Thursday, November 02, 2006

Yaron Brook Lecture on Islamic Totalitarianism this Monday

I'm not completely sure Yaron Brook has the right ideas about how to deal with Islamic fascism. Hence, for people's information, Wikipedia articles on:

Objectivism

Yaron Brook

Ayn Rand

The Ayn Rand Institute

"Destroying Islamic Totalitarianism- -The West's Moral Imperative"
By Dr. Yaron Brook

Date: Monday, November 6, 2006
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Social Science Lecture Hall

Club Leader: Eric Brunner
e-mail: shovelcharge88@ yahoo.com

For a map and directions, click on this link:
http://today.uci.edu/pdf/UCI_06_Map.pdf

The Middle East has been the stage for conflict and crisis for many decades now. What philosophical principles underlie the continued hostilities and tensions? In the five years since 9/11, the Middle East has been a hotbed of military conflict--ranging from the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq, to controversies and violence surrounding Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad, to Israel's attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. No doubt, Islamic Totalitarianism poses a grave threat to the security and prosperity of Western nations, but our attempts to stop the enemy have fallen short. In many ways, the Western response has only emboldened and incited terrorist organizations and governments.

What historical and philosophical factors account for the present state of affairs and what do they suggest for the future? Is the war on terror really un-winnable? What should be the U.N.'s role in international policy? Should Israel have assented to the U.N.'s dictates, or should it have continued to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon? Should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear technology? What should Western countries do in the Middle East to advance the causes of freedom and liberty?

In his lecture and the subsequent Q & A session, Dr. Yaron Brook answers these questions from a unique philosophical perspective. He will show why appeasement and U.N. sanctions are ineffective, why self-defense cannot be achieved by compromise and dialogues with those who have abandoned reason, why civilian casualties are always the responsibility of the aggressor, why Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear program, why Israel and America should be unconcerned with world opinion, why terrorist organizations and governments must be eradicated, why Israel should not have compromised its campaign against Hezbollah, and ultimately, why securing liberty requires acting on consistent, rational principles.


UPDATE

An individual by the pseudonym of "a new intellectual" commented that I should link to The Ayn Rand Institute to learn more about Yaron Brook. He/she's right - I should have included that link too, so here it is:

Link to the Official Ayn Rand Institute

About Yaron Brook

3 comments:

The Objectivist Club at UCI said...

Please be a little bit more professional.

You know Wikipedia is not reliable, and is usually biased on controversial issues. The article on Yaron Brook looks like it was written by someone who wants to make him look bad.

go to www.aynrand.org to see what Yaron Brook actually advocates, and his reasons for it.

On second thought, it looks like about all other articles are smear jobs.

Concerned UCI Student said...

"a new intellectual" is correct - I should have included the links to the Ayn Rand institute and Yaron Brook's official bio. Done.

And yes, Wikipedia has issues at times with being completely accurate, but they have made great strides in fixing that problem.

As to "about all other articles are smear jobs", if Mr./Ms. Intellectual is referring to my posts, yes - I often include my "two cents", but I always try to either include the entire text of the article on which I am commenting, or at least to link to it online if such a link is available. I want the whole story told so people can make their own decisions about the situation at hand.

What's your definition of "smear job", Mr./Ms. Intellectual?

The Objectivist Club at UCI said...

I was referring to wikipedia's articles as smear jobs. Their stuff on Objectivism and Ayn Rand usually have a few bad parts.

A smear job is something that purposefully misrepresents something or mocks something without valid reasons.

I have yet to see you have a smear job on your site, if I remember correctly.