So you think that money is the root of all evil?

Atlas Shrruged ^

[Illbay]

This is precisely the attitude that Timothy is alluding to, yet Rand seems to act as if this is some original thought on her part.

It's scary how much alike Rand and Hillary! Clinton are.

[meyer]

It's scary how much alike Rand and Hillary! Clinton are.

I find that statement quite bazaar. Rand and Hitlery??? They are about as opposite as two people can be. One is a statist, a fascist of sorts. The other one has a premise based on freedom from government intrusion.

[Prodigal Son]

One thing we might concur on- a truly innovative, creative, intelligent human being who is fully capable of thinking for himself (in short- someone who Rand might've liked) would actually have little need of her philosophy.

One reason I don't trouble myself overly about it is- at this point it is all "theory". Like when libertarians talk about how a libertarian society would work. Well, sure, we can sit around and masterbate intellectually about what it would be like to live in a truly free 'anything goes', every man for himself world/society, but we DON'T live in that type of world and we won't in the foreseeable future. I personally can't get past how we would keep terrorists out of our borders in a libertarian world but that's an aside.

It's all just speculation- this is the world I find myself in. It is not a libertarian Atlantis and neither, thank God, is it a socialist utopia. I have to work with what I've got. Right now, I find myself in a world of sh!t, with Radical Islam trying to kill us on one side and the liberals trying to tax us and regulate us to death on the other. I'm just trying to get by in this present day world the best I can and I still figure my best bet is voting GOP/Bush in 2002- 2004. It's hard to look a lot further down the road than that with all that's going on in the world. When we get the dems thrown out of gov't, taxes really low, the gov't out of our lives- then I might be willing to sit around and give serious consideration to whether we should go "libertarian" or whatever. You know what I mean?

[He Rides A White Horse]

I don't have so much a problem with her concept of capitalism, free market theory, etc.

I'm reading the passages again, and my original impression is the same. There is a heading “Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil?".............followed by:

“To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men."

This statement implies that she is going to present a case that the loving money is a good thing in itself; then atheist Rand proceeds to reiterate what Christians have been saying forever. She tempers the statement with a certain aquiescence to the notion that a certain morality in financial dealings is necessary.

This is a "new" way of thinking?!

[He Rides A White Horse]

I don't see anything here that is remotely original, at least from the moral standpoint. Rand's ethics seem as if they were lifted from the Bible, and fed through some mixer, a sprinkling of this or that, and the end product is some co-opted version of Christian morality that she claims as her own.

Then yes, she has a cult following. They are called, thinkers and doers. Try to survive life without them.

The person she ripped off has a following also. Try surviving death without Him.

[JZoback]

One of the best parts of the book

Read the book several times.

Good tool to flush any crap out of your mind about socialism

Her philosophy is very hard to apply to ones life and be happy.

Life is more than a "philosophy"

[ChuxsterS]

Do you know of any translations that don't say "the love of money is the root of all evil"?

If you follow the link provided (in post 7), and read the different translations, you'll find that most of them say love of money is "the root of all kinds of evil" or words to that effect. Only the original KJV says it's "the root of all evil."

It does seem like a valid question, though, since it's pretty easy to conceive of evils which are not motivated by love of money.

[Mamzelle]

Ayn Rand could be a crank and a fanatic...but I can't understand how you could have found her boring!

[chudogg]

Do you know of any translations that don't say "the love of money is the root of all evil"?

I suggest you take a look at the link i posted, thats why i put it up there.

Timothy 6:10

New American-For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil

King James-For the love of money is the root of all evil

I would say their is big difference in meaning in the two passages.

[chudogg]

It is SO CLOSE to Fascism in many places that it's actually humorous to see people falling for it.

Hmmm, Ayn Rand's Libertarian Capitalism similar to National Socialism???? Nope, i dont see it.

[Jorge]

"Do you know of any translations that don't say "the love of money is the root of all evil"?"

I suggest you take a look at the link i posted, thats why i put it up there.

Sorry, I overlooked the link.
Besides, when you spoke of differing translations I thought you were addressing the previous discussions in the thread about the whether it said "money is the root of all evil" or "the love of money is the root of all evil".

Whether it says "the root of all evil" or "all sorts of evil" etc. is a lesser distinction which I have seen debated when it comes to to other scriptures as well, and probably can be easily resolved by looking at the original langauge.

[chudogg]

At some points in the book, i think that Rand is merely playing Devils Advocate to let people think more about Objectivism. Like during the relationship between Dagny and Rearden for example. The two had a relationship not for love for another, but merely to feel better about their own selves. What the hell was that all about??? Not to mention how sappy and boring it was.

[Illbay]

Just like Hillary! and most baby boomers, who think that the historical clock began the day they entered the world.

Most people who "reject" time-honored philosophies find it necessary to reinvent them with a new coat of paint.

[eddie willers]

I think you've quit riding that horse and have taken to beating it.

Great truths are truths wherever you find them....
and you will find them if they are, in fact, true.

The Declaration itself claims that that truths are self-evident.
You got a bone to pick with it as well?

[He Rides A White Horse]

The Declaration itself claims that that truths are self-evident.

You got a bone to pick with it as well?

Nah. That comes right before this:

that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

Idiot.

[Jason Kauppinen]

You wrote: In Ayn Rand's mind, only "supermen" are worthy to live; the rest are beneath contempt.

Show a direct quote where she ever wrote this or advocated it. Or else shut up.

[2Trievers]

If I may interject a bit of levity to the subject, I'll bet you don't remember the thread I posted on FR asking if FreeRepublic was a cult. The thread lasted nanoseconds. I had just finished reading "The Ayn Rand Cult" by Jeff Walker. &;-)

[eddie willers]

Somehow I just can't see Jesus jumping up and down, waving his hands and yelling, "I said it first!"

But then again, he was humble...
unlike some of his followers.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Somehow I just can't see Jesus jumping up and down, waving his hands and yelling, "I said it first!"

Alpha and Omega.

But then again, he was humble... unlike some of his followers.

Funny, I don't remember making a post stating how great I was.

[Centurion2000]

bump for later reading.