CBS’s ‘Good Wife’ Ridicules Ayn Rand’s Books as ‘Awful’ with ‘a 12-Year-Old’s View of the World’
Ah, we must be getting to them.
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“It meant nothing to him any longer, only a faint tinge of sadness--and somewhere within him, a drop of pain moving briefly and vanishing, like a raindrop on the glass of a window, its course in the shape of a question mark.”
Snippets from isolated descriptions within the book do not make the novel painfully long.
The personal "dull pain" you refer to isn't supported by the two quotes you gave. Francisco was referring to his own understanding of why Rearden would not quit, and the other one was Eddie Willers' sadness resulting from his own loss of idealism. Most of the scenes in the valley illustrate a very positive sense of life in what they could achieve themselves despite the destruction in the outer world.
You should reassess what leads you to feel an endless dull pain waiting for this country to return to original values. For one thing, there is a good chance that it will not, at least for a long time after your lifespan. You shouldn't base your life on unrealistic expectations of what others will do as necessary for your own sense of life as something better than chronic dull pain for the rest of your life.
It is frustrating to experience the destruction when you know how much could be possible, and we should never lose sight of that fact, but it doesn't prevent you from achieving what you can personally in your own life and experiencing the rewards of that, especially the psychological rewards for a person of independence. That is still possible in a mixed economy -- for as long as that much lasts -- despite the injustices.
There is also justifiable fear of what you are threatened with, depending on your circumstances if government agencies are directly persecuting you. Different people are being adversely impacted to different degrees in different ways, and brutes have a way of inflicting long dull pain.
But none of that should reduce the essence of emotional experience of life to a "long dull pain" as a dominant reaction -- remember the scene in The Fountainhead where Roark replies "only down to a certain point".
You are correct. It is likely to be a very long time for America to return to its roots. I doubt that it will ever happen. Having sold a company because Obama led customers away from my biofuel company to solar companies like Solyndra and having my parents lose $100 K as a result of his illegal handling of the auto bailout, etc. are just two of the effects that government has had on me directly. I want no sympathy. I have done quite well in my life, even in my shrug era (the last 5-6 years). Let us just say that AS opens up wounds that I would rather just let heal. I was a Dagny-type for a long time. Shrugging is not natural for me, but it was the only logical thing to do. I am anxiously awaiting our re-emergence, either in America or in our Atlantis. Anxiously is the key word. I used to be patient, but the day after day needle pokes of Ellsworth Tooheys like Obama and his minions have worn my patience thin.
I still appreciate the novel in the same terms, though of course awareness of the parallels with the politics and culture around us has been forced on us all. I still despise politics, but learned not long after reading the novel that action in that realm is necessary for self defense, which over the years has meant both general trends in politics and elections, and some very specific activism. We have had some notable successes in heading off some very bad injustices, but the trend continues to worsen.
I have no patience for them either but mostly hold them in contempt rather than waiting for improvement. Sometimes there is relative improvement, but it is only part of zig zag path in a net downward spiral.
I don't advocate a 'shrug' movement as a means of making a difference either for society at large or a smaller group seeking some kind of asylum, but there is a limit to what I will tolerate in working for punishment, and I understand why some people would take a comprehensive 'shrug option' even though it isn't "natural". Everyone has his own circumstances and his own limits.
In our case we have been punished and viciously persecuted for speaking out, but refuse to stop. In the suspicious minds of paranoid bureaucrats those who speak out against them "must be doing something wrong", and they pursue punishment exploiting arbitrary power without regard for objectivity. (We are all starting to see that intimidation on a grander scale the way the Obama administration has repeatedly regarded the tea party movement as being "terrorists", and the consequences of that will become worse, especially with the growing mass surveillance used for "parallel construction" of motives for government action). So though our circumstances are different, I empathize with the personal experiences you referred to in your own life. You do deserve sympathy, just like Rearden and the rest. But there is no Ragnar to help.
you're assuming she can read.
In the areas that I've pursued in business. The first one (real estate) I was a total failure at due to a lack of training in the field. But that failure taught me how to succeed in the next two industries.
The second was as a general contractor that specialized in military construction projects that other contractors had failed to complete. I hired good men that I paid well enough that they never even thought about looking for another job. I made certain they knew that their success was linked to my success. I examined exactly why every contractor I was replacing failed to complete a job and if I did not understand their failure, I passed on the job. The biggest thing I learned from my first business was to NEVER attempt a job that I did not KNOW how to finish.
My third business was/is one that is based entirely on my personal ability and performance. Each item I produce is hand tooled by me. Each ball of clay I use is mixed and produced to my chemical formula and the glazes that are applied are the result of several years of careful experimentation and analysis. When I price each piece I follow instruction offered to me by one of my most gifted professors - "Charge enough for it that you won't mind seeing the piece in somebody else's home".
I don't make many pieces, but I charge enough for them that I don't have to.
I have what I feel is the greatest job on earth, I turn mud into gold.
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Actually, it's "productive people" who strike.
Whether they are rich is quite secondary to the plot, but I suppose that this shallow character can't understand that production often leads to wealth.
Neither was it an accident that the script misrepresented her novels as being about "blowing up buildings". An interesting plot twist and dramatization in The Fountainhead of a creator withdrawing what had been taken from him is not so subtly replaced with a stock misrepresentation of mindless violence as supposedly characteristic of Ayn Rand.
But then the left really only has the mental maturity of a 12 year old.
"No doubt that there are those who are quite cunning, very "learned" and have a much more expansive view and understanding of the world. They are the puppetmasters."
A twelve-year-old's view of the world? I'd say the character in "The Good Wife," and the script writers, were trying to throw off on Rand with that remark. I mean: they are the ones with the twelve-year-old's view of the world.
This is the most biased line, and it's not that bad, in the dialogue spoken by the pro-Rand character: “Because there are more people who want than people who have. Read Ayn Rand.”
It seems like he may be implying there're not enough goods and services to go around, so we need childish philosophies to justify why some people have more. My opinion, and I think the opinion put forward in AS, is there are infinite goods and services if we only go out and create them.
In that case I agree with him completely.
As the archaic phrase goes, "chillax, guys..." The writers, if they're as liberal-lefty Hollywood as we trust they are, they would not miss a chance for a cheap shot like that, and the situation served up a softball for them to try to hit out of the park. So easy to do when you're controlling the pitcher, catcher, batter... :)
Hell, maybe some viewer might have their curiosity piqued by the comments and go Googling... who knows?
And my wife and I are constantly amazed at the string of curve balls the writers throw into the story line(s) EVERY episode! We're in a constant state of WTF can they think of next, as we predict, several times during each episode, that 'well, THAT'S not going to end well...'
That means you think the script writers were portraying Rand in a positive light.
enough to know better!!
"Libertarian author"????
Alisha is a liberal don't forget, so of course she had to knock it...she doesn't get it, although she has no problems cashing the checks from the producers.
I just did... :)
Tonight I started to read about a particular news item that I wanted more information about. I knew the real problem lay in the interoperation of a law and what the law exactly said. It took me 3 hours to find what actually turned out to be a city regulation. At any point I could have quite searching and accepted what a reporter offered as the "real law" and had I done so, I would have been just as wrong as 3/4 of the people offering their opinions on websites I saw and read - who were all most likely regurgitating what the reporter had errorously offered up.
It might actually be forth handed information or even fifth or sixth handed.
.
The only other ones I've heard using the same anti-Rand vitriolic are those (a) currently involved in (and very proud of their association with) the various communist manifesto / Workers of the World Unite schlock, (b) the "Anarchist" movement players, who are deeply tied in with (a), and the "Occupy (wherever) movement"... again, parading their pride in their involvement in the former.
Never forget the Marxist manifesto requires their system be adopted universally and absolutely, and having the screenwriters act on their behalf to include their propaganda (overtly or hidden) into the brainwashing tool of the modern era (network TV entertainment dramas) is intended to spread their ideas, and gain complete acceptance, among the sheeple of America.
What amazes me is how people suck this scum up as if it were gospel, and spew it as fact, after watching it on a propaganda feelie on TV, and not see it for what it is. (And then get offended when they get called "Sheeple"...)
I came across a video by Stefan Molyneux last night discussing this show, and defending Ayn Rand. He is a more typical anarchist, in my experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeXblLS4l...
They were pretty popular for a while among young liberal miscreants, and followed closely by Law Enforcement. It was said the original "occupy" movement was suborned by this group...
If you have read about the time period that Ayn Rand grew up in, you will recognise that she was writing about events that had already happened.
(Take over by the bolsheviks / communists in Russia and FDR's New Deal of the 1920s).
FDR's New Deal was in the 1930's by the way.
Thanks for correcting me on FDR's New Deal.
I agree that by writing the history as a novel that future generations would be able to learn the pattern(sequence of events) and know how the slippery slope unfolds.
It is only by being aware of history's patterns that we can have a chance to make sure they are not repeated.
Along the lines of Ayn Rand writing from her personal history, for the first time in 40 years, I recently reread Anthem. Talk about distilling it down to the essence! This should be encouraged reading for all teenagers coming of age. I think now I must reread We The Living.
Jim Wright
Of course it had to be slurred to get past the mental filters, but the more it gets mentioned, the more offers to watch the film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged might be accepted.
I have been able to get people to watch the movies that would not have any interest in reading the book. I use this method to slowly educate on the importance of a philosophy for living in the world.
I think the "want. than have" comment was a was a lament that there was not enough socialism to please the lady.- and that everyone (except the politicians and actors) should have equal, while the rich liberals would continue to have what they want. That is utopia as Hollywood sees it.
Thank goodness I can tune out liberal actresses and actors, and watch old movies, FOX News or CMT. Old movies had people who were heroes, like Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and Gary Cooper.
I pay for cable (way too much) almost solely for Fox News, AMC, and TCM.
Critics use as an example that the majority of "Randoids" are young and have not experienced life, which is why her books appeal. Of course, in many cases the young have not been polluted by the negativity of other philosophies and are elated by heroes that are truly heroes. Besides, I can introduce you to at least two old Objectivists, me - 80 and my son- 54. So, there, you @#$%$#@!!!
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