Mister A

Just sharing my observation of mainstream pro-choicers, the ones who treat the issue like a partisan football.

It seems that the pro-regulation crowd is not being honest with themselves; they hyperventilate over executive bonus pay yet are indifferent to Hugh Jackman raking in millions for prancing about in a bad haircut. My theory: Escapism, by its reality-avoidant nature, may be the only product that does not inspire envy. Thoughts?

While I can get the premises for the O'ist position on abortion (inasmuch as they ARE premises rather than snarling assertions) I'm still disaffected by what I perceive to be a strong streak of misanthropy in the pro-choice movement that could easily slide into tolerance of infanticide (Obama is a perfect example). Also, I've often seen pro-choicers employ the "Malevolent Universe" premise in their arguments; that simply bringing forth life into this 'cruel' world is an act of child abuse.

I read the entry for the anti-conceptual mentality on the Lexicon. While I certainly see this attitude in politics and philosophy, I'm having trouble grasping how a human being can survive, even thrive and multiply, when he has shut down the faculties required for his own survival. These people seem to be able to socialize, get accepted to and attend college, hold jobs of various levels, get married, sire children; common achievements of a modern existence that I would expect to require a functioning mind. Do they somehow get by solely via peer mimicry and tribalism while being in perpetual terror of the inconceivable?

Certainly, but is he old and accomplished enough to present himself as an intellectual authority and be paid for it?

FYI: Ezra Klein is only 25 years old.

Yeah Fred Kinnan was a breath of fresh air in that snake pit of neurosis and misanthropy.

The most chilling quotes I've read so far in AS were during the Directive 10-289 enactment. "If we are to perish, let's make sure that we all perish together. Let's make sure that we leave them no chance to survive!" "There was once an Age of Reason., but we've progressed beyond it. This is the Age of Love." "If we do away with genius, we'll have a fairer distribution of ideas." "I know what I'm talking about. That's because I never went to college."

I recently read through the part in Atlas Shrugged where a politician bullies the railroad company to run a coal-burning train through a poorly ventilated tunnel with fatal results. It got me thinking of the 'Scare Force One' incident last month where the President's plane flew around downtown Manhattan at low altitude, supposedly for a photo-op. Just like in the novel, the situation involved many professionals performing a complicated, costly procedure (i.e. moving the President's mobile command center) in a way that was obviously dangerous and imbecilic (though luckily not deadly in this case). As much as I found such a feat of collective idiocy mysterious and fascinating at the time, it's with Rand's insight that I realize its true horror: those normally-intelligent professionals could only have been acting out of fear to appease the arbitrary whims of a tyrant -someone who was told that the operation would cause a panic and answered, "That's your problem not mine!" Someone who initiated a game of "pass the buck" with the responsibility. Someone who had to have had more pull in the Obama admin than that unfortunate chair-warmer who had to resign.

Yeah, it's the brain-melting evasion that throws me off. I digest every bit of information that is apparent no matter how grim and unflattering it is but I guess that's the result of a decision I made early in life that became an autonomous habit. John Galt couldn't be forced into thinking for his persecutors and James Taggart would sooner starve to death than let a syllogism form in his consciousness.

I recently read a sample of Onkar Ghate's essay 'The Death Premise in We the Living and Atlas Shrugged' which analyzes the mindset of nihilists like James Taggart. Elucidating as it was, I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around such a toxic and alien perspective -even though in retrospect I know I repeatedly encountered James' 'brain brothers' throughout my life. If Nihilists are people who do not directly want to die (or perhaps do and are in neurotic denial), but follow the path of implicit death (presumably due its minimal resistance) expecting to somehow cheat causality and obtain the opposite result, than it stands to reason that there must be a safety net in place that personally shelters the Nihilist from the natural consequences of his philosophy or delays said consequences indefinitely. In applied practice, such a safety net has to be constructed from the bodies of the sacrificed; victims who are coerced to pay the price of the Nihilist's desire in blood, forced labor and/or seized property. Obviously, the point of AS was the removal of the safety net by withdrawing its construction material. This post was intended to raise a question but I seem to have already answered it. However, I still feel unsatisfied; like an essential piece of the puzzle is missing. I guess my mind is instinctively averse to grasping the full horror of the Nihilist mentality; still believing there is some kernel of sense in the abyss of chaos.

A few eps earlier the show spoofed 'Heavenly Creatures'. They seem to be taking a 'dart-toss' approach to inspiration now.