What happened to Eddie Willers?
Why wasn't Eddie Willers allowed into the Galt Utopia? Was it because was too much of an underling and not enough of a leader?
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is a hero of a sort who represents many, many of us
who keep on working regardless. the millions who
consider their "contract with life" to include devotion
to productive behavior, even in the face of determined
adversaries. Thank You! -- j
The theme of Atlas Shrugged was the role of the mind in human existence, and the fate of Eddie Willers, one of the admirable characters in the book, illustrates what everyone had depended on when the best minds are squelched or withdraw from the punishment -- no matter how morally good the victims are.
Eddie Willers' fate in the plot illustrates one aspect of the theme, but in practice when ruthless tyrants take over anyone is vulnerable and no amount of dramatic 'cavalry to the rescue' fiction writing can save us. Those of the most ability have better means for contending with it, but when brute force takes over the mind is sacrificed even to dumb bureaucrats. In the Soviet Union some of the brightest scientists and engineers who thought they had a safer, less vulnerable position because of their work, were slaughtered precisely because they were relied on for superior theories and designs that could not possibly meet the irrational demands of their thug rulers.
I either read something Rand wrote about that, or heard her say it, years ago.
Rand used a similar device in Night of January 16th, where the choice of two endings is not the author's.
Cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDc1RHLp...
"For we hold that in all disaster
Of shipwreck, storm, or sword,
A Man must stand by his Master
When once he has pledged his word."
I don't expect you to understand this. The reward is self-respect.
People manipulate others by their emotions to produce a result that they could not get by reason. Whenever you make an emotional decision, you need to vet whether it is your own decision or someone else 'pulling the strings'. I do not see Objectivism as unemotional, but I do see it as not non-thinking-emotional.
Song of the Red War Boat. One of my favorites - I memorized it at one time (don't think I can recall all the words right now). I would sometimes declaim it to the sagebrush when I was out riding. Have you heard Leslie Fish's song version? She has a whole set of "KipleFish" songs.
Jan
In order to separate mere Objectivists from fanatical Objectivists, I'm going to borrow a term from Fred Saberhagen.
The fanatical Objectivists, such as yourself, I will in future refer to as "goodlife". (conservatives will remain "badlife" for clarity).
"But I have touched a few rare human minds, the jewels of life, who rise to meet the greatest challenges by becoming supremely men. "
- 3rd Historian... "Stone Place"
"I touched a mind whose soul was dead . . . "
3rd Historian - "Patron of the Arts"
"Men always project their beliefs and their emotions into their vision of the world. Machines can be made to see in a wider spectrum, to detect every wavelength precisely as it is, undistorted by love or hate or awe.
But still men's eyes see more than lenses do. "
-3rd Historian "The Face of the Deep"
"But I have touched a few rare human minds, the jewels of life, who rise to meet the greatest challenges by becoming supremely men. "
-3rd Historian "Stone Place"
I reasoned this out a long time ago, and forgot until now that I done so. It is reason that makes us able to survive; it is emotion that gives us reason to survive. The most powerful computer in the world, networked to a billion like itself, will have no reason to exist for itself, no, to use Ayn Rand's final word from "Anthem"... no EGO. Only our primitive, emotion-driven hindbrain gives us that. Without emotion to drive our lives, we're just lumps of goo, sitting around waiting to die.
When you read or watch about the great men and women of history... the word "driven" repeatedly shows up. "Driven" is not a rational, reasoned response to the world; it is an emotional one. Without that *emotional* drive, all the reason in the world won't create an iPhone.
Dagny Taggart suffered from the same loyalty as Eddie. She just wasn't quite as human as he. As evidenced by her eternal quest for the most alpha male.
Go worship at the altar of the machines, goodlife.
(I wonder how many Objectivists suffer from Asperger's?)
of two dead parents and a dead marriage, I claimed
that we are driven by 2, rather than 3, primary "forces" --
the physical and the mental, with the emotional a
part of the mental force. she vehemently disagreed,
of course.
I believe that Dagny's matched Eddie's humanity
quite well, but theirs was a difference of insight --
like the difference between the author and the
reader of poetry. and the fact that she could only
be seduced by the alpha male simply shows that
she knew that she was the alpha female. insight. -- j
Lillian was more like an alpha female.
Dagny was more like an alpha male.
But, she wasn't only seduced by the alpha male. Just by whatever male happened to be handy who SEEMED most alpha at the time. Whenever a more alpha came along, eh, screw you, I never loved you, I just enjoyed you til something better came along.
We have a word for people, especially women, who sell themselves to the highest bidder, regardless of the coin offered.
When I read "Atlas," I thought that Rand was trying to show us that the most vulnerable people were the most hurt by these "helpful" and "socially progressive" policies. Eddie Willers was part of that: someone who, in a better world, would have been Dagny's right-hand man, compensated well for his efforts, and as happy as he let himself be. In the moocher/looter world, he suffered.
Eddie Willers did not go to the Gulch because he *chose* not to go.
Galt was actively recruiting Dagney's best men away from her, such as Owen Kellogg.
Galt was meeting Willers occasionally for lunch not just to get information on Dagney but to recruit him.
It was Willers who insisted to Galt that he was not the type of man who could make his own way.
Willers didn't go to the Gulch because he didn't step up and seize the opportunity.
Willers' loss was all on him.
Jan