It does, Ian ! Thank you. On Feb 8, 3:05 pm, Ian Pollard <[email protected]> wrote: > Vam and Lee, > > Sorry for not replying for a few days. It's been in my mind to do so, but > I've been a little unsure about how much would be appropriate to write. Some > things are more personal than I'd care to share on a public forum. This is > the abridged version, then... > > My formative years were growing up under Thatcher's government here in > Britain, which saw the absolute worst of unfettered capitalism, awful race > riots, and the working classes marginalised. Greed and illiberalism was > everywhere. The result of this was -- by around the age of 13 -- me becoming > a card carrying Marxist. I was politically very switched on, very active. I > read the obvious communist pamphlets and books, which was also supplemented > by Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, and Frederich Nietzsche. An odd mix, > I admit. From this period of my life I still retain many views. > > There have been two other great influences in my worldview. > > The first was discovering the literature of the beat generation, which > happened around the age of 15. Kerouac and Burroughs in particular > influenced my creative side; I found something in the rhythm and freedom of > their prose and it inspired me to write. Kerouac's writing on Buddhism got > me interested in spirituality. > > The second was an unexpected love of science triggered by a fantastic > teacher at school and which was further fuelled by avidly reading National > Geographic and the like. Darwin had always been interesting to me, but it > was microbiology -- and, on a recommendation, Dawkins' Selfish Gene -- that > really caught me. > > Somewhere, somehow, all of these things distilled into humanist worldview. > Equality, love of the one life we have, morality based on shared human > experience, and secularism all matter deeply to me. > > Hope that helps you to understand my perspective! > > Ian
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