Posted on 12/29/2001 12:09:43 AM PST by Starmaker
While Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and essays on politics, culture and philosophy, was a great advocate of free market capitalism and a significant anti-communist, she also made mistakes in her thinking which are presently being slavishly parroted by her devout coterie of followers at the Ayn Rand Institute. While Rand publicly championed the individual, she privately insisted, according to former close associates, on a high degree of conformity within her inner circle. This is reflected today in her followers, who call themselves Objectivists, and who tend to spout her dogma and mimic her mannerisms in a fashion that is at times positive and at times unbecoming.
A case in point is the recent article "Why Christmas Should be More Commercial" by Dr. Leonard Peikoff who referrers to himself as the foremost authority on Objectivism and is the founder of the Ayn Rand Institute. While Peikoff revels in the commercial aspects of Christmas, he sneers at "assorted Nativity tales and altruist injunctions (e.g., love thy neighbor) that no one takes seriously." I would beg to differ. Most of us, to varying degrees, enjoy the commercial aspect of Christmas and gift giving and see no contradiction between this and the religious aspect. In this season this year, which comes on the tail of hijackers crashing planes into buildings, thousands of grieving families, friends, and a grieving nation, and anthrax in the mail, thinking about G-d, and loving thy neighbor contributes greatly to a more significant sense of meaning and purpose in life, certainly more so than a mere commercial transaction. I don´t agree with Peikoff and his extreme atheism, I think people do take these things very seriously.
The Objectivists hold to the irrational theory of evolution which is that man somehow evolved from the primordial ooze. They dismiss as a superstition the more rational idea, in my opinion, that the creation of life, with all of its incredible facets, had to involve a supernatural and divine aspect. They reject the theory of creation not because it is irrational but because the Atheist Ayn Rand rejected it. As an admirer of reason, I find the creation theory to be much more rational while at the same time providing a varied and nuance sense of life, certainly more so than the morally neutral idea that man somehow miraculously evolved out of the mud.
In his Christmas article, Peikoff asserts "America´s tragedy is that its intellectual leaders have typically tried to replace happiness with guilt by insisting that the spiritual meaning of Christmas is religion and self sacrifice for Tiny Tim or his equivalent." Unless I´m missing something, America´s "intellectual leaders" haven´t insisted on religion any time recently but rather an atheistic, morally neutral, scientific socialist culture that claims to be based on "reason." As far as American religion being an advocate of "self sacrifice," this is just nonsense. Self-sacrifice is a policy of the abovementioned intellectual leaders who have no intention of sacrificing anything themselves, only the fruit of the labor of others. Religion tends to advocate voluntary tithing for the needy and private charities.
Peikoff wants to "take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egotistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration." His utopian idea of happiness seems to be a world where man is not fettered by such obstacles as guilt or worry about anything but the here and now. Much of the article venerates earth-worshipping paganism, which is where many Atheists, hungering for meaning and purpose, seem to end up. Ayn Rand and the Objectivists made great contributions to capitalism, freedom and individual rights but, unfortunately, that contribution is somewhat eclipsed by a darker side. Perhaps Rand was more influenced by her own Stalinist high school and College education than she realized. Either way, it´s a shame that such glaring mistakes threaten to discredit such important work.
Existential Objectivism asks, If you haven't opened the gift how do you know that it is there? If you open it and see no gift, does that mean that it is not there?
Too bad about asking satan to play the guitar faster, what we need is better drummers and keyboard players. But knowing satan, he probably didn't want you to know that! (smile)
1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And I guess the author denies the truth of Jesus' deity, since he says "Christmas" and not "Chr-stmas." Right?
Silly practice.
Well now that's rich coming from one who "believes" in the Noosphere.
It's a damn pity the Protest-ants had to so completely undercut the Bible they worshipped by insisting every word was to be taken literally ... (per one's own Spirit-infused powers of interpretation, that is).
Until you can "scientifically disprove" the Magisterium's take, I think you should be more specific that you speak of creation as outlined by Bibliolators.
At heart, Rand's an emotional wreck ... like all atheists (militant or otherwise) masquerading as Objectivists.
Listening to her screech and spew in response to Humanae Vitae ought to forever disabuse anyone of the notion she's a thinker.
Besides, given the fact the measure of ANY man can be taken first and last by his regard for human life, clearly Rand's practically a gateway drug to the mindset that confuses capitalism with freedom and cheers the so-called "economic re-form and opportunity" afforded by the merger of militant atheist totalitarians and soulless, central planner capitalists.
I suspect this is one reason she's not taught in schools. Not only could she not hold up under serious intellectual scrutiny, she becomes a secret love ... a personal discovery ... the forbidden fruit of both liberal and "conservative" alike as they march lockstep to Middle wherein both Marx and the "western materialists" get to design their utopias from the top-down in purely material terms.
Big Sister is Watching You (Whittaker Chambers)
I used to get the Rand newsletter...personally, I found the Randians pretty freakish and was please when they stopped sending it to me.
I do, however, consider 'We the Living' one of the 10 great books.
What intrigues me about athiests, particularly those of the intellectual stripe is this: If something is beyond their ability to comprehend or explain, it must not exist. Man -- and man's mind -- is the absolute end-all and be-all.
How incredibly vain, arrogant and short-sighted.
What intrigues me about athiests, particularly those of the intellectual stripe is this: If something is beyond their ability to comprehend or explain, it must not exist. Man -- and man's mind -- is the absolute end-all and be-all. How incredibly vain, arrogant and short-sighted.I always thought it was you guys were the feeble minded. You can't get a grip on the fact that we don't know the origins of the universe. You can't deal with the fact when you die, you're essentially bug food. You don't know why the sky is blue - oops wait, we figured out that one.
The comparison eludes me; can you elaborate?
Her beliefs are quite clear.
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