Come join my next live Rationally Selfish Webcast! This week, I’ll answer questions on introspection, JK Rowling’s welfare payments, ignoring current news and politics, meeting estranged former friends, and more.

As always, it’s on Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. You can watch the webcast and join in the text chat via www.RationallySelfish.com. Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers will be my audio co-host, as usual.

Each week, I answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well. I select the most popular and interesting questions from the ongoing queue of questions. Please submit your questions, as well as vote and comment on questions that you find interesting!

Here are the questions that I’ll answer this week:

• Question 1: Introspection: What is introspection? What should a person introspect about — or not? How can a person introspect effectively?
• Question 2: JK Rowling’s Welfare Payments: Should JK Rowling repay the British government for welfare payments made to her? JK Rowling famously wrote the first Harry Potter novel while “on the dole.” She has been fabulously successful since then, but she likely could not have written that first book without state support. Should she now pay back all the government welfare paid to her during that period?
• Question 3: Ignoring Current News and Politics: Is it wrong to not keep up with current news and politics? Every time I open a newspaper’s website I feel overwhelmed by all the crap going on in the world and disheartened by the bad politics. It feels like a soul-draining activity and a waste of time. I feel better not reading the news, but I also feel a tad guilty for not being aware of the pending laws and current events that affect me. So should I try to keep up with the news more or not?
• Question 4: Meeting Estranged Former Friends: What should you do when you meet someone who treated you badly in the past? Recently, I ran into a person at an event who I used to know as a fellow member of a local discussion group. When he left the group about a year ago, he posted a long rambling e-mail to our mailing list condemning us for all kinds of imaginary sins. The letter was unfair and rude — not to mention wholly unnecessary. I avoided talking to him when I saw him recently, but I wish I’d said something pointed to him. What, if anything, should I have said?

After that, we’ll do a round of totally impromptu “Rapid Fire Questions.”

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However, I hope that you’ll join the live webcast, because that’s more exciting and lively than the podcast. People chat merrily amongst themselves while watching the webcast. And I love the immediate feedback of a live audience — the funny quips, serious comments, and follow-up questions. So please join the live webcast when you can!

Finally, you can support the Rationally Selfish Webcast (and Podcast) contributing to our tip jar. We suggest $5 per episode or $20 per month, but any amount is appreciated. If you would prefer to send a check, please send it to “Diana Hsieh; P.O. Box 851; Sedalia, CO 80135.” Please write “RS Webcast” in the memo field.

I hope to see you on Sunday morning!