Some libertarian Ayn Rand Bullshit for your displeasure

[AX10]

http://www.atlassociety.org/cth-43-1594-Columbus_Day_In_Praise_of_Exploitation.aspx

"Columbus Day: In Praise of Exploitation"

"But true human life, either for an individual or society, is not an endless, stagnant cycle. Rather, it is a growth in knowledge, in power over the environment, and in individual liberty.

Perhaps many pre-Columbian natives were content with their lot in a simple, animal-like existence. But what of young Indian children who wondered why family members sickened and died and if there were ways unknown to the shamans to relieve their pain or cure them; if there were ways to build shelters that would resist bitter winters, stifling summers and the storms that raged in both seasons; whether there were ways to guarantee that food would always be abundant and starvation no longer a drought away; why plants grow and what those lights in the sky really were; and whether they could ever actually fly like birds and observe mountains from the height of eagles? Where were the opportunities for these natives?"

Copyright, The Objectivist Center. For more information, please visit www.ObjectivistCenter.org.

This just shows the militant ethnocentrism of these people. They are really not that different from Neo-Conservatives. A number of Libertarians I know hate the term Neo-Conservative. I understand why they do so. Neo-Conservative had a negative connotation to it, as it should. Neo-Conservatism is founded on the belief that they are superior to others, therefore they are right to force their beliefs on others by any means. That is not democratic and is not free choice. They know that in the back of their minds. "Libertarians" share alot in common with Neo-Conservatives. Liberals believe in freedom, Libertarians not necessarily so.

On edit: I consider the University of Chicago to be a training ground for economic terrorists.

[Katherine Brengle]

1. Smallpox blankets - when God closes a door...

What fucking bullshit.

[bjorkfan]

2. You'd think she would have picked on them for human sacrifice, or something like that.

[Fovea]

7. I think that human sacrifice is only bad for religious reasons

if it is for profit, progress, or the triumph of the will, it is sanctioned.

[mitchum]

3. And they conveniently ignore the documented fact that the Europeans...

were impressed with the exceptional health, beauty, height, etc... of the Native Americans. Acknowledged to be far superior to that of the interlopers.

[immoderate]

5. Yup, racism.

The natives had democracy, too.

--IMM

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Here's somebody who learned about Indian culture

from watching old movies.

[RainDog]

6. total uninformed ignorant bullshite

She had no understanding of the foundation of this nation.

The Six Nations' Great Law of Peace was a participatory democracy and Franklin, etc. consulted with and took ideas from them. Women were also involved in governing long before any european nation allowed females a voice.

but ayn just sucks anyway. I consider her a "stage" people go through, usually starting around 17. If they're not over it by the time they're 20... well, what can I say... oh, I can say Greenspan!

[AX10]

8. Greenspan just wants to hock his book to us.

He had the power to make a difference when he was the Chair of
the Federal Reserve.  He can go to HELL too!

[Liberal Veteran]

12. I never really understood the appeal of Ayn Rand.

Seems to me she was just a person marketing cheap rationalizations for selfishness.

[Fredda Weinberg]

14. She appeals to the top 1% - and according to her theory, it doesn't

matter what you think. The world is affected by powerful individuals and they naturally embrace her adoration.

[immoderate]

13. You remind me of my freshman year... (LOL)

I had a meeting with my favorite professor, who taught me freshman chemistry. I told him I was considering switching to philosophy major from engineering because of the objectivist writings of Ayn Rand (of which I admittedly had read little.)

"Ayn Rand, huh?" he said. "She's a flying hunk of shit."

That got me reading a bit more critically. Took me a few days to get over it. LOL.

--IMM

[Sabriel]

18. What does it say that Greenspan was one of Rand's best buds?

How much different might this country have been these last decades had Greenspan been a humanist instead of an Objectivist?

[niyad]

9. what incredible BS-- "simple, animal-like existence"? no knowledge of plants, or animal

husbandry, apparently, no knowledge of the cycles of the seasons, etc. yet, somehow, they managed without the smallpox, measles, and firearms of the european invaders.

yes, rand is a cycle many go through--I was safely through her by the time I was 17.

[David Zephyr]

10. So Pope Ratzinger was quoting Ayn Rand earlier this year.

Now we know the origin of "Pope" Josef Ratzinger's great insult to all the indigenous peoples of the two American continents: Ayn Rand.

Thanks AX10.

[AX10]

11. Your welcome!

:hi:

Thanks for the post!

[bjorkfan]

22. Wasn't she an atheist? Odd that the Pope would admire her

[xchrom]

15. ...

ayn :puke: rand.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. Yes, because we all know that Europeans in the 15th century

had air conditioning, antibiotics, and flew airplanes. :crazy:

That woman was a complete psycho. I can't believe anyone would actually take her seriously.

[KoKo]

17. C-Span's BookNotes is featuring them in an "Atlas Shrugged Memorial"

with John Fund and other notables talking about the joys of Ayn Rand's philosophy.

[Bigmack]

19. Great article about Rand!!!!

Long article, but it is worth it!! Lots of people who never read Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" or any of her other stuff have been infected with malignant capitalism.

Guru of greed: The cult of selfishness

Fifty years after it was first published, Ayn Rand's most influential book offers a vital clueto why so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests. By Leonard Doyle 12 October 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3052382.ece

Why is it that millions of ordinary Americans vote for conservative policies that seem inimical to their lives? Why are the politicians who support healthcare reforms to give access to a doctor for the 47 million Americans without insurance branded as closet socialists or worse?

Why, in this upside-down world do so many blue-collar Americans vote Republican, and family farmers support a President whose Wall Street friends would gladly push them off the land?

So what's the matter with America?

The answer may be contained in the writings of the Russian emigrée and radical libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand. Two decades after her death, she remains the darling of right-thinking Americans and sales of her novels, paens of praise to unbridled capitalism, are even outselling The Da Vinci Code.

[AX10]

21. Thanks!

This should be posted as it's own thread.

[BornagainDUer]

20. I've always called her "Anal Rant".

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[Danger Mouse]

23. Ayn Rand's books are good for one of two things...

1.) toilet paper
2.) kindling.