The Influence of Ayn Rand on American Society...

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ruveyn
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02 Dec 2012, 8:26 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Isn't she the one who influenced Ron Paul?


One of several who influenced Mr. Paul.

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ruveyn
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02 Dec 2012, 8:28 am

LKL wrote:
Her idea of an ubermensch was a serial killer who raped and dismembered a little girl and then left pieces of her on her scattered about town.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/08/ ... girls.html
She literally advocated sociopathy.
She has had a tremendous impact on the country, but not a good one.


That was during her Neitsche Phase. Ayn Rand had a major quirk. She was looking for a Male Hero to dominate her.

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02 Dec 2012, 8:32 am

blauSamstag wrote:
Jimmy Wales is sort of running a socialist organization. Are you sure he's not just reacting to rand? the same way rand is just reacting to the soviets.


A philanthropic organization. Jim would be the last person in the world to advocate collective ownership of the means of production. Jim Wales is a patron of knowledge and he is not a self sacrificing altruist.

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02 Dec 2012, 10:21 am

EtherealBallet wrote:
NAKnight wrote:
I haven't read "Virtue of Selfishness"
I will look into it!

Have you read "Atlas Shrugged"

Best Regards,

Jake
I am planning too. It's huge! Large books I find exciting though they take a rather long time to read. I think I will read it after Lord of the Rings.

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“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.“


The problem with Ayn Rand is that she built her ideology in opposition of a extreme ideology, producing a ideology who is as unworkable and extreme.

After The Lord of the Rings you should rather read The Silmarillion.


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02 Dec 2012, 11:19 am

Tollorin wrote:
EtherealBallet wrote:
NAKnight wrote:
I haven't read "Virtue of Selfishness"
I will look into it!

Have you read "Atlas Shrugged"

Best Regards,

Jake
I am planning too. It's huge! Large books I find exciting though they take a rather long time to read. I think I will read it after Lord of the Rings.

Quote:
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.“


The problem with Ayn Rand is that she built her ideology in opposition of a extreme ideology, producing a ideology who is as unworkable and extreme.

After The Lord of the Rings you should rather read The Silmarillion.
is that quote from another website or topic as I cannot find it in this one? I will of course read the Silmarillion, I think I should read all of the books relating to Middle Earth's history. I may spend sometime studying it :study: I wonder if I read Ayn Rand and then a philosopher she opposed who I should like better. Time to find a philosopher with opposing views and their book.



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02 Dec 2012, 12:32 pm

"Atlas Shrugged" was one of the enlightening novels.

Quote:
The problem with Ayn Rand is that she built her ideology in opposition of a extreme ideology, producing a ideology who is as unworkable and extreme.


From Atlas Shrugged and from what I can remember, it is a story about Government/Business Collusion. Skipping party sides and details. It is a story about a Railroad, TransNational to formerly John Galt Line. It is about a sucessful business man and the leader of a a Railroad and there experience in how, when the government becomes involved in business, the opportunity and motivation for success of others becomes more and more distant.


Best Regards,

Jake


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02 Dec 2012, 4:00 pm

Dox47 wrote:
LKL wrote:
Whether you like the source or not, her admiration for a sociopath in real life comes out in her writings and her words as well. One of her heroes blows up his masterwork building rather than have 'worthless' handicapped people housed in it.

"If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject."

"Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."

"The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me."

"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil."

“Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.”

“Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world--to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.”


So what? I specifically said that you have to pick and choose when reading her, you obviously picked and chose statements that would support your viewpoint and view of her. I could easily paint a more sympathetic picture if it mattered to me by engaging in a similar cherry picking exercise, but I don't feel that it's a good use of my time.

LKL wrote:
Rand had a low opinion of humanity in general, a low opinion of women in general, and a borderline depraved view of sex (I'll spare everyone the soliloquies from Atlas Shrugged that speak to that). Her entire structure of philosophy is built on misanthropy, and people worship her for it.


Again, so what? Ghandi liked to give little girls enemas (look it up), does that somehow undo all the other things he did with his life?

LKL wrote:
To extend the metaphor of your car, it's a car that gets its energies from being towed along by the kids that have grown beyond the age of attraction for the molester. He no longer needs them, and they have to be useful for something, don't they?


That doesn't make any sense. I said invented a car that get's 100 miles to the gallon, not "is towed by post-pubescent children. Is that really the best rebuttal you've got? :?


You realize there's a difference between engineering and philosophy, right? Engineering doesn't depend on the reputation of the engineer to spread if it does the best job.



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02 Dec 2012, 4:48 pm

Dox, I can pick and choose any book or philosopher out there and make them sound evil or brilliant (some will be easier than others, and Rand is pretty darn easy) - but I wouldn't advocate using ANY of them to base an entire society on, Jesus included, as the Randians seem to want to do with Ayn Rand.



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02 Dec 2012, 5:37 pm

I think we can all agree that Rand was as talented a philosopher as she was a writer.



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02 Dec 2012, 6:03 pm

LKL wrote:
Dox, I can pick and choose any book or philosopher out there and make them sound evil or brilliant (some will be easier than others, and Rand is pretty darn easy) - but I wouldn't advocate using ANY of them to base an entire society on, Jesus included, as the Randians seem to want to do with Ayn Rand.


Immanuel Kant never had two movies made based on anything he wrote.

Neither did David Hume.

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02 Dec 2012, 6:15 pm

DancingDanny wrote:
You realize there's a difference between engineering and philosophy, right? Engineering doesn't depend on the reputation of the engineer to spread if it does the best job.


And the reputation of the philosopher affects the soundness of the philosophy how again?


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02 Dec 2012, 6:20 pm

LKL wrote:
Dox, I can pick and choose any book or philosopher out there and make them sound evil or brilliant (some will be easier than others, and Rand is pretty darn easy) - but I wouldn't advocate using ANY of them to base an entire society on, Jesus included, as the Randians seem to want to do with Ayn Rand.


Neither would I, but that's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that Rand should be examined piecemeal rather than adopted or rejected en mass, especially without actual examination, and that your initial guilt by association premise was faulty, as was your attempted rebuttal.


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02 Dec 2012, 6:30 pm

'Rand-ism' debunked in one cartoon strip.

Image



ruveyn
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02 Dec 2012, 6:35 pm

DancingDanny wrote:

You realize there's a difference between engineering and philosophy, right? Engineering doesn't depend on the reputation of the engineer to spread if it does the best job.


That is right. Our only successful moon rocket was designed by a Nazi party member with an SS rank.

"I aim for the stars, but sometimes I hit London and Antwerp" -- Werner v. Braun.

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Dox47
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02 Dec 2012, 7:30 pm

thomas81 wrote:
'Rand-ism' debunked in one cartoon strip.
Image


Fixed that for ya.


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02 Dec 2012, 7:31 pm

care to respond in words rather than posting an irrelevant image?