relationships # 3a ~ Ayn Rand's wet-dream speaks to us from the Promi$ed Land

Girls Pt.2 • click to embiggenYesterday's visit to Detroit engendered a visit to The Landscapist from none other than Ayn Rand's fictitious wet-dream alter ego and father of Gordon ("greed, for lack of a better word, is good") Gekko, John Galt.

Well, to be more accurate, a visit from some moron who thinks parrots the idea that Ayn Rand / John Galt actually has/had something of value to offer. That dittohead is a bit behind the times in as much as the Grand Ayn Rand Devotee, Alan Greenspan, has belatedly admitted - in the face of a grand economic debacle - that his trust and faith in Rand's Objectivism was based on a rather whimsical house of cards.

The fountainhead of that house of cards was the incredibly / obviously flawed notion that a rational/ethical ego-ist should act in his his/her own "enlightened" self-interest by rejecting / ignoring the notion of the common good. You may know that myth in other words - every man's an island, the rugged individualist, going it alone, or, in economic theory, the "informed" consumer.

Unfortunately, many philosopher / theorists, especially those of Rand's ilk, tend ignore and/or outright reject the history of human behavior when it comes to developing their theories. With Rand, what it amounts to is this - a "perfect" man = a "perfect" outcome = a "perfect" world. A "theory" not unlike that preached by the modern-day religious fundamentalists - if we would all just be "perfect" christians, then the world would be a "perfect" world.

Now, I can't speak for everyone but ... try as I might, I have yet to find a "perfect" man which leads me to believe that any theory / philosophy of human behavior that is based upon the notion of a "perfect" actor is build upon a very imperfect fountainhead.

BTW, I tend to like relationships # 3a better than # 3 - any opinions out there?

Update on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 08:28PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Some erudite commenter, operating under the name "Bigpics", left this stunningly informed and insightfully reasoned riposte, re: Ayn Rand's wet-dream speaks to us from the Promi$ed Land:

"At least you don't know much of what you're talking about, which makes it easier to write your stereotyping off."

my response: I am struck speechless. How can one begin to attempt to respond to such an adroit and compelling rejoinder? But then again, there should be no surprise in that Objectivism attracts only the best & brightest of heroic men.

Comments

[Jimmi Nuffin]

THANK YOU

[Seinberg]

Here, here! I could not agree more. All those Rayndroids...

[Bigpics]

At least you don't know much of what you're talking about, which makes it easier to write your stereotyping off.