The purpose of this essay is to convey a fundamental principle that governs their approach to parenting.

"The Unknown Awaits" by Bryan Larsen inspired by Ayn Rand's essay Apollo Versus Dionysos on the cover of the Fall Issue of the Objective Standard (TOS). Order prints. 

How To Raise a Life-Loving Child

Give me a child for the first seven years, and he is mine for life. —The Jesuits 

Raise a child with the Master Question, and he is his own for life. —Sarah and Craig Biddle 

During the twelve years we’ve been raising our daughter, we’ve often been asked about our approach to parenting, and we’ve enjoyed sharing our thoughts in countless conversations. Now that our daughter is almost thirteen, we’re happy to present the essence of our approach in the form of an essay. Because we’re only part way through this wonderful adventure, our discussion here is limited to our experiences and thoughts about raising a child through her preteen years.

Only Muslims Can Save Islam From Itself

A group of British Muslims is resisting the atrocities and bloodthirst of the Islamic State. Great! But it comes with a few hard conditions. A hashtag just isn't enough for fundamental change from within. 

Sep 10, 2014 #NotInMyName: Young British Muslims at Active Change Foundation show their solidarity against ISIS and their actions.

Dyab Abou Jahjah has written a very interesting piece about the war on the Islamic State. (Source, Flemish) He states the following:

‘Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win’. This is a quotation from Sun Tzu's The art of war. (Source) This may answer the question if the American strategy to fight the organization known as 'Islamic State' stands a chance of success. 

KNOW THY ENEMY: DEFEATING TOTALITARIAN ISLAM

The West is mentally crippled in its defense against the violent side of Islam. False doctrines, faulty conceptual frameworks and political correctness have conspired to make the free world a sitting duck in the face of the evil that has manifested itself in IS, the Islamic State. So, what are we going to do about it? 

Yaron Brook (Director of the Ayn Rand Institute) and Dr Onkar Ghate (Senior Fellow) elaborate on the morality of war. More particular, what are the options in defeating totalitarian Islam. 

UPDATE: Noting that the apocalypse was a central theme to their vision, Wood outlined in a piece on The Atlantic how the brutal methods employed by ISIS were not necessarily a perversion of Islam, as President Obama frequently claims, but an interpretation of Islamic teachings that most Muslims simply choose to ignore.



Feb 19, 2015 Journalist Graeme Wood told CNN that the terrorist group firmly believes Jesus Christ will come to their aid during an apocalyptic final battle in Jerusalem.

What ISIS Really Wants
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. (Source)

(PLAYLIST) ISIS: WHAT WOULD MOHAMMED DO?

ISIS have declared the Islamic State, citing Islam as the source of its authority. But detractors like Obama say ISIS (or IS, ISIL or Daesh) is neither Islamic, nor a state. This series has a closer look at the terror army and the sources they claim are the root of their Caliphate. 

Feb 25, 2016 What would Mohammed do? 

With so many different opinions and statements floating around in our media on the topic of Islam, how do we know who is credible and who is not? You will know after viewing this video.

1. What would Mohammed do?

2. The basics.

3. ISIS and Mohammed.

4. Correlation between ISIS and Mohammed.

5. ISIS, Mohammed and non Muslims.

6. The ISIS flag and why they chose it.

7. ISIS and the three day ultimatum.

8. ISIS, Islam and women (outside the US, this is actually taught).

9. Why the confusion regarding Islam (the Law of Abrogation).

10. How and why the self proclaimed Caliph chose his name. 

11. Why ISIS torture is Islamic 1/2.

12. Why ISIS torture is Islamic 2/2.
13. Our final logical conclusion: you decide. 

If you want to discuss on Twitter, use the hashtag #ISISlam

All Muslims Share the Same Islam

We are continuously lectured by the apologists of Islam that lumping moderate Muslims and Islamic radicals together is evil. Dr Bill Warner of the Center for the Study of Political Islam explains why the distinction is a mistake. 

May 26, 2015 All Muslims share the same Islam. The establishment is always telling us that there are good, moderate Muslims and extremist, jihadist Muslims and that the two different kinds have nothing in common with each other.

Postmodernists never cease to tell us that individual Muslims should never be lumped together with Islamic terrorists and radicals. That's evil! They do that on the basis of the belief, that universals can't exist, because every individual is unique. But then they continue to reason from two contradictions.

1. Lumping all moderates together on the one hand and all radicals together on the other, is in itself also a generalization. Both can't be valid at the same time.
2. The other assumption is that the entire body of Islamic doctrine is good. The radicals are deviants and criminals. Bill Warner debunks that premise. 

FREE DOWNLOAD: "A STRATEGY TO DEFEAT IS"

The Islamic State poses a grave danger to the United States and its allies in the Middle East and around the world. It's beyond any terrorist threat we have ever seen. It must be defeated. 

In the free downloadable paper, A Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State, Kimberly Kagan, Frederick W. Kagan, and Jessica D. Lewis explore how IS can be defeated. 

The Islamic State poses a grave danger to the United States and its allies in the Middle East and around the world. Reports that it is not currently planning an attack against the American homeland are little comfort. Its location, the resources it controls, the skill and determination of its leaders and fighters, and its demonstrated lethality distinguish it from other al-Qaeda-like groups. Its ability to offer safe-haven and support to terrorists planning attacks against us is beyond any terrorist threat we have ever seen. The thousands of American and European citizens who are fighting alongside the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra in Iraq and Syria constitute an unprecedented threat to our security regardless of whether those groups intend to attack us. The Islamic State is a clear and present danger to the security of the United States. It must be defeated.

THE MESSAGE FROM MOHAMMED

The earliest legends about Mohammed and his band of followers in Mecca has colored the relationship of Muslims with the rest of the world. The rejection by the Meccans and the holy revenge of the Mohammedans is re-enacted every day on a world scale. 

"The Message" Movie Trailer 1976 - Story of Islam.

The movie "The Message" (IMDb) is a 3 hour melodrama in which the appearance of actor Anthony Quinn is the sole mitigating circumstance. Nevertheless, the movie is required viewing for students of Islam. The film was conceived prior to the present Islamic revival. In other words, the film does not contain any of the politically correct revisionism that one might expect in a pro Islam movie today. In the movie the actors depicting Mohammed and his followers have the polished heroism that was typical of Hollywood at the time. Still, this authorized propaganda movie meant for a Western audience is not an unabashed puff piece. It gives us a fairly balanced view of the earliest beginnings of Islam. 

DUMBING DOWN: THE MAN-MADE, LOW INFORMATION DISASTER

Dumbing down is not your imagination or a figure of speech, but cognitive fact. Low information people know less facts and they are increasingly incapable of putting facts together in an integrated body of knowledge. The problem is mental and it's man-made. It's politically induced stupidity. 

Thou shalt not generalize! There is no pattern. 

UPDATE: The following is a great example of another typical postmodern stupidity, the Fallacy of the Running Nose. It is the result of their incapacity to draw the correct essences from a concept, leading to false equivalents. Saturation point is drawn from the subject of physics and here equivocated with the ability of a country to take in a great number of aliens whose values in many respects are contrary to its own. The analogy is completely false! We may assume Ms Maskell has had a fairly decent education. Then how is it possible she commits a crime against logic this huge? The answer is, it's brought on by her moral standard: the cause she is fighting for is so noble, that even truth and logic are subjected to it. The aim justifies the means is the moral standard of the true Pragmatist.

New UKIP video slams Rachael Maskell MP for saying UK should take migrants until "Saturation" http://t.co/5bUXYpHZNr https://t.co/tjZ3tAtnF8

— UKIP (@UKIP) September 15, 2015

Islam and Christianity: Are They Equally Valid?

Many Westerners approach Islam like Obama: Islam is a religion and no religion condones evil. There's a serious flaw in that logic. Christianity does not define religion. Perhaps not all religions are morally good? And perhaps Islam isn't just a religion? 

Sam Solomon and Michael Horton discuss the  theological confrontation between Christianity and Islam. Part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8. 

We have looked at Islam  in the past, compared it to the objective definition of religion and came up with this chart.

Objectivism: Capitalism in the Context of India

Using cultural themes specific to India, Jerry Johnson explores how Objectivism can be more easily promoted and digested within non-Western cultures. Johnson draws parallels to the Indian mode of experiencing life: dramatically, emotionally, deeply, and profoundly.

Jul 17, 2014: Jerry Johnson at the Atlas Summit 2-14: Using cultural themes specific to India.

Using the symbols of Hindu gods Laxmi, Durga, and Saraswati—who stand for Wealth, Emotional Security, and Wisdom, respectively—Jerry Johnson explores how Objectivism has deep appreciation for values that Indians understand as making for a good life. Likewise, by shining light on Objectivism's emotional thrust—the passionate dedication to life, reason, liberty, and happiness that Objectivism champions. Jerry Johnson is a corporate communication professional with academic training in psychology and philosophy. He is also a TEDx speaker and TEDx curator. His articles have appeared in the Times of India, DNA, and Open magazine. Jerry has been active in spreading the ideas of Objectivism in India through his collaboration with think-tanks in India, the philosophy groups at the University of Mumbai, and through his soon-to-be-launched institute "The Delphi Center."