Defending Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 8 months ago to Philosophy
I'm always interested in feedback on "debates" that I get into. I've posted the main post and thread and then there was another sub-thread that I'll post below in comments. Thoughts? Criticisms? Thanks.
Main Post R: Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society….To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.— Gore Vidal, 1961
My Response
Me: Well if Gore Vidal is that much against it that is high praise indeed.
R: Rand is EVIL.
Me: Lol. Yes. Because anyone who thinks it's wrong to own others is the very definition of evil to progressives who believe otherwise.
Me: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." Yep. Hard to imagine a more evil concept. Except for any contrary concept that argues that your life is only valued as something you should sacrifice to others and that others should be forced to live for you.
R: She believes that helping others is a weakness. that being selfish is a strength. I completely disagree.
R: her philosophy of selfishness, vanity, and egotism is all that is wrong with humanity. it breeds hate.
R: If I prescribed to her philosophy... i wouldnt share my knowledge or my mead with you unless you paid dearly for it.
Me: Actually you don't really seem to understand her philosophy. Just the cliff notes version with the familiar leftist spin.
Me: So you get no enjoyment, pleasure or satisfaction from sharing your plant knowledge? If that is the case then as your friend I would truly advise you to stop.
R: I see too many that use the plant knowledge to make a buck or abuse it. Rand would be proud of them. I don't make a living from it. Just recoup expenses.
Me: So you're not answering my question. Instead, you once again show that you don't even understand the philosophy you're maligning.
R: Pleasure or satisfaction isn't a factor. I started teaching because others asked me to.
R: Rand philosophy is all that is wrong with this country.
Me: So you don't enjoy it or get any satisfaction out of it? Once again avoiding my question. If you are that miserable doing it you should stop.
Me: Rand philosophy? Really? Because I know very few people that actually follow Rand's philosophy
R: You can convince me Rand philosophy is good for mankind. Ever.
Main Post R: Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society….To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.— Gore Vidal, 1961
My Response
Me: Well if Gore Vidal is that much against it that is high praise indeed.
R: Rand is EVIL.
Me: Lol. Yes. Because anyone who thinks it's wrong to own others is the very definition of evil to progressives who believe otherwise.
Me: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." Yep. Hard to imagine a more evil concept. Except for any contrary concept that argues that your life is only valued as something you should sacrifice to others and that others should be forced to live for you.
R: She believes that helping others is a weakness. that being selfish is a strength. I completely disagree.
R: her philosophy of selfishness, vanity, and egotism is all that is wrong with humanity. it breeds hate.
R: If I prescribed to her philosophy... i wouldnt share my knowledge or my mead with you unless you paid dearly for it.
Me: Actually you don't really seem to understand her philosophy. Just the cliff notes version with the familiar leftist spin.
Me: So you get no enjoyment, pleasure or satisfaction from sharing your plant knowledge? If that is the case then as your friend I would truly advise you to stop.
R: I see too many that use the plant knowledge to make a buck or abuse it. Rand would be proud of them. I don't make a living from it. Just recoup expenses.
Me: So you're not answering my question. Instead, you once again show that you don't even understand the philosophy you're maligning.
R: Pleasure or satisfaction isn't a factor. I started teaching because others asked me to.
R: Rand philosophy is all that is wrong with this country.
Me: So you don't enjoy it or get any satisfaction out of it? Once again avoiding my question. If you are that miserable doing it you should stop.
Me: Rand philosophy? Really? Because I know very few people that actually follow Rand's philosophy
R: You can convince me Rand philosophy is good for mankind. Ever.
