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John Stossel/ Friend Of Objectivism, But Not Objectivist

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I just finished readig his book "Give Me A Break", and I plan or reading his new book that just recently came out.

I grew up watching Stossel on 20/20 as a whiney consumer rights reporter, and was happy when he grew into a more objective reporter. When I started studying Objectivism last year, I was surprised, and pleased to see that many would refer to him as an Objectivist, and I saw some references to him mentioning Rand's work.

I have never seen anything to show he calls himself one, though he admires Atlas Shrugged, Rand, and seems to be pretty tight with David Kelly and The Objectivist Center. (He quotes Kelly in his book a few times and mentions the center. He was even on one of his specials. If you type "John Stossel" and "Objectivist" into Google.com, you will pull up likes with him and David Kelly and/or the Objectivist Center all over the place. Me thinks he could use some balancing with ARI, but hey, that's another story.)

But I cannot see anything in the book that even hints at any serious study of Objectivism on his part. I was disappointed by that. By what I had read on other websites and discussion boards, it sounded like Stossel was an Objectivist. I made the mistake of assuming he was from the articles he has written, and from of the posts I have read online at various discussion boards.

I figured it would be best to find out for myself.

It's still a good book, and I recommend it. However, just with this caveat: While Stossel is friendly to some of Objectivist philosophy and capitalism, he is NOT an Objectivist, nor does he claim to be.

Perhaps some would think I am being anal about this. However, in studying Objectivism, it is really easy to allow yourself to be 'stumbled' by things that are written by those that may not have a correct understanding, or may not be in agreement of Objectivism. Had I picked up this book 6 months ago, I would have been totally confused by the some of the laws that Stossel said where part of the proper role of government that Objectivism doesn't seem to teach.

Kudos to John Stoseel. He really is a heroic reporter. I do have more respect for him than before I read the book. And I am glad he doesn't claim to be something he is not.

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