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Author: erikalbany
Date: 08-11-12 11:13
. . . says one of his biggest influences is Ayn Rand. I have to wonder--since his age puts him firmly in my generation--does he mean Ayn Rand directly, or Ayn Rand as interpreted through the lyrical wizardry of Neil Peart?
This matters to me.
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Author: STEVE
Date: 08-11-12 12:34
good question erik, i dont know. but lets go ahead and strip each of them of their entitlements anyway.
Post Edited (08-11-12 14:49)
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 08-11-12 14:12
On a related note: I've been perplexed by the rise of what I'll call the "Christian Objectivist" over the past several years. It seems intellectually dishonest if not impossible to embrace the teachings of both Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand. My discussions with those who claim to do so have failed to yield a coherent explanation.
Paul Ryan cited Ayn Rand as the pivotal influence in his choosing to go into politics as recently as 2009. A few months ago, he changed course, stating: "If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don’t give me Ayn Rand.”
As another great mind, Nathan Thurm, once asked, "Is it me? It's him, right?"
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Author: STEVE
Date: 08-11-12 14:34
and while were at it, steve (emphasis on lower case) spielberg owes sharks everywhere a big fucking apology too.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 08-11-12 15:41
"If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don’t give me Ayn Rand.”
I'll take Hawthorne for the win:
"Books of religion, however, cannot be considered a fair test of the enduring and vivacious properties of human thought; because such books so seldom really touch upon their ostensible subject, and have therefore so little business to be written at all."
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Author: Nile
Date: 08-13-12 05:04
Jermoe wrote:
> On a related note: I've been perplexed by the rise of what I'll
> call the "Christian Objectivist" over the past several years.
> It seems intellectually dishonest if not impossible to embrace
> the teachings of both Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand. My discussions
> with those who claim to do so have failed to yield a coherent
> explanation.
>
> Paul Ryan cited Ayn Rand as the pivotal influence in his
> choosing to go into politics as recently as 2009. A few months
> ago, he changed course, stating: "If somebody is going to try
> to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me
> Thomas Aquinas. Don’t give me Ayn Rand.”
>
> As another great mind,
> Nathan
> Thurm, once asked, "Is it me? It's him, right?"
Rand's theories are half-baked, selfishness-justifying, utopian elitist ego porn. Actual intellectual analysis like game theory is infinitely more useful than that lazy pseudo-intellectual comic book crap Rand peddled as literature.
As for the notion of a "Christian Objectivist": I would call this an example of what Social Psychology describes as cognitive dissonance or what George Orwell described as Doublethink.
Post Edited (08-13-12 05:20)
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-13-12 08:33
I noticed the Objectivist presence of Ayn Rand while reading Ryan's wikipedia page. Oddly enough, the section on his political proclivities was "being edited" that day. In fact his overall page has been edited since the last time I looked at it.
It looked as though he'd endorsed Rand's drivel to an Ayn Rand literary club of some sort and stated that it had been important to him as a young man. Then it appears that he recanted that opinion when Catholic leadership asked him to clarify that item. It appears that at that point, he courageously indicated that his actual preference was for a Catholic philosopher or writer whose name escapes me at the moment. Was it Aquinas? I suppose any Catholic writer would have been acceptable at that point. Any port in a storm?
So he's a flip-flopper, I suppose. No surprises there. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to stand by your youthful estimation of Rand when you've reached adulthood and try to run for public office? Were any of Rand's protagonists politicians? I mean the ones that weren't arsonists and rapists.
Damn. Allow me to own the fact that I'm still getting over having read The Fountainhead - and its been a year and a half at least. What claptrap.
Quote:
As for the notion of a "Christian Objectivist": I would call this an example of what Social Psychology describes as cognitive dissonance or what George Orwell described as Doublethink.
May I please refer to it as "pure BS?"
...
But enough politics, eh? Let's talk about his alleged love of Rage Against the Machine. Talk about cognitive dissonance! It's making my eyes water.
...
On a semi-related note, Paul Ryan is the first VP candidate that's younger than I am.
That's really making my eyes water.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 08-13-12 08:47
"On a semi-related note, Paul Ryan is the first VP candidate that's younger than I am."
Hmm. Interesting point. he's almost exactly a year younger than I am as well.
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Author: breno
Date: 08-13-12 10:55
Quote:
On a related note: I've been perplexed by the rise of what I'll call the "Christian Objectivist" over the past several years. It seems intellectually dishonest if not impossible to embrace the teachings of both Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand.
Ah, but you forget that you're dealing with the American form of Christianity, which is basically "As long as you believe Christ died and you said "Hey, thanks for that, bro", you get to pretty much ignore every single thing the man ever said or did while he was alive and can cherry pick random verses from the Bible that support any prejudices or beliefs you might hold whether you called yourself a Christian or not."
So a Christian Objectivist gets by on the technicality that American Christianity for the most part neglects to ever embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ in the first place. As long as you can find one verse in the Bible that supports a viewpoint somewhat compatible with Rand's, you're good to go.
I suspect most Tea Partiers shrieking about taxes consider themselves ardent Christians. But what did Christ himself have to say about taxes? "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." In other words, "The government issues your money in the first place. If they tell you to give some of it back, give it back and quit whining about it."
And in all my years as a good Baptist boy, I don't recall ever hearing a sermon or Sunday School lesson on Acts 2:44, which glowingly describes the early Christian community as a quasi-socialist commune and makes it pretty clear that it's the example that the Apostles thought should be followed. That sort of crap in the Bible won't fly with American Christians, so they just choose to believe it ain't in there and go about their business.
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Author: totaji
Date: 08-13-12 11:09
Ah you must be speaking of the people who worship a guy that went around healing lepers, the blind, etc but are against universal health care.
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Author: zoo
Date: 08-13-12 14:39
My wife told me this morning that Paul Ryan is a P90X instructor and has "like zero body fat" (her words...I looked it up, and it is 6-8%).
So, Kay, in addition to being younger than you, he's probably fitter than all of us.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-13-12 15:59
Quote:
My wife told me this morning that Paul Ryan is a P90X instructor and has "like zero body fat" (her words...I looked it up, and it is 6-8%).
Henceforth, anything under 10% shall equal "like zero." An especially useful fudging technique at tax time? Only your accountant knows for sure.
Caveat: Add a 'k' to lie and you have "like." Coincidence?
Quote:
So, Kay, in addition to being younger than you, he's probably fitter than all of us
Fitter? In what sense? Undoubtedly he sounds like he's in better physical shape. You'd need to be. In many countries people simply stand for office. Here? We run.
Me? Like Mark Twain, I've never taken any exercise. I can see no benefit in being tired.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 08-14-12 10:35
A Monday worry-worry-worry-worry
[clickclickclickclick]
today's Paul Ryan-Ryan-Ryan. . .
[someone playing melodica]
Post Edited (08-14-12 13:59)
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 08-17-12 21:05
This is going around the Internets:
"Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan" is an anagram for "My ultimate Ayn Rand porn."
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