Ayn Rand is a boring old biddy!

[Bort]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Sometimes I read books and decide that I like some of what the author had to say and I reject some other things. Ayn Rand is probably the most prominent example I can think of. Hunter Thompson is another. Sometimes I read things that help me better understand what I've read previously or see flaws in my former reasoning. I think that's a healthy way to read and to develop as a person. Is the fact that this dude used to like Ayn Rand more than he does now going to be an issue? Are people asshurt that he seems to have changed his mind? Or are they asshurt because he's all Christian-y? I'd like in on the asshurt (||) but I'm not sure where to direct it. Help?

I think they're asshurt because he said he based a lot of his beliefs off Ayn Rand and then when it polled poorly, he said he rejected her ideas.

That.

He's not saying he changed his mind. He's saying that the idea that he's adopted a particular moral philosophy of economics, a philosophy of "looters" and "moochers" vs. "producers", from Rand is an "urban legend". Which is to say: that it was never true.

And yet, here we find him in a 2009 campaign ad, lauding the morality of Randian economic philosophy.

[SKO]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

[Eli]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

William Hickman?

[Wheezer]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

[SKO]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

No man steps into the same individualist, capitalist utopia twice.

[Bort]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

These are all good answers.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

William Hickman?

Today I learned.

In her notes, Rand complains that poor Hickman has become the target of irrational and ugly mob psychology:

"The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole society against one man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the 'virtuous' indignation and mass-hatred of the 'majority.'... It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal...

"This is not just the case of a terrible crime. It is not the crime alone that has raised the fury of public hatred. It is the case of a daring challenge to society. It is the fact that a crime has been committed by one man, alone; that this man knew it was against all laws of humanity and intended that way; that he does not want to recognize it as a crime and that he feels superior to all. It is the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul."

...

Although the American people showed no sympathy for Hickman, Ayn Rand certainly did:

"And when we look at the other side of it -- there is a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy turned into a purposeless monster. By whom? By what? Is it not by that very society that is now yelling so virtuously in its role of innocent victim? He had a brilliant mind, a romantic, adventurous, impatient soul and a straight, uncompromising, proud character. What had society to offer him? A wretched, insane family as the ideal home, a Y.M.C.A. club as social honor, and a bank-page job as ambition and career...

"If he had any desires and ambitions -- what was the way before him? A long, slow, soul-eating, heart-wrecking toil and struggle; the degrading, ignoble road of silent pain and loud compromises....

"A strong man can eventually trample society under his feet. That boy was not strong enough. But is that his crime? Is it his crime that he was too impatient, fiery and proud to go that slow way? That he was not able to serve, when he felt worthy to rule; to obey, when he wanted to command?...

"He was given [nothing with which] to fill his life. What was he offered to fill his soul? The petty, narrow, inconsistent, hypocritical ideology of present-day humanity. All the criminal, ludicrous, tragic nonsense of Christianity and its morals, virtues, and consequences. Is it any wonder that he didn't accept it?"

I'd say young Ayn Rand compares favorably to a young Paul Tanner.

[Eli]

It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal...

William Edward Hickman (1908 – October 19, 1928) was an American criminal responsible for the kidnapping, murder and dismemberment of Marion Parker, a 12-year-old girl. The Los Angeles Times referred to Hickman's actions as "the most horrible crime of the 1920's."

...

On December 19, Parker delivered the ransom in Los Angeles but in return Hickman delivered the girl's dismembered body. Her arms and legs had been severed and her internal organs removed. A towel stuffed into her body to absorb blood led police to Hickman's apartment building, but he managed to escape.

Then again, I did roll through a stop sign this morning, so who am I to condemn?

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

These are all good answers.

Micky Spillane?

[CBStew]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

These are all good answers.

Micky Spillane?

Homer J. Simpson?

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

These are all good answers.

Micky Spillane?

Homer J. Simpson?

Ms. Sinclair: Mrs. Simpson, do you know what a baby is saying when she reaches for her bottle?
Marge: "Baba"?
Ms. Sinclair: She's saying, "I am a leech."

[Brownie]

Brigham Young and Ayn Rand vs. Bill Ayers and Neil Kinnock?

Rand wins in a landslide.

Atlas Shrugged beats "You Didn't Build That" every time.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Thomas Aquinas is so much better.

Give me the philosophies of people who were alive in fucking 1200 when the world was flat and no one knew what gravity was. Let's base our ideas on those people.

The difference is that Aquinas was one of Western civilization's foundational thinkers. Whereas Rand was mostly just a confused old crank.

Almost anything Ayn Rand said that I agree with was said better by an earlier writer.

Aristotle?

Heraclitus?

These are all good answers.

Micky Spillane?

Homer J. Simpson?

Ms. Sinclair: Mrs. Simpson, do you know what a baby is saying when she reaches for her bottle?
Marge: "Baba"?
Ms. Sinclair: She's saying, "I am a leech."

DRLP, dood.

[Wheezer]

Brigham Young and Ayn Rand vs. Bill Ayers and Neil Kinnock?

Rand wins in a landslide.

Atlas Shrugged beats "You Didn't Build That" every time.

Have I mentioned that we spent as much time in Arkansas middle-school science class in the study of Dale Carnegie as we did in physical education studying hunter safety?