Atlas Shrugged

Dick Sirloin said:
No, my teacher was not a humanitarian hippy, he is a dude who has spent his life reading philosophy... many Greek texts, such as Aristophanes and some of the Socratic dialogues, have been translated by him and used in most universities in the USA.

I think you mean Aristotle, because Aristophanes wrote comedies about Greeks with boners (I'm not making this up).
 
Dick Sirloin said:
I don't think, RiA, you realize that AS is the intellectual equivalent of watching Rugrats. She brings nothing new to the table, other than bad writing. That is why you see ALL these objectivists around, right? RIGHT? :guh:
So you weigh a philosophy dependent on the amount of followers that specific philosophy has? This paragraph makes it appear as such, and if this is the case, then you herald Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as great philosophies. Because afterall, it's all about the amount of followers correct?

Dick Sirloin said:
No, my teacher was not a humanitarian hippy, he is a dude who has spent his life reading philosophy... many Greek texts, such as Aristophanes and some of the Socratic dialogues, have been translated by him and used in most universities in the USA.
So he basically just sits around in his bathrobe all day questioning "Is a thing good because God desires it, or does God desire a thing because it is good?" Some real productive inquiry he has going on there.

Dick Sirloin said:
No, I didn't hate the book because I'm a liberal. I hated it because it was poorly written and has an unrealistic, inanimate "philosophy."
This just shows how little faith you have in the term "I". Can you say such a word without quivering from such an utterance? Just from everything you have said in regards to debunk her works. "My professor said", "this speaker came in and said", "yadda yadda". Can you not formulate an opinion on something other than through the guidance of another? I live by no other man's opinion other than my own. I'm my own expert on all subjects. I'll survey the information with my own sensory perception, and my own life experience. I don't need some dude with a grey beard, who' middle aged and still smokes weed to decipher anything for me. Yes, Ayn Rand is not for the collectivist mind, you're the proof.

Dick Sirloin said:
Let me guess, you don't read much. But you read a 1,000 page book so you said: "Hey, since I read that whole thing, I guess I'll subscribe to it 100%."
I read as much as I can. I'm not gifted with generous amounts of free time where I can sit down and read War & Peace straight through, this is true. But don't believe for a second that I accept everything I read as fact. Many of her ideas I have discarded. It's her ideas that elaborated upon ideas I had already had prior to reading her novel's that I am so vehemently supporting. Trust me when I say that most of the spunk you see me say on this forum was formulated on my own terms. And not in a sheepish manner.

Dick Sirloin said:
I generally find that Rand-ites are worse than Christians when it comes to TOTAL FAITH in one book. A book full of STRAIGHT LINES and people who are NOT WEAK and NOT SICK and GOAL ORIENTED with ANGULAR JAWLINES and A GRAND DESTINY IN THE FIELD OF BUSINESS, men who have BLUE EYES and, when they desire sexual satisfaction, RAPE women. :rolleyes:
Are you such a pessimist that you dwell on the weakness that is "man", rather than exalt man's highest potential? Yes let's strive to live life in mediocrity, because afterall...That's whats "REAL"

Dick Sirloin said:
I'm not going to type those notes now, nor will I consult them at the moment. I'm comfortable in my own INDIVIDUAL hatred of this shitty shitty book.
But I thought you offered them to anyone who asked to see them? :Smug:
 
Reign in Acai said:
This just shows how little faith you have in the term "I". Can you say such a word without quivering from such an utterance?

Can you not formulate an opinion on something other than through the guidance of another?

I'll survey the information with my own sensory perception, and my own life experience.

Yes, Ayn Rand is not for the collectivist mind, you're the proof.

And not in a sheepish manner.

Are you such a pessimist that you dwell on the weakness that is "man", rather than exalt man's highest potential?

Yes let's strive to live life in mediocrity, because afterall...That's whats "REAL"

Excuse me, I am indoctrinated? Everything you just spewed sounds like it is fucking COPIED from the book. Shit, I bet it's in there somewhere, it's all certainly repeated ad infinitum. I don't even know if I can debate this with you because you have your head shoved SO FAR up Mrs. Rand's tight ass that I doubt any advanced perspective is possible. EDIT: wow, everything you said was absolutely irrelevant too, good job

As for my own stance: I realized LONG before last semester that Rand was crap. And, surprisingly, it was after I first read Atlas Shrugged. I wasn't even political at that point - if anything, I was right-leaning. But when I read this book, I knew that THIS was pure bullshit. The things is, I don't have a problem with some of what Rand has to say. You know, the idea that a creator should have true integrity yadda yadda. But that's about where the line is drawn. And it doesn't exactly make Rand a genius.

What has Rand advocated/uplifted that hadn't been discussed before throughout history? When did Nietzsche come up with the Ubermensch? How long has capitalist dogma existed?

As far as my class is concerned, do you want me to POST MY FUCKING ESSAY? That's pretty gay, but I'll goddamn do it and it will spare me the time of having to debate with another lowly Rand-ite. Something tells me this will all be pointless and I shouldn't bother, but it's too tempting.
 
MajestikMøøse said:
I think you mean Aristotle, because Aristophanes wrote comedies about Greeks with boners (I'm not making this up).

No, the dude who wrote "Clouds." Aristophanes.
 
Reign in Acai said:
So he basically just sits around in his bathrobe all day questioning "Is a thing good because God desires it, or does God desire a thing because it is good?" Some real productive inquiry he has going on there.

It's called "thinking," maybe you'll try it sometime and dump this Rand dogma/dogshit.
 
Black Winter Day said:
first off - the woman has a way with words. she is a great WRITER. not just a philosophist. can the same be said for nietzsche?

second - her book INSPIRED ME. it wasn't just ranting against collectivism, or just preaching to me about objectivism. she told a story that exemplified what her philosophy holds. the last 30 pages of that book or so were so inspiring that not only does her point get across, but the read FEELS what she is trying to say, not just LEARNS.

third - i felt what she was saying, it is something i've believed in all my life, but NO ONE could express how i feel like rand did in THE FOUNTAINHEAD. maybe it is just personal choice, speed, because this is by far the most inspirational revelation i have ever read, and i've read a lot (including philosophy and religion)

Wow, sometime I hate my former selves
 
I figured if you'd read the book you would have gotten that reference. I was wrong

Moose: there are a ton of fart/shit/sex jokes in "Clouds", yo
 
Dick Sirloin said:

yeah, and I listed Quinn's Ishmael :Smug:


The fate of Rand is that, to the unitiated, the rehashing of philosophies in such a simplistic form is definitely eye-opening. At one point I was also fascinated by Rand, but it causes more harm than good if you get stuck on those points, and don't grow onward to fill out these philosophies on your own terms (if you do continue to subscribe to them, there is no problem with that... to each their own.....)


But hey, at least we're not proclaiming the brilliance of "Who Moved My Cheese" as a major life changing philosophical work , as is the case in my current office environment..