How Prophetic Was 'Atlas Shrugged'
Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 7 months ago to Philosophy
I received this e-mail a couple of days ago. How similar does it strike you as the owner's of John Galt's employer, The 20th Century Motor Co. that caused him to shrug, or remind you of James Taggert? Note the use of the words, 'equal and livable wage', and 'Champion of Change'.
"The White House, Washington
Hi,
I'm Randy, the founder of the Red Hen Baking Company in Middlesex, Vermont.
Our 42 employees are the core of everything we do -- the heart of Red Hen. That is why my wife Liza and I insist on providing paid sick days, an equal and livable wage, health coverage, and other benefits that help everyone balance the work they love with the life they lead. Through these workplace policies, we know we're making our employees more secure, our bakery more productive, and our business more profitable.
It's common sense -- plain and simple. That's why I'm so excited and honored to be at the White House today as a "Champion of Change" for working families. I'll be joining President Obama, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, and other champions of workplace policies to talk about how crucial they are to building a stronger business. This is too important of an issue for anyone to sit on the sidelines. So you should join us, too.
Watch live at the White House today starting at 12:15 p.m. ET to hear what ordinary people are doing to make an extraordinary difference for America's hardworking men and women.
You can join in on the conversation using the hashtag #WorkingFamilyChamps. Whether you're an employer, an employee, a working mom or dad, or brand new to the workforce, your voice can help lift up the challenges millions of working families face and the solutions that will make a difference.
So I'll hope you'll join us live and be a champion for your employees, coworkers, or your community by standing up for common-sense workplace policies.
Because the bottom line is this: Employees that are happy at work perform better. Focusing on policies that make sense for working families has paid dividends for our business. There's no reason more companies across the country can't do the same thing and realize those benefits.
If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I hope you'll join the conversation today.
Thanks,
Randy
Randy George
Middlesex, Vermont"
Can you point to other predictions from AS that are real today?
"The White House, Washington
Hi,
I'm Randy, the founder of the Red Hen Baking Company in Middlesex, Vermont.
Our 42 employees are the core of everything we do -- the heart of Red Hen. That is why my wife Liza and I insist on providing paid sick days, an equal and livable wage, health coverage, and other benefits that help everyone balance the work they love with the life they lead. Through these workplace policies, we know we're making our employees more secure, our bakery more productive, and our business more profitable.
It's common sense -- plain and simple. That's why I'm so excited and honored to be at the White House today as a "Champion of Change" for working families. I'll be joining President Obama, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, and other champions of workplace policies to talk about how crucial they are to building a stronger business. This is too important of an issue for anyone to sit on the sidelines. So you should join us, too.
Watch live at the White House today starting at 12:15 p.m. ET to hear what ordinary people are doing to make an extraordinary difference for America's hardworking men and women.
You can join in on the conversation using the hashtag #WorkingFamilyChamps. Whether you're an employer, an employee, a working mom or dad, or brand new to the workforce, your voice can help lift up the challenges millions of working families face and the solutions that will make a difference.
So I'll hope you'll join us live and be a champion for your employees, coworkers, or your community by standing up for common-sense workplace policies.
Because the bottom line is this: Employees that are happy at work perform better. Focusing on policies that make sense for working families has paid dividends for our business. There's no reason more companies across the country can't do the same thing and realize those benefits.
If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I hope you'll join the conversation today.
Thanks,
Randy
Randy George
Middlesex, Vermont"
Can you point to other predictions from AS that are real today?
She was a prophet. She saw the ground work that was being laid and knew what the end result looked like. Atlas Shrugged was a warning that went unheeded.
Perhaps Ayn Rand should have titled the work, "Atlas Shrugged: An History:.
"And by the time the masses realize what has happened, it will be too late"
Don't forget, when they realize what is happening they will think it is your fault.
Zen, I always wince when I see the word 'prophecy' or 'prophetic' associated with Ayn Rand. I understand general idea of why other people say it, but the implications of her having 'imparted knowledge' are not congruent with your past writing, here...and not what I think you were trying to imply.
Seeing so many similarities between what she wrote and current events doesn't seem strange, to me. It's like math...'philosophical math'...where consistent ideas add up to (predict) certain outcomes. Given certain conditions, the answers are no surprise.
Cheers
Yes- math!
I totally agree.
I have always viewed Rand's philosophy as mathematical formulas that if one tries to disprove them, (with opinions, skewed reasoning, religion,etc) they run smack into a brick wall since they cannot get past "A = A". There is no escaping this formula.
That is also why Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, scares the hell out of many. It cannot be disavowed. It requires dedicated continuous work on one's self of which there is allowed no relapse into contradictions, excuses, or refusal to see.
Great post you did!
Cheers
Appreciated.
Thanks!
Those were physical events that you think would be easier to perceive and interpret, but they weren't. So, it's no wonder that the destructive subtleties of statism slip past many today, especially when sugar-coated in an emotional appeal. You can almost predict the talking points coming out of a "Champion of Change" meeting:
"New guidelines have been proposed by the Administration, requiring business owners to raise wages and benefits for employees, as part of a new White House initiative to help strengthen the private sector with common-sense workplace policies."
Sound familiar?
I too get these emails from "the White House".
"Focusing on policies that make sense for working families has paid dividends for our business"
Do you suppose Randy is a real person? With a real business? If he is then I would bet that blowing obama in the back of a limousine is a policy that makes sense to him.
+10
All of the do-nothings, both the parasites and the hosts, have a great sense of self-loathing and are particularly susceptible to self sacrifice. The biggest troublemaker is the man who loves himself. He only wants the rewards he has earned by his own actions and he has no need to share his rewards with others. To the contrary, he believes that he would be stealing another man's sense of self by denying him the satisfaction of realizing the profits of his efforts. His weakness is that he is so busy satisfying his desire to create and produce he is vulnerable to being a host and abettor.
Rand's prophecy that the US would succumb to human nature was not that remarkable. Her organization of her thoughts into a philosophy is her claim to genius. The odds of reversing a flaw in mankind, supported by natural weakness, religion and lore are extremely long. To have made the lasting impression that she has is quite remarkable and encouraging. To most, the message that you have to earn everything you get, your own life is the greatest value and it is all you will ever have, is so unpleasant that they are willing to suspend reason to deny it.
AR made it very clear that this was not human nature, it was the philosophy of altruism.........she made very clear that man's course is determined by philosophy, that altruism is counter to human nature, thus destructive of man, that the actual science of philosophy had been subjugated by religion and that no rational, non-contradictory, fully consistent with man's nature had been developed..........so she developed Objectivism (by fully identifying her own philosophy) to continue and complete AS.
But what do you think of parallels of today that seem so well fitted to her fictional characters and actions?
The point is that human nature (man qua man) is the development and use of one's rational faculty to identify existence (reality) for the purpose of survival and enjoyment of one's life.
Thus, the abandonment of reason is not human nature but the abandonment of it, regardless of the cause, which is, at best, the attempt to circumvent reality and, at its worst, to deny it. Whichever, in any of its forms, (especially to "bamboozle" other people,) it amounts to "I can get away with it!", the "it" being life as the nature of man qua man requires, the attempt (which will always fail) to have A be non-A.
More specifically, moochers and looters, of any stripe, persuasion or contradictory "philosophy", only see other people as reality, to con, scam, bamboozle, etc., i.e. second handers.......they don't want to deal with existence/reality, they want "others" to do that, then abscond from them in order to continue what they call "living".
At some point, they can never face the reality of their "blood sucking" because to face that one is "outside of existence" leads, in fact, to doing just that, by either insanity or suicide.
Cheers
Well stated.
At the Red Hen Baking Co. we are guided by a belief that pure, uncomplicated ingredients and the hands of skilled artisans are the building blocks for great food.
Red Hen Baking Company was established on September 1, 1999 on Route 100 in Duxbury. Randy George had been baking bread for several years, both in his home state of Maine as well as in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. When Randy and his (then future) wife Eliza Cain decided to move back to Liza’s home turf in the Mad River Valley of Vermont, they did so with the intention of opening a bakery.
But I bet they only get "upscale" clientele, as no one else can afford them. Truly, The Peoples Choice...
Staring at "Red Hen" in this post, albeit the second time, the term "red herring" hopped into my old dino mind.
Then followed an expression from the 50s: "Better dead than red."
I could ramble on but I think I better stop.
But come to think of it, an allosaur should be more eager to rampage.
I would have liked to see more positive developments, like electrostatic motors and Rearden Metal.
Of course, I was right... but so many people thought It Was A Good Idea.
Search 1914 N Dort Hwy, Flint, MI on google earth. The two huge empty lots you see was AC Spark Plug, I expect any day to hear about implementation of Directive 10-289.
Fortunately, we wont hear from this character much more in the future. Competition will kill his business, as it should. Customers will tire of paying for his largesse with his employees and go to his competitors- unless of course he keeps competition out by using political influence.
(see my first comment to this post)
A real 'altruist,' eh? LOL.
FIFY.. :)
Ayn Rand did so much more than predict the future. She saw it happen in Russia and she saw it happening here as you said, but she saw why it happened there and why it was happening here. And then she told us why it was happening and how it was going to keep happening. And she gave us the tools to do something about it. If we are up to the task.
Like Zen said; Genius.
Edit; Great big comment, little bitty box.
Good commentary.
A helpful hint: You can increase the size of the window by clicking on the lower right corner and dragging.
Respectfully,
O.A.
You're awesome! Thank you.
Lolol. I've been wondering what those little hash marks were for days.
I am always happy to help.
This site has a tremendous amount of functionality.
Regards,
O.A.
I believe we are in an early phase of the book. the wishful thinking section.
"How prophetic was Atlas Shrugged"?
If you want to find an answer in science or how much interest you have to pay, etc., you calculate, you work with formulas, math...
Numbers can show you exactly where you are heading and exactly where that outcome will take you.
Rand's work, AS, is a formula that shows
exactly where we were headed at the time it was written and exactly what the outcome would be in the future if we continued on that path.
Is AS a prophecy? Or is it a mathematical equation that when the principals are applied you get the results: A = A.
You could say that there is an explicit warning in AS, that when these principals are not applied you get what we have today- is this a prophecy or calculated results?
Thanks Zen.
White House mailing list, too. . I keep a barf bag
handy here at the computer. -- j
p.s. the directive 10-289 stuff is big -- forcing businesses
to do all sorts of things, from buying a certain sort
of health insurance for employees to accommodating
certain customer requests ... -- j
All Americans will now be required to order from The Red Hen Baking Co. You will find the correct order forms on the IRS website.
Of course it is purely voluntary. If you don't want baked goods from the Red Hen then you don't have to buy baked goods.
Cheers
Equal pay means equal work. When working for the government I found the Russian system firmly in place - in most places. They pretend to pay us we pretend to work.
The rest were inclined to read books like AS.
http://www.redhenbaking.com/
To produce premium quality breads and pastries with traditional methods and carefully selected high quality ingredients. To do this while striving to minimize our impact on the environment, to support the growers and producers of our ingredients, and to provide the finest baked goods and service to our customers.
We achieve the above by:
Marketing our baked goods within 100 miles of the bakery and providing daily delivery to stores and restaurants within that area.
Operating a café that is an outlet for our baked goods, provides a range of high quality food and beverages for take-home sale, and functions as a community space for meetings, art and music shows, and other special events.
Honoring the employees that are at the core of everything we do and fostering a work environment of mutual respect and open communication.
Profiting from this work and using that resource to contribute to the betterment of our employees and the community.
I will say however, that this is THEIR business and they are certainly FREE to use what profits they earn any way they choose. The sad part is Obama wants to FORCE everyone to serve at the behest of others against their own free will.
Cheers
The Ant and the Grasshopper - modern version
TheCitizen.com ^ | 2010 | Unknown
Posted on 2/1/2010 11:41:37 PM by bogusname
The Ant and the Grasshopper - modern version
(I got this in an email today. Again, I am not claiming to have written this)
Old version:
The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.
Come winter, the ant was warm and well fed.
The grasshopper had no food or shelter, so he died out in the cold.
Moral of the story: Be responsible for yourself!
Modern version:
The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others were cold and starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America was stunned by the sharp contrast.
How could this be in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper was allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appeared on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cried when they sang, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
Acorn staged a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations filmed the group singing, ‘We shall overcome’.
Jeremiah Wright then had the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid exclaimed in an interview with Larry King the ant had got rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both called for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafted the Economic Equity and Anti - Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant was fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home was confiscated by the government Green Czar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he was in, which just happened to be the ant's old house, crumbled around him because he did not maintain it.
The ant had disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper was found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, was taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorized the once peaceful neighborhood.
Moral of the story: Be careful how you vote in 2016.
Actually, I think most politicians suffer from DARVO. Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. A behavior of perpetrators of wrongdoing, when accused of attacking their victim, reversing the roles of victim and offender. Rand illustrates the behavior, but the term was not invented until about 1997.
Load more comments...