Atlas Shrugged Newbie

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 4 years, 11 months ago to Movies
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No, not me, but I met someone.

I often wear my gear around town, especially when shopping on Sundays. I make a round of groceries, including our co-op and also Whole Foods. At WF today, the cashier was a really young guy, early 20s. He recognized Taggart Transcontinental on my t-shirt. "It's a movie prop," I said. He was blank."The hat, too," I said. He looked up at my 20th Century Motors cap. "What movie?" he asked. I told him that there were Atlas Shrugged movies made and he could find the movie website online.

"You know the scene with Dagny's first morning in the Valley? In the movie, John Galt was drinking from an Akston Diner coffee cup." By the look in his eyes, he got all of that 100%. "I asked about buying one and they hadn't been made yet. But then they made some, so I bought one." (Actually, I bought seven, but it was time to go...)

So, when you dispair about the world, just remember that there are always new, young people coming to reason and reality but means and routes that are unperceived but continuous and continuing.


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  • Posted by kpooresn 4 years, 11 months ago
    So glad to hear about thr young people having an interest in this book. I ead it first time when I was 18, Didn/t think it could ever happen in our country.I'm 80 now and have read it 5 more times. Now every Day I'm scared to death at what's happening here.
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  • Posted by $ Commander 4 years, 11 months ago
    I'm meeting more youngsters that, after brief dialog, see that I genuinely care for their future plight. These are the model of what John Holt, John Gatto and Lilian Katz describe in their respective observations of learning. Given the opportunity, I've seen kids re-vitalize enthusiasm for the randomness of learning. A prerequisite is the allowance for failure without the fear of being "wrong". They sort out out A = A on their own if not interfered with.
    Side note: Really enjoyed your post on Anthropology and Rand.
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  • Posted by term2 4 years, 11 months ago
    I have been surprised after discovering YouTube about 6 months ago at the sheer amount of useful information available. I have quit watching even Fox News now. MSM is a waste of time
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 4 years, 11 months ago
    Hope he watches the movies, then buys the book...oh...and maybe the cap.

    They sell the cups here on the gulch site?...I'd like to have one too.
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    • Posted by $ 4 years, 11 months ago
      Well, he clearly read the book because he recognzied Taggart Transcontinental and I believe that he read it more than once because he seemed to know the scene of Dagny's first morning in the Valley.

      What is interesting is that he did not know about the movies.

      Ayn Rand is something that young people discover by peer recommendation. The university campus might have an Objectiivst club. Many do. But mostly, it is a result of a friend passing along a book.
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 4 years, 11 months ago
    I am so proud of my adult grandchildren. Their collective opinion of the Democrats behavior regarding the Mueller report is 'they are bad losers!'
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  • Posted by mminnick 4 years, 11 months ago
    In todays world the expression A=A will start an argument about 90% of the time. If one cannot agree on so simple and obvious a concept, the rest of the world is in real trouble as far a clear and consistent thought is concerned.
    I work with my grandchildren and show them how to r4eason and think logically about issues. I try to teach them when emotion has a role to play (It does sometimes).
    My oldest granddaughter is studying law. I try to teach her some of the objectivist philosophy and how it is applied. Hard sell against the liberal college professors who determine her future but she is learning. So far she has suffered no repercussions.
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    • Posted by skidance 4 years, 11 months ago
      Last year, I briefly dated a scientist. One day, I said, "A is A." His response: "I don't believe in absolutes." As one might imagine, the relationship was of short duration and no serious intent.
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      • Posted by $ Commander 4 years, 11 months ago
        I'm curious as to what kind of "science" . Can you embellish a bit?
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        • Posted by skidance 4 years, 11 months ago
          He's a chemist. He didn't take kindly to any mistakes I made, nor to any corrections of his own misapprehensions. Another example: he firmly believed that fiction is worthless, since its only motivation is profit. And another: a diabetic, toward the end of our time of dating (I won't characterize it as a relationship) he brought a bottle of extra-dry Champagne for us to consume. I tried to explain that Brut would be better for both of us, since it is "drier." The next morning, he let me know online that he hadn't felt well, nor had I. I sent an authoritative article explaining the difference. No, he didn't appreciate being corrected. He also didn't think the anomaly of my seeing 33 deer last fall and early winter was significant (when 3-4 was typical), and we had our second record snowstorm in two years. The day after, I received his e-mail stating "the end--non-fiction." I wasn't hurt at all; rather, I was relieved.
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          • Posted by $ Commander 4 years, 11 months ago
            Understanding another's behavior is a journey of understanding self. First; "we", for the most part grow and mature in a subjectively based value structure....myth, faith, hope, belief. Having no objective base of values that we may share the self-evidence of, leads to conflicts in the aforementioned.
            I'll offer some authorship to the affect: Rand; The Objectivist's Ethics, John Holt; How Children Learn and How Children Fail, John Gatto; The Dumbing Down of America, and, if you can find a vid, Morris Massey; What You Are Is Where You Were When.
            I've found these to be some of the best, simplest expressions of how we learn and how we perceive our metaphysical surroundings.
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  • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 11 months ago
    Compare with the post of 2h 40min earlier by allosaur
    'Interviewed Socialist College Students Don't Know Jack'.

    Those youngsters, presumably students, know little.

    The check -out chap you met showed at least openness,
    different from the mistaken certainty of the college educated.
    Thanks for the story.
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    • Posted by $ 4 years, 11 months ago
      Go to the Ayn Rand Institute and read about the essay contests and read down the lists of those who entered and those who won places.
      https://www.aynrand.org/students

      Many come from Catholic schools, Christian schools, Ivy League colleges, and one, even from Havana, Cuba. What do you think that they are taught in school?

      Perhaps we just having a glass half full comparison of convenient samples.
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      • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 11 months ago
        . . just having a glass half full comparison of convenient samples.

        Yes. to make a really authoritative statement there must be a stated proposition to verify or otherwise, it is easier to throw in explanations, which is what I will now do:
        Denominational (perhaps not fundamentalist), private, special interest schools are better at teaching than the typical state school in that they give more supervision, more emphasis on individual achievement, more encouragement and pushing, and there are more proper subjects taught. By 'proper' I mean traditional, where there is study and respect for the achievements of the past. The mainstream in state education now focuses on experiences, journeys, feelings, expression, and working in teams. This discourages rigor in thought, it does not even promote creativity. Pop tertiary education has a multitude of subjects titled 'xx studies', courses that require no study. No wonder the graduates are unemployable, have an inflated view of their worth, and cannot think.

        Side comment- my first sentence supports Popper's falsifiability which I like. It is a great way to evaluate a proposition, but as you say in another thread, it is not the last word, but a good heuristic.
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        • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 11 months ago
          What is a "heuristic"?
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          • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 11 months ago
            An heuristic is a type of problem solving technique.
            It is used because of experience that it reliably gives good results.
            It works, but without logical proof that it must always work.

            I call Popper's falsifiable criterion an heuristic because it is a very clever way of approaching the problem of how to evaluate ideas. It cannot be called rigorous in a logical sense as a falsifying claim is subject to the same argument. (My head now hurts, I think I am describing the Oozlum Bird).

            As usual, there are other definitions.
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          • Posted by $ 4 years, 11 months ago
            A heuristic is a general way to solve a problem. It is not the solution, but a path to finding it. Reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson is one way to learn about the man. That is the solution to the problem. Going to the library is means to finding the books that tell about him, the heuristic.

            Knowing about the existence of libraries and bookstores would be even more general, "hermeneutics" perhaps.
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        • Posted by $ 4 years, 11 months ago
          That glass is still half full... If you go to the ARI website and read the contest winners, it is not a surprise that the vast majority come from public schools, a large percentage come from parochial schools, and some few are homeschooled. It is just a subset of the larger numbers.

          With my education in social science, I can say that you are attempting a "structural-functional" explanations of why kids in private schools read Atlas Shrugged. It goes along with the "schools brainwash kids into being socialists" theory of why socialism continues. \

          In point of fact, the numbers show that the young admirers of the works of Ayn Rand come from across the statistical spectrum, which is to be expected, actually.

          I agree with your generalities about those private and public schools. However, I believe it more salient that the Catholic schools would be even less likely to teach "the virtue of selfishness" and rather would be expressly against their kids reading Atlas Shrugged.

          Young people find the works of Ayn Rand on their own. It's a fact.

          (Be sure to tell curi that you like Popper.)
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          • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 11 months ago
            Yes, but I cannot resist making comments:

            Tellingcuri that I like Popper-
            curi, who is, an expert on Popper and knows what we think, I can tell you that he's not what you think, so that step is unnecessary.

            I am enlightened by being told that I have attempted "structural-functional" explanations. This reminds me of the biography of Richard Feynman by Gleick, first chapter, in which there is a little story about a Spencer's Warbler.
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            • Posted by $ 4 years, 11 months ago
              Just because you know the name of something does not mean that you know anything about it.

              Like Spencer's Warbler, structural-functionalism is something you can find out about.
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  • Posted by Rex_Little 4 years, 11 months ago
    You should warn that cashier that if he actually watches the movie, he'll be extremely disappointed (unless he just sees part 1 and skips the others).
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