Hi. My name is...Jaime (J-mee) Yarbrough
Posted by Snowflake70 11 years, 2 months ago to The Gulch: Introductions
Just arrived - looking forward to part III to see where I might fit in. Was a life long democrat because my parents were. Then came Ron Paul - I switched for the primary. Then got into the Tea Party before understanding the whole system is broken. Now I'm an independant yurning to be free.
there are lots of posts in here about striking or galting. none of us here would probably think of the process as a "withdraw." you mentioned "information overload." I find when I'm overloaded with too much "noise" I discern which information seems to be spot on and where did it come from? you will find many current events, outrages, and diligent watching and planning in the Gulch.
"withdraw"-to take away or back or remove;to turn away; to remove from consideration.
Most producers in this world produce in their unique way because they love what they're doing. They are compelled to get things to work, to be successful, to be leaders in their industry and communities.They acknowledge only objective standards as benchmarks accomplishment-they rarely put more weight on others' consideration above their own. They can't "take back" their endeavors, because they never offered it without a defining bargain or contract. They would not break contracts rashly or to steal.
"strike" embodies the spirit of the thing. For Rand, it was to highlight that all segments of society have gone on strike at one point, until their demands were met or mostly met. All segments of society, "save men of the mind." That this unique and rare group among us would simply stop producing of their own free will, is key. Check out a post I'm doing about a paper I came across discussing Rand's choices for who the "men of the mind" in AS actually were. Thanks for sparking an interesting discussion
Per my use of the word 'withdraw' and what I had thought was an appropriate term for the members of GG my take in addition to the tape but the last two movie installments is when the rich and powerful obtain the epiphany of the lower class - especially those who have stopped looking for work (have withdrawn from what seems to them a rigged, hopeless system) due to increasingly diminishing returns, and join them and cease to participate, not in protest but in an effort to educate the corrupt system of it wayward course in hopes of correction (a return to sanity.)
In a recent mini-series The Men who Made America, of the AR days, such bold measures were not uncomon being only different in that they were competitive in nature rather than being based on principle. Yes, it's a different world today but the principles comfort the mountains.
as to the rest of what you said, "epiphany of the lower class" this implies the lower classes have been exploited. and now that the rich and powerful are being exploited, they decide to withdraw-just as the poor have always done. This is basically marxist thinking. Competition and capitalism are to their very heart principled. In a free market world, there are no diminishing returns, only exponential. Morals are not guided by capitalism, rather necessitate capitalism. All end up benefiting as a society.
my dad is an old radio collector, he used to crawl into the attic to pick up all the old radio shows broadcast out of Chicago-I'm an Iowa girl and record them. the attic access was in my bedroom so grew up on green Hornet, Fibber McGee, the shadow, lone ranger, etc. lol
I know know nor remember history as well as most would like. I'm reluctant to label a situation as being a duplication / exact carbon copy of a previous philosophy because a few similarities are shared. My username 'Snowflake' lends to my being unique but just another in the blizzard of humanaity. The 'epiphany of the lower class, and to follow the 1/10 of 1% is that they both recognize while they would like to effect change through participation in the 'blinding flash of insight' they understand just the opposite is true. Even their mere existance is a part of the problem. Hence, the latter choose to impose self-exile for the sake of the many to Galt's Gulch.
I know of no greater example than the infamous diatribe by Comander Spock outside the reactor room. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. We all understand the flaw in democracy in that even the majority can be wrong, and the reason for a democratic republic, having the triad to bring the decision process down to a crawl for the sake of microscopic inspection in the face fo macroscopic consequences. Still few are aware that at any given time and place there are upwards of between 10K-30K spores in every cubic meter of air... Opportunities for exploiitation are none the less present. Beyond stating the problem being the first step towards the solution admitting ill conceived and misguided assumptons are also beneficial. I could be wrong ;)
Please let me know if you have any questions. We're glad you made it.
You're in the Gulch right now Jaime. All of our members are just like you. Poke around a bit. You'll see. :)