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ruveyn1

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Posts posted by ruveyn1

  1. I'm picking up Atlas Shrugged for the second time. It's a pretty good book, written by Ayn Rand. Rather controvercial. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else wants to read it at the same time and discuss whatever comes up.

    There is a satire on Ayn Rand: Mozart was a Red. by Murray Rothbard.

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/mozart.html

    Which made me think of a quasi comical scene where you tell Ayn Rand that -Atlas Shrugged- was pretty good.

    ruveyn1

  2. I came across this quote of Rand in regards to Hickman in her journals, and reading it, it reminds me of the public in regards to Casey Anthony. Do you think it's applicable in any way?

    "The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole society against one man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the 'virtuous' indignation and mass-hatred of the 'majority.'... It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal...

    What does she mean by it?

    Let me see if I have this right. This Hickman person was a loathsome kidnapper and killer but (according to Rand) he suggested something heroic to Rand.

    I used the wiki article for my information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Hickman#Ayn_Rand.27s_The_Little_Street

    I can not think of any rational basis on which Ayn Rand evaluated Hickman. But then again, I am not a novelist.

    ruveyn1

  3. The Republicans have done a thorough job of alienating so called "independent voters", i.e. those who are not ideologically wedded to any political party.

    The only chance Republicans have is to win the better half of the independent votes. Last election was a good example. Mitt Romney was such a putz, no sane person could have voted for him. So they went with the know quantity, Barak Obama however poor a choice he is. Romney never made a decent case for capitalism. He did the cause a lot of damage with his shallowness and stupidity.

    ruveyn1

  4. They are like terrorists to Islam... just without the violence and murder.

    As long as they do not resort to violence and keep their legal distance from funerals, there is no law that can stop them from doing what they are doing. The fact that looney tunes like these are not persecuted and prosecuted is actually a good reflection on our laws of free speech.

    If they could be shut down by law, how long would it be before you and I were shut down?

    ruveyn1

  5. That's a strange belief to hold... when every businessman knows full well that it is impossible to hide from the government. Galt's Gulch as I interpret the metaphor, is a place of safety on the outer edge of civilisation, in contrast to being encapsulated by heavily populated urban centers with all of their social and economic issues. On the outer edge there is far more freedom of action. That you feel this is wrong is not my concern, as each of us gets what we deserve as the consequences of our own actions. I'm satisfied with the consequences I've set into motion and fully accept them as my own personal responsibility.

    Having an electronic invisibility cloak or a force field makes it even safer. By the way, this scenario could not obtain in an age of spy satellites. Even John Galt could not prevent light from passing through cold still air at night.

    ruveyn1

  6. I came across this quote of Rand in regards to Hickman in her journals, and reading it, it reminds me of the public in regards to Casey Anthony. Do you think it's applicable in any way?

    "The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole society against one man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the 'virtuous' indignation and mass-hatred of the 'majority.'... It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal...

    What does she mean by it?

    Perhaps, let he who has committed a lesser sin (or perhaps no sin at all) be the one to cast the stone.

    ruveyn1

  7. Economic freedom is the right to trade with others without interference. What you're describing is not economic freedom.

    You are the owner of your time, energy and life. If you want to live 100 percent cash and carry that is your decision.

    There are times that I borrow. But I never borrow unless I have a good reason to, and I know that I can repay the load.

    A convenient loan can be a time saver and well worth the interest charged over a reasonable period of time.

    Example: I need a good reliable car to go out on the road and work. If I can not afford it at the instant that work is available I put some money down, borrow the rest, get the car, go out and work and repay the loan from the wages I new can get because I borrowed to purchase the car. If I forwent the loan, I would miss out on a good work opportunity, and that would be a loss or cost to me.

    ruveyn1

  8. This is why I consider Ayn Rand as having given good advice to keep a safe distance when people are getting exactly what they deserve, so that the system doesn't come crashing down around your ears.

    I would not be so harsh. Many people have been hoodwinked by what passes for education. It is not the victims fault (necessarily) if he was taken in by people who presented themselves as faithful teachers or leaders. If a person persists in something after he has been shown proper proof (empirical proof is best) then he has brought woe upon his own head.

    My first impulse is to see if someone was a victim, rather than a wrong doer or a passive accomplice in a wrong thing.

    Don't be in such a hurry to condemn. You could make (innocent) mistakes. Would you like to be roasted for an innocent error? If not, do not be so quick to roast another. Find out about his situation first.

    ruveyn1

  9. Value (the noun) is something that is sought for if not in hand or defended if it is already in hand.

    Value in this sense means a valuable thing or situation.

    In the case of a mathematical or logical variable, the variable is mapped into a domain by a value-function. That is not quite the same thing because there is no end-means context to this definition. In the mathematical context value-ing is putting a label on something for future reference.

    ruveyn1

  10. As I argued previously in this thread, it's not enough to quote the Bible on something without looking at actual Christians to see whether they view this passage as a valid Christian principle. How many Christians do you know that believe this? And how are those Christians (e.g. the Westboro Baptist Church) viewed by the greater Christian community?

    To the main-line types, the likes of the WBC is bloody embarressing.

    ruveyn1

  11. "Those that really drove the economy were bringing it to an abrupt halt, throwing 'theirkind' off head first onto the pavement, plus any 'neutrals' as Galt called them, which I am assuming are children, babies, etc...."

    I was referring to Galt's capitivity in the hotel, when Mr. Thompson, Dr. Ferris, and such each confronted him tete-a-tete.

    Ragnar to Cuffy: "Mr. Meigs, kindly pull out your copy of Prior Analytics and define for me a syllogism, please?"

    Cuffy would have invoked a disjunctive dilemma: do it or I will shoot you.

    ruveyn1

  12. He didn't believe in private property in the same sense an Objectivist would, and he believed in the labor-theory of value. These kinds of innacuracies led him to think that absentee land ownership was eploitative and that it led to a class of businessmen who didn't earn their income in the same way that small businessmen did.

    And sure enough, that is true. Do the head bankers of the main ill managed financial banks (who run a casino, rather than an economy) do one blessed thing of constructive use? Collecting rent as such is not all that useful. Building and designing the houses that people rent to live in is.

    ruveyn1

  13. Are you able to describe what it is that causes your thoughts to come from your brain?

    We do not yet know enough about human brains to answer that question. However, all preliminary evidence suggests that thoughts start out as neuro-electrical events occurring in the body of the person experiencing the thoughts. So far there is not a lick, not an iota of evidence indicating that thoughts originate in a non-physical substance. That latter is the sort of mess that Descartes left us with. There is no mind-body problem any more than their is a stomach-digestion problem.

    ruveyn1

  14. I'll ask again: what would mind and chalk have done to persuade a man like Cuffy Meigs? Or Dr. Ferris? Or Orren Boyle? Or even Jim Taggart, who had his sister there with him his entire life, perpetually at the chalkboard, constantly showing him the right way?

    Nothing really. Cuffy was an outright thug and Jim Taggart was a thug who wore a business suit. These folks believed they could have what they wanted just by apply force in the right place and in the right way. What can one do with specimens like this except avoid them or destroy them?

    ruveyn1

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