Thanks! That's very kind of you. And yes, I love that quote. Also, this comic:
FlyingSquid 69 points 3 years ago
Smokeless7048 7 points 3 years ago
found this a good read: https://onlysky.media/...
i love their point about atlas shrugged. all the rich "Dooers" have retreated to a single valley, while the world falls into chaos without the billionaire ruling class.
In this valley, everything is prestine. You have untouched forrests, fields, perfect lakes.
And somehow, you have one guy logging the forest making enough lumber for a city of a hundred, despite the forest being untouched. you have fresh oranges and coffee... despite the world falling apart. you have a single doctor, and no hospital, ect ect.
FlyingSquid 3 points 3 years ago
It also required Galt inventing what was essentially a perpetual motion machine.
But my favorite thing about Atlas Shrugged is the idea that governments should stop interfering with railroads since it is impeding their progress.
You want governments to stop giving you land through eminent domain? Cool. Good luck.
themoonisacheese 79 points 3 years ago
There is a very true Tumblr post that goes "it's really annoying, because "Atlas Shrugged" is such a raw title. The titan that holds up the world on his shoulders decides "no, fuck this shit" and shrugs. For it to be wasted on a book that's just "I hate poor people, actually." Is a travesty"
themoonisacheese 16 points 3 years ago
Could be worse, you could be agreeing with the contents.
chuckleslord 45 points 3 years ago
I'm neurodivergent and fell for this shit hard. It's actually pretty embarrassing to look back on. Luckily, I got better
sebinspace 18 points 3 years ago
This is good. Many people fall into this trap and never realize they’re trapped; they’re convinced it’s everyone else that’s trapped
not_again 34 points 3 years ago
I've read several books in the Objectivists library, including Atlas shrugged, the fountainhead, and the virtue of selfishness.
For a certain kind of person, I do think they have value in showing a different ethical/moral framework. To wit, if you have been raised on the principal that you must always sacrifice your own happiness for others, then Onjectivist philosophy is quite novel and can actually be helpful in moving towards a more self-actualized thought mode.
For most others, however, it can turn you into a raging a-hole.
In terms of how tenable the overall principles are in practice, just remember that Rand herself went on social security.
Potatos_are_not_friends 11 points 3 years ago
I really like this take.
I think about those who like American Psycho or Breaking Bad, and even see themselves as those characters, unaware that those characters were assholes and emulating them makes you a bad person.
Where others see how f'd up the system is and these two are pushing the limits of what's acceptable.
dangblingus 4 points 3 years ago
Not really people who see themselves as those characters (except the terminally delusional) but people who just idolize those characters because they appear cool or witty or have agency, despite being terrible humans.
JasonDJ 3 points 3 years ago
I wouldn’t say I respected Walter as a protagonist…he’s quite clearly an anti-hero.
But I will say that I hated Skyler the first time around. Second time, though, it was like she’s the only rational person in the whole show. Especially towards the end.
Drivebyhaiku 2 points 3 years ago
Yyyyyup. He's kind of got it all. The outsized toxic masculinity, the focus on self improvement, a self centric sense of superiority, money and the power to commit cathartic violence. There are people who look at that toonish parody of a miserable violent financial bro and instead of seeing horror they see a life goal.
Some people are held at bay from becoming a Bateman not by empathy but by potential curtailment of freedoms if they get caught.
UnrepententProcrastinator 2 points 3 years ago
Welcome to the fabulous world of the edgelords!
mellowheat 0 points 3 years ago
In terms of how tenable the overall principles are in practice, just remember that Rand herself went on social security.
That's often raised against her, but there's really no contradiction. She lived in society(tm) and worked within its rules. Communists don't give up their beliefs when they (have to) go to work in privately owned companies either, and in the same way there's no contradiction there.
I'm also wondering whether she went on social security because she had to or because of just reclaiming back part of what should have remained hers (by her philosophy)? Her books sold millions while she was alive, and she did paid lectures until 1981 (and died in 1982).
littlebluespark 25 points 3 years ago
"A lot of times" this is posted by children that have never seen They Live and don't know what it is to be all outta bubblegum.
lennybird 24 points 3 years ago
Ugh.. Embarrassing memories of having read Atlas Shrugged when I was 17 and thinking it was deep...
Francisco D'Anconia was kind of inspiring with his, "I can do that," attitude but the strawman caricature of bad guv'mint was comical.
Potatos_are_not_friends 12 points 3 years ago
My favorite part was Ayn Rand's last years of her life was getting government handouts.
DragonTypeWyvern 7 points 3 years ago
"No true Scotsman, REEEE!" motherfuckers when I deny the legitimacy of Scotland itself 😎
sxan 16 points 3 years ago
There's a tech recruiting company called "John Galt Staffing." I don't know if they're run by Libertarians or it's just an unfortunate name conflict, but whenever they contact me, I respond with an email saying that I won't do business with them.
If I had that name, I'd change it. "I just don't know why little Adolf is having trouble with his classmates."
Edit Fixed the spelling of the company name.
FlyingSquid 11 points 3 years ago
If it's 'Gault,' it's probably coincidental. If it's Galt, almost certainly Randroids.
SlopppyEngineer 9 points 3 years ago
It's like the companies calling themselves Skynet.
funkless_eck 7 points 3 years ago
so basically you're asking "Who is John Gault?"
VindictiveJudge 3 points 3 years ago
I have a relative who was named Adolph (with that spelling) immediately before the rise of Hitler. I think he kept it on the, "Why should I change my name? He's the one who sucks," logic, but I'm not sure.
Nougat 16 points 3 years ago
I read The Fountainhead instead, and it was interesting enough to keep me reading. "Okay, there's a lot of setup of characters and circumstances going on, I am curious to know how this plays out," and then it just ... doesn't. It was all a lead-up to a long, weakly written, and plainly stupid monologue about how completely ruthless all people should be at all times, only ever thinking in the shortest term about themselves.
I closed that book wondering why Ayn Rand was famous for anything beyond being a shitbag, when I was young enough to be kind of a shitbag myself.
FlyingSquid 8 points 3 years ago
But there is the rape scene which Rand thought to paint in a positive light to read about.
DragonTypeWyvern 7 points 3 years ago
Ayn Rand was the villain of her own novels, ho died on welfare.
Colonel_Panic_ 3 points 3 years ago
The real villains were the friends we made along the way.
DragonTypeWyvern 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 7979720 7980635 7984376, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
FlyingSquid 3 points 3 years ago
If you mean "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, it's all muscle.
RizzRustbolt 6 points 3 years ago
"How to commit to the bit" by Ayn Rand.
beebarfbadger 3 points 3 years ago
"Why being a selfish prick is ACTSHUALLY GOOD so stop treating me like the asshole that I am acting like"
Potatos_are_not_friends 2 points 3 years ago
I feel dumb because I read this book only because of BioShock, and a and was like, "pretty neat." I didn't really think too much about it after that. So I love when I read about people's critiques of it!
sentinelthesalty -1 points 3 years ago
Guess I should have read it, sounds right up my alley. Too bad Im allergic to books.
WiseThat -4 points 3 years ago
Galt's Gulch was much more Socialist Commune than libertarian.
Money had no use as Ragnar was running around distributing gold to everyone on a regular basis, John Galt had built a literal free energy machine and was giving the power away AND giving vanishingly cheap lectures on how to build one. Even the scarce resources (like the only car in the entire society) were being rented out for 50 cents a day.
Plus all these fiercely competitive supercapitalists would just step aside and just allow competitors to operate with no challenge. The iron mine, and coal mine were all running at industrial scales to serve a town of a few hundred (they had robot labour and free energy) and when the copper miner just showed up they just let him stake a an exclusive claim and start digging with no issue.
I highly recommend Adam Lee's critical readthrough on patheos.com https://www.patheos.com/...
VindictiveJudge 7 points 3 years ago
I just like that step one of Rand's utopia is violating the laws of physics. It can't work if energy is scarce, so her solution is magic.
VindictiveJudge 2 points 3 years ago
Doesn't matter. It's an ideological screed meant to persuade people that anarcho-capitalism is a viable economic system. If she wants to be convincing, she needs to illustrate how it would work.
loxdogs -6 points 3 years ago
Can someone explain me, why is it bad to think about yourself? This book teaches you, how to first think about yourself, than others.
She(or Nathan) wrote, that if you do something with "I want this, so I do this" manner, that isn't great. The formula should be "This should be done, because of some rational reasoning, so I'll do this". If you are not involving others right to think/live/freedom.
Jomega 14 points 3 years ago
In the beginning of the story our so called heroes run their train through a red light because they don't want to be late for a meeting. That's not thinking for yourself. That's not even thinking period. They are gambling not only their own, but dozens of other peoples lives to avoid a minor inconvenience. This is far from the only example of this happening.
loxdogs -6 points 3 years ago
It's clearly stated, that they were on the siding track by someone's mistake. She asked them to drive slowly in case of something and if another one is green, than go back to main road.
She knows how trainroads work and how to solve problems. She found a problem and solved it. She asked them to drive cautiously, so I don't see a problem here.
Is it wrong for you to drive on a red light, if it's by mistake of someone? You would also cautiously drive through it, to get to your destination, aren't you? Maybe you would take another route. We take into account, that you know by fact, that this red light is broken and you wouldn't wait until it's fixed in front of it.
For me it's not wrong to break this rule in the context of the situation. They were caught by mistake and it made a problem of getting late. She understood the situation, thought it through and solved the problem. It wasn't reckless, which is clearly stated by asking them to drive cautiously.
masquenox 8 points 3 years ago
This book teaches you, how to first think about yourself, than others.
mellowheat 0 points 3 years ago
That's a solid argument right there.
loxdogs -5 points 3 years ago
In a world of Ayn Rand everyone also works together. She wrote, that people should work with each other. They will benefit from this. One person is not capable of doing everything. However, you can choose who to work with. You would always want to work with someone who does everything right and in time.
All people are not equal, and that is a fact, but in rational world they can work hard to be noticed by another rational person. You don't judge by the look of their skin, cloths or fortune. You judge by the way they think. There would be no slaves, those who worked hard would earn more.
The machines are built by workers, but who made the blueprint? They sold it or shared it to make life more comfortable for themselves, thus making the progress. You will end up with better and more goods. This is one of the reasons you must value yourself.
Money is virtue, because it's one of the least thing people agreed on as equal value to something. I really don't want to barter for the new phone, to be honest.
It's a problem, that you are not getting paid enough, but that's not problem of the money, that's people who are paying less are a problem.
Communism isn't equal too. You, in fact, would get paid the same amount as everyone else. What's the point of doing better and more, if you get paid the same?
So I still don't understand to be honest, are there other explanations? With all my pleasure, if everything is shared, I do not want to share my woman with someone, who needs it more. Share my workplace with someone who needs it more, but I will give it to someone, who's better than me. Share my payment, because someone needs it more. If I want to, I have some surplus and I won't need it, than sure, I will share. I won't do it mandatory.
FlorianSimon 6 points 3 years ago path: 0 8027392 8027886 8029696 8040471, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 5
loxdogs -2 points 3 years ago
Sorry, by saying "in a world of Ayn Rand" I meant her philosophy. That's my mistake and I will try not to do it again.
Well, the true communism is achieved when everything is everyone, all are equal in their, including people. You can have sex with whom you want. If someone, doesn't matter who, can sex with another person, so can you. I maybe mistaken, but book "we" explains it greatly.
Few people earn all their surplus honestly, and I am sure you have nothing against those. Others who don't(stole, lie, decieve) to achieve fortune are not objectivists. They are one of many reasons people hate capitalism in fact and I agree with this.
loxdogs -3 points 3 years ago
That's not an explanation... I am only asking to explain in other way, I could understand. I can admit, that I am wrong, if objective reasoning is heavy enough for me to say "yeah man, whis Ayn Rand is such a parasite", but I don't see it, or don't understand
loxdogs -5 points 3 years ago
If by workers we consider everyone, who's working with their hands and minds, getting paid for this, than I agree. It's not different from Ayn Rand's philosophy.
If by workers we consider only people who work with hands on a factory, than no. Without proper education, you can't make blueprint of machine. To be more clear - good machine.
If none of this, I am ready to listen to your explanation
loxdogs -2 points 3 years ago
Where she states about atomozation? In her books her heroes communicate with each other, drinking and go lazy. They can't communicate with people not their kind, 'cause they get real bored. I doubt you can talk and dance with people you are not interested in.
Yet again, they don't put themselves above others, they mostly don't judge at all. They state facts and that's it, no hostility involved.
loxdogs -2 points 3 years ago
All she was rooting for, do what you like, if it respects people right to live. There is no atomatization subtext in her works. If you can provide quotes with explanation, than we can discuss it
politicalmemes
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politicalmemes
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Welcome to politcal memes!
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I'm a fan of yours, Flying Squid - I like your comments and posts.
And this meme is so very true. If I may quote someone named "John Rogers", who I don't know very well, but can find his words by searching "ayn rand lord of the rings orcs", here is something that I think others might find meaningful:
save