Ayn Rand on CSPAN2 -- tonight -- 9PM Pacific, 1AM Eastern

[thinktwice]

I bounced into this Ayn Rand interview on CSPAN2 about an hour ago, and it will be shown again at 9PM Pacific time, 8/26.

It's a taped 1961 interview concerning her publication of "The New Intellectual" at the University of MIchigan.

[thinktwice]

Good stuff, from Rand herself.

[thinktwice]

Ping!

[IronJack]

Saw it. She's an inspiration, as always. And it's interesting to note that the interview took place in 1961, but was as damning as any she could have given today.

When you think of the Microsoft and Enron cases, think of Atlas Shrugged.

Ayn Rand was prescient.

[Eastbound]

She mentioned something about the Constitution and the inclusion of something related to economics that I didn't fully understand. Can you enlarge on that? Thanks.

[dubyagee]

Thanks for pinging me. I think that will be 12:00 here in NC, am I right?

[dubyagee]

Oops. Just saw the rest of the title. Thanks.

[dubyagee]

Oops. Just saw the rest of the title. Thanks.

[Eastbound]

Her delineation of 'witch doctors' and 'Attilas' was more than just interesting. Makes it easier to understand today's political spectrum and agendas. So it's both theft by overt force and theft for re-distribution by stealth. One supplies the ideas, the other supplies the legislation and they both get their un-earned share in the process? Or is that over-simplying the process?

[KarlInOhio]

C-SPAN lists a call-in show on the "Writings of Ayn Rand" on C-SPAN (not 2) at 1:00 AM EDT and "Interview with Ayn Rand" at 3:04 AM EDT.

C-SPAN schedule

Wouldn't want anyone to miss what she had to say.

[dubyagee]

Thanks for that. I'm taping it.

[The Westerner]

Thanks for the post. Wanted to tape this.

[BradyLS]

Ayn also used another pair of names to get across the same idea: the "Mystics of Mind " and the "Mystics of muscle." Mystics of the mind tried to appeal to intellect to turn people to their agendas. Stuff like Communism was a "scientific" and "intellectual" political solution and other appeals as to how "right thinking" people should behave. The mystics of muscle used threats of force through rebellion and discontent and the power of the state to forcibly push their agenda. In the end, the left advances their agenda by a kind of sad carrot and stick analogy: you'll do it our way nice and now, or you'll do it our way the hard way later. Anyway, that's how I always understood it.

[BradyLS]

Jeez... Now's the time I wish I had a TV again. Is there a DVD collection of these kinescope (if I have it right) interviews anywhere. I've only seen glimpses of the intervoews and they're a marvel. Ayn and Mike Wallace (?) smoking on the set in the early 60's in glowing black-and-white... I think Ayn did a Donawhoo intervoew in the 70's, too, but I can't be sure of that...

[Dick Vomer]

Who is John Gault?

[IronJack]

Frankly, that thesis -- the "Atilla/Witch Doctor/Producer" construct -- seemed contrived and forced to me. Her Objectivism is far more profound than that. Since it evolved near the end of her life, I suspect that it was just in its nascent stage in 1961, and consequently, came off as rather raw and unrefined. Or maybe she was just better at enunciating the philosophy on paper than in person.

At any rate, the philosophy itself certainly has merit, and seems particularly applicable to today's world. Unfortunately, the Left, driven by emotion and statist greed, is gaining at the expense of Reason. Anyone who's ever tried to debate with a liberal knows that their arguments tend to collapse quickly, to be replaced with hysteria. That hysteria sells, though, since it appeals to people with a limited capacity for rational thinking.

Ayn Rand predicated her philosophy upon the idea that people are capable of reasoning through a problem, and that at least a handful will be willing to do so. She foresaw a world in which the reasoning man was ruled by the emotional juvenile, to the detriment of all concerned. That is the world of D'Anconia, Taggart, and Rearden. And it is the America of 2002.

Mediocrity triumphs. Look at our president. And the pathetic poltroons in our Congress. This is what passes for "leaders" these days? Tragic.

[RJCogburn]

Thanks for the ping. Missed it because 'early to bed early to rise......'

[thinktwice]

She mentioned something about the Constitution and the inclusion of something related to economics that I didn't fully understand.

First off, my apologies to all for my giving out 9 PM Pacific misinformation. I took 1 AM Eastern and transformed it incorrectly into 9 PM Pacific. Even my channel info was wrong, in that I watched the earlier show on CSPAN2, where the 1 AM Eastern time announcement was made, and I assumed they meant it would be on CSPAN2.

I taped the two hour CSPAN Ayn Rand piece starting at 1 AM Eastern and it was terrific.

In answer to Eastbound's question, in italics above, all I can say is there is much to learn -- about all of life as a human being -- from Ayn Rand. My start was with her speech "Philosophy: who needs it" to the 1974 West Point graduation class, and then I went to her novels, her essays and Piekoff's "Objectivism" book.

Reading Ayn Rand's material can eventually lead one to thinking in terms of esssntials, which is probably a more profound step forward for the individual human than was Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon.

[thinktwice]

I was going to be really grossed out from the title. Looking at a long dead corpse just doesn't appeal. Especially the corpse of a no-talent hack.

I think the title you refer to is "Sense of life," Ayn Rand's approach to esthetics; and if so, it's truly ironic how you respond to that title -- Sense of life -- using sense of hate, sense of envy, and sense of death words.

[RabidBartender]

"I was going to be really grossed out from the title. Looking at a long dead corpse just doesn't appeal."

ROFL....still, it'd have more educational value than an evening with Dan Rather.