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In defense of ASIII

Posted by kwillia5 10 years, 7 months ago to Movies
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" I swear by my life and my love of it...."
I saw ASIII last week in NYC. No theaters are showing it in upstate NY (Rochester) and I was in NYC on Nursing Association meeting business for our State association.
There were many generally critical negative comments commenting about the simplicity or triviality of the production (my assessment of the comments). There were minimal complements.
I think it is FANTASTICALLY APPROPRIATE for what I believe to be the target audience. Producers didn't have unlimited resources.
That audience has not spent years studying Rand and Peikoff. et.al.
ASIII presents the essential messages of Objectivism to an audience essentially uninformed of these ideas. They production comes across in a beautiful and effective and even believable (for the most part) portrayal of our values. The actors are excellent in their roles.
It is very difficult to communicate our values to those only believing today's big government ideas and ideas focused on collectivism that are generally held in our altruistic (is it supposed to be religious?) society today.
Recall the password to the power station in the Gulch.
Congratulations.. Can't wait for the DVD.


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  • Posted by xthinker88 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Isn't the audience in a sense, the real world equivalent of the random groups of people shown listening to John Galt's speech in the movie. People for whom the message resonated without their own ability to figure it out for themselves. It seems to me there are quite a few characters like that in the book. Including Rearden and Dagny.
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  • Posted by edweaver 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I won't disagree. I will just point out that was back in 76 prior to most of the indoctrination that has been going on in the public school system since then. I hope you are right and there is hope.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Think of the power of the subconscious. It took me 10 years to figure out where my values came from. (Catholic military family with Democrat mother. The full spectrum of Theology and Philosophy of Religion in college and, Catholic boys boarding High School). On Xmas break 65-66 in a Catholic college I read 2 books to improve my reading speed for detail for an English Novels course. It worked. I happened to be looking at my shelves in 76 and picked up the odd book with my novels. I opened it, read a few sentences. Mystery solved, that was Atlas. My subconscious absorbed and processed the value system. That trusting of my subconscious has been one of my most powerful mental secret weapons of intellectual life.
    Feed data into subconscious the let it solve the problems and output understanding.
    I hope that seeing ASIII may be that kind of first exposure to these ideas to work on the subconscious of some of the viewers. Without this their subconscious has no chance to absorb.
    This is why I think this presentation is genius.
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  • Posted by edweaver 10 years, 7 months ago
    I have not seen it yet. Soon.

    I realize that the goal may have been to change minds while entertaining but do any of us believe we are going to change the mind of people who cannot or will not THINK for themselves. If the people who study the subject felt it was entertaining and stuck to the Rand message then I will consider it a job well done.
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