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Sick of the Moron Brigade
Friday, August 17 2012 - 04:54 PM
Selfishness As Virtue
With Paul Ryan’s devotion to the so-called philosophy of Ayn Rand (calling such drivel a philosophy is not only a wild strectch of the imagination, but also incredibly kind) coming to the attention of the nation at large, I was struck by an idea about challenging people who hold such beliefs. Anyone who knows a member of the objectivist cult, and is unfortunate enough to own a copy of the steaming pile of crap titled Atlas Shrugged (and yes, I’m included in that demographic) should chuck their copy at the head of an objectivist cult member. When the cultist inevitably gets angry, calmly explain to them that you were just practicing the virtue of selfishness that their beloved leader extolled. Tell them since persuing your own personal happiness without regard for how it may affect anyone else is virtuous, you were just doing what it takes to make yourself happy (throwing a large heavy book at the head of a self-centered asshole). It’s what Ayn Rand would want you to do, because other people obviously don’t matter.
SaintPrick says...
Matt, though communism is naive, at least it’s a philosophy inspired by kindness. The objectivist philosophy is inspired by the insipid, infintile me, me, me, all me, all the time attitude, of self appointed “great people.” It’s a cult for people who want to sit around stroking each other off mentally by pontificating about how they’re so great and everyone else (especially the people who won’t proclaim the greatness of the cultists) are pieces of shit. Objectivists probably think the scientologists (who also take their philosophy from a sci-fi novel) are wack-jobs.
It’s funny how the Tea Party movement puts Rand on a pedestal, while proclaiming to be regular old everyday, christian Americans, whose ways of life are under attack. Jebus! Do these people even know what rand stands for? Laughable! If Rand’s a hero to the Tea Party movement they may as well elevate Anton Lavey to hero status as well.
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AV Town Crier says...
Matt
Very well put.
In a civilized society, political beliefs are just that. We still have to look out for and care for ALL members of our society, even those we personally don’t like.
We in America have forgotten what community means. It’s not good for the welfare of society (as a whole) to kick members out and let them just die in the gutter, like we have. In the end they become criminals because that’s all that’s left for them. On the other end of the spectrum, yo got people so rich is beyond greed and lust for power. They (to some degree) are themselves criminals in their total disdain for society and any obligation to make it better. After all, they got rich off society. They benefited from society. is it too much to ask for them to help out when times are tough.
When big companies outsource work to other countries to save a few bucks. What happens to the laid off workers? Pretty soon there will be no consumers. this outsourcing of worker’s and factories and banking should have been outlawed. To me, they are traitors to the American people and should be treated as such.
Does this make me a communist? A socialist? For sure, I’m neither republicrap or demicrap. I’m neither right-wing or left-wing. I am a capitalist, but not in the way that it is currently being run.
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avbornbred says...
Just another attempt to demonize the Tea Party by making us all out to be from a cult.
The Tea Party members come from all walks of life, except from the Occupy movement, who want this country to move forward. The Tea Party is not asking for “free anything.”. The Tea Party wants to work, be allowed to work and make a profit, without the government taking everything by taxing the " real workers" and preventing the cou try from moving forward. The Tea Party wants Washington to get it’s books in order which are mismanaged.
The Democratic party leaders, whom are all rich, want to remain in power by creating the largest dependent class they can, for their votes.
I am sure the Tea Party has some Christians, Atheists, whites , blacks, Hispanics, Asians, rich, and poor. The Tea Party is not about social issues and is not just about the views of Ayn Rand!
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SaintPrick says...
AVBB, I’m not attempting to demonize the tea party. I just think the fact that they put Rand on pedestal illustrates the fact that alot of them are scared, confused people. I never said they were part of a cult either, you suggested that part. The tea party movement could very well end up being a classic example of people needing to be careful what they wish for.
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avbornbred says...
Scared, hell YES! Confused, NO. The Tea Party has made huge gains since 2008. Obama has given many reasons to be scared.
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Cagy Wolf says...
The Tea Party while not perfect is far better than the current two main political parties of GOP and the Democrazies who have done nothing to improve the lives of america and americans, neither party follows the rule of law laid down by our founding fathers and the constitution. The path we have been on for over 40 years is the road to economic ruin and our people and culture destroyed.
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SaintPrick says...
Cagy, the Tea Party is not an actual party. It’s a movement of people within the republican party, so explain exactly how the Tea Party Republicans are any better than the regular Republicans. There in lies the confusion part. Look at who their supposed leaders are―Republicans, every last one of them. They’re just giving lip service to these scared confused people, and those people lap it right up. They think Obama’s scary but embrace the type of Republicans (like Paul Ryan) who want to gut all social programs and give every last bit of the money to their rich corperate friends, so every day people (me, Cagy, AVBB and everyone else who blogs here) can wallow in third world toil. Oh the Joy! The Tea Partiers have been totally duped!
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mattkeltner says...
I think there are factions within the Tea Party. Some of those factions tend to trend more toward “compassionate conservatism”, usually the Catholic/Evangelical/Mormon element and then there are those in the Tea Party who tend to lean more libertarian and for whom religion and its tenets don’t play as strong a role in their lives. This latter group are the ones which hue more toward Ayn Rand while the former are quasi-Statist, washed up Trotskyites who found religion.
As a rule, though, I have found most Tea Party people to be, as Guy Marsh would say, “Salt of the Earth types”.
Most of the Tea Party members I have had long conversations with seem to be normal, everyday, working class people who are fed up with a myriad of things, but mostly with what they call the “entitlement mentality”. Such as, people feeling that they are entitled to a lifetime of welfare benefits without ever having worked and paid into the system, people who want “free this” and “free that” without realizing that “free” just means that someone else (i.e. the taxpayers) are the ones paying for it. Another pet peeve of many Tea Party members was the bailouts given to the large corporations due to their “too big to fail” mentality. In fact, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party both grew out of frustration over that very issue!
The negative side is, of course, in their backlash against the “entitlement mentality”, a faction of them have embraced Ayn Rand’s philosophy which is just as dangerous and stupid as the “entitlement mentality” and is, in fact, an entitlement mentality unto itself.
I get why the Tea Party was born and I get why they have grown frustrated with the way things are. Trust me! Nothing pisses me off worse than rushing during my 45-minute lunch break to try to get something healthy from the grocery store and being caught in the checkout line behind some fat bitch, dripping with gold rings and necklaces, who whips out her EBT card to pay for everything. It sucks! Or, to be living in an apartment that I can barely afford and stare out my upstairs window at a crude and obnoxious family who just moved into a two-story McMansion behind my apartment complex in a brand-new neighborhood and then be told by my other neighbor that they are on Section 8. The kids from the house hop the fence into the apartment complex, mess with our cars, try to steal things we leave outside on our patios and nothing is done about it. Apparently, they’ve been taught that it’s OK to take things that don’t beling to them or that they haven’t earned and who could blame them? Especially when their mom has been living that way her whole life too — in house after house that she never had to pay for!
I think people’s unhappiness with the situation in this country has been brewing (no pun intended) for a long time now and the Tea Party has given them a voice, even if it’s a bit muffled or disgruntled.
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marino says...
So what SP, is our best option?
Matt has passed Guy in quality of writing. Agree? Disagree?
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SaintPrick says...
I agree Matt, there’s alot wrong with America, the things you talk about are a big part of that. I don’t blame people for being frustrated, but they need to be careful who they invest their faith in. If they haven’t realized that any politician with an R or a D attached to their name lies out of one side of their mouth before lying out of the other, they haven’t been paying attention. I totally agree, all these able bodied people should be cut off of welfare. But the senior citizens getting social-security and medicare, paid into that their whole lives, they deserve it, it’s not an entitlement. What about people with multiple sclerosis and parkinsons and the like? Somebody like Paul Ryan with his Randroid philosophy would like to leave these people to die. That’s just wrong! Tea Party Republicans are not the answer to what’s ailing America, but it’s a small step in the right direction. The people with the biggest entitlement mentality are the politicians and their rich friends. They’re entitled to spend the tax money they collect from you on anything they want (I.E. bailouts of large corperations, aid money to countries that hate us, unnescessary wars, playing world police man). I guarantee that the majority of Americans do not want their tax money spent on these things, but the politicians always just do what they want, because they feel entitled. The problem starts at the top, not the bottom.
Marino, we have no best option in this election, unless we can get everybody on board with a different plan. All Americans need to sign a pledge, vowing to never again for as long as they live, vote for a Republican or Democrat, in any capacity. And yes Marino, Matt is a much better writer than Marsh, for the mere fact he doesn’t choose to belittle people he disagrees with by calling them morons and troglodytes. You catch more flies with honey.
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Cagy Wolf says...
I agree Matt, Marino and Saintprick but the blame is on not just at the top, the people too lazy to work at the bottom is also to blame. I too get pissed off, when I see some fat illegal alien pregnant towing several others small screaming ill mannered brats in the check out line only to see a EBT card whipped out and vouchers from the WIX program with a full basket load of food, while I stand there with the pitiful $20.00 of food. As long as immigrants legal and illegal get benefits americans either fine hard to get or don’t get then americans will slide farther into poverty while these parasites live it up n low income housing,free child care, free education, free medical care etc etc. Both political parties have proven that they cannot do the right thing, either for selfish reasons like donations from big business, special interests or just plain votes from those whose vision is short sighted. We need to clean congress, supreme court and the White House of these traitors and buffoons who can’t see that their actions are undermining america and american’s best interests. Just removing illegal immigrants from the workforce and forcing african/americans to work or no welfare would greatly improve america economically, so would cutting off all the benefits that goes to provide benefits to illegal aliens and their anchor babes would save the federal govt. 113 billion dollars every year.
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Cagy Wolf says...
To a certain degree that there are some republican tea party types just pay lip service only, but there are also the types who are trying to fix the ills of the nation, until we get something better in a third party things are just going to be business as usual. There should be term limits to weed out those that tend to be more corrupt and stupid such as Ted Kennedy who spent far too many years being a traitor and a dirtbag.
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mattkeltner says...
Life is a delicate balancing act between self-responsibility and social responsibility. Social responsibility begins with being responsible for yourself, which is a point that the “Ayn Rand cultists” should emphasize, but they don’t.
The “no man is an island” quote by John Donne is a two-sided coin that illustrates perfectly how self-responsibility and social responsibility are intertwined.
The Ayn Rand perspective is just as naive and utopian as communism.
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