I have been on Quora lately and I follow a few questions some about health and running, you know, because it is sort of part of my job description.
I could tell you some interesting things about over-pronation. But back to the subject. The other questions I follow are mostly philosophical ones, more specifically the ones that are about Atlas Shrugged, Fountain Head or Objectivism. What I have found is many of the voices online want to demoralize the philosophy and paint it as godless and hedonistic. Well, I guess in a sense hedonistic is the right term for it, but not in the traditional sense you are thinking. Admittedly Ayn Rand's (the lady who wrote these books) concept of god was a little off "When I die, I hope to go to heaven, whatever the hell that is." Her ideals on liberty and convictions and loving life were spot on though. However, she does come off a little strong. She is Russian.
Ayn Rand who wrote these books was from Russia, English was not her first language. So she learned words and their exact definitions. She understood them differently than the way society did. The definition for "hedonistic": A person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification.
Sounds terrible right? Pleasure and self-gratification? yuck those are terribly selfish words. Ok. But what if instead of thinking of our self as our body what if we thought of our self as our mind. Suddenly self-gratifying means something completely different. You see, instead of pleasure being temporary and carnal it all of a sudden becomes lasting and meaningful. A person known as selfish in the traditional sense would not be capable of loving. However, in the objectivist sense a selfish person would share their love because the act of which provides joy and pleasure for them. It is actually a fact, being good to others makes one happy. It is actually in your selfish interest to be good to others. Many people cannot wrap their head around this concept.
These Quorians write destructive comments about the aforementioned books. It seems their purpose is to dismantle the book and to eradicate it entirely. This frustrates me. So I share my thoughts and opinions with these people on quora. Because I tell them they are wrong, they don't like me. Anyway. Sometimes I feel like I come off too strong. Sorry.
thom, I have found that talking about Ayn Rand to others depends entirely upon when they read the books (what age) and their social ,economical, and self confidences. And if you believe and feel her philosophical bent is right on, most liberals, well educated folk will get their hackles up. It is in mu opinion that it is much like the Republican party
ReplyDeletewhich is made up of mostly wealthy people & those that aspire to be wealthy. They love fighting Gay Rights because it (they think in my opinion) better than Gay people. The poor people want someone they can look down on and Karl Rove was too good at dividing the country on Gay Marriage issues, Woman's rights all the things that make poor people "better" than them other folks, I read these books at 14 and understood the fight against perfection, the fight against the "lower" class of intelligence and how it was killing the world. Boil it down to the weakest link will kill us all. you are on our pearltree and asked that I speak to you through here so here we are. That is my opinion of Rand. Someone important to learn about and understand, however her stance on humanism is a little too much for me. I am a Mensa, I coach soccer & swimming, I was perfect at all my sports All-American I went to Yale, and I learned through one of my favorite Presidents Teddy Roosevelt about the gift of giving and the grace of preservation. Beatrix Potter as well. Have you read Ender's Game, Dune, or The Hunger Games? Our evolution is a constant in a world with so many variables, no one should shut out any type of philosophy. Getting angry is fear playing itself out or intolerant of someone else's views. I would say there are a lot of angry people out there. Christian's being a large portion, my family is mostly Christian. Not immediate however as John Wayne said it so rightly & pure," I don't believe in what Jane Fonda says but I would fight to the death so she could say it"
Yeah. I have actually read all those books. I aspire to be a mensa. I am good at basically everything too. We have a lot in common. I agree with you that now one should shut out any single philosophy. Personally I think you should try to find the good in what it is you are hearing. The thing about Quorians is that they seek to dehumanize and decimate the Ayn
DeleteRands philosophy. They don't want to find any good in her ideas. It is their ignorant rejection that sometimes annoys me. You are right though or John Wayne is, they need to be able to say it. I guess I won't let it get to me anymore.