Hello from Carmen and negative cast

[Carmen Clark]

Hello.

I was about to list myself as an egoist on a dating site, and decided  
to search the term.  It amazed and puzzled me that the definitions  
were so negative.  The implication was that if one were acting in his/ 
her own interest, that they were down on others. I didn't get that  
from Stirner, rather, that a union of egoists were people united  
around a specific purpose in their common interest.

I remember getting quite a start from my philosophy professor (a moral  
philosopher) when I asked about egoism.  I think it's getting too  
narrow a rap, and negative overtones needlessly.

e.g., "Egoist:  a conceited and self-centered person."
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Sheesh.

The Webster's wasn't quite as bad, but come on, people.  That's quite  
a misrepresentation.

Here's a
I remember arguing on this list years ago that a Marxist could have  
much in common with egoism, in the sense that people need to act in  
their own interest, which is often held in common with others who sell  
their labor and share a common relationship to the means of  
production, and I would add today, elite capital.

Carmen
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=HzK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:egoism&sa=X&ei=KFOuTJyRFsbCnAes6dD-BQ&ved=0CBIQkAE