Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: hielonite on July 13, 2013, 06:29 pm
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I've read this book a couple of years ago, and I feel that is had a major influence on my beliefs and character as a whole.
Just seeing if anyone else is in the same boat as me, I guess...
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eh...
I didnt finish it. The way "john galt" kinda floated round the book and popped up at the strangest times annoyed me.
Now if u want to talk about the fountainhead, i'd be down.
She's a good writer.
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that ideology (Ayn Rand's stuff) fails again and again in the real world.
"free markets" which supposed to work everything out and find the balance, keep failing due to their bestial unstoppable greed, and then the rest of the society is forced to bail them out.
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Ahh great book man.... still haven't read it yet tho..
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Considering her style of philosophy is "objectivism" that is certainly one way to look at her writing.
I, more or so, was intrigued by all of the government regulations and such that were WHOLLY detrimental to any growth or production. And plus the irony of all the businesses that were doomed to fail because the owners left the government with it in their hands.
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that ideology (Ayn Rand's stuff) fails again and again in the real world.
"free markets" which supposed to work everything out and find the balance, keep failing due to their bestial unstoppable greed, and then the rest of the society is forced to bail them out.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum: Totalitarian socialism, which has also failed in every iteration over the past century due to the same cause: the inherent fallibility of humans.
There is no "perfect" system.
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Ayn Rand = Paul Ryan = FAIL
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I'd have read it, but everyone I know that already has is depressed
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I've read it several times and it had a profound impact on me. The ideal in the book can be boiled down to two simple phrases. 1) Me first. 2) Fuck you if you don't agree. Her philosophy (excuse me her epistemology) negates all human cooperation that does not directly benefit me. While her reasoning is sound, her arguments elegant, the ultimate expression of her ideals devolve into brute savagery. I loved the book. The plot is compelling, but contrived to fit her ideals. She wrote that she idealized the "warrior hero". Unfortunately if we all subscribed to her ideals, we would all become, by necessity, scammers, scumbags, and thieves. She clearly stated those with "superior ability" should be left to achieve "heroic" goals. Sound familiar? Something along the theory of the Superman, excuse me, the Aryan. If you're not familiar with the Aryan mythos pick up a copy of "Mein Kamph" . Another writer that believed in the "Superman".
It really isn't fair to link Ayn Rand to Adolph Hitler. Wait, maybe I'm wrong......They both believed that superior human beings should be encouraged to "develop their strengths". Sorry, I don't really think she was a "bad" person or subscribed to racist ideals, she just thought that our inherent "goodness and benevolence" would allow the superior man (not sexist) in us to achieve greatness. Also to provide jobs for the less gifted. Which would make even more money for the "Superman". You know, "Trickle Down Economics"
She's the guiding spirit of the "Tea Party" ?movement? I know if you're here doing what we're all doing here you completely agree with them. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh would have loved SR, at least a few years ago. Wonder what he would say now that he's clean (give me a break). If it was up to them, we would all be locked up and left to our own devices.
I digress... If you enjoyed "Atlas Shrugged", pick up a copy of "The Fountainhead". The '43 novel that launched her career and gave her the security to begin "Atlas Shrugged". In some ways a much better book. More direct, less pontification, more believable plot.
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I tried reading it once several years ago. Got 1/3 or 1/2 of the way through, then I shelved it.
I don't know, the stuff resonated with me, but things just got too repetitive and preachy for me.
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I have read a fair bit of Rand, and am a member of the Objectivist something or other fan club, blah blah blah. I have a different take on Rand apparently than most who have read her body of work.
My first exposure to her was reading " We the Living". I then wrote my very first political rant and mailed it to our local paper's op ed page. They published it, and I felt a huge sense of wow, acknowledgement by the powers that be for a youngster like me, the dream is possible.
My take, is that we are all responsible for all that we do, and perhaps even more importantly, all that we fail to do. That's why her philosophy is so appealing to me. I am fully accountable and take ownership of my reactions, my actions. She pulled the scales off my eyes, when it came to bullshitting myself or anyone else about fucking up, or doing those things that honor my integrity.
I can't force anyone else to honor the covenants of our society. They either do or they don't. I hold myself to a very high standard of behavior, and never expect more of anyone else than I expect of myself. I am told that I cut no one any slack, and that is true. I don't. I don't care if daddy beat and raped you, or your mom was a cannibal zombie hooker and ate your baby brother.
Be an adult. Make better choices. There is only one voice in your mind, yours...unless you are a schizo or have dissociative identity disorder. That voice in your mind is yours. The rest is just bullshit. Be fucking accountable. Don't make with the blaming your reactions and your behaviors on external forces.
That is what I got from Rand, first and foremost.
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Would definitely agree with accepting responsibility.. kinda seems a problem for younger generations grown accustomed to the idea of handouts and welfarism....
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movies on it where good
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lots a people love the book, but what i got was that alturism is bad- and this seems counter productive to me- but i read it many years ago and it didnt have an impact on me, i thought it was well written, but i probably misssed the deeper philosophical bs
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She definitely gives altruism a black eye. Examine if you would why this might be so...she emigrated to the US as a child, with her parents, from the communist dominated USSR. Look at the claims communism makes, all about altruism, one for all, and all for one, I call bullshit.
I am never going to be a servant to anyone, much less parasitical free loading politicians, cops, lobbyists, those who call themselves "the state". Fuck the state. The state comprises individuals. I can take individuals. Its fucking groups of idiots I have no time or tolerance for.
Altruism is about service to your fellow species members, because they need it. Fuck that. Help fight poverty, eat the poor!! Now, to me, that is altruistic. I am willing to eat poor people to keep them from suffering the agony of starvation and deprivation. Sounds logical to me.
Seriously, before going off half cocked like captain save a ho, think about the why you are playing rescuer. Goes back to accepting responsibility for all that one does, and all that one does NOT do.
I don't rescue people. I rescue animals. I may go about on Columbus day and "discover" shit that ain't mine, but I sure as fuck will NOT rescue a dumb cunt who is in the shit through making stupid decisions based on pursuit of immediate gratification, or emotions. Let them rot and twist in the wind, for they sure as shit wouldn't piss on me to put me out if I was on fire unless there is a pay off in it for them.
One of the best lessons ever taught to me by R.A.H. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.