Posted on 07/24/2014 7:25:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Oh Thank you. How big of you. How - how, um - condescending. ("to behave as if one is conscious of descending from a superior position, rank, or dignity. ")
I have been reading Rand for over 60 years. I find her personal life abhorrent. I find her writing brilliant. I find her postulations solid.
And I am puzzled why a 'Christian' would "HATE" Rand, the person. Maybe hate her work, hate her ideas, etc - but HATE HER?
Bears repeating, screamed at full volume from each mountaintop until every single human being has heard it.
Nothing against Rand, but I have about 15 other books on the "still need to read" list.
Here's something from Ayn Rand's 1936 "Autobiographical Sketch."
"If a life can have a theme song, and I believe every worthwhile one has, mine is a religion, an obsession, or a mania or all of these expressed in one word: individualism. I was born with that obsession and have never seen and I do not know now a cause more worthy, more misunderstood, more seemingly hopeless and more tragically needed. Call it fate or irony, but I was born, of all countries on earth, in the one less suitable for a fanatic of individualism, Russia."
Now, I can't speak for the author, but for my post to which you were replying, I think I clearly stated, "Like the author, my problems with Rand are her views of altruism and empathy." That does not mean there aren't a lot of things of value in her writings, but there are also some pretty odious ideas that emerged from her mind as well...
I guess the ones that aren't worthwhile are the ones she vocally advocated aborting.
“The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.” —Ayn Rand
I am not of the absolutist point of view that one must love everything about Rand in order to appreciate her work. Atlas Shrugged is the best effort of a brilliant woman to tell it exactly as she saw it, and in doing so we have a work where the characters are true to their personalities and whose narrative occasionally conflicts with Rand's overall philosophical case. I find that delightful enough to restate: Rand's characters behave in ways that occasionally contradict the philosophy they're espousing. It is that - and nearly only that - that makes them human.
One rather back-handed testament to the power of Atlas Shrugged is the hysteria with which it is received on the Left. Noam Chomsky called it the most evil thing ever published, a statement that is so rich in irony that it ought to be the topic of an entire volume of its own. What Rand most certainly got right was that the tool of the moochers and looters was and is the ability to make the rest of us feel guilt, and that someone who does not feel guilty for achievement is beyond the power of those for whom it is their only tool. "You didn't build that" is a perfect example, and the preening cretin who uttered it could have stepped right from the pages of the novel. Rand nailed that one and will never be forgiven for it.
Thanks to all who helped Publius and I shape our book. It is HERE, available for Kindle as well. It is not a paean to Rand; in fact, it is likely to infuriate certain of her over-earnest followers. It is certain to annoy her detractors. We think that's good ground to stand on.
sorry - my post was meant to the author = who states “I Hate Ayn Rand ...”
This dude is way too full of himself
True in only the emotional respect. I feel absolutely no guilt over anything I've ever accomplished, yet I'm not safely beyond the reach of the gibsmedat crowd and the rest of the moochers (witness Obamacare).
Nice analysis, but this:
“Tom Morello is a musical genius, and Zack de la Rocha indisputably has a gift from God.”
Just, no.
The American consumer is only obligated to buy whatever brings him the most value. If I have to choose between a POS Government Motors vehicle and a BMW, I will chose the Beemer every time.
chose = choose
Right there with you. Atlas Shrugged is a horrible diatribe, poorly written, and pompously pedantic. My guess is that most of those who proclaim it the greatest work of literature ever have never gotten as far as you or I did.
See my tagline and buy the book. (Billthedrill and I need the royalties.)
See post 10
It’s what is making radio host Jason Lewis to become more and more obnoxious too. Every time I turn him on, he seems more anti-religious than the last time. A couple of days ago, the took the opportunity to take a slam at Christianity. While making the point that resources are worthless while lying dormant in the ground until someone works and digs them up and processes them to make them into something, he told a typical unfunny Jason Lewis joke about a preacher who went by a farmer’s place several times and each time he was saying, “thank the Lord for all the bounty he’s giving you.” Lewis said the farmer grew tired of hearing this daily “thanks to God” business and told the preacher God didn’t do much of anything until he got busy and worked the land. Lewis and his stupid galt website can crash for all I care. Lewis thinks he’s a self-made man. That man was just a local hostile jerk of a radio host who continually berated even fans until Rush Limbaugh let him fill in for him. That gave Lewis a leg up. And Lewis has benefitted these years by appealing to his conservative Christian audience and they have given him a great deal of support. Now that Lewis has taken to mocking Christianity, going Galt, I think he’s going to be suffering a little bit. Good grief, he’s insufferable. For example, when he has a guest on the line for an interview. Jason feels he has to dominate the discussion. There he has an expert in some field and Lewis comes across as an arrogant know it all. Insufferable.
Indeed democracy is not a morally righteous system. Government itself is a necessary evil. Our form of government is not morally righteous, it is merely the least evil form of government. Since power corrupts, it is better to have many little tyrants fighting each other for power, rather than one all powerful tyrant.
Capitalism is also not inherently morally righteous. It can be but it doesn’t have to be. For every person who finds meaning through work and productivity there is also someone else who doesn’t. Both winners and losers are necessary to the capitalist system because, “there can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.”
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