Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Great Recession

Christianity Today | 8/28/2010 | Garry Moore

[Mojave]

This past spring, the Financial Industry Inquiry Commission held hearings on the world's recent financial crisis. The star witness was Alan Greenspan. The Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan translated Greenspan's typically elusive testimony this way: "I didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Ayn Rand by the way, but next time you might try more regulation."

There were obviously many reasons for the Great Recession. But I believe Noonan got to the root of one particular evil.

Fortune magazine once labeled Greenspan "America's most famous libertarian, an Ayn Rand acolyte." (While Rand formally rejected libertarianism, libertarians nonetheless admire her.) But today, both libertarians and Randians are disassociating themselves from Greenspan as quickly as Wall Street.

[Mojave]

I’m saying if you want to follow your concept of morality, with your personal labor and money, to ANY extreme, that’s *fine* as long as you don’t demand others do too.

You mean like Ted Bundy?

[DesertRhino]

Psst,,, Just so you know. Rand is the proponent of a philosophy called “Objectivisim”. She says that truth is Objective, perceivable and fixed. Nietzsche Says the exact opposite is true. That truth is not objective, and is based upon perception.

You are amazingly, entertainingly, wrong. Even Nietzsche doesn’t agree with you.

[Mojave]

i can’t follow this at all.

If you're not concerned with the other person's welfare, then the only thing preventing you from robbing them is the fear of getting caught.

[snowrip]

Wow, quotes that show Rand didn’t believe in God. Good work. Got any other old news?

[DesertRhino]

“You mean like Ted Bundy?”

Yes, exactly like Ted Bundy. That’s what Rand suggested all along. That anyone is free to use force against others if it makes tham happy. There, the dirty secret is out now./

You’re amazing us all.

[Mojave]

She says that truth is Objective

Her claim that moral truth is objective is incompatible with her materialistic atheism.

[DesertRhino]

ok, let me lay down a beat and see if you can follow it. Do you think *maybe* Ted Bundy might be seen as demanding that his victims live according to his moral code? Think hard....

[snowrip]

Thanks. Ayn was a Kmart version of Nietzsche.

Thanks, I was waiting for someone to make this absurd comparison

Nietzche was the god of the "perception is reality" crowd. His "philosophy" was that there was no concrete reality, only the different constructs of each individual. His epistemology specifically rejects the entire idea of objective reality, or A is A. You're right, that sounds EXACTLY like Ayn Rand.

[snowrip]

Hah! Beat me by about an hour!

[Mojave]

That anyone is free to use force against others if it makes tham happy.

You're finally starting to get it.

"Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values." --Ayn Rand

[Mojave]

His epistemology specifically rejects the entire idea of objective reality, or A is A.

Rand's self-contradictions reject A is A as well. Kmart Nietzsche.

[DesertRhino]

oh im sorry, you’ve never heard of sarcasm, have you?

You see, *nobody* in the history of Objectivism, has ever, even once, anywhere, suggested that a person can violate the person or property of another, by force, simply because it makes them happy.

[snowrip]

Altruism meets sublimation and denial. Or evil misrepresenting itself. One or the other.

Uh, what are you talking about?

[DesertRhino]

Glad you’re here!

[Mojave]

The rejection of morality is morality. A is ~A.

[DesertRhino]

No, nobody has slipped acid in your coke. This is real. Buckle your seatbelt!

[Mojave]

You see, *nobody* in the history of Objectivism, has ever, even once, anywhere, suggested that a person can violate the person or property of another, by force, simply because it makes them happy.

"Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values." --Ayn Rand

What a sublime state of denial you've achieved.

[Lurker]

If you're not concerned with the other person's welfare, then the only thing preventing you from robbing them is the fear of getting caught.

What are you, like 8 years old?

One can refrain from robbery without being particularly concerned about the welfare of another. Take you for instance. I don't give a crap about your welfare. Honestly if you were on fire it's only 50/50 whether I'd p****** on you to put it out.

But that doesn't mean I reserve to myself the right to rob you.

[DesertRhino]

“The rejection of morality”

As entertaining as circular arguments are, where did Rand ever reject morality? Please enlighten us.(unless you think morality includes the right to use force or fraud against others,,, like Ted Bundy)

[Mojave]

One can refrain from robbery without being particularly concerned about the welfare of another.

Unless you want something and think you can get away with the robbery.

Amorality is morality. IOW, "Objectivism."