http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10688&news_iv_ctrl=1021
Why am I not surprised that the Ayn Rand Institute is in Orange County?
Why am I not surprised that the Ayn Rand Institute is in Orange County?
Overwhelming Compassion from the Ayn Rand Institute:
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Being an adherent to some of Rand's books, I always feel like I have to take up the charge, even though most of the people I meet who also respect Rand are usually huge a-holes.
This unfortunately is another perfect example. I prefer her artistic ethics rather than her perspective on altrusim.
This unfortunately is another perfect example. I prefer her artistic ethics rather than her perspective on altrusim.
Money is the means to get things done. If we don't help out the people who died in the Tsunami, do you realized what's going to happen to the price of a pair of Nikes?
Oh, the humanity...
Oh, the humanity...
Ayn Rand lived in a much simpler age, where the bad guys wore swastikas or quoted Karl Marx and the good guys wore cowboy hats or business suits. She disparaged any form of enforced charity, which is a convenient attitude when you're rich and famous. She valued the the great capitalist anthem of "earning one's own rewards", and believed that selfishness was a virtue. By all accounts, she was not a pleasant person. Even if you buy into her simplistic philosophy, it doesn't work in this era of the global village. The US takes billions more dollars out of countries around the world than it is asked to return as aid or loans. Coldly and objectively, it doesn't have any obligation to give back a penny. Fortunately the government has decided to kick back in some of its profits to the tsunami relief effort, to the tune of 350 million dollars. Whether this is in response to looking deep into their own hearts or in hopes of regaining some international respect is an arguable point. Just to be a prick about it, how many hours of the Iraq war would it take to eat up 350 million dollars?
I got a few hundred pages into Atlas Shrugged and had to put it down because I was boring myself to death 
I heard some dousche on the radio last night saying the same thing. I completely disagree, I think we should "help" in any way we can. The argument that we have our own problems over here we need to address first is not valid since a problem anywhere in the world is really a problem here in the sense that we are supposedly a world nation that plays a bigger role. Helping other countries benefits us in the long run...
This guy was also complaining that we had already spent too much in Iraq and that meant we shouldn't spend more in the south pacific. Just because we erroneously spent gazillions of dollars in Iraq doesn't mean we now have to not spend money in the right place. That's like a junky saying I already wasted 95% of my money on smack so now it would be imprudent for me to spend my last 5% on food.
For goodness sake man, this is the largest natural disaster in recorded history and literally hundreds of thousands of helpless people have died. They are dealing with flash-floods and disease now and we shouldn't help
WTF???
Sad, sad world we live in
This guy was also complaining that we had already spent too much in Iraq and that meant we shouldn't spend more in the south pacific. Just because we erroneously spent gazillions of dollars in Iraq doesn't mean we now have to not spend money in the right place. That's like a junky saying I already wasted 95% of my money on smack so now it would be imprudent for me to spend my last 5% on food.
For goodness sake man, this is the largest natural disaster in recorded history and literally hundreds of thousands of helpless people have died. They are dealing with flash-floods and disease now and we shouldn't help
WTF???Sad, sad world we live in
Atlas Shrugged is a little too much at times. Try "The Fountainhead". It is still lengthy (I think 750 pages in paperback), but it has alot of ups-and-downs. I read a critical review which refered to it as a "metaphysical soap opera", which in some ways it is.punkassean said:I got a few hundred pages into Atlas Shrugged and had to put it down because I was boring myself to death
Might do that but first I have to get through the latest version of "A People History of The United States" by Howard Zinn. Great book but it goes into such detail that I find myself skimming a lot so I go back and reread each chapter after I'm done.
I do enjoy reading I just don't do as much of it as I'd like...
I do enjoy reading I just don't do as much of it as I'd like...
I have enjoyed hearing the "real" story not the bologna they spew in public schools. It's a good read but after the first chapter you really get the point...
Making promises with your fingers crossed is the original American way.
Making promises with your fingers crossed is the original American way.