Chris.S Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 I posted the link of Yaron Brook on PJTV to my Facebook profile to try and get friends to watch it if they're interested. One of them, who's a pretty smart guy who likes to talk politics, commented, saying this: Ayn Rand gave the ruling class a philosophical justification for being the amoral, rapacious pieces of shit they wanted to be, and told them that they were not only morally right, but heroic for being amoral, rapacious pieces of shit. That is why her work has endured, and until there is no ruling class, her work will continue to endure. Finally, a chance to exercise my Oism muscles! So I replied with: have you even read any of her writings? she doesn't advocate for any "class". in fact, she specifically speaks out against grouping people together in a formless "class", and instead advocates for reality, reason and rational egoism as a morality. from these, you get individual rights - the basics of which are the right to your own life, the ... Read Moreright to be free to do what you want so long as you dont infringe on others' rights, the right to pursue your own happiness and the right to your own property. from these basic individual rights you get laissez-faire capitalism. the opposite morality of rational egoism is altruism, ie being selfless, ie having no self, ie you gave it away to others or others took it by force. in other words, you sacrificed your self, or others sacrificed you for their gain. from this, you get socialism at the least, and communism at the extreme. what you're seeing in the news today is an eerily close situation to that in Atlas Shrugged. The last couple weeks I've been thinking of starting an Oism group at my college but was worried that I might not have grown to the capacity of a "group leader", ie I don't have the intellectual ammo yet. But I think a few more rounds with my friend and I'll be able to sort stuff out through practice and be better off later. I've never been an activist kind of person, but it feels good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 (edited) The last couple weeks I've been thinking of starting an Oism group at my college but was worried that I might not have grown to the capacity of a "group leader", ie I don't have the intellectual ammo yet.As an organizer, you don't also have to be the most knowledgeable. If you contribute enthusiasm and organization skills, that can be of value. Also, the purpose of any such group can be to explore the philosophy as learners... somewhat like a reading group would do on some other topic. Edited March 19, 2009 by softwareNerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benpercent Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Since he uses terminology such a "pieces of shit", I wouldn't even bother. Just point out that he provided no evidence and state no argument can be had. It is always important to know beforehand whether one's opponent even accepts logic before engaging him in a battle of logic. People who have potty-mouth mentalities, I'd say, are not such people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.S Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Yeah, I agree that that's what I should have done, and after browsing through VoS a bit again on the subway, I read that Ayn Rand says the same thing. I didn't want to let it go though and make it seem that I agree complicitly, but I should've just said "I disagree". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffS Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 One of them, who's a pretty smart guy Based on what standard? I don't have the intellectual ammo yet. I think you did a pretty good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benpercent Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Yeah, I agree that that's what I should have done, and after browsing through VoS a bit again on the subway, I read that Ayn Rand says the same thing. I didn't want to let it go though and make it seem that I agree complicitly, but I should've just said "I disagree". But let us not forget that everyone is the "moderator" of their own Facebook page. It would do no harm to simply delete his post and make explicit some rules for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.S Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 But let us not forget that everyone is the "moderator" of their own Facebook page. It would do no harm to simply delete his post and make explicit some rules for posting. For sure, but I'd rather have open argument so that others who see the video link and the argument underneath can see where I and the video of Yaron Brook are coming from, and hopefully shake them up a bit. Deleting others' posts seems like the kind of tactic used by the academic philosophers opposing Oism that I've seen discussed here, ie some sort of dishonesty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMERICONORMAN Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 It's funny, I tried to link this same thing on my facebook profile and the link wouldn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.S Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 It's funny, I tried to link this same thing on my facebook profile and the link wouldn't work. Yeah, I tried the usual way of posting vids, but it only shows a link to pjtv.com. So I copy/pasted the video link to a comment right under the main pjtv.com link, and also saying "CLICK HERE". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMERICONORMAN Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Yeah, I tried the usual way of posting vids, but it only shows a link to pjtv.com. So I copy/pasted the video link to a comment right under the main pjtv.com link, and also saying "CLICK HERE". Ah ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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