Influences.

In the same way that musicians list their influences, I list mine here in the fields of debate, speech, rational thought, intellectual fortitude and discipline:

Christopher Hitchen is perhaps one of the most skilled debaters of his generation, and a personal favourite. It has nothing to do with his appearance, his constant fidgeting or his excessive sweating; rather his arguments are extremely engaging and so cleverly woven that the trap closes before his debate opponent realises it was even being made. His mastery of words is only surpassed but his unrivalled cleverness and complete devotion to a rational debate on irrational subjects. It is these three attributes that I admire and draw from.

Glenn Beck is a truly remarkably stupid man with few if any valuable ideas. Listening to what he has to say revolts my most basic sensibilities and contradicts the concept of universal logic. However, he is a uniquely skilled individual, able to captivate hundreds of thousands of sheep with utter garbage and convince them that his ideas are their own. His ability to brainwash the masses with blatant hate mongering and stupidity is near Hitler-esk and I am simultaneously in awe and terrified of him.

Stephen Hawking has come up with some of the most brilliant ideas of our generation, wrote about theoretical physics in a palatable form, plans to write a children’s book and is a main stay in modern culture as the most intelligent man alive. He did most of this with a single finger to communicate. A brain so uniquely brilliant that it can both achieve to his level and simultaneously have the patience to communicate them one letter at a time is truly one in a generation, if not once in a species. I admire this scientist for above all his patience, but also his clarity and surpassing intellectual prowess.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a persuasive idealist who cared little if any for what the opposition thought of his ideas. He wrote what he believed was right and made no apologies for it. While not particularly persuasive in his era, it didn’t take long for the most influential figure of the 20^th century to pick up his work and corrupt it, forever giving this honest philosopher a bad name. At the core of Nietzsche teachings are morality outside of religion and the will to power and success as the driving forces of man; ideas that I consider both important in their own right, and the basis of a whole new line of thought. Just ignore the fact that he went stark raving mad.