The Atlas Shrugged sequence is actually happening

Quote from Gringinho:

Ayn Rand was a good writer.
Atlas Shrugged is a compelling, well-written masterpiece of literature, fiction but still takes the moral point across.

I was not saying the book was crap.

There... happy?
:D
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Happy, absolutely.

I know Michael Jordan was a basketball player of the highest order.

Michael thought himself both a baseball player and a golfer, which he was not in comparison to what was the genius of his basketball talent.

I do not go around sizing up Michael Jordan on his baseball talent which was fourth rate baseball if that.

Ayn Rand may have thought herself a philospher, and honestly I do not have the background in philosophy to say that she was even fourth rate as a philosopher.

I know that in my mind when I speak of Ayn Rand I focus on her genius as a novelist and keep her philosophical pronouncements far, far out of my view.
 
Quote from Ticketwatcher:

Happy, absolutely.

I know Michael Jordan was a basketball player of the highest order.

Michael thought himself both a baseball player and a golfer, which he was not in comparison to what was the genius of his basketball talent.

I do not go around sizing up Michael Jordan on his baseball talent which was fourth rate baseball if that.

Ayn Rand may have thought herself a philospher, and honestly I do not have the background in philosophy to say that she was even fourth rate as a philosopher.

I know that in my mind when I speak of Ayn Rand I focus on her genius as a novelist and keep her philosophical pronouncements far, far out of my view.
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Actually, Ayn Rand is a second rate author and a first rate philosopher.
 
Quote from ScottD:

Actually, Ayn Rand is a second rate author and a first rate philosopher.
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I cannot argue with you. To refute your argument, I would have to pretend that I know MORE about philosophy than I do literature, and that is a dishonest road that will not go down.
 
Quote from Ticketwatcher:

Vincent Van Gogh was no role model either.
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True, and every broken clock is right at least two times a day...
When it comes down to it - nobody is perfect, that is why we have something called adaptation and evolution to help us along.

Like I pointed out, I find the Objectivists more akin to cult-followers than anything else. Sometimes social outcasts that are drawn or lured to the works of Ayn Rand and then become obsessed with them. That is not her fault - but it is in these persons - just like some people become natural leaders and others health care workers etc... yet others, like Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer.

The global war on ideas, like Rumsfeld called it in 2006 and James Burnham wrote about, has been lost by the US.
Burnham called for the US to use all its influence with economics, culture and military to destroy its enemies.
Hollywood has certainly not been lazy in fuelling anti-islamism and antieuropeanism... which is perhaps being forgiven some day.
Containment like the Reagan period was rejected by the Neocon priesthood...

About US super-sized consumerism:
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and
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Quote from swtrader:

I have but one measure that I evaluate philosophies - over a period of time, does it work?

Allan Greenspan was her objectivist newsletter economics editor

And there's never been a more collectivist power on earth

When he disfavored stocks in 2000, you had to get out - or be ruined

When he favored real estate after 2002, you had to be in it and OUT of savings - or else

He never hestitated to confiscate wealth for his purposes - no individuals going to the beat of theri own drummer on HIS watch, no, you had to be in sync with his view of 'what's best' for society, even it it's a deliberate housing bubble that cannot do anything but end badly

It's not a minor detail that Ayn Rand's economics editor was one of the most vicious 'collectivists' in history

If it fails among her inner circle, it's failure in general. None of this 'it would have worked, but..' crap
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Greenspan was an objectivist at one time. However, by the time he became Fed Chair he no longer applied the principles in a full and integrated way. It's not an accident that he had been shunned by objectivists for years.

Besides, the ability to raise and lower interest rates and blab doublespeak to congress is hardly the main driver of our economic system -- little things like the legislature, SEC, executive branch, courts, tax code, overall strength of our entrepreneurs, quality of our business managers, have far greater impact.
 
Quote from Dr. Zhivodka:

I'm sure you've read Rand's "Capitalism: The unknown Ideal." It's amazing the amount skin he's shed from then until now.
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yep.
 
Quote from Ticketwatcher:

I cannot argue with you. To refute your argument, I would have to pretend that I know MORE about philosophy than I do literature, and that is a dishonest road that will not go down.
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OK, fair enough. Your reply is the mark of an honest person.

It occurs to me that what you love about Ayn Rand's fiction may well be the philosophy itself, hidden under the thin veneer of the story.

If, for example, Atlas Shrugged resonates with you, then her philosophy will as well.
 
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