All others are welcome to share their views with me…
"To a child with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." "To a poster named Palsun (aka Brian M.), everyone has become a parasite."
So who is left to share your views with? And who would want to?
Pal, calling someone a "parasite" is an attempt at insulting someone. You will be surprised how little effect that will have on me. In fact, you could come up with a whole range of other insults, and if that clears your mind (i.e. you feel better after doing so) I will be the last person to stop you.
PS: Since man is an integration of two attributes, mind and body, every virtue reflects this integration. None can be practiced spiritually but not materially, or vice versa. The dependent in the spiritual realm, since he does not think, creates no wealth. He becomes thereby a dependent in matter (a parasite). The dependent in the material realm makes the actions of others his means of survival. He becomes thereby the kind of person who "places relations first," i.e., he becomes a dependent in spirit (a parasite).
If a man is to be first-handed, he must begin by reaching independent conclusions. Then he must accept the responsibility of implementing his conclusions in practice, i.e., he must pay his own way. He must be self-reliant in the mental world and in the physical world.
In a division-of-labor society, no one produces by himself all the goods and services that his life requires. What he does produce is an economic value he can offer to others in exchange for the things he wants; he produces the value-equivalent of the goods and services he seeks. A man who deals with others by this method is the opposite of a dependent. He counts on the value of his work being recognized by rational men, not in getting favors from any person (potential subscribers etc.,) or clique (hedge funds etc.,) He is not restricted to dealing with a clique; potentially, the whole world is his customer. Nor does he benefit from a policy of conformity. In a free country, intellectual independence and material wealth tend to be concomitant; the more a producer exercises his own best judgment regardless of the momentary motions or passions of the crowd, the more economically and successful he becomes…
Individuals who trade their own creations are not parasites. The dependents among men in this issue are the non-creators. Some of them do not care to perform any kind of work, but plead for unearned support from others; these are the moochers. Others turn criminal and seize the unearned (stealing signals); these are the looters. Others peddle various forms of mysticism (e.g., astrology), which, though noncriminal, contribute nothing to the maintenance of human life or actively undermine it. Others - by far the largest subcategory - are the second handers, who hold a legitimate job but drift through it out of focus, exercising no judgment, reaching no conclusions, merely imitating the motions of those around them (eg., auto-traders).
All of these types are "fed by the minds of others" in the literal sense of "fed." All want the efforts of reason without the need of exercising the faculty. All seek not to practice virtue or abolish it but, to be "hitchhikers of virtue." None has any answer to the question: by what right do you choose such a course?
