Archive for 11/9/2009

I’ve moved to Facebook

Nov 9th

Posted by David Veksler in General

1 comment

If you used to be a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed my lack of activity here.  I’ve decided to stop updating my personal blog and post short updates to my Facebook page instead.

Though most of my traffic now is random Google searches, Feedburner claims that I still have 100 subscribers to my feed.  If you’re reading this, I’d like to know how you came across my blog and what you thought of it while it was active.

I’m going to try to be more active on my tech blog.   Also, have you seen my One Minute Cases?

Developing countries don’t need aid and democracy: they need to be re-colonized by Western ideas

Nov 9th

Posted by David Veksler in General

1 comment

Reposting this from Facebook:

The material and social progress of post-Enlightenment European civilization stands in stark contrast to the rest of human history. No other culture has created such dramatic and widespread progress in such a short time.

Those who wish to export the material success of the West to the rest of the world must first recognize the causal link between the moral-political foundation of the West and the material progress it makes possible. Moral and social relativism (multiculturalism) and political pragmatism has led to attempts to import superficial political and material Western forms while rejecting their philosophical basis. As demonstrated in post-colonial Africa and India, Southeast Asia, Soviet Russia and Maoist China, such attempts lead to bloody failure when the industrial power of Western forms is directed by traditionalist values.

The superhighways of the West cannot be build over the swamps of tribalism, traditionalism, and collectivism. They must first be drained and replaced with good ideas from the ground up. This does not require a wholesale abandonment of native culture, for they are neither all bad nor are Western ideas without fault. What is required is a ruthless rational examination of the philosophical basis of Western success and an intellectual re-colonization of the non-Western world.

An Objectivist wedding ceremony

Nov 9th

Posted by David Veksler in General

1 comment

Here is the text of my wedding ceremony earlier this year.  I was not able to find any appropriate ceremonies for me, so I wrote my own.  I’m posting this for those looking for a wedding ceremony inspired by Objectivist ideas.

(The only thing missing are some readings contributed by our friends and family.)

Introduction

Welcome friends.

We gather here today to mark the marriage of Sarah and David. They have invited us to witness their partnership so we may know the nature of their bond and to respect, honor, and celebrate their union.

Prudence will indicate that bonds so total and everlasting should not be entered lightly, and not without due consideration and full knowledge of the commitment they entail. But when two people recognize that they are each other’s highest value, and that their individual happiness depends on each other, it is their sacred right to enter into the partnership of marriage. And so, a decent respect for their friends and family requires that they should declare the reasons that impel them to join and celebrate their marriage.

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