stat counnnter

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hanging In There

It looks like I'll be around for another year. My visits for 2007 increased by 2572 over 2006. Not great but fine with me. I noticed that I've been averaging about one or two visits every other day from universities or colleges. I've decided that I like that. If I can get just a few of these students to further investigate concepts like rational self-interest, egoism, primacy of existence, laissez-faire capitalism, it will have been worth it. Since Feb 1st of 2007, I've had 200 visits from institutions of higher learning. Sure, many are google searches but that's fine with me. I am doing this part time so I'm happy with these results.

2 comments:

Burgess Laughlin said...

I define "glory" as the state of mind which arises from seeing one's highest personal values align with one's philosophical values--in action.

An example is a rancher. He loves his ranch. That is a personal value. If someone, such as a local government, tries to take his ranch, he is fighting for a personal value when he protects it. If he also, at the same time, fights for property rights, which are universal, he is aligning his personal and philosophical values.

I would like to suggest to anyone considering starting a weblog that the personally most satisfying and culturally most influential weblogs will, in the long-run, be those that are run with a passion arising from the alignment of personal values and philosophical values.

I do not support the often implied suggestion for activists in general that they write letters to the editor, for example, about a variety of subjects of general interest--today anti-trust, tomorrow anti-smoking laws, and the next day the War on Terrorism.

I would suggest instead focusing more narrowly, specializing in a narrow but beloved field, and becoming an expert in that field (and its philosophical implications). Example fields might be: chess; butterflies; nuclear power; teaching math to kids; home defense against criminals; and construction.

Experts might reach fewer people, but they are listened to more seriously precisely because they do know their fields (including the philosophy underlying their fields). More importantly, experts are reveling in the fields they love. That matters most.

Michael Neibel said...

Burgess:
Good points all.
Thanks,
Mike