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Mike Rowe and Ayn Rand

Posted by khalling 8 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
50 comments | Share | Flag

Author Carrie-Ann Biondi:
"Their names are not often heard in the same sentence, but they should be. Many might not realize how consonant Rowe’s and Rand’s views are, nor the ways in which their approaches to addressing the ills of our time can instruct one another. Most fundamentally, Rand and Rowe understand that reality requires each of us to work for a living, uphold the virtue of productiveness, and appreciate that there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” work, but only honest work done well or poorly."


All Comments

  • Posted by Ken_V_K 8 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Atlas Snubbed author responds:

    Hi, JimJJ. Eddie's reason for staying behind was stated pretty obviously at the end of Atlas Shrugged: "We can't let it go!" he repeatedly says. So he stays. And in Atlas Snubbed, Eddie says, "You‘re right; it was my choice [to stay behind]... I couldn‘t let it go!" And when Eddie wonders aloud why he was never told about the Gulch, he asks, "How was I to know that another choice existed? You never told me about your valley, never asked me to go with you." But the truth of the matter comes out when Eddie realizes he WAS told: "What do you mean, 'not in so many words?'" That's because no one is directly told about the valley before they're ready to hear it, and Eddie clearly was not ready--he couldn't let it go! According to Galt in Atlas Shrugged, "indifference toward a world which should have been ours was the hardest thing to attain." Eddie never attained it, not in Atlas Shrugged nor in Atlas Snubbed. Although the world literally crumbles to dust all around him, he sticks to his principle to do "whatever is right".
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    nope. 1. you said it had been decades since you read the book.
    2.You are currently reading a parody and still experiencing frustration
    3. I do NOT assume you are a libertarian, but the parody is written by one.
    4. Libertarian philosophers would support an Eddie as saving civilization over "great" men. Eddie is perfectly able to get the locomotive running and there's nothing special about a Dagny. (I have not read it).
    5. I spend a fair amount of time in here. Yoda is an anti-Objectivist concept. carry on!
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  • Posted by paris1 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well, your comment sounds a bit condescending. You're assuming I'm a libertarian who doesn't understand AS and you seem to be the object of much adulation on this forum. Sounds kinda Yoda-ish to me!
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    it may be that you need to re-read or get the audio of AS. You admitted that it has been a long time. In order to "appreciate" a parody, you first need to have a full grasp on what is being parodied. Most libertarians do not have a full understanding of the important concepts in AS in order to criticize it, IMO
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think the word "parody" in the subtitle pretty much summarizes it..... Don't take it too seriously.........
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  • Posted by paris1 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I've seen it said elsewhere that it's supposed to be a treatise on the good and the bad of Objectivism vs libertarianism, with the latter coming out the winner. I'm just not seeing the conflict as yet in the storyline, but maybe I need to get further into it.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Galt's decision to invite or not invite Eddie is not addressed directly in Atlas Snubbed but I was left with the impression that it was, more or less, Eddie's decision to stick with TT. I might read that passage in AS in the future to clarify it....
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I haven't read that book. I still say that the most important take-away from the last scene with Eddie is that when the motor was going to be stopped, moral and productive people were going to be casualties just like the rest. Galt knew Eddie for years and did not invite him to the Gulch.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Again, Atlas Snubbed addresses Eddie's evolution toward most of AR's principles after the fall of society and his rise to competence, in part, I think, because his undeveloped skills and "philosophy" had not been tested. I think he choose loyalty to TT and Dagny because that's where his commitment ended (philosophically). Yet, when give the responsibility to make greater decisions (Las Vegas), his grounding, his principles, his loyalty all rose to the top.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    My take-away is a narrative of what could have happened after AS ended in some places. The events "outside" the Gulch are what I liked, the rebuilding and the institution of common sense "laws" (non laws) and the currency and the "court" system set up in Las Vegas (keeping in mind it takes place in the 1950s). A construct addressed in the story (but not answered, to my mind) is: What about the "victims" of the collapse, those good people who were honest, hardworking, with integrity that were caught in the vacuum between those societies that did rebuild and those in the Gulch.
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  • Posted by cranedragon 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I have always thought that he would have been offered a place if Dagny/Reardon/Galt/Francisco had thought that he would accept. The last scene between Dagny and Eddie resonates with his love for her and his unwillingness to abandon her railroad to the looters, even if she is walking away.
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  • Posted by paris1 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Please give me a heads up as to what the point of the book is. I'm about 1/3 through it and wondering if I'm wasting my time. And yes, I am skimming over a lot of the narrative!
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  • Posted by VetteGuy 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks, Jim. It's on my list, based on lots of good comments I've heard. This darn work keeps interfering with my reading time! ;-)
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In Atlas Snubbed, Krawchuk does blather along quite a bit, but you learn which pages to just turn and get to the action. Otherwise, I really like the story, highly recommend it.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Download and read Atlas Snubbed. It's what happened to Eddie when he figures out how to run the locomotive and where he goes and what he does. Great read, lots of interesting thoughts to consider and fun, too.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In the Book she wasn't and neither was Eddie. Hank told her to "make a run for it" before he leaves to join the strike.

    I would have to go back and review the movie, but I don't believe that was covered in the movie.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think it's also important to note that good people would be destroyed. Galt knew this too
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  • Posted by VetteGuy 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I thought this was an interesting difference between the book and the movie.

    In the book, the last we see of Eddie, he is laying on the tracks in front of the train in the middle of nowhere, and everyone else goes off with the wagon train. My impression was that he probably died out there.

    In the movie, as they get in the planes after rescuing JG, one of the characters says something to the effect of "you go ahead, we're going to pick up Eddie".

    The movie doesn't spend much time on Eddie, but he always seems to be on the right side of things. In the book, his character is very much like Dagny after crashing in the gulch, convinced that he can, and must, keep the wheels turning against all odds, and against all evidence to the contrary. This belief eventually leads to his demise. Is this a moral for the rest of us?
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I disagree. Rearden's secretary was offered a place in the Gulch. So, why do you think Eddie was not?
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  • Posted by 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    only the story. The underlying philosophy is called "history" nice to see you commenting duke!
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  • Posted by dukem 8 years, 9 months ago
    I read AS at age 48 the first time and age 70 the second time. Both instances served to confirm what I was learning. Now I'm 72. I expect that the next time I read it will be soon when it's all over the internet and is called "news."
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