Posted on 11/08/2012 2:00:56 PM PST by HannibalHamlinJr
Hey team -
I'm going to make a suggestion. That now is not the time to be sloppily bandying about Atlas Shrugged. It's a pretty clear concept, and I don't think it's good to be calling 'not buying newspapers' the same thing as 'shrugging.' It's the left's job to mutiliate words and concepts, not ours. But instead of harping on that, I'm going to take another road.
"I don't believe it matters to me- that they're going to destroy it. Maybe it hurts so much that I don't even know I'm hurt. But I don't think so. If you want to carry it for my sake, don't carry more than I do. I'm not capable of suffering completely. I never have. It goes only down to a certain point and then it stops. As long as there is that untouched point, it's not really pain.
"Where does it stop?"
"Where I can think of nothing and feel nothing except that I designed that temple. I built it. Nothing else can seem very important."
"You shouldn't have built it. You shouldn't have delivered it to the sort of thing they're doing."
"That doesn't mater. Not even that they'll destroy it. Only that it had existed."
We're all wracked by pain, and I think it's pretty amazing that it only took about 24 hours to get from recrimination to constructive thought and planning.
Before any larger action, we have to get ourselves straight. I never forgot what Roarke said - I don't know how many times or how many differenet ways, that "the pain only goes so deep."
Atlas Shrugged is about society, the collective, the fight against the evil of 'we' ... The Fountainhead is about one man in society, and is the place to start .
What’s the deal? You think this vanity’s so good you had to post it twice? :) Why not ask the admin to delete the other one?
It’s time for Howard Beale.
Hi Admin Moderator - Please delete re-post, mistaken double click on posting, sorry forgot the “vanity” label. Neither was intended. Thanks for the heads up upchuck.
Upchuck ... no I don’t think it’s a great vanity post. I do, however, think it’s important to think about, and appreciate your input. I’ll take it in the spirit of your screen name.
It's time for Leroy Jenkins.
How about Hayden Rorke ?
I just recommended it myself to a depressed conservative friend. And ... haven’t read it for at least 10 years ... I’m not depressed, but I could revisit it.
Favorite line: (paraphrasing)
Toohey: Now that we are alone, Howard, no one listening, what do you really think of me?
Roarke: But, I don’t think of you.
Some of Ayn’s comebacks are the best part of her writing.
Don’t forget that there were intermediate steps in Atlas Shrugged - John Galt worked as a track worker at Taggart and Hugh Akston was a short-order cook in a diner before the SHTF. “Going Galt” has a range of values, not just a complete withdrawal from society, and is compatible with Howard Roark.
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