THEY (WE) JUST DON’T GET IT - It's Idolatry!
Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 10 months ago to Philosophy
How many of us when we try to discuss or explain our views of Objectivism arrive at the same levels of frustration. Is the real problem that we just don't get that we're arguing or trying to explain the wrong issues? Or could it be that we really don't understand what or who we're arguing against?
From the article: ""It gets a little lonely sometimes. At times I feel a little resentful, sometimes just plain angry that so few people know or care to know about economics and/or philosophy when they are so important.
I’m sympathetic, of course, having felt similarly more than once. But, as I often say, perspective is key. We’ve all complained about people who “just don’t get it,” but the real problem is that we just haven’t gotten it.
We have grossly underestimated the kind fight we’re in. We thought it was about economics and politics, but it’s much more than that. What we’re really fighting is idolatry. If that doesn’t make sense to you initially, I can’t blame you, but allow me to explain."
From the article: ""It gets a little lonely sometimes. At times I feel a little resentful, sometimes just plain angry that so few people know or care to know about economics and/or philosophy when they are so important.
I’m sympathetic, of course, having felt similarly more than once. But, as I often say, perspective is key. We’ve all complained about people who “just don’t get it,” but the real problem is that we just haven’t gotten it.
We have grossly underestimated the kind fight we’re in. We thought it was about economics and politics, but it’s much more than that. What we’re really fighting is idolatry. If that doesn’t make sense to you initially, I can’t blame you, but allow me to explain."
That is, it is very difficult to argue, using logic, facts, history, economics, politics - reality, even - against what someone _feels_. It's like that woman at James Taggart's wedding who says to Frisco "I don't have any answers, my mind doesn't work that way, but I don't _feel_ that you're right, so I know that you're wrong." and more of the same.
It's also like discussing [for a very short time] gun control with my brother. He wants them gone, all of them; he doesn't know their names or what they do or how, he doesn't know lives are saved using firearms, he just knows that he and his children used to shop at that mall in Portland where the shooting was. He actually has a visceral reaction to the idea of a firearm - you can see his body rejecting them. No conversation is possible there. Who said "it's like trying to nail jello to the wall"? Heinlein?
The author is brilliantly, tragically right - unless we can someone suspend our brains and discuss their way, we lose - and we lose a lot more than an argument.
That's where Galt's "Get the hell out of my way!" comes in.
Such as,
Since, big all powerful governments are so great, theft is a virtue, poor people are just unlucky, people who earn by free trade do not make good investments and are to be blamed for all of societies problems,
“Why shouldn’t we take money from a billionaire who doesn’t need it, to feed a starving child?”