Comments on: Rand-O-Rama: The Long Shelf Life of Ayn Rand’s legacy

By: Capitalist Philosophers, the genius of modern business

Capitalist Philosophers, the genius of modern business — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:06:52 +0000

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By: Autumn

Autumn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:21:27 +0000

Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." We can't adequately love our neighbor without applying the same love to ourselves. In other words, if I regularly rake leaves for my neighbor but neglect my own yard, I am in error. While I did benefit my neighbor, I created an eyesore for my neighbors and caused a potential problem with fungus (a result of not removing leaves) that could damage the entire neighborhood.

By: Autumn

Autumn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:16:53 +0000

I agree. Not all professors are liberals. At my university (in Missouri), there are a small collection of us–in the humanities department, nonetheless! We are trying to give our students exposure to the other side of things rather than the liberal dogma they are being handed in other classes. However, rather than spouting our own dogma, we try to teach students both sides of an issue and ask them to think critically about that issue.

By: AndyNYer

AndyNYer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:04:52 +0000

…oh and the most obviously prescient piece of Atlas Shrugged…the $1 Billion-per-year-loser…AMTRAK.

By: AndyNYer

AndyNYer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:02:10 +0000

To be honest, I thought she was only above average as an actual writer.

Although brilliant and quite prescient with regard to her philosophy and plotting, she needed an editor in a BIG way. Melodramatic and stilted dialogue, but as I said, very good plotting and pretty decent characterization. I thought The Fountainhead was much more entertaining than Atlas Shrugged, which should have been cut by at least 300 pages – I mean, Jeez! When Galt takes over the tv station as Mr. Thompson is about to speak to the world, he goes on for 50 pages of rhetorical diatribe, saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over (you get the point).

She also doesn't really acknowledge that there are SOME times when capitalism either needs to be guided or managed (could you imagine if Teddy Roosevelt had not gone after the trusts or not established the national park system? How do we deal with the destitute mentally ill?)

By: Tex

Tex — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:14:57 +0000

"Unbridled capitalism is worse than socialism; look at current Russia as an example: having the extreme wealthy have complete control over the entire economy is fostering absolute corruption."

Russia is not an example of unbridled capitalism at all. Russia is owned by a small group of criminals under the watchful eye of a powerful central government ruled by Putin. At best they are an oligarchy with central economic control, and at worst they are communists masquerading as capitalists to bring in investment capital while the government pulls the strings to make sure it all goes to the companies they want. If you meant to say Russia was an example of unbridled government power over the economy blended with unbridled corruption at the highest levels of the public and private sector, then you would be closer to reality.

By: dcase

dcase — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:40:06 +0000

from a spiritual standpoint you wouldn't want to survive by crawling over the backs of others… it is the subtleties of kindness and noblese oblige' that are missing in her doctrines. Once again, it is a minor criticism. Her reductive take on Christian fellowship and subsequent logical thesis is brilliant. But her atheism blinds her to the Higher Questions.

Our take, of course…