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Comment by Martin F. on April 20, 2011 at 2:17pm

Attention spillios.  ZPowers has closed this discussion.  Please thank him.

 

Thank you ZPowers.

Comment by Ha-Ra on April 20, 2011 at 12:01pm

@Tea Party Rat: ditto, seriously

Comment by Maxamus on April 20, 2011 at 1:58am

The philosophy this book is based on is flawed in so many ways. It's hard to believe that people actually believe in the ideas that it presents, it only take a small amount of thought to see why this belief system is wrong.

Comment by Pretty in Plague on April 20, 2011 at 12:20am

I have the urge to play Bioshock right now... 

 

Comment by BadAss Knives on April 20, 2011 at 12:04am

Boy, I really need to play BioShock or at least read the book.

Comment by BadAss Knives on April 19, 2011 at 11:58pm

@ Mark Stouffer thanks for the link.

Comment by ZPowers on April 19, 2011 at 11:56pm

Mark Stouffer, there are critics whom distort every even slightly noteworthy philosophical, political and religious belief in history to make them seem worse. Making people hate you isn't exactly the pinnacle of success. But here is something factual about Ayn Rand, she said Immanuel Kant, a philosopher whom said ideally murder or lies etc should be permitted under no circumstances whatsoever if human beings are to reach ideal states, was the worst person to ever live. She also said the mantra "what is good for me is right" was the purest expression of a real man she ever heard. The man who said it, by the way, kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered a twelve year old. She was using him as a model for a main character in a book she never finished. I have never seen any evidence that Randian beliefs, that "what is good for me is right", has limits (aside from the fact that government action apparently makes all things apparently evil and private or corporate action doesn't). Randian philosophy reduces morality to an equation. Lies or fraud or the use of sweat shops, even murder are seemingly reduced to a cost benefit analysis. If the lose you money or autonomy, it is evil, if any of those actions gain it, it is good. Hell, most dictators are pretty good Randians by these critera, and I've yet to see anyone show me those limits exist, or by what means one manner of exploitation of others is good and when they do begin to become immoral, in terms of Rand's logic. At the very least, the actions of Goldman-Sachs and other banks, actions which actively defrauded customers and knowingly caused the largest economic crash in decades, or the use of sweat shops, are patently fine under Objectivist philosophy.

It's also worth noting that most objectivists I've met feel they are the Galts and Taggarts, but really they're as parasitic as everyone else. If every objectivist was actually as special as the people Rand felt were worthy of good lives (apparently something determined wholly by genetic accident: mentally disabled people are restricted to a life on the street because they cannot compete and should see no governmental or institutional help, which is evil) the top would be a very, very crowded place.

Spicus, that's kind of what I mean. If oil companies were suppressing clean energy (or a new, better steel) to increase personal gains, I can't see Rand complaining: the oil companies are acting in total self-interest. If the government suppressed it, it becomes immediately evil, because

Comment by ShadowNeverDies on April 19, 2011 at 11:41pm

The film is bad...end of story...not liking Batman and Robin doesn't mean you don't like Batman...it means you hate shitty movies. They probably would've liked the film...if it was good. The Atlas Shrugged film shouldn't be good just cause it's based on the book...which I like btw...a lot. Look at the Fountainhead..great Ayn Rand film, now look at this...see that dip in quality, that's why no one likes this film and people actually like the Fountainhead...cause one is a bad film, and the other isn't. Film sucks...stop defending it, it's not good. And also you can do a lot with 10 million dollars this doesn't look like it was made for 10 million dollars...at all.

Comment by Spicus mojificus on April 19, 2011 at 8:43pm

In order to make this movie more relevant to current issues, the entrepreneur should have invented a cleaner, cheeper energy source instead of a new steel or whatever. Then you could have the evil socialist pigs defending the oil companies.

Make believe is fun...

Comment by John Henry Eden v2.0 on April 19, 2011 at 8:13pm

American vilification of socialism is merely a remnant of the Cold War era, and unfortunately still manages to connect with less educated voters in some states.

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