The Minds of Looters & Moochers

Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 4 months ago to Philosophy
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Today on "Hannity", a young college student asserted that, "with the free market, you don't have a safety net".

Nobody, not even Hannity, challenged that assertion. Nobody questioned: why should there be a safety net? And its corollary: why require others to provide a safety net because YOU want there to be one?

In the 1975 movie, "Rollerball", Jonathan E's ex-wife, with whom he's still in love, is sent to convince him to give up playing Rollerball.
As they discuss the matter in the woods, the following conversation takes place:
Jonathan: It's like people, uh... we had a choice a long time ago, between... oh havin' all them nice things and freedom. Of course, they, uh... chose comfort."

Ella: "But, comfort IS freedom! It always has been! The whole history of civilization has been the struggle against poverty and need."
Jonathan (interrupting): "No, no! That... that's not it; that's NEVER been it. I mean, them privileges just buy us off."

We are surrendering essential liberties for convenience, for comfort, for safety.
But, if you analyze it, the freer you are, the more dangerous life is for you. The man alone in the wilderness is the most free, and lives the most dangerous life.

And if these people want to surrender responsibility for their lives in exchange for safety and comfort, let them. That's not my problem.

My problem is, they want to surrender MY liberty for safety and comfort. I'm the bad guy because I don't want to be sold into slavery for their piece of mind.

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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 12 years, 4 months ago
    Something else occurs to me. In the movie, 'Jeremiah Johnson', Robert Redford epitomizes the individualist mindset. His struggles to survive, the careful friendships of Delquieux and the old man, the loss of his 'wife' and the boy as a result of his helping the Army on a rescue mission, which he reluctantly undertook. His final triumph after years of unexpected dangers and mortal combat. Many similarities to AS.
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  • Posted by $ number6 12 years, 4 months ago
    "I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own! ... I am a Free man!"
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 4 months ago
    Bartholomew: "The game (Rollerball) was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort.

    "If a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed, then he must lose."

    I think this mindset could be used to show why the politicians in AS were so compelled to conquer Rearden and, later, Galt.
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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 12 years, 4 months ago
    Someone remembers 'Rollerball'. One of my favorites. A high school chum of mine and I had a difference of opinion about the ending. He felt Jonathon should not have scored that final goal while I said he should. Both would have been a defiance against the Corporation but my feeling was he was demonstrating his willingness to live the game on his terms. And, yes, the conversation is very telling, especially against the backdrop of the decadence of the society in general. As a side note, I got to met John Beck on the set of a movie being filmed in Dallas many years ago. I greeted him with, "Hey, Moonpie." He looked at me and said, "I haven't heard that in years." And like any goof, I got his autograph.
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