A friend, thinking he was being a smart-ass and making a point, sent me a link to Ayn Rand and an interview she did on Donahue back in the 70s during the Carter administration. Once I got over my Pavlovian sick response (only watched his shows when I was home sick in childhood) I was utterly delighted to have Ayn Rand in her own words. Beside my Kindle, it is the best Christmas present I have yet received.
Thank you, Paul.
In the early 80s, shortly before she died, I wished to hear, from her own lips, exactly how she understood her virtue of selfishness and her absolute hatred of Altruism, which is preached among the ignorant as some kind of religion. Thanks to YouTube I saw many interviews she did over decades and heard her speak logically, rationally, and lovingly on her philosophy, Objectivism. Even though I've read her books and treatises, it's always nice to hear things from the horse's mouth, as it were. It's even better when you hear her answers to questions that people ask you constantly concerning her philosophy. More to the point, people trying to challenge her philosophy based on emotional baggage they should have never claimed at the carousel.
I think, perhaps, her best interview was with Tom Snyder in the early 80s, just before she died. He did not attack her, but he did ask questions that one would expect from hearing of her philosophy for the first time coming out of the Liberal indoctrination of public education. Her answers were easily understandable. She knew English better than most who grow up speaking it and was conversant in the way we tend to use words to obfuscate our meaning. She ripped that away and spoke clearly, making no mistakes as to her meaning. People watching the Donahue show from the70s, shortly after her husband died, will be shocked at the language she uses. Not a "dirty" word, and yet today she would be pilloried on TV in the middle of DC for saying what she did.
I have to admit, I loved watching her take down Mike Wallace in the 50s. She took his liberal argument away piece by piece until he stood there in tatters and she was rational, logical and polite throughout. This was before she was beaten down by lack of recognition for Atlas Shrugged. Watching an interview with Barbara Brendon or Brandon, was educational, for it showed my hero with clay feet. Does it mean that I think less of her for allowing that to color her perception of herself and her writing? No, because she went on to write the best defense of her philosophy in several works afterward. She wrote no more fiction, and that is our loss, but it did help us to understand Objectivism better.
The reason Paul sent me the link was about Christmas. He thought that because Rand was a staunch atheist that I was somehow out of synch with Objectivist thought (as if we're all cut out of some cookie cutter mould and think the same way). Many Objectivists don't understand my faith or my stand on abortion, which they think is colored by the mysticism of religion. Rand confused faith with religion. I don't. Faith is about God, religion is all about man. I don't need anyone to tell me how or who to worship. No more than I need the government stealing my earnings to pay someone to sit on their ass. My belief is between me and God and my relationship with Him. My philosophy is about me and my relationship to my fellow inhabitants of this rock orbiting our star. One is private and I don't beat anyone over the head with it. One is public and one I bring up whenever I am slapped in the face with the illogical policies of the Liberal Agenda, again and again.
So, in essence, I've had my "revival" without the tent meeting or evangelist. It's good to get a renewal every now and again. Especially in these trying times. Thanks, Paul. I needed that.
Thank you, Paul.
In the early 80s, shortly before she died, I wished to hear, from her own lips, exactly how she understood her virtue of selfishness and her absolute hatred of Altruism, which is preached among the ignorant as some kind of religion. Thanks to YouTube I saw many interviews she did over decades and heard her speak logically, rationally, and lovingly on her philosophy, Objectivism. Even though I've read her books and treatises, it's always nice to hear things from the horse's mouth, as it were. It's even better when you hear her answers to questions that people ask you constantly concerning her philosophy. More to the point, people trying to challenge her philosophy based on emotional baggage they should have never claimed at the carousel.
I think, perhaps, her best interview was with Tom Snyder in the early 80s, just before she died. He did not attack her, but he did ask questions that one would expect from hearing of her philosophy for the first time coming out of the Liberal indoctrination of public education. Her answers were easily understandable. She knew English better than most who grow up speaking it and was conversant in the way we tend to use words to obfuscate our meaning. She ripped that away and spoke clearly, making no mistakes as to her meaning. People watching the Donahue show from the70s, shortly after her husband died, will be shocked at the language she uses. Not a "dirty" word, and yet today she would be pilloried on TV in the middle of DC for saying what she did.
I have to admit, I loved watching her take down Mike Wallace in the 50s. She took his liberal argument away piece by piece until he stood there in tatters and she was rational, logical and polite throughout. This was before she was beaten down by lack of recognition for Atlas Shrugged. Watching an interview with Barbara Brendon or Brandon, was educational, for it showed my hero with clay feet. Does it mean that I think less of her for allowing that to color her perception of herself and her writing? No, because she went on to write the best defense of her philosophy in several works afterward. She wrote no more fiction, and that is our loss, but it did help us to understand Objectivism better.
The reason Paul sent me the link was about Christmas. He thought that because Rand was a staunch atheist that I was somehow out of synch with Objectivist thought (as if we're all cut out of some cookie cutter mould and think the same way). Many Objectivists don't understand my faith or my stand on abortion, which they think is colored by the mysticism of religion. Rand confused faith with religion. I don't. Faith is about God, religion is all about man. I don't need anyone to tell me how or who to worship. No more than I need the government stealing my earnings to pay someone to sit on their ass. My belief is between me and God and my relationship with Him. My philosophy is about me and my relationship to my fellow inhabitants of this rock orbiting our star. One is private and I don't beat anyone over the head with it. One is public and one I bring up whenever I am slapped in the face with the illogical policies of the Liberal Agenda, again and again.
So, in essence, I've had my "revival" without the tent meeting or evangelist. It's good to get a renewal every now and again. Especially in these trying times. Thanks, Paul. I needed that.
No comments:
Post a Comment