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Ayn Rand in Retrospect
Objectivist Center ^
| 3/5/02
| Dr. Edward L. Hudgins
Posted on 08/08/2002 4:20:37 PM PDT by RJCogburn
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To: dubyagee
I find the idea of cooperation to be common between both Ayn Rand and Christianity.
To: NEWwoman
Describing Ivy Starnes from Atlas Shrugged:
"She had pale eyes that looked fishy, cold and dead. And if you ever wanted to see pure evil, you should have seen the way her eyes glinted when she watched some man who'd talked back to her once and who'd just heard his name on the list of those getting nothing above basic pittance. And when you saw it, you saw the real motive of anyone who's ever preached the slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Makes me think of Hillary.
To: one_particular_harbour
who made the mistake of all utopians
So what's wrong with a utopian author? She herself said that she was a Romantic, writing about things "as they ought to be".
You forgot to mention that she had an affair, by the way. That's supposed to go along with the "talentless hack" description. LOL
Comment #24 Removed by Moderator
To: dubyagee
I consider myself Christian as well, but also enjoyed her writings. She never actually said that people couldn't be charitable to others - she maintained that you couldn't force charity from people.
If people didn't have a large chunk of their paycheck forcibly taken from them, I do believe that people would give more to charities that they believed in. No one forced the outpouring of money after 9/11, for instance.
I believe that the problem second-handers have with that concept is that they couldn't siphon off cash for all their "pet" projects and causes - we have to be "forced" to support their causes.
To: RJCogburn
IT's long past time for Atlas to shrug....
26
posted on
08/08/2002 6:02:16 PM PDT
by
Noumenon
To: NatureGirl
"My views on charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a moral duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them. I regard charity as a marginal issue. What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a moral duty and a primary virtue." [From "Playboy's 1964 interview with Ayn Rand"]
To: one_particular_harbour
I just don't like her style, and am convinced she was overrated.
That's okay. I feel the same way about Hemingway, and many other "popular" authors.
nobody really cares about her love life
It was a bit of a joke on my part. I haven't read a Rand thread here on FR that didn't contain some shot against her for running around on her husband.
Comment #29 Removed by Moderator
To: RJCogburn
It's funny. As soon as the Roman U.S. Imperial Congress passed that spending bill for over $200 million to stop us all from getting fatter, I thought about Ayn and her writings. Then I thought about Orwell. Guess they are both coming true, one day at a time.
To: All
31
posted on
08/08/2002 6:12:49 PM PDT
by
Bob J
To: RJCogburn
On March 6, 1982 writer and philosopher Ayn Rand died.Of lung cancer. She had had her first lung removed about ten years earlier. Too foolish, stupid, or stubborn to figure the obvious out, she smoked like a damp mattress on fire. She despised people who did not smoke and said so often. She despised most things wholesome.
She butted into her sycophants' private lives, trying to force some to marry merely on her whim and say so--pressuring others to divorce. She was a sort of atheist Reverend Moon, sucking her simpering admirers for money, cadging them for smokes, always on the lookout for an opportunity to pontificate on the preposterous moral-blind conceit that holds that good and evil is a mere function of consent or lack thereof.
She wasn't a novelist. She was a modestly gifted caster of potboilers. Although she despised religious conservatives, her overwrought scribblings were more preachy and self-righteous than anything Bill Sunday ever pitched from the pulpit.
And those were her good points.
To: Kevin Curry
Although she despised religious conservatives, her overwrought scribblings were more preachy and self-righteous than anything Bill Sunday ever pitched from the pulpit. This is incorrect. Rand didnt agree with Religion, not Conservatives. Now, I realize that many conservatives believe that they own the concept of morality through Religious teachings, but one doesnt have to be Religious to be moral.
Rand wasnt preachy either, she was matter-of-fact. Most people are uncomfortable with expressed certainty, liking to leave room for reconsideration.(hedging)
She was an awful writer true, but her ideas were sound and influential. Were it not for Rand's works, this country would be even further along in its race to Socialism.
To: one_particular_harbour
Pedantic plotlines, one dimensional characters and heavy prose don't make for good writing. Well when it comes to critics of Ayn Rand... I say, "Get your life's philosophy... what you believe the central core of your justification for being on this planet and how you deal with your life... put it into a couple of pages and add characters that are "interesting" so that others can relate... sound easy... many have tried... guess what ... she still hits a nerve with pedantic plotlines, one dimensional characters and heavy prose... Who is John Gault?.....
To: Kevin Curry
Well, Kev, your criticisms of Rand don't address a single issue in the posted article.
Please try again.
To: RJCogburn
Rand said her writing was intended to show "man as he might be and ought to be". Them's fightin' words pardner. . .
To: NatureGirl
You forgot to mention that she had an affair, by the way.Rent "The Passion of Ayn Rand" on video or DVD to see a wonderful movie about Rand's personal life, focused on her affair with Nathaniel Brandon. Peter Fonda does an amazing job as her husband Frank O'Connor. Great flick for those Randophiles.
37
posted on
08/08/2002 7:07:01 PM PDT
by
Maceman
To: one_particular_harbour
Rand was a talentless hack who made the mistake of all utopians - that is, that social interactions between people can be distilled to simple concepts. Life is messy and bloody, and there are rarely any black and whites - mostly grays. Grey is but a mixture of black and white. Morality is discovering and separating them.
The moocher loves confusion.
Hank
To: one_particular_harbour
Pedantic plotlines, one dimensional characters and heavy prose don't make for good writing. Please give us an example of someone you believe is a "good" writer.
Hank
To: snopercod
Bump.
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