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Dargormudshark

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Everything posted by Dargormudshark

  1. I really liked the movie, but that is basically the only research I've done on him. Yes, his personal life suffered from the way he went about his expirements but that doesn't mean the movie showed him as an individual against the collective. He stood up against the irrationality that he was confronted with and that is highly admirable.
  2. Does that mean Galt is Milton Friedman? I don't know if he was offered that job but I know he was offered economic advisor several times but turned it down for very good reasons. I have alot of respect for him for doing that.
  3. I was ticked off, I was in Best Buy and they had 2 copies of it which I thought was pretty suprising; BUT the plot summary on the back says that he dynamited his greatest project, or something like that. I know that necessarily doesn't give away the ending but I was shocked when he blew up Cortlandt while reading it so to give it away is a downer for anyone who looks at that dvd deciding to watch it or read the book.
  4. I think Bangkok serves Peart's views a little more, the best of both worlds is how he would probably put it. You have your "Apollo" track and then after you have your "Dionysus" track. You could also look at it as "ok, I just listened to a really serious song, now I need to give my head a rest and listen to a song about something stupid, like weed". It could have also been a lyric exercise "I can write an epic about Individualism and I can write a song about pot. I will also say, out of the thousands of rock songs (mostly in the 60's and 70's) "A Passage to Bangkok" is definantly the best song, musically and lyrically, about pot.
  5. What is wrong with excessive desires beyond "need"? We don't need to get water from the tap, we can always dig it up like a poor villager in Africa but its thanks to men being rationally greedy that we get modern plumbing. When I explain my use of the words "greed", "selfishness", and "ego", three virtues that Objectivism holds, I have to use rational as an adjective to explain it to people who have not really studied Objectivism. Rand did this as well, if you notice in a lot of interviews, take the Donahue ones for example she always has to do the common "By that, I mean" and then backtrack and say "Rational Egoism", etc... The reason why she or any other rational person in the world doesn't say "Rational Greed, Ego, Selfishness,etc..." is because you shouldn't have to. Rationality is not and shouldn't be an exception, it should be the default when it comes to the definition. So if I say, "that is greedy" you should assume I'm referring to some being rationally greedy, not irrationally greedy. What is "irrational greed"? Irrational Greed is the second definition you presented, "excessive desire (mostly of material things) that one does not need or deserve." This is irrational because you aren't respecting the concept of truth and justice. If you set out to get something (an end) without any honest means to do so than you are making it right for any other man to do so, then you find yourself in an abyss of hypocrisy and abstracts because you aren't following the concept of truth and justice. For an example, killing your best friend to get a job that he is next in line for and you are right behind him. You aren't following a concept of ones metaphysical right to live freely, thus denying your right to live freely because you are contributing to the idea of this concept being impeded upon. I think alot of the comments so far are pretty dead on but I think one of the keypoints to make clear is Rand's use of language. Some of the most important and beautiful words such as the Ego, Selfish, and Greed have such a huge stigma due to altruistic ideas that is must be made clear in a rational way.
  6. Interesting article on how airline aecurity is effecting musician's in the UK: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060910/wl_uk...ty_060910162527
  7. I seriously doubt too many of the animals of his choice would welcome the sexual initiation with indifference, especially lions, tigers, wolves, and certain dogs.
  8. Interseting, yet a dissapointing scientific observation.
  9. Thinking about the big Rand moments, I've come to the conclusion that the day she arrived in this country should become a national holiday. I'm going to replace this day with Easter or something, lol.
  10. I can't cite the actual quote, but I think Peikoff sums it up best when he brings up the answer Bush gave to the question "Who was the greatest political philosopher ever" and he responded "Jesus Christ". Any man who says that and ascribes to Christianity and its conservative stance is an Altruist, they just don't act on it politically (I'm not being condascending, I know you know this). I can't be 100% of his psychological thought torwards his benefit but as you've seen, he slams those who have been accused of working for their own benefit whenever he delivers lines like the ones that were in the previously posted article. reason for edit:grammar repair
  11. Then i'm suprised he hasn't taken more stabs at Objectivism. I wonder how far Galt's Gulch is from South Park? When you say that out loud that actually sounds like a good way of asking what is difference between Objectivists and Libertarians.
  12. I'm a capitalizt nation according to the UN as well, and my crime rate is really high. But my economy rocks though, I guess Dagny and Hank aren't having to give anyone sanction in The Republic of The Undying I : )
  13. I actually had an idea of all the people in Galt's Gulch being the members on this forum, haha. They could use us all for extras, that way the Gulch remains pure O'ist As for another part for the gulch scene (this is an idea of my own, not in the book, and only Rush fans will get this) I have a vivid image of Dagny walking by a car garage and Niel Peart (Rush drummer, lyricist) is a mechanic working on a red corvette (allusion to the song Red Barchetta) and blasting some Rush on the radio in the garage. As for other real life O'ists in the gulch; Peikoff, Binswanger, Greenspan, and all those guys should be in there too. The whole Atlantis chapter could be a celebration of Rand's influence on the world as well as being part of the story. I think if they do the movie, they will montouge it and highlight the most important parts of the speech. If they did a mini series they should do a whole episode devoted to just the speech. The commercials for the week preceding the episode could say, "Mr. Thompson is giving a speech,etc.." It gives me chills thinking about all this. On a sidenote, even if the movie is bad, can you imagine if you were sitting in the theater to see a movie and all of a sudden the trailer comes on, I'll become giddier than a schoolgirl if that happens. At the end of the trailer it should say "On (insert date of movie release) Atlas Will Shrug!" errrrr I want to experiance that, if only I could direct
  14. Ous are pretty much the same, my currency is the Roark as well and i'm classified as a benevolent dictatorship.
  15. It seems like all of us have been through it to some degree. I went through if before I even read any Rand, after I read Rand I chose my friends, or who I would bother spending any time with by their values and virtues. Just like Burgess, one of my best friends is a socialist but he doesn't practice what he preaches in regard to his highest value, he's a bit red on the outside but he's got ego in him My other best friend, I have probably 3 tops, is pretty conflicted right now and I don't like bieng around him unless he is doing something that makes him happy, which isn't too much at this point and that has been a bit sad for me to see as of late. Another one of my friends I constantly tell is the only one I can get along with 100%. Although he doesn't know much about my values specifically, just like all my other friends he knows that i'm hardcore Atheist and Capitalist, and has alot of questions about my beliefs which gives us plenty to talk about. My reason for joining this forum was so I could talk to people that shared a majority of my beliefs and actually have some intellectual conversations with people and not have them give an answer or solve a problem by telling my the feel that its right or that I need faith. Hope you get through your problem though, and the time you spend on here will make for good intellectual ammo against your professors
  16. Yeah, I did consider that; but the way they singled it out just frustrated me. Not because I think its a stab at me and my values but most of the morals at the end of the episodes don't conflict with Objectivism too much. I'm not saying Matt and Trey are O'sts and they are slamming all their work in the past years by bashing AS, for being too long and dramatic. It's the fact that someone who actually devotes their life to an objective, such as creating a controversial tv show and exposing how ridiculous people can be sometimes, then bashes the pinnacle of Egoism in an esthetical form. All in all I still love the show, my favorite episode is probably the Butters Episode. The end is great how it shows Gary Condit, The Ramseys, and OJ and yells "You know what you did! Quit lying!"
  17. I have a hard time watching waht used to be one of my favorite shows after they bashed AS
  18. When I read the title I thought this thread was going to be about the Anti-Concept Mentality, forgetting what section of the forum I was in. It's funny that we can talk about the evolutionary missing link and then see how it correlates with anti-concept mentalities (Creationists) reason for edit: Spelling
  19. I recently read this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060630/ap_on_sc/mowers_smog I was curious as to whether anyone here knows the current California Smog Rules that are on topic in the article. Since i'm new to reading about the EPA's latest crusades and the toll it takes on industry, how hard a hit will the small engine industry take if these rules go nationwide, I would imagine it would be quite hard, but i'm still looking for some extra insight on the topic.
  20. I love The Exorcist, yes it is a story about the loss of faith, and in the end it is regained, but it is still a great story. I like alot of movies that would be considered wierd and that alot of people on here might ask "How can you like that and be an Objectivist?", the same goes for music. Its not as if these movies move me the same way Rand's fiction does, or her ideas for that matter. I just appreciate it as sheer entertainment, or I respect it because they presented their sense of life in a very dramatic, compelling manner that took alot of work and talent to get across. So to answer the question more directly there are a good chunk of movies I enjoy that have irrational premises, but I do draw the line somewhere...that line would be "Naked Lunch" (Cronenburg, originally a book written by William S. Burroughs)
  21. Like I said, I really don't know how the money is distirbuted in those countires, that is why I tacked on the, "as long as it's not at the expense of others". Obviously if this is 100% true, which i'll do the research myself, but I don't believe to what you say completely unlikey. I agree that the only time the government should be allowed to restrict trade is when the country in question is an enemy and trading with them would be a threat. This is why my opinion on whether or not to buy products from China changed. It's good to know that what they said on the news was true, which was that the private industry in China is booming rapidly. reason for edit: grammar fix
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