Video of the week -- the inhuman
Found via Okjimm. Paul Ryan's idol denounced not only the "universal love" of Christianity, but even the basics of human social solidarity which are part of our primate heritage and necessary for any human society to survive.
Like many intellectually-curious people, I myself went through a phase of taking Ayn Rand seriously. But the thought of someone reaching Ryan's current age (42) without having outgrown that phase is disturbing.
posted by Infidel753 at 3:30 AM
8 Comments:
When Rand's anti-religous and pro-abortion [up to 9 months] beliefs were publicized, Ryan HAD to run away from his boyhood/adulthood idol.
When I hear Ryan claim he didn't know about this particular part of Rand's philosopy, it confirms his utter cynicism and ability to shape-shift his "core principle" to suit the occasion.
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." --Groucho Marx
or Paul Ryan
@Shaw - I see your Grouch Marks quotation and raise you one Yogi Berra:
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
Case in point: the lofty ideal of a Representative Republic in this country (not a Democracy as many think) hasn't worked out so well either as the representation seems to mostly reflect the moneyed interests of lobbyists.
For my own observation (anecdotal though I admit) I don't recall ever having met an impoverished Libertarian on an unemployed Economist.
Cool!!!
I, too, had a couple Ayn Rand moments but it's cured rather easily if you have a modicum of intellectual curiosity. But wait!!
We're talking about Republicans, weren't we?
Never mind!!! (in full Gilda mode)
SK: I think "utter cynicism" is the politest possible term for it. If he read her books as he claims, he must have known all alongabout her anti-religious and sex-positive (or rape-positive, in the case of The Fountainhead) views, although I don't recall the topic of abortion coming up in the ones I read.
RtS: Rand was very big on theory. If a character in a Rand novel says "That's just theory," you immediately know it's one of the bad guys.
Libertarianism is like religion in that sense -- it wants to be exempt from being tested against the messy and intractable world of objective reality.
I doubt there are many unemployed libertarians either. It's an ideology for those who were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
KD: As Akin has reminded us, we'd be unwise to postulate any limit to the depth of their dumbth.
I love the hypocrisy of that bitch who actually took Social Security checks when she got old. Imagine that..a lying, full of shit rightwinger.
I doubt there are many unemployed libertarians either. It's an ideology for those who were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
There are some libertarians who aren't particularly well off. But they suffer from the delusion (call it Joe the Plumber Syndrome) that they would be rich too if it weren't for high taxes and government regulation.
Dusty, furthermore, to my knowledge at least, Ayn Rand never actually ran a business either.
DHMVB: They never follow their own principles past the point where it means much hardship for themselves.
TK: Even those who aren't rich by modern standards are far better off than they would be if they lived alone on an island, or in a stone-age tribe. And that's the result of the accumulated benefits of generations of progress and social organization. Just by being born in the modern United States they were born on third base, or at least second. Everybody's condition is mostly the product of external circumstances like that, not their own raw talent operating in a vacuum. This is what Elizabeth Warren has been trying to get across.
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