Getting MESSAGE OUT
I have probably directed 100 people to read Atlas -- all say they are interested, but never had any come back to talk to me about it -- of course some people I mention it to are customers or clerks in stores. I first STARTED to read it when it first came out [I was 10 abd big on Greek Myths] my father was a big reader and he had bought a paperback. I saw it and started to read it thinking it was about Olympus! Stopped at about page 100 -- but got back to the whole thing when I was in U of Chicago Graduate School with Milton Friedman and others. My wife tried it, but gave up after maybe 50 pages, and constantly asked mt WHO IS JOHN GALT!
It takes effort to read ~1,000 pages and stay with it.
2. Schedule a 2 week cross country road trip by yourself.
3. Know how to stop the engine of the world.
Being in The Gulch, I felt compelled to read the novel and I did. It's on a book shelf behind me.
Had a problem suspending belief over the everlasting length of John Galt's radio speech as written in the novel.
I was thinking many a listener would tune out just as many a reader quit reading the book. How many times do you need to say "A is A" even though an A is most definitely an A?
That speech was condensed for the DVD version.
I state again that it seems to be a training manual of the negative things that can be done to our country,
OH and using 1984 as a play book for the democrats. SHE WAS NEVER CALLED A BORDER CZAR! Attempting to re-write history.
2024: Spreading Objectivism Face to Face - SAVVY STREET
Atlas Shrugged is a single book. The one (1) book was presented as three (3) movies in 2011, 2012, and 2014.
Around 45 years ago, a friend/coworker handed me a paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged. It started as a mystery story. At the first line, “Who is John Galt?”† Then the mystery of Halley’s Fifth Concerto. Then why was Owen Kellogg quitting despite what seemed like every possible reason to stay? Meanwhile, I saw a character who knew how to be in charge and make things happen. And that was in the first 25 pages.
A few days later, I said to my friend, “Here’s your book back. I don’t want it. I bought my own copy.” From there, we had lots of discussion as I progressed through the book. Had I gotten to Francisco’s speech about money? Oh, yes! And, yes, John Galt’s speech took me the same time to read as it would have taken to broadcast.
A philosophy treatise. Comedic/ironic elements like a weapon called the Thompson Harmonizer. And an old bum answers, “What is morality?” with, “Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.”
I noticed that I could map anyone from the major real-world news to a character in the book.
Yes, it takes a very long time to read and digest. Too long?
Here’s Atlas Shrugged, the ultimately abridged edition, omitting everything between the first and last lines.
“Who is John Galt?”
He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of the dollar.
† We noticed that typing, “Who is John Galt” on an MS-DOS command line provided the answer:
Bad command or file name
You don’t get to take umbrage when you throw in a previously unmentioned other book into a long discussion entirely about a single book.
The Fountainhead had not been mentioned until your reply. It is a long and fairly tedious book. The movie is quite accessible as an alternative.
Now we can talk about plurals.
Let’s include the easy reads, Anthem and the play, The Night of January 16th.I saw that as a live performance where I sat on the jury. I acquitted.
We can include the non-fiction footnotes to AS: The Romantic Manifesto. The Virtue of Selfishness. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Philosophy: Who Needs It. All are straightforward to read.
For a very slow and difficult read, assuming one takes the effort to digest it, the worthwhile: Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.
Now we get to, “Russian-to-English overbearing, berating diatribe, because they refuse to sympathize with her for her violent and oppressed path,” and all that venom. Does Rand-Hate get your philosophical points across?
I didn't say I didn't sympathize. I said young people and those unfamiliar with Ayn (or other Soviet immigrants) didn't
Are you trying to convince me that what I have observed is incorrect, or inappropriate? Sure it is inappropriate, but if one wants to bring people along, one doesn't start by trying to convince them to be sympathetic to a pretty bristly person. One starts with tangible examples (like test grade communism) and philosophy.
Here is a perfect example:
"When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.”
Ayn Rand 1957
She is exactly right, but unnecessarily verbose.
Rand-Hate, that is just precious! What I am not is blinded to her flaws.
It looks like the Listerine Crowd is back everyone. EWE.
AS is a great beach vacation read, although it may interfere with other activities since it's hard to stop once you start.
My first read was in every spare minute I had as a 'road warrior' over a summer month. It took that long because I was
consulting 60+ hours a week and paid by the hour. ;^)
My only complaint in AS was Galt's speech. Intolerably long-winded and certain to frustrate even the most avid reader.
It's the movies that are a real letdown in comparison to the book.
For context, I think most youtube videos are intolerably bad at getting to the point and time wasters compared to a transcript
or compared to a concise article on the same material.
Fine that you like it, but irrelevant in getting others over the hump. This is very much like Listerine EWE pontificating and giving us reading homework, rather than discussing simply.
A Gulcher saying "the books suck to read" can easily be manipulated to say don't waste time with Ayn Rand's books.
Rand's message is what's important. If the movies get some of that across to some people, great,
but the books are the complete message and the movies don't come close because they are not even good
productions. AS 1 movie was a fair production and AS2 and AS3 were downhill from there.
I would recommend The Fountainhead movie instead to get someone a taste.
I really liked AS1. Assume $, but not sure why AS2 and AS3 bombed out. Really downhill. We should do them over, and use BuyDumb/Obummer and other examples (like Dept of Misinformation - Ministry of Truth) as connections.
Would be a great start for Elon's X to move into entertainment.
He can afford it and it's the message he claims to support..
Who has the rights now?