Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Lawrence Edward Richard

Regulars
  • Posts

    35
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Posts posted by Lawrence Edward Richard

  1. Oh thank you for the warning. 

    The business that doesn't pay enough will never retain quality staff and will not provide suitable financial value for people to put the effort in. I prefer not to be served by poor quality incompetents. Why exactly do you think that employees will give their all and their loyalty to an exploitative employer? Charity? Altruism? During Covid my employers have had the loyalty and diligence of our team because we are paid fairly and treated well. We are all on message as to what we want to achieve and individual excellence is recognised and rewarded. 

    I think you are working under the mistaken belief that A. I haven't read Atlas Shrugged. I have. B. That anyone who is an egoist and subscribes to some of Rand's ideas must necessarily agree with you. C. That a workers wage is somehow something that can be rock bottom and that the lack of sufficient value from some employers in trade with their employees (effort expended and work and thought for £s) will not lead to the medium to long term death of that business as their business will be poor quality. Unless they are paying in experience and training their employee needs to find a better job? 

    I don't agree with you. The question isn't whether I am a troll, I am not. It is whether you are Objectivist and Egoist enough to be able to live with that fact. 

    Yes I enjoy Rand's books and her philosophy is useful in my goals but unless you are looking for an echo chamber for people who think as you do and nothing else then it doesn't encourage debate or indeed any point in a forum or discussion at all. 

    I'm fine with being banned since my conscience is entirely clear that I wasn't seeking an argument and simply called it as I saw it. 

    Hopefully you will live.

    Go ahead. Do it. 

    I've met some lovely people on here and really enjoyed their posts and poetry but feh, you called me a troll, unlike the tightass failing employers you are so keen to support put your money where your mouth is. 

    In fact I'm gone. I will save you the trouble. Its not worth my time. I thought Boydstun was charming incidentally and want to reassure him I wasn't seeking crap but here it is. 

  2. That’s beautiful. You have obviously found love as I have. The one person who thinks with you and imagines, dreams, and does. It’s true too that sometimes people become binary minded. I was reading something privately today and then my wife came out with a keyword from it. I don’t think I believe in telepathy but shared values, experiences, and thinking perhaps?

    When we are apart something is missing.

    I have tried to write poetry myself but it was not good. I think the best poet of the last 100 years was R.S. Thomas. Maybe you have read some of his? I can only give a couple of his as examples of what I like but cannot create.

    Evans

    Evans? Yes, many a time
    I came down his bare flight
    Of stairs into the gaunt kitchen
    With its wood fire, where crickets sang
    Accompaniment to the black kettle’s
    Whine, and so into the cold
    Dark to smother in the thick tide
    Of night that drifted about the walls
    Of his stark farm on the hill ridge.
     
    It was not the dark filling my eyes
    And mouth apalled me; not even the drip
    Of rain like blood from the one tree
    Weather-tortured. It was the dark
    Silting the veins of that sick man
    I left stranded upon the vast
    And lonely shore of his bleak bed.
     
    R. S. Thomas, “Evans” from The Poems of R. S. Thomas. Copyright © 2001 by Kunjana Jaikin. Reprinted by permission of Kunjana Jaikin.
    .
    I have been lucky enough to visit R.S. Thomas churches where he was a Vicar or Rector in North Wales. When he came to retire he thought the church would look after him in his old age. They didn’t. When he retired he burned his cassock on the beach in Aberdaron. I read some of his poetry on that beach and recorded myself doing it while our children played. 
    Also his old church where his wife and son are buried has a nice little tribute room above it.
     
    Although R.S. was a clergyman I think he struggled to make sense of the point of life. I don’t know what would have happened if he’d met Rand. I mean seriously it would be like Hobbit getting together with Darth Vader and Ronald McDonald to make a tribute single.
     
    Another piece of poetry I hugely enjoyed was the transliterated version of The Green Knight by Simon Armitage. I’m not such a fan of his own stuff but that book is a fantastic read and well worth the buy. Of course my hobbyhorse In Our Time did an episode about that poem and Armitage was one of the panel discussing it. It’s on YouTube.
    Thank you for sharing your work, which always takes courage even when it’s good.

     

     

  3. I just wish he hadn’t appeared on Fox News suggesting pancaking Iran was a viable option to use fear to keep the rest of the Islamic Terrorists and their backers off America and the West. It reminded me of the plans they had with the superweapon in Atlas Shrugged or the Death Star. ‘Fear will keep the systems in line. Fear of this battlestation.’ That was the first clip I found of Mr. Peikoff when I looked on YouTube and it wasn’t a good one.

    I’m looking forward to listening to the one you’ve posted today to hear a thinker at their best.

  4. On 4/14/2004 at 1:34 AM, clarus said:

    And I have no problem with you advocating Objectivism. What I am saying is that talk is cheap. How about you and the others on this list create an Objectivist Project to get Objectivists to move to New Hampshire. Come show us up...

     

    By your definition, since it's you who decide what to work to create. I think it's your problem that you think abstractions can be made absolute, consistent across all people, and perfectly concrete (no greys) without artificial/man-made definitions and continual acceptance by the individuals within a community. Capitalism is no more well defined than life, liberty, and property. Both are words which (can) trigger differing definitions and behavior. Rand's definition of Capitalism is one, mine is another (that it is simply an economic system whereby the means of production are owned/controlled privately), but individuals decide which they will choose to use.

     

     

    I do not for moment believe we have reached the point where the sacrifice needed to move to an idealistic scheme run by Libertarians whom I don’t count myself in with, is equal to the opportunity there is simply by virtue of working hard in the UK as I do now. I rather like my Country as it is as well you know. 

    It might not be Objectivist but it is allowable to simply be happy with where one lives. You add up the good and bad and say to yourself ‘well that’ll do.’

    I totally agree with your points and I wish you and your partners well, it sounds a bold experiment.

    I’m just not sure that living in a society that follows one specific point of view above all others is all that important. So long as men of virtue and character, and industry exist worldwide I will I hope be privileged to know of them and to hopefully work for and with them.

    We aren’t in Atlas Shrugged and the rewards are still there.

     

  5. Hello Boydstun

    Nice of you to say hello and the friendly feedback.

    I became in as much as it is my main consideration in rational argument and used in my Substance Misuse Worker career an Objectivist in 2019 after reading the Fountainhead around Easter of that year. I picked it up in a Charity Shop in North Wales and cherish this battered old book. NO other book has given me so much beauty. I forced my way through Atlas Shrugged over a long period. I remain unconvinced grand political theories and live in much cherished social housing and value my NHS. For a while after reading Fountainhead and beginning Atlas Shrugged I couldn't understand why I kept coming back to a book that said to me (left wing as I was) such shocking truths, or why I found Dagny so beautiful and Hank and Eddie so relatable. In the end I gave in to the fact that beauty exists and to try to treat everyone like they have goodness and good intentions is futile. It also made me value people around me a lot more for their virtues.

    The joke is in any conversation I have with my wife, who doesn't read Rand at all, she MAKES RAND'S arguments as if Rand has possessed her. I find her very beautiful anyway, but when I hear her passion when she speaks about right and wrong it is gorgeous.

    I had to accept in the end that what I loved turned out for too long to have been told to me rather than realised by me.

  6. Hey there Eiuol.

    His psychological conflicts are represented in a very strange detached way, I can never really tell what he is thinking. It feels to me like he sticks his head in the sand so long as he can work on his passions, his planes - and his wife. The impression I gained that until they came for him he kept hoping that things wouldn't get worse. There is a disconnect there. Was that a feature of the Japanese people in general as they walked into war? 

    It is strange that after being hounded into hiding he still wanted to build them the plane that became the Zero. 

    Perhaps it is one of the problems of being a biographical movie that actually is largely fabrication. Interpersonally I LOVE the film, but the larger issues seem to be poorly handled or with too much lightness of touch. Miyazaki compares earthquakes to wars etc. 

    For a lot of people a war their country becomes involved in makes them passengers. That would be an appropriate theme but maybe not for a genius who would have been able to recognise their own value and possibly leave? But then what would have happened to his sister, his wife, his friends? 

    Maybe also in the story Jiro becomes renowned because of the Zero, not before, so isn't that marketable?

     

  7. Stadler felt a lab was his right, and was filled with rage when he was confronted with facts he already knew but refused to accept. He set up his desires as nullifying reality.

    Think of Jiro as more like Pasternak, a cloud dweller. He lacks the ability or will to want to change systems. Jiro would never have tried to go after power the way Stadler did at the end there. Jiro would have been convinced by Galt’s arguments or an argument by the West to defect, but oddly unless given the choice he wouldn’t seek it. Stadler chooses his fate. 

    I think Jiro is more like Rearden without anyone taking his hand to lead him out of being used.

  8. None as far as I am concerned. Her theories for me are about recognition of reality rather than trying to apply a general theory to it. If you want to compare Rand’s ideas to a science I suggest Natural Philosophy and Evolution. But she still isn’t a scientist so much as an advocate for it.

  9. But what is it to Jiro?

    He only wants to design planes, he isn’t political. I would argue that yes it would be vastly preferable for all of us if Jiro joins the side of right compared to an imperialistic government but I would liken him to Roark rather than Galt. Socially and societally he is saddened by what he sees but refuses (Jiro is not as strong as Galt so wilfully refuses, blinkers himself, tries to ignore?) to take responsibility for others blindness. 

    I see him not as an ideal Objectivist hero but as an example of what happens when dreams and uncompromising talent meets larger events. Yes he makes the wrong decision not to free but there are doubtless reasons for that. You have argued convincingly that he fails the test on broader issues about how his creations will be used. I’d argue that goes for an awful LOT of people and therefore he gets a pass from me. I still like him and admire his drive.

    He may in the story be the man who could have been but wasn’t, but he is also simply him. I can’t condemn him for his limitations although they seem a bit wilful at times and it does make you wonder.

    In the actual made up story, what were his options?

    We are all weak in some places and strong in others. I follow Objectivism myself for a lens and a practical plan. It’s also uncompromising reality that promotes positive decision making. However I see myself as too concerned with others opinion of me, too worried, too wobbly. 

    Like Jiro (and I’m by no means as much of a talent as him) I’m a student not a teacher.

    Would the world be a better place without a lot of things that were built initially for and used for war? Would that stop those wars still happening? The atom bomb saved more lives than it took. When arguments go upward from me to you, a person to another, when these become societal judgements I become uneasy. I hate group theories because it seems to contaminate the whole argument of existentialism and authenticity which has to be freedom, and that includes freedom to differ.

    I can’t condemn Jiro as I would be condemning myself. I haven’t reached Superman status yet. The funny thing is that I’m not in touch with my own ethics anyway, my stated reactions to hypotheticals are often at odds with my actual reactions that are generally MORE moral than what I profess to believe. To give a simple example when Lisa is offered the check by Burns. I say every time I see the episode that I’d take it. My wife says every time that I wouldn’t. Deep down I know she’s right. That might flatter me by choice of example, apologies as I could use a negative one possibly as easily - but it just goes to show a lot of us go through life trying to recognise what we plan to do and would do and actually being wrong about that.

    So Jiro is human, it’s allowable if not ideal.

    You describe what he should do but it seems a bit more heroic than Jiro and indeed most people. But I won’t commit the sin of speaking for a crowd. I am worried that what you describe is better than I would have been. There always comes a time for a break, a moment to snap back and rise up, a turning point. I have no idea where mine are usually until they show up.

     

  10. To be honest it never bothered me that Jiro created planes for the military. Someone else would have, and it wouldn’t have a material effect on the course of the war. Jiro in the film loves to create aviation technology and has this imagination and talent that he will not squander. I think it is in his interest to simply be who he is to his utmost, he cannot control how his creations are used or by whom for what. 

    I don’t think Jiro avoiding practicing his talent would have changed the course of history and it would have been a sacrifice in the worst way for him not to.

    I also love the way the movie captures the everyday experience for people caught up in the wind. All they can do is try to live as them to their best ability. The wind needs no more victims it will do what it does.

  11. I think Quent and Linda are taking account of the safety needs along with a realistic view of their desire not to go under financially. It is ludicrous that a gallery - which is generally quite a quiet environment - is being forced to be closed. Why not just have to 2 or 3 people in a time like Pharmacies in the UK do during Covid-19 measures?

    In the general populace people might say 'sacrifice to save us all' but its an insult  even by non Objectivist ethics to expect others to sacrifice their likelihood when it achieves nothing. Its quite clear in this couple's case that they would and will do all they can to help a realistic containment and eradication of this illness, but they aren't going to take measures that achieve nothing and kill their business. Its the difference between 'sacrifice' as Rand terms it, and trying to do the right thing for ALL of us including them! Why should they potentially go under just to follow a rule that doesn't make anyone safer? 

    Good luck to them, I hope it works out.

  12. Hello everyone. 

    The Wind Rises is currently available on Netflix and I would just like to recommend it to you. 

    I think it is Objectivist in outlook, from a Howard Roark point of view.

    1. Jiro wants to design planes, he takes no responsibility for how they are used.

    2. Jiro and his wife respond to each other's virtues, and build a relationship based on shared values and total honesty.

    3. Jiro and his friend at Mitsubishi spend their time talking work and enjoying being together but do not pass judgements on each other. They are simply together like Roark and his friends because they like being together.

    4. The movie is very harsh on reality deniers and the way Imperialists try to ignore reality and justify the indefensible.

    5. Jiro's boss is benevolent and caring towards Jiro because the values he sees present in Jiro, and therefore works to help him as it in turn helps his own vision of the world. The bit of the movie where he shelters Jiro at his home and Jiro and Naoko marry is very moving.

    I think when I have more time there is a lighthearted Objectivist review to be made of this movie, I say lighthearted because my Objectivism is not as deeply read as others. 

    I heartily recommend you watch this film if you haven't seen it yet, it is a touchstone in my emotional movie watching life.

  13. On 3/8/2020 at 2:59 PM, William Hobba said:

    Ever see the series 7 up?   At 28 when they look back at their younger self's they wince.   My father was a communist when young but later saw the light.   Young people often realize how silly the ideas they hold when young, mostly just picked by a sort of cultural osmosis, really have no basis.

    Thanks

    Bill

    Hey there Bill, I know exactly what you mean. I look at my earlier permissiveness and assumption of good intent from other people as an automatic given, with depression.

     

×
×
  • Create New...