<p>We’re lurking behind the corner waiting for you… in college.</p>
<p>{ Killing your curve in the class you need! }</p>
<p>my less competitive, less intelligent friends are usually a lot more fun…</p>
<p>Yea, I’m basically just going to enjoy being at the top of the food chain now, because once I get to college everyone is going have read “Ayn Rand *****”.</p>
<p>First off, I was surprised at the fact that this post survived the drift of the board and still floated on top, just like how I left it in the morning.</p>
<p>To those who said I am insolent, boring. Maybe the former, not the latter. If you find me boring then you definitely need to open up a bit and be less cynical. I can tell you on the spot that I can talk about anything abstract and concrete from the top of the sky to the bottom of a riverbed (limitations). Sadly our physical body is only a part (I would say no more than 10%) of the manifestation of our entire being, dont you agree? This is not even judging a book by its cover. I couldn’t come up with a worse analogy, so you must excuse me. I blend in just like another kid, I don’t try that hard by being different. What’s the point, being a midget among a bunch of dwarves (or whichever is taller)? You know I think my HS years aren’t really worth it, academic wise at least. But it helped me to look at people in a way that’s different from everybody else.</p>
<p>Yes, I do agree with the fact that if you try to pigeon-hole me, I would be very close to what people call emo (by no means I look like one, black is not a good color to smudge all over your face). I do feel a sense of contempt for the fact that I have nobody with whom I can share my sentiments, every bit of appreciation, every idiosyncratic cranny and nooks, every bit of frown or smile on your neighbor’s face. I don’t hate the world, I don’t hate these kids around me. They are just zombies.</p>
<p>Since I am really into this Ayn rand **** right now, think Howard Roark, he will pull through someday. But by no means am I as noble as him. </p>
<p>@musicallylatin</p>
<p>Hey I lived in Fairbanks for like 6 years, just transferred to Anchorage. I use to go to West Valley (nice little school). I thought by coming to a larger city, I would be meeting more wacky dudes like me. Having myself constantly denied of enriching conversation makes me stop having expectations. But what can we complain now days? Every man (chick, girl, dudettes) for him/herself.</p>
<p>Sorry have to make a double post, but I should read all your posts more carefully.</p>
<p>I think that if you haven’t felt like this before, you couldn’t even begin to imagine what it feels like–until then, you can’t begin to empathize with me, I dont know why you can. I think it as those times when I try to visit a day care. I enjoy the presence of adorable toddlers, but playing with those motley toys can’t keep me occupied for too long–it get’s ****ing boring (sorry for turning such an innocuous occasion into a part of rant against my own world, how selfish of me). I think it illustrates the point. </p>
<p>Nice reference to Holden Caulfield, it shows that you have finished your reading assignments and I hope you pass (have passed) all your reading quizzes. But I don’t think I am explicitly stated any sexual tensions or hatred for the world. Sure I show some bit of contempt, it’s rather mournful, more of a lament, than a pointless youtube blogger performance. </p>
<p>I am terrible with worlds, having English as my second language. I don’t try to paint you a perfect picture of how I feel. I hope none of you feel like this. I think this post deserves your mockery or contempt. Belittle me or mock me, I will take the hits. After all I think you will learn something out of this, about the world.</p>
<p>I understand your situation, but there are much better ways to portray it. As someone stated earlier, you seem frustrated by the lack of intellectual stimulation in your current environment. Yet, for a self-proclaimed intellectual, you certainly manage avoid mentioning this frustration by simply stating personal examples of frustration. The merit of personal examples is great when supplemented by a strong thesis and qualified, logical statements that relate back to said thesis. By themselves personal examples are rather useless, as they are completely subjective to the person who experienced them. This often creates the problem of person A coming to X conclusion because of E experience, and then person B coming to Y conclusion because of F experience. Persons A and B then argue over the correct conclusion by stating their respective experiences as supporting evidence. Unfortunately there is the problem that person A and B can simply go on citing more and more personal stories or the anecdotes of others and never reach a conclusion. The crux of the problem being that anecdotal evidence can boost your pathos (or ethos depending how you look at it) but not win the argument or succeed in presenting an idea or situation unless supplemented by a STATED THESIS.</p>
<p>A great example of this is what happened with your post, others responded and misinterpreted your post as the ravings of a jerk. What I just did is also an example of using a pathos-centered anecdote to support my thesis.</p>
<p>Aside from that bit, you come across as extraordinarily condescending and elitist. The main reason for this being that you state everything that you THINK as FACT. You decidedly judge people solely on the fact that you cannot have an intellectual discussion with them. If you are so inane as to judge purely by intellectual aptitude then in my eyes you cannot be the intellectual that you claim to be.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the entire nature of the post seems to demand action from the reader. You make the demand that we acknowledge that you are a great intellectual, that you are more so than everybody else around you, that we feel sorry for our deprived intellectually great friend in Alaska. The entire post sounds like a plea for recognition.</p>
<p>Then we reach another problem: you ask no question. Let’s look at the definition of “forum” shall we? “An assembly for open discussion.” (and don’t even try the “discussion” card, its definition states that it is about a certain queried topic). Instead of coming to College Confidential to ask a question, ask advice, or discuss an issue, you come and simply dump your steaming pile of a problem into our laps and say, “My life sucks.” Please note that this would have been more acceptable if you had an addendum on that, so that it went like, “My life sucks because I have no intellectual stimulation, what should I do about it?”</p>
<p>Next we reach the issue of the apparent egotism displayed in your post. This one is quite simple, my advice is: Don’t do it. Saying that you can “talk about anything abstract and concrete from the top of the sky to the bottom of a riverbed” is really something that is just an invitation for someone to say, “Really? So, just out of curiosity, what do you believe are the conditions that provide for smooth solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations?” Now, I know that you threw “(limitations)” in there, but never, ever make a statement with such a blatant absolute present (See? That was a joke, there are exceptions to that rule.).</p>
<p>I also resent being called an “egocentrical maniac”, partly because of the incorrect grammar involved, and partly because I do not believe that I am an egocentric maniac.</p>
<p>And one more thing, name dropping doesn’t necessarily improve your ethos for a presentation. A lot of people are just inherently trusting. If you told us that you believe yourself to be an intellectual, I think that most of us would have accepted that at face value.</p>
<p>Finally, about the the apparent “Ayn rand ****” that you are currently into: You should recognize that most of it was written during the Cold War Era and its communism scares. Ayn Rand’s works were a reflective commentary that were meant to display the evils of communism, and the pure objectivist views that she stated through her works are not completely applicable in our world today. Concern for the wellbeing of others is not a bad thing. The main flaw in her works is that she advocates for a system where the rights of the individual are paramount. Then she states that an individual should act in the pursuit of his own happiness and rational self-interest. This leads an odd form of anarchy, where individuals can pursue their own interests to any length. The problem with this being that the interests of individuals clash, which ends up displaying the flaw in such and objectivist system: If an individual’s pursuit of rational self-interest limits another person’s ability to pursue their own rational self-interest then we reach a philosophical stand still. If the individual continues to act and limit the other person’s ability to act in their own self-interest then the system has failed, as individuals are not able to pursue their self-interests uninhibited. On the other hand, if the individual stops pursuing his self-interests in order to allow another individual to pursue his self-interests, then the first individual will not be able to pursue his self-interests and the system will once again fail. Ayn Rand’s works are not all that they are cracked up to be. Objectivism is an overrated philosophy used by the cold and the heartless as the reasons for ignoring the welfare of their fellow man. Hitler used similar justification, except that he acted on what he believed were mankind’s interests.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, that might have been a little long, but I really had to let you know what I thought about your post.</p>
<p>I completely missed your double post, sorry 'bout the grammar shot in my post.</p>
<p>So, responses to your double post:</p>
<p>More personal feel = Good.</p>
<p>Egotism = Bad.</p>
<p>Again, if you aren’t trying to paint us a picture of how you feel then you confirm most of what I assert in my above post. This also insinuates that your last line, “After all I think you will learn something out of this, about the world.” was in fact close to your original purpose for posting: Showing off your intellectual “guns” in a forum, sliding in some elitist suggestion about teaching us something and then feel amused as we supposedly follow your scheme to attack your posts. It is also readily apparent that this is not the original insinuation. Your double post retroactively changes the reason that you decided to post originally. The thing is that you cannot change your original reason for committing an action. The reason for the committal is what the reason was at the time that you committed. Your double post is obviously an attempt to ward off countless attacks on your original post. And please, for my sake at least as I do not want to type anymore responses of this length, do not say that you hid your original intent from us or something along those lines. Saying that would be a fabrication, your writing style blatantly suggests that if that was your original intent, then you would have posted it originally.</p>
<p>Now, I can finish my damn essay that is due next week and go to sleep. So good night all.</p>
<p>lantzk, first off, without any regard to whatever you have said to me, I would cordially invite you to have a beer (or orangade) with me. Despite your somewhat caustic reply, you fulfilled my masochistic desires for this kind of comments. So if that was your intention (I don’t think you are trying to disparage me, but I might be wrong), maybe you just gave me what I wanted.</p>
<p>Now.</p>
<p>I really do not know what I was trying to accomplish by posting this, I try to blame it on the fact that I woke up very early in the morning (about 2AM), feeling very frustrated, thinking that, hey, nobody else I know does this, so I must be a special little psycho. Part of my rant, as you have stated, is purported at gaining the recognition of the others. More precisely in my own view, the reinforcement from others, for my intellectuality (from a holistic perspective, in analyzing myself, I truly do not qualify, not even remotely, as what one calls an intellectual. I do not read enough or have studied enough to discuss something substantial–as you have successfully pinpointed my weakness for not being able to discuss navier-stokes). </p>
<p>But if you attempt to observe the general feeling of this forum, as you have defined it, a discussion place, in which people seek each other’s opinion and advices. Well, looking at all these “chance me” threads and “score rank”, what’s the use of it all? I think we all understand that if we truly possess the ability to be good enough for a college, or even have the simplest but firmest desire to attend an institution, one should just submit the SAT score and a cordial essay in which describes the condition one experiences and wait for an answer. I think, stating this as a fact, even though you strongly despise my doing this, that everyone understands what I just argued in the last few sentences. But our weakness, as sentient beings with very weak self control, requires the constant reassurance of others in the process of our living. Since most people who participate on this board are shooting for ivies (very generalized), who would probably suffer from very severe shock and alarm if he/she fails to get in. Part of the coping with such an outcome, is the incessant reposting of a “chance” post, or borrowing other people’s threads and asking for more reassurance.</p>
<p>I’d like to consider my post as innocuous as possible, maybe I seek the reassurance from others. In such a process, I must at least convey how I feel and what I experience, a slice from my life. Yes, I sense what you call “condescension, egotism, elitism” in what I have said, but if you look at the nature of my situation. How do I convey my “lack of intellectual stimulation” without invoking the use of the aforementioned words? If I post something similar to what the next several posts under this board, such as “my girlfriend is going to prom with anther guy”, it would inevitably display insecurity or a lack of trust (or lack of judgment ;). It may be a poor excuse for a justification, but invoking anything regarding intellectuality is somewhat, in my opinion, pompous. I would punch some guy in the face if he had recited what I had wrote in front of me, thus I reserve my anonymity rights on the internet.</p>
<p>So yes, this is a concession to your rebuttal against me, as you see I think I am too dilapidated to try to justify my egotism (which I don’t consider it so, but people with personality disorders do the same thing), it’s a madman’s game that I don’t want to play too much. </p>
<p>I think after all, we can all appreciate a conversation among people whom we value or even care about. If Fall out boy and converse shoes are your cup of tea, then you would have great conversation with somebody who’s interested in the same. Since I have taken a very different development path, which I have regretted and still somewhat hate it yet I still try to come to terms with it, I will say that I do not know anybody who’s interested in the same thing. That’s why I try to influence people around me into reading weird **** I read, and do whatever I do. I sometimes do believe I am better than others, but what’s the use of that without the true (I dont have a more appropriate adjective) reassurance of others? Now that previous statement maybe the most egocentric blurb ever, but can I do? It’s me, stark naked, in its true form (eww, don’t). </p>
<p>Sometimes, when I read in the library, I have long conversations with someone who doesnt know much about me. But once I tell them about my ambitions and my doings, they are interested to hear more about it. Part of me wants to change him/her into what I consider a friend, but you can’t reshape someone in a 15 minute conversation. In the end they felt a sense of true enlightenment, a strange sense of joy I never seen before on any other faces, unique to his own person. I think after all, people are interested in something beyond the, should we call it, superficial world, in which most people are engrossed. After all, what do I know, right?</p>
<p>I totally was about to comment on what you have said about Rand’s philosophy. I was quite hesitant to read her work because I have read numerous reviews, negative ones, that did not appreciate what she believes in. I am just starting the Roark section of Fountainhead and I do see what you mean, considering the historical and cultural context of that era. This is not related to my post, but don’t you feel that according to some whimsical circular law of the world, this cycle between individualism and collectivism repeats itself, never finding a true equilibrium?</p>
<p>It’s interesting that even though you commented that Rand’s idea is out of context with today’s world since we do need to have regard for the welfare of others and not too overly engrossed by our own pursuit. Without inquiring much about her objectivism, since the beginning of the novel, I felt a strange sense of admiration for Roark, despite his negligence of others. Don’t you think that for a world like today, we need more people like Roark, to reestablish a paradigm of a type of supreme “goodness”, as the way Rand would have put it.</p>
<p>In today’s society, in which we have set a somewhat agreeable living condition, much better to the standard in the early 20th century (although it’s falling apart), the masses worship individuals from the celebrity world, such as the generic sports star, musician. But these people are promulgated through the expectation of our society: charisma mixed with some talent (this functions much like a equilibrium, where all talent no charisma could bring up an individual, but the other way works better, like pornography). </p>
<p>People, who resembles Roark, in our society, lacks the courage due to the constant stigmatizing of the outside world, of society’s restriction. For the sake of “human advancement”, shouldn’t we always allow, or even promote such thinking as our mantra, despite the chance of another Hitler even if “murdering millions of people” is not in our definition of good?</p>
<p>You know, right now in Vermont it’s 2 in the morning. So, I’m merely going to say once again, that I understand your predicament. And…my brain is fried, I might come back and say more later. Oh, and if I ever come to Alaska, or you ever come to Vermont, I’ll take you up on that offer.</p>
<p>And to the Fountainhead thing, yes, I do admire Roark. I would be surprised if somebody managed to resist his allure in the Fountainhead. The thing that is interesting about our attraction to him, I believe, is that we are fascinated by his no strings attached lifestyle. So many people worry constantly about life as Keating does, so many work so hard to climb that ladder and nothing else. And in contrast there is Roark, he is always certain, he draws perfectly straight lines in a bold manner, he takes action with regard only for himself. It is a romantic tale about the individual, and I appreciate that. The issue being that most things should be taken in moderation. Ayn Rand advocates extreme worship of the individual. It is similar to the battle between State’s rights and Federal Government rights: each side is right to a certain degree. There must be compromise, there must be acknowledgment of society and our fellow man so that in the future, individuals CAN continue to pursue their own self-interests. You are certainly right that there is always that struggle between the “greater good” and the individual. And it certainly is a necessary part of our society. Men like Roark, even if imaginary serve as obelisks that let us all know what we can do, and why we should do it. The problem today is what people are doing already is immensely individualist. We need to fight for more social justice before we can once again worship at the altar of the individual.</p>
<p>I have briefly read Zarathustra when my English was still terrible, so I was intrigued by the Ubermensch idea. But I had no idea what Nietzsche was trying to say. I also have read some similar stuff like Steppenwolf, Siddartha, so I am sort of basing my judgment of Roark on those characters. </p>
<p>I found Roark in a context much more tangible, despite it happened almost a century ago. </p>
<p>But how do you feel about the Dominique Franco character (interestingly Dominique, when I googled it, means “of god”). I am sort of fascinated by the power of the female allure. I think Rand definitely tried to exult her own gender in her work.</p>
<p>go to sleep you vermontian. You need your energy to argue about something tomorrow. I hope you dont come to Alaska, I will find you in Vermont though.</p>
<p>Does Se</p>
<p>While I certainly can sympathize with your situation, I don’t think you’re handling this in the correct way. Yes, people are often very mundane. The talk about parties and drugs isn’t interesting because they’re so focused on the short-term rewards they’re getting that they turn into the losers in their forties who only wished that he put in the time to actually learn something in school instead of oozing by with passing grades and a hot girlfriend.</p>
<p>At the same time, you’ll find plenty of people in college who came from similar backgrounds. The wheat is separated from the chaff, so to say, because the people who squandered their high school years rarely make it into a good college.</p>
<p>For you, my advice would be to put your disappointment to work on other things. I have seen way too many disenchanted teens such as yourself turn into losers with an unjustified disdain for this world, especially objectivists. Like one guy at our high school who squirreled himself away in the library every lunch period with one of those tomes and went on and on and on about how he was the new Galt and how the rest of us were merely talentless robots who would go through school only to have normal, mundane lives. Funny, I’m majoring in physics and engineering and from the last I’ve heard, he’s taking lit classes at the local community college. Don’t fall into this trap because it makes otherwise decent people look like idiotic peacocks.</p>
<p>And keep in mind that superficial observations aren’t always the best. I’m sure that the psuedointellectuals at my high school thought I was just another ‘zombie’ but nuts to them because they were quite shocked when I mentioned that I won a monetary award from the Ayn Rand Institute two years ago for my entry into the essay contest. Mind you, it wasn’t a large reward or proof that I was some stellar being beyond their merely mortal comprehensions. Ordinary people can be doing ‘intellectual’ stuff but you wouldn’t know it unless you actually deign to grace them with your time and talk to them. This is a complicated issue and there’s a lot of different points of view that could conceivably be given but I’d be happy to discuss your situation if you’d like. Either way, good luck and I hope it gets better for you in the future.</p>
<p>I take it back you seem like you have potential to be chill if taken out of the hell hole of Alaska. Just thug it out until college and go some place where people are interested in things other than hunting, christianity, and white people.</p>
<p>kidwithshirt, you remind me so much of myself two years ago, that I literally got a good chuckle at least out of reading your posts. Your mentality will change, I at least hope it does. You are now being blinded by frustration. Try to find beauty. The sky is much prettier to look at when illuminated than when filled with a bland of darkness(at least in a city where it is merely an ugly shade of gray with no stars in sight).</p>