It's just a joke...

Zeb I can really relate to your post re: justice. Nicely put.
Like you…I have been the receiver and observer of injustice through out my life.. Injustice sums up my fascination with Stef and FDR. I view Stef as a bully and when I notice his hypocrisy, inequities or the behavior of the rest of the pack I feel compelled to protect. If that for me means-to analyze the hell out of his behavior in the hopes some curious FDR member might have an Aha moment, it seems worth it. It feels as though it were innate in me to do so but may be learned. I am not sure. I would prefer not to feel sense of danger when it comes to Stef (and fdr), I simply do.

I think the question for me then is Not why am I interested, but why do I subject myself to that frustration and why do I feel some sense of responsibility to get “the word” out.

ExyPhylo,
I am with you. I do not feel anything for the flame but for the moth. I see the moth entering the flame and despair. The flame does its own thing.
I am fasinated because I want to give what will help the moth avoid the flame. I only hate the flame in so much as it pretends to be only warmth and coaxes the moth to it.

interesting thread qua further isolation of the FDR community. haven't listened to the podcast in question though since it's Premium (and when i was banned Stef stripped me off my 'diamond donator status')

I can't tell what the podcast is about, but it seems that there is some discussion of FDRs response to this website (as if it needed one...)

I think the isolation will put more financial pressure on the current members to keep he (and greg) afloat. In doing it will become more closed and definitely culty.

Next thing you know you will be filling an application and being screened prior to joining. The black balling will be more forthright at least.

application sample:
1.You have read and purchased
a) upb
b)the god of atheists
c)real time relationships
d)Dr. Phil the true story
e) every day anarchy
f) on truth
2.
You agree to:
a) defoo and disassociate from your family
b) disassociate with your friends who hold "other opinions"
c) only participate in fdr approved forums or websites
d) invest only in gold
e) wear fdr clothing to all public outings
f) refrain from posting on Limi
g) have listened to all the podcasts in order and agree to pay 2.$ per podcast or subscribe annually
h)only agree with and support the ideas and therories of S.Molyneux.


terms and conditions:
You have met all the above critera...
and agree fdr reserves the right to change it's criteria at any time
click "agree" to enter...

I agree that Stef must have some sort of complex going on, but I think there must be more to it than that. When you say his psychological issues put this question in a different perspective, what do you mean exactly? Is there some state of consciousness that only crazy people achieve that allows them plausible deniability of obvious facts?

Perhaps FDR has just become a runaway train and he doesn't know how to change its course, or won't admit to himself that he should?

I'll admit that UPB does lend some credence to the crazy theory. Maybe he went of his rocker after realizing the complete failure of that effort.

** I should rephrase the question about the link to the podcast:

Why link that particular podcast to the free board? That seems a topic that he would rather not have discussed in the open as it just adds fuel to the cult argument.

No, no, he's not crazy. He's just been consumed by his own ideas. He invested so much of his emotional and intellectual energy into his unified theory of morality, he now can't even consider the possibility that he's entirely and fundamentally wrong about it.

I occasionally have conversations with people who believe that the Earth is less then six thousand years old. They can't even conceive of the alternative. They've spent so much time and energy reading flood explanations and pseudo-scientific apologetics that the idea of it all being nonsense is just utterly inconceivable. It's not that they're willfully ignorant or anything. It's just so inconceivable to them that they can't wrap their heads around it. They have too much of their emotional life at stake, and it prevents them from seeing what's going on.

Stefan is no different. It's just that instead of being a Young Earth Creationist, he's a Freedomain Radio-er. Despite his constant claims otherwise (e.g. "I'm not attached to a particular theory...", "I'd love to be corrected...", etc.), Stefan has an enormous emotional stake in his own philosophy. Believing that he understands -- and discovered, no less -- the world's one true philosophy, has the exact same effect on him that the equivalent belief has for the deeply religious. There's a sense of satisfaction in thinking that you, more than all the unwashed masses around you, understands what's really true.

This explains a lot of the behavior you see from him, and also from his inner circle of adherents. They want to bring more people into the fold, because that's a source of validation and empowerment, but they don't actually want everyone to be part of their belief system. While they outwardly claim that there's is the most important conversation in history, that it's going to change the world, their actions are those of isolationists. They distance themselves from potentially kindred spirits (e.g. Lew Rockwell, LiMi), but more radically they label the vast, vast majority of other people as corrupt and not worth conversing with at all.

The "de-fooing" phenomena is the pinnacle of this behavior (and the fact that they've created a special term for this is, I think, pretty telling), but it also includes their approach to religion and government. Belief in these institutions is considered a moral fault on FDR. Occasionally Stefan will voice some sympathy for them (e.g. "They don't know better", "We can help them understand"), but most of the time they are treated as if they are actively committing a sin. They're regularly told that they want Stefan to be killed, in spite of their own personal feelings to the contrary. And if they argue with him, they're accused of being willfully ignorant, and of needing therapy. And it's important to note that the people they do debate with are almost always very young, often plainly irrational people. Whenever someone articulate and intelligent questions Stefan's methods or beliefs, they are quickly subjected to either personal attacks (often in the subversive format of "tell me about your childhood..."), or banned from FDR outright.

The process has gone through a very organic evolution, to the point where Stefan and his closest followers are virtually untouched by reasonable criticisms. Consequently they've removed the one reliable method for improving and refining their philosophy.

well, his psychological issues I mean that he has a serious narcissistic personality disorder, he has a mild Savior-complex and here (see also the podcast in which he announced to go fulltime. would be interesting in any case to listen to that one again now that it's a year later. may report back on that), he may have sociopathic tendencies, and he clearly has not worked through his past yet (he is stuck in an anger phase which he then tries to inflict on others as well, to make them feel perpetually angry and victimized)

but on top of that he is hella smart and quite brilliant, both for good and bad

btw, he did not distance himself from Lew Rockwell, I am pretty sure thsat Lew Rockwell distanced himself from Stef. Of course Stef does nothing to clarify this issue even when FDR'ers post and seem to assume that the former is true