I decided to dip my toes in the technology pool of publication. This is the very first entry of my very first blog. And I, one who rarely is without words to speak, especially in written form, find myself a bit shy about actually saying anything. Perhaps it is because I am no more than a techie wanna-be and am not quite sure I want to have the world view, with possible derision, the things I have to say. Nevertheless, I shall boldly go where no Mama Claire has gone before.
I hope that my experiences might be of some help to others who are experiencing the same things in life. It has taken me more than a couple of decades and countless mistakes to arrive at a point in my life where I rather like the person I have become--that is, when I am not feeling sorry for myself and wondering why I have never had the courage to do so many of the things I have admired in others. So here goes!
this blog is beautiful!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks cupcake. You are beautiful, too, and one of the reasons I smile so often. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteHi beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHello.....another of the reasons I find to smile.
ReplyDeleteNow that the Iowa caucus has ended and the voice of conservative America has spoken, I thought it only be appropriate to comment on the strong showing of both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.
ReplyDeleteHaving read The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and several of Rand’s essays published after her career as a writer of fiction had concluded, it is easy to understand how her philosophy, Objectivism, was embraced by the libertarian movement, which advocates of the Tea Party find so attractive . Her Objective philosophy simply states that knowledge is based solely on reason, and through reason one will ultimately embrace rational egoism and laissez faire capitalism. Of course, she never once adequately explains what reason is. In fact, if one takes Rand literally, only unreasonable men can believe in God. To believe in something based on a leap of faith, a paradoxical concept central to the philosophy of Kierkegaard and Kant (“the most evil man to ever live”), shows weakness of character and runs counter to rational egoism; leaps of faith only destroy individualism and capitalism.
If one wants to understand Rand better and with some sympathy, take a look at her life. She was born in Russia to a well-to-do family who in 1917 had everything taken away from them by Lenin’s Bolsheviks. It is in this experience as a young girl that her hatred of communism was born. She didn’t just see Marxism as a faulty economic philosophy but more as an evil system of beliefs that stole her family’s fortune in the middle of the night, forcing her into near starvation as a young woman. She viewed communism as altruistic, favoring the collective above the individual. Since altruism causes one to rely on some other being or entity, whether a church, a non-profit organization or the government, it is to be shunned at all costs. Her disdain for government handouts, however, did not always apply to her own life. When she developed lung cancer later in life, hypocritically she turned to government for assistance since her medical bills would have wiped her out financially. It is impossible to be consistent with such a harsh philosophy.
Where does Ayn Rand stand in today’s political fabric? She is the darling of the libertarians and many conservatives. Conservatives regard John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, as the epitome of good, despite the fact that he calls on fellow industrialists to assist him in the destruction of the very society that allowed them to exist and create great fortune. Again, a little bit of hypocrisy there. Also, the novel’s reference to the weakness of Prometheus is not without controversy. Prometheus suffered greatly in defying Zeus and giving the benefit of fire to mankind, an action Rand viewed as altruistic. In contrast, Galt refuses to go forward with his invention of a revolutionary car motor which will benefit all of society because of the factory’s position favoring the collective good. Galt believes that self-sacrifice is the attire of the incompetent. He refuses to suffer like Prometheus because he feels that strength and truth can only be achieved by satisfying the selfishness of the ego. Feeding the ego is important to Rand. After all, she once said that she recommends that students of philosophy read only the “3 A’s—Aristotle, Aquinas and Ayn.” If conservatives really understood Rand’s philosophy, they would hardly be so enthusiastic. Would she not portray the firefighters and police who sacrificed their lives trying to save people trapped in the upper levels of the World Trade Center as weak? Would she not portray church goers as sheep being led to the slaughter? Would she not portray Social Security and Medicare as the greed of the incompetent? Her Objectivity and the statements that arose from it today would be far too controversial for most conservatives to embrace.
Well WOW. I never expected a comment to be longer than my post! I have learned so much from you Robert. And in the future, I suppose I will learn more. Lucky for you, I value emotion equally with reason, or we might just be two of the most mismatched spouses in the world.
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