This is the third interview with her that I've watched now and to me she isn't such a genious or revolutionary as many say. I guess for her time she was "special" maybe but these days many people see some of the problems with the system we have.
Either way I truly doubt her alternative would fix a thing. Actually I believe her Utopia would be much worse. Think about all of the "insider" families bonding for power in a "free" environment.
Also I find it sad for her if she died with this mindset
@RealTrueTarget i think it reflects badly on a person if they expect to only be able to learn something from someone theyre convinced is a genius. i have learned things from working class people on several occasions despite being a white collar worker myself. the theory of evolution is a very simple theory and despite that, has very non-intuitive and complicated ramifications. the reason so many people cannot accept it is that it seems too simple.
Utopia is an artificial construct of the state, whereby it engineers the perfect world. What Ayn Rand advocated was freedom and the right of the individual to pursue happiness. In a free economy there is no power, the only power you hold is your ability to make better products and better services than your competition. What you are talking about is corporatism. Please learn the distinction before making such sweeping statements.
@ezzerdamoose if you had cancer, would you demand to be treated only by a doctor who himself/herself has had cancer? In my experience, the people with the winning smiles and powerful rhetoric are the people to avoid like the plague. the people who claim up front that they are selfish and are yet helping people understand something despite little benefit to themselves, are probably doing it because they know that helping others benefits everyone in the long run, even themselves.
@theredscourge The cancer doctor argument is a facile comparison. It's more like would you take lessons on how to speak Russian from someone who can't speak Russian? I don't know what coloured glasses Rand saw the world through or what experiences in life lead her to think selfishness needed to be promoted but it seems alive and well where I live (even without a pop-philosphy to rationalise and justify words and actions from our basest emotions and most primitive drives.)
@ezzerdamoose i would be perfectly happy learning russian from someone who does not know it if they are at least a little ahead of where i am, i just might not pay the same for that service as if they were an expert.
regarding the "coloured glasses" you mention, perhaps you are wearing a similar set of glasses. perhaps part of the problem she perceived is that if everyone is busy trying to only make everyone else happy at their own expense, nobody is actually going to be happy?
@theredscourge Spent nearly ten years in East Asia undoing the damage by underqulified language teachers. From incomprehensible pronunciation, convoluted theories on grammar and some of the weirdest symantical challenges are the way of the day in a country like China where people are learning from people who just don't know what they are teaching. You're more likely to more harm than good, develop bad habits that later need to be unlearned. Go with the expert.
@ezzerdamoose sometimes the experts speak in a language too complicated to be properly comprehended by a new english speaker, the works of shakespeare come to mind. if however you learn from a new source you are more likely to have the modern dialect threaded throughout your learnings. true, some people don't care about their job, and some people are too trusting, these things happen. i do know that it is wrong to write off something completely based on a strawman argument scenario
@theredscourge As for the selfishness, it's a live and well without the promotion of that contankerous tart. Seriously, if you want a guilt free weltanshauung, free of primitive and simplistic moral codes and values to hedge your bets on, go with a real philosopher, like Nietzsche. He was not a hateful misanthrope.
@ezzerdamoose i dont think you can blame her for selfishness. i know a lot more selfish people than myself who have never heard of Ayn Rand, so i do not feel that it is right to use rhetoric to try and direct people away from Rand merely because you disagree with part of what she says. i dont fully agree with anyone, i weigh all input and consider all options (maybe not equally, im not perfect). FYI, Rand highly respected Nietzsche.
@ezzerdamoose if you had cancer, would you demand to be treated only by a doctor who himself/herself has had cancer? In my experience, the people with the winning smiles and powerful rhetoric are the people to avoid like the plague. the people who claim up front that they are selfish and help you anyway despite little benefit to themselves, are probably doing it because they know that other people being smarter improves everyone's quality of life, even their own.
compassion for anyone who you have no vested interest in politically, emotionally or financially is a VIRTUE and should never be scauffed at. to say it is foolish or unwise in a perception i cannot identify with at all.i see no virtue in only finding a motive to do anything. f that were the case, anyone in a car accident needing help or assisitance would be religated only to loved ones, people hired to do so, or if the person in question had some vested interest in the other.
her philosophy works well for anyone living in a forest, jungle or on a deserted island. in reality, society exist and we are our brothers keeper. when my neighbor is effected in a negative way, it effect me. in turn, we are all part of a whole and are not an island unto ourselves. rand believed in I, ME, MINE mentality. in that alone, makes that frame of mind dangerous to us all. everything we do, or do not, do affects the whole.
@bduhe219 "When my neighbor is affected in a negative way, it affects ME" So, the source of your concern is something other than yourself? Is that what you're saying? That's not what altruism is, which is what Rand denigrates; altruism is only so when you have literally no stake, emotional, financial, political or any other, in those whom you are helping. So it basically means sacrificing a part of yourself to others for absolutely nothing, not even that warm fuzzy feeling of moral superiority.
@bduhe219 Your statement demonstrates a total lack of understanding of Ayn Rand and objectivism. How can I refute your position on this basis? Are you actually suggesting that I cannot live on my own in society without the help of others? What nonsense.
@SuperCLabs someone like you cannot see the forrest for the trees. i did not say it is inevitable that we all will live off of the government. i am saying, a system designed to come to the aid of the least is necessary to sustain a certain normalcy, or a functioning subculture where no one is alienated by financial cercumstances. to ignore that problem when it occurs, is to define a society that values money, wealth and status, more than the individual human..no matter their cercumstance.
@the value or virtue of a society is defined by how it treats the least of it's citizens... paraphrasing JFK...i think that is the measure we as a country should be judges in the eyes of the world.
I disagree with her fundamental principle of her philosiphy to some extent, and I would like someone who understands objectivism without a bias against it to explain this to me if possible. First, is it not one's emotions that produces creativity? I am not a very creative person myself, but I do believe that without emotions one cannot make irrational leaps that spawn innovation (because with reason alone with a finite amount of axioms will eventually become exhausted and ultimately limit you).
Ayn Rand "Whoops Ass!" Oh yeah baby! She is the Iron rod against all those people who try to knock down people who have honestly worked hard to achieve their goals, whether that be music, business or art! Or whatever!
And to the person who sent me this link with the Title that said, "These interviews make me want to read all of her books". I have a suggestion. Why not just go out there and actually read them? Just a thought!
Controlling your emotions and not acting on any impulse you have is common sense--which, if you want to attribute that to right wingers, I would agree.
@regelemihai Is that why Ayn Rand alienated her friends because she cheated on her husband with a married member of her collective who then went and left her for another woman. She failed in life because of the same reason she appealed to others. Because she intellectualized greed and selfishness, the same greed and selfishness that didn't serve her well in her own life.
"Because she intellectualized greed and selfishness"
She used as it as a maxim in moral philosophy, which I disagree with. But she carried the same concept into her views on economics, which is a different issue.
The fact is that Ayn Rand railed against government benefits, but grabbed Social Security and Medicare when she needed them. Her books provided wide-ranging parables of "parasites", "looters" and "moochers" using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes' labor. In the real world, however, when cancer threatened to wipe out the little bit of wealth she had managed to put away for her old age, she turned to the state ~ i.e. (Big Bad Government) to keep her ass off the street!!!
@CosmicFork Ayn Rand was a fiscal illiterate and used MEN, from her good looking but dead beat drunk of a husband, to Nathianel Brandon, a member of her collective, to make herself feel better about being a lonely, homely, and misguided kook. The only appeal she held for people is she intellectualized greed for them. She made people whose whole life depended on profit feel less guilty about their selfish pursuits. The same way she made herself feel guiltless for cheating on her husband.
@CosmicFork She paid into the programs most of her life didn't she? Did she have a choice to keep her own wealth and make better provisions for illness and her old age? I don't approve of public roads, but I still have to pay for them. Does that make me a hypocrite if I use them? I think not. If so, our only option at this point as liberals is to engage in violent overthrow of our government or to leave. I'd like to see some other historical figure that was even that mild in contradictions.
@ScionAscendant Don't waste your time rebutting people who are using ad hominem attacks like this; basing something entirely on a logical fallacy does not form something that is worth debating. The only people that such an argument can convince are the people who are barely capable of reason and that are not worth your limited time on this earth. Rand would have ignored people like this for the most part, and for the same reason. They're probably what made her so bitter later on.
@theredscourge Well said my friend. This is a hard lesson to learn, easy to understand, hard to put into practice. As Roark said to Toohey, when asked what he thought of him: "But I don't think of you."
@theredscourge Becoming embittered by the ignorant masses that she ignored her whole life--boy, that's a philosophy I want to embrace. Of course, maybe that wasn't part of her philosophy, and she was just incapable of following her own teachings, as many hare-brained philosophers are; how can she expect a dumb schlub such as I to follow them?
@1960mayhem well being a bitch (or not) was not incompatible with her philosophy so i dont really see your point. she knew all too well that many people are apparently incapable of embracing reason but that does not mean it is not incredibly frustrating. the reason she probably shared her philosophy is to help the people who were willing to consider it, and helping to create a better world for her to enjoy more. I see you've made your choice, by how you ignore the actual philosophy.
@theredscourge I ignore her "philosophy" because it's a joke. I suffered through the self-centered claptrap of The Fountainhead until her (obviously admirable) protagonist raped Dominique. Of course, she really wanted to be raped, she just didn't know it until she realized later that Roark was such a supreme being that she was lucky to have his penis forced into her. You can't blow this off as just fiction, because she was pushing her dogma with her novels. I'll remain unenlightened, thanks.
@1960mayhem "A true rape, Rand said, would be "a dreadful crime"" - something tells me Rand is not a fan of rape, oh wait, HER OWN WORDS TELL ME THIS.
Do note that you are engaging in the logical fallacy known as "ad hominem". The truth or accuracy of a statement a person has made is independent of whether or not you can color them as a bad person. Don't worry; you're not the first person to do this in a discussion about Rand, you're not even in the 1st thousand on YouTube actually
@theredscourge Do note that Rand or anyone can say whatever they want--it doesn't mean that they're not hypocrites. Don't worry: you're not in the first thousand to fall for the misconception that she had anything of worth to say. Thanks for defining ad hominem for me, but as your defense of her has gone on ad nauseam (to the point of nausea), I'll be moving on. Peace out.
On the basis of Objectivism people like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther would count among the most evil of all people.. I mean come on!!
@Sreeragxyz Martin Luther King wanted to secure freedom and equality for his race, family, friends, loved ones, and himself. Rand defines "sacrifice" as surrendering a higher value to a lesser one. That would be evil. But King did not sacrifice himself; he worked tirelessly to attain a great value that was irrationally removed from him and his race. Ayn Rand detested racism; she likely respected King.
@Nature89 Perhaps. I wont disagree. You seem to have more knowledge about this. Thank you. :) But brotherhood and compassion is still no evil to my eyes. Bill Gates is one of the greatest industrialist and philanthropist at the same time.
@Sreeragxyz No, they don't. They all cared about a cause and pursued it at a personal cost. They didn't advocate making other men and women give up a part of their own values by force to support that cause.
Ms. Ayn Rand mistakes morality for virtue. It is not immoral to act on your emotions, although it is a bad idea to. Furthermore, morality is not "following your reason to the best of your ability". That is a virtue. Morality is simply the preservation and advancement of freedom. What is immoral is to use force to prevent somebody from doing whatever they might want to do. Virtue is upper morality or "moral excellence" and moral increase of ability.
@ExpandingUponWealth Morality is subjective. A head hunter society might welcome Dahmer with open "arms". If you are an American you might not like his moral frame. What about Taliban morality? I can see why she says what she does.
Despite all of the her posturing (and the fact that she was correct about reason and intellect being the only smart foundation for one's thinking, she was an incredible hypocrite and totally dismissive of anyone else's concepts, even when they were similar to hers. I've always admired her ideas on individualism and self-esteem, but the conflicts within her writing and in the way she lived her life, and her idea as to people having the "moral right" to be greedy. diminish her impact greatly.
omg, too intelligent for you maybe.....if they are globalists, they tell you she's great and you believe it....if it's not a globalist and against the FED, you won't be seen anywhere other than a morgue. wake up people. tv is a staged show to guide you into debt slavery....period.
in the fountainhead, a question that comes comes up to me is why do u care what people think, why do you all care ?really why. and that applies to myself too, shes not saying be a cold hearted fuck dont give or love anyone, shes saying live on your own values, make your own choices, do what you want to do, dont stop yourself because your afraid of what other people think, what fucking life is that , and whether you notice it or not ww all live like that at one stage afraid of what other peopl
@passion370 e think. she loved her husband, but she admitted that sometimes it was sefish love. (cant spell for shite ) whats beauty ? is it what people tell you it is when your a child ,? beautys in the mind in the eye of the beholder, all shes saying is that you are allowed to have your own thoughts people should respect that and above all you should respect theres to, the right to be yourself,
@passion370 she had a 14 year affair with her chief apostle nathaniel branden with the full knowledge of her husband frank o'connor and branden's wife barbara. it was a sordid scandal in 1968 heh heh! the evidence can be found in the journals of alissa rosenbaum a.k.a. ayn rand, nathaniel and barbara branden heh heh!
@totoaklan ok fair enough, but Iam open minded I dont agree about her having an affair when she was married to frank especally if he was gud to her, I do feel she had a point with lots of her ideas , I appreciate what you are saying do
Dangerous, self-centered old coot with her ignorant "me first, screw everyone else" attitude. What is more sad (or perhaps more hilarious?) are the number of teabagger party folks who wear their Christianity on their sleeves for everyone to see and hear (repeatedly) about, while also touting Randian philosophy as though Jesus Himself spake it. Even though the two are utterly diametrically opposed.
This is WAAAYYYYY better than the Phil Donahue interviews. I see the uploader has ONLY uploaded these three videos over all these years, I'm glad he/she made this contribution!!! This interview is definitely a gem!!
@LadyScorpio39 Of course she is arrogant, she's Ayn Rand. But full of shit she isn't. She achieved her goals through her philosophies and died with her own sense of honor. Many of us will never do that. Full of shit? I think not. Your emotions may guide you more than your intellect but you don't speak for the rest of us. If you think you have it better I look forward to reading your "Atlas Shrugged"
did you ever hear her views on women? i watched her phil donahue interview, she said she wouldnt vote for a women president because she didnt feel that a women should rule over men.
if this is what you call a brilliant an elightened mind.....i'll pass!
@LadyScorpio39 I have seen one interview on Donahue ( I think there are a couple) not sure if it was the one you're referring to. I will admit that is a bit of a messed up theory and will admit that I don't 100% agree with all of her philosophies, but on the other hand have a very high level of respect and look up to her for being true to herself, that is something I admire about anyone. Ill look for that interview also!
the donahue interview that i am referring to is available here on youtube.
I found the statement she made about women appalling, especially coming from a woman.
however i do understand that she is a product of her generation and has the sexual/gender hangups of that generation had, regardless of intellect.
ive watched many an interview with her, and i cannot say that i agree with anything she says. Objectivism is not for me. i believe reason is important, but so are emotions.
@LadyScorpio39 as she said in another interview, those emotions come from a basic premis..that you can reason to.
Your emotions have a base of where the come from, and the point is knowing from where. Deconstruct where the emotion comes from, and you know why you had it...and can even change it.
you can deconstruct emotions all you want and know where they came from or why you feel them. i understand what you are saying.......but.......understanding why you feel them isnt going to neccessarily change them. i think human beings are a little more complicated than that.....and are beyond pure reason and logic.
@LadyScorpio39 Myabe not all but emotions can change, because they were shaped from specific thoughts, experiences, extrapolations of events. This would come easier to those who approach things with more reason then people who are completely driven by emotion.
i didnt say we should be driven by emotion....im just saying that are emotions are just as important to us as our intellect and we should find a balance between them in order to have a healthy life.
How is someone who is driven by emotion like? I don't get this whole debate. We only act by our emotions on the surface. Beneath the surface it's the same old brain doing calculations on what is best option considering every possible outcome. Feelings affect us but we have those feelings from interaction with the environment and so those feelings are rational.
@ThePolyfather obviously i meant woman, we can speak in english, french, german, spanish, i hope american people would learn another language apart english... and never make errors.
From my point of view, the US has a minarquist government in many respects (though not on the war front).
Only Obama tried to create a health care insurance for all and even that was not welcomed by a great part of the country. Ayn Rand's ideas about capitalism and free market have been greatly realized, as far as I know, but I'm not that familiar with her work, so maybe I'm wrong. In what way was she understood, and in what way was she a scapegoat?
@PlatoJaspers scapegoat: republicans took her ideas in order to promote low taxes BUT she also said that a any government is evil in the sense it promotes monopolies so that they took the ideas from Ayn Rand that were useful to their goal (even if the simple fact of A government is against her thoughts). Minarquism in EEUU? well look at dictatorships in south america... who promoted them? read the files form wikileaks, etc...
I see what you mean. Politicians often abuse ideas (either religious ones or those of thinkers) to suit their own goals. I'm not familiar with minarquism and as far as I know many dictators in South America were set up by the Americans.
@314Aurelius the philosopher ludwig wittgenstein designed and built an edifice that would have made howard roark scream with envy. he also designed aircraft engines and propellers. he sculpted in the best grecian tradition and played the clarinet at a virtuoso level. alissa rosenbaum never learned to drive a car. she was scared to death of airplanes and her new york apartment horribly stank of cat piss.
@NoGoodBoyo1000 oh thats easy. about 40% of americans who make useless noise are a herd of sheep as they claim themselves herded by a handful of people who brainwash them with what is called "que words". ayn rand is a que word. anytime an american in the herd hears the que word ayn rand he jumps around like a monkey eventhough he has not read even a letter of ayn rands books. on the other hand eurpeans study all points of view and accept and reject based on scientific conclusions.
@NoGoodBoyo1000 Are you referring to America when you say here? I am from the UK, so I can only speak with more certainty for there, and I would say it has to be the left wing / "new liberal" / socialist culture. Growing up in the UK, despite the enjoyment we had from so many things from the USA there was an acceptance through envy I believe to speak badly about "Americans" such as them being stupid, load mouthed and greedy. A cultural ridicule still exists.
@Avidcomp Yes, that's what I meant and why I responded to the viewer from Spain and his insult which was similar to the ones you mentioned. My own opinion of Rand is mixed.I wasn't making the case for or against her. Thank you for the question and the insight.
@Avidcomp Good points. There was a time that I held disdain for the common man, whether they be American, English or French for that matter. Showing contempt for a person who isn't well versed in literature or lacks refinement is boorish in itself. Especially when that person is busily engaged in producing the very products you buy at the local store. A businessman may never read a book but without him I would not have a car to drive, an Ipad, or the food on my table to consume.
@notengonickcojones What kind of racist comment is that? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on! There are well over 300 million people in the USA - who the fuck are you to declare us as too stupid for Rand? Assholefuckfacedouchebag...
@beeroosterm I'm from Europe, we learn about everything, we taught you how to made everything... you are from the country who looks for massive weapons in remote countries.
@notengonickcojones Who is "We"? You're just a moron looking to stir up the pot. Just write in your own language; your English is terrible. I'd rather use Google Translate to tell you you're an idiot.
@notengonickcojones The argument is I do not believe Ayn can't see the flaws in your philosophy. With all the energy she puts into explaining it she has to know the naive positivism 100's of years ago. So why does she base a philosophy on concepts like objective reality, freewill and the mind?
@lnqusitor Well, she came of URSS so obviously she is pro-capitalism, apart that point wich is not philosophy, the rest is quiet clear and obvious: we only have this reality, so why base our life in spiritual things in this life or next? the point reality exists impliesdirectly her philosophy.
@lnqusitor There is an objective reality, the reality we physicist study for exemple. Another thing is talking about quantum physics. Yhe abstraction we do from THIS reality is called, in fact, abstraction... :)
@lnqusitor I'm physicist and in fact a good one. I'm not going to discuss with people that use fallacies (such: ''you are blablabla'' OR ''you are not blablabla''). Quantum physics says that the observation collapse the wave function, that's what i meant... i suppose it is too much for your little brain.
@Shyhalu I don't quite understand your response. Ayn Rand did not oppose cooperation among men in the proper voluntary context. But if by cooperation you mean that the rights of some men are violated in order to uphold the "special rights" of others(which is the essence of the welfare state), then you have made a grave error in your understanding of rights.Rights are conditions of existence required by man for his survival. They are not "granted." They are either recognized or evaded.
@sandb232 "hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT" of course right are granted, just as truths/realities are made--made to benefit a certain type of thing(first just white men, then men worldwide, now corporations)--rights are fictitious, we cant assume we're entitled to concepts we made up like "freedom" and "democracy"...
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Axe-murdered Ayn Rand zombie masks! Available now Full head, split with axe embedded and eye dangling, voicebox activated says "I am a dead dirty Galt girl" also available blood-dripping dollar sign necklace and matching brooch!
@tstruss912 You equate the good with altruism, but you offer no reasoning for such a view.Before one can say something is good, one must ask "good for whom and for what?" Ayn Rand's most unique and radical achievement in ethics is that she traced the concept value to its hierarchical root in survival. A man needs values to sustain his life; he identifies this need and chooses the values; and he produces the values by his own effort.Then the altruists come in and demand sacrifices. By what right?
@sandb232 Survival of the species. Family => Clan/Tribe => Town/Community => State => Country => Planet => Species. This is generally our path of progression of cooperation. Ayn Rand and like thinkers have us stopping at Family.
Ask yourself this, who grants rights? The people do, and they can decide to take them away too.
@tstruss912 I don't understand how you can be both a materialist and "non-determinist." Materialism is specifically the rejection of consciousness. If all conscious states can be reduced to material interactions, then personal efficacy is illusory, and all actions are "determined."
'... people are turning to the Right, but there is No 'intellectual' leadership there.. '
Tom Snyder show:
'Unique one-on-one exchanges were common to the program, notably with..... in 1975, actor and writer Sterling Hayden, and author and philosopher Ayn Rand.'
Ayn Rand indeed had a few holes in her idealism, and was a shrill woman; however she never looked down on the worker. She looked down on the 'second-handers' who leech from others and create a cycle of self-pity. What right does a worker have to gain more then reasonable for the idea and the progression that the person who orders them brings? And any unreasonable living conditions is simply society's fault, the society that praises the majority over the minority. That is her train of thought.
@MNpatriot1776 Out of principle. If you're really against something then you go against it no matter what the cost. Did she ever protest taxes and go to jail or pay a fine? Did she turn down SS? Not that I know of...she was full of it, a true manipulator.
@tstruss912 Why would you deny getting your money back out of SS? It would make no sense not to. Have you seen any Republican/Tea Party voters refuse government benefits? No, so why is it wrong for Rand to accept SS but its ok for conservative Veterans to accept the benefits they get from the governnent, or and other conservative for that matter accepting government benefits?
@MNpatriot1776 The Tea Party etc has nothing to do with Rand or her actions. She is THEIR leader, not the other way around. Basically your argument is that you should always do what benefits you. OK, no change could ever come from that way of thinking. Change takes sacrifice, self-sacrifice. Rand could have made a point and started a possible revolution, but instead she sold out for a couple of bucks because she always did what was in her interest and never sacrificed for HER "principles".
@tstruss912 That statement, that way of thinking, only bolsters Rand's philosophy. Your argument relies on the assumption that money is greater then the spirit, that by selling out there is no self-sacrifice. If there was a contradiction, then Rand is the manifestation of your idealism of self-sacrifice. Taking without progression in human thought and invention- that is what self-sacrifice is. Your idea of sacrifice is hollow because there is no tangible line to be drawn.
@Vargarr75 Self-sacrifice is GIVING. GIVING. That's my point. We need to care more about eachother, and to GIVE more. What did Rand give? She gave her time to badmouth the givers of this world--the ones who help us when we're down. In my opinion, that's a very empty, sad, and meaningless life....
@tstruss912 You missed my point entirely, that, and you didn't even give an argument of any kind. All you did was "badmouth" Ayn Rand. Tell me, how does this world of "giving" to others work? If we just gave and gave then there is nothing that we can physically call 'ours' as property becomes less important. Once that happens there is no more giving, only taking, as everything is everyone's. The only true way to give is to strive for one's self and in doing that help move the wheels of humanity.
@Vargarr75 Why do you, who just before pointed out that spirit is more important than money, keep thinking I'm talking about property? Give what you can; give a helping hand, a kind word, or something like that. This is quickly turning into a winner take all, soulless, self-important society that is missing any sense of community, or caring, or fairness. Your view is that of the extremist, black or white. I'm simply talking about adding more care, community, and fairness to America, that's all.
@tstruss912 Your soul is property, don't think otherwise. Your soul is yours, it can be bought and sold if you wish it to. Now please stop with this high and mighty talk. You sit there with your judgement yet you spout the same nonsense. Your line of thinking is a fallacy because there is no line of thinking at all! You judge Ayn Rand and make pretentious remarks at us yet you refuse to give us your philosophical views, you just utter nice words but don't tell us what you mean by them.
@Vargarr75 I'm not trying to judge or insult you. I do dislike Rand, though. I don't try to hide it. My philosophy is pretty simple: I'm a materialist, humanist, non-determinist, and I believe that human nature is "good" (aka social) in 98% of people (2% are sociopaths). When I look at how policies should be made I look at both causal and systemic impact and think how the two would best be balanced. I hope that explains it. And, I'll tell you what bothers me about Rand.
@Vargarr75 Rand always sides with the individual, as if somebody made it to the top by working alone in the middle of the forest. What about all the workers who lacked dignity, basic healthcare, and decent living conditions that helped the "producer" make their fortune? The workers are viewed as some secondary less important species by her. I think that successful TEAM efforts should ALWAYS benefit the WHOLE team! Why not allow cooperatives like in other countries? Then we could choose....
@tekster300 give a logical reason for faith and no it does not. but nobody has ever in history created one, and therefore, you cannot find faith rational, and so it does contradict objectivism, as it bears no rational self interest.
Incredible, amazing, I am so very humbled and regretting I am out of time to learn what I should have learned a a child.
EspecialMoviesByJohn 1 week ago
What a great, great guy who did his best to always elevate while interesting and amusing his audience... Golly! We all miss you Tom!
lesliekorshak 4 weeks ago 2
i like this interviewer. Many I have watched on youtube are just bigots
kerron68 4 weeks ago
She might be a bubble head, but damn, she's hot!
1960mayhem 1 month ago
Ayn Rand talks a lot of nonsense and double talk.
StoneyMcJuicyBuds 1 month ago
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Michael Prescott: Romancing the Stone-Cold Killer: Ayn Rand and William Hickman
michaelprescottDOTnet/hickmanDOThtm
kropotkinbeard1 1 month ago
This is the third interview with her that I've watched now and to me she isn't such a genious or revolutionary as many say. I guess for her time she was "special" maybe but these days many people see some of the problems with the system we have.
Either way I truly doubt her alternative would fix a thing. Actually I believe her Utopia would be much worse. Think about all of the "insider" families bonding for power in a "free" environment.
Also I find it sad for her if she died with this mindset
RealTrueTarget 1 month ago
@RealTrueTarget i think it reflects badly on a person if they expect to only be able to learn something from someone theyre convinced is a genius. i have learned things from working class people on several occasions despite being a white collar worker myself. the theory of evolution is a very simple theory and despite that, has very non-intuitive and complicated ramifications. the reason so many people cannot accept it is that it seems too simple.
theredscourge 1 month ago
@RealTrueTarget
Utopia is an artificial construct of the state, whereby it engineers the perfect world. What Ayn Rand advocated was freedom and the right of the individual to pursue happiness. In a free economy there is no power, the only power you hold is your ability to make better products and better services than your competition. What you are talking about is corporatism. Please learn the distinction before making such sweeping statements.
SuperCLabs 4 days ago
@SuperCLabs I didn't make sweeping statements. I've said that wealthy, powerfull, insider families would rule in any system, sooner or later.
RealTrueTarget 2 days ago
she looks right at you at the end of the clip. a little bit chilling
TruthWithinRange 1 month ago
I love getting advice on how to live my life and "be happy" from a miserable tart who as far as I can see has never smiled.
ezzerdamoose 1 month ago
@ezzerdamoose if you had cancer, would you demand to be treated only by a doctor who himself/herself has had cancer? In my experience, the people with the winning smiles and powerful rhetoric are the people to avoid like the plague. the people who claim up front that they are selfish and are yet helping people understand something despite little benefit to themselves, are probably doing it because they know that helping others benefits everyone in the long run, even themselves.
theredscourge 1 month ago
@theredscourge The cancer doctor argument is a facile comparison. It's more like would you take lessons on how to speak Russian from someone who can't speak Russian? I don't know what coloured glasses Rand saw the world through or what experiences in life lead her to think selfishness needed to be promoted but it seems alive and well where I live (even without a pop-philosphy to rationalise and justify words and actions from our basest emotions and most primitive drives.)
ezzerdamoose 1 month ago
@ezzerdamoose i would be perfectly happy learning russian from someone who does not know it if they are at least a little ahead of where i am, i just might not pay the same for that service as if they were an expert.
regarding the "coloured glasses" you mention, perhaps you are wearing a similar set of glasses. perhaps part of the problem she perceived is that if everyone is busy trying to only make everyone else happy at their own expense, nobody is actually going to be happy?
theredscourge 1 month ago
@theredscourge Spent nearly ten years in East Asia undoing the damage by underqulified language teachers. From incomprehensible pronunciation, convoluted theories on grammar and some of the weirdest symantical challenges are the way of the day in a country like China where people are learning from people who just don't know what they are teaching. You're more likely to more harm than good, develop bad habits that later need to be unlearned. Go with the expert.
ezzerdamoose 4 weeks ago
@ezzerdamoose sometimes the experts speak in a language too complicated to be properly comprehended by a new english speaker, the works of shakespeare come to mind. if however you learn from a new source you are more likely to have the modern dialect threaded throughout your learnings. true, some people don't care about their job, and some people are too trusting, these things happen. i do know that it is wrong to write off something completely based on a strawman argument scenario
theredscourge 4 weeks ago
@theredscourge As for the selfishness, it's a live and well without the promotion of that contankerous tart. Seriously, if you want a guilt free weltanshauung, free of primitive and simplistic moral codes and values to hedge your bets on, go with a real philosopher, like Nietzsche. He was not a hateful misanthrope.
ezzerdamoose 4 weeks ago
@ezzerdamoose i dont think you can blame her for selfishness. i know a lot more selfish people than myself who have never heard of Ayn Rand, so i do not feel that it is right to use rhetoric to try and direct people away from Rand merely because you disagree with part of what she says. i dont fully agree with anyone, i weigh all input and consider all options (maybe not equally, im not perfect). FYI, Rand highly respected Nietzsche.
theredscourge 4 weeks ago
@ezzerdamoose if you had cancer, would you demand to be treated only by a doctor who himself/herself has had cancer? In my experience, the people with the winning smiles and powerful rhetoric are the people to avoid like the plague. the people who claim up front that they are selfish and help you anyway despite little benefit to themselves, are probably doing it because they know that other people being smarter improves everyone's quality of life, even their own.
theredscourge 1 month ago
compassion for anyone who you have no vested interest in politically, emotionally or financially is a VIRTUE and should never be scauffed at. to say it is foolish or unwise in a perception i cannot identify with at all.i see no virtue in only finding a motive to do anything. f that were the case, anyone in a car accident needing help or assisitance would be religated only to loved ones, people hired to do so, or if the person in question had some vested interest in the other.
bduhe219 1 month ago
her philosophy works well for anyone living in a forest, jungle or on a deserted island. in reality, society exist and we are our brothers keeper. when my neighbor is effected in a negative way, it effect me. in turn, we are all part of a whole and are not an island unto ourselves. rand believed in I, ME, MINE mentality. in that alone, makes that frame of mind dangerous to us all. everything we do, or do not, do affects the whole.
bduhe219 1 month ago
@bduhe219 "When my neighbor is affected in a negative way, it affects ME" So, the source of your concern is something other than yourself? Is that what you're saying? That's not what altruism is, which is what Rand denigrates; altruism is only so when you have literally no stake, emotional, financial, political or any other, in those whom you are helping. So it basically means sacrificing a part of yourself to others for absolutely nothing, not even that warm fuzzy feeling of moral superiority.
ScionAscendant 1 month ago
@bduhe219 Your statement demonstrates a total lack of understanding of Ayn Rand and objectivism. How can I refute your position on this basis? Are you actually suggesting that I cannot live on my own in society without the help of others? What nonsense.
SuperCLabs 4 days ago
@SuperCLabs someone like you cannot see the forrest for the trees. i did not say it is inevitable that we all will live off of the government. i am saying, a system designed to come to the aid of the least is necessary to sustain a certain normalcy, or a functioning subculture where no one is alienated by financial cercumstances. to ignore that problem when it occurs, is to define a society that values money, wealth and status, more than the individual human..no matter their cercumstance.
bduhe219 3 days ago
@the value or virtue of a society is defined by how it treats the least of it's citizens... paraphrasing JFK...i think that is the measure we as a country should be judges in the eyes of the world.
bduhe219 3 days ago
Possibly the best Tom Snyder interview I've seen yet.
7beers 1 month ago
Hahaha. Are you sure that's not Nancy Pelosi?
stopglobalswarming 2 months ago
I disagree with her fundamental principle of her philosiphy to some extent, and I would like someone who understands objectivism without a bias against it to explain this to me if possible. First, is it not one's emotions that produces creativity? I am not a very creative person myself, but I do believe that without emotions one cannot make irrational leaps that spawn innovation (because with reason alone with a finite amount of axioms will eventually become exhausted and ultimately limit you).
pjbeierle 2 months ago
Ayn Rand "Whoops Ass!" Oh yeah baby! She is the Iron rod against all those people who try to knock down people who have honestly worked hard to achieve their goals, whether that be music, business or art! Or whatever!
And to the person who sent me this link with the Title that said, "These interviews make me want to read all of her books". I have a suggestion. Why not just go out there and actually read them? Just a thought!
crazymike44 2 months ago
It is immoral for man to act on his emotions. Sounds like a lot of the right's bumper sticker mentality.
H8dogma 2 months ago
@H8dogma
Controlling your emotions and not acting on any impulse you have is common sense--which, if you want to attribute that to right wingers, I would agree.
regelemihai 2 months ago
@regelemihai Is that why Ayn Rand alienated her friends because she cheated on her husband with a married member of her collective who then went and left her for another woman. She failed in life because of the same reason she appealed to others. Because she intellectualized greed and selfishness, the same greed and selfishness that didn't serve her well in her own life.
priorzola 2 months ago
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@priorzola
"Because she intellectualized greed and selfishness"
She used as it as a maxim in moral philosophy, which I disagree with. But she carried the same concept into her views on economics, which is a different issue.
regelemihai 2 months ago
Her philosophy is based on pretending that our emotions don't have a purpose.
northstar789 2 months ago
@northstar789 Our emotions do have a purpose! D;
Coffeeisnecessary 2 months ago
'You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000'
one of my favorite lines of hers
JimmyFatz 2 months ago
The fact is that Ayn Rand railed against government benefits, but grabbed Social Security and Medicare when she needed them. Her books provided wide-ranging parables of "parasites", "looters" and "moochers" using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes' labor. In the real world, however, when cancer threatened to wipe out the little bit of wealth she had managed to put away for her old age, she turned to the state ~ i.e. (Big Bad Government) to keep her ass off the street!!!
CosmicFork 2 months ago
@CosmicFork Ayn Rand was a fiscal illiterate and used MEN, from her good looking but dead beat drunk of a husband, to Nathianel Brandon, a member of her collective, to make herself feel better about being a lonely, homely, and misguided kook. The only appeal she held for people is she intellectualized greed for them. She made people whose whole life depended on profit feel less guilty about their selfish pursuits. The same way she made herself feel guiltless for cheating on her husband.
priorzola 2 months ago
@CosmicFork She paid into the programs most of her life didn't she? Did she have a choice to keep her own wealth and make better provisions for illness and her old age? I don't approve of public roads, but I still have to pay for them. Does that make me a hypocrite if I use them? I think not. If so, our only option at this point as liberals is to engage in violent overthrow of our government or to leave. I'd like to see some other historical figure that was even that mild in contradictions.
ScionAscendant 2 months ago
@ScionAscendant Don't waste your time rebutting people who are using ad hominem attacks like this; basing something entirely on a logical fallacy does not form something that is worth debating. The only people that such an argument can convince are the people who are barely capable of reason and that are not worth your limited time on this earth. Rand would have ignored people like this for the most part, and for the same reason. They're probably what made her so bitter later on.
theredscourge 1 month ago
@theredscourge Well said my friend. This is a hard lesson to learn, easy to understand, hard to put into practice. As Roark said to Toohey, when asked what he thought of him: "But I don't think of you."
MagisterPridgen 1 month ago
@theredscourge Becoming embittered by the ignorant masses that she ignored her whole life--boy, that's a philosophy I want to embrace. Of course, maybe that wasn't part of her philosophy, and she was just incapable of following her own teachings, as many hare-brained philosophers are; how can she expect a dumb schlub such as I to follow them?
1960mayhem 1 month ago
@1960mayhem well being a bitch (or not) was not incompatible with her philosophy so i dont really see your point. she knew all too well that many people are apparently incapable of embracing reason but that does not mean it is not incredibly frustrating. the reason she probably shared her philosophy is to help the people who were willing to consider it, and helping to create a better world for her to enjoy more. I see you've made your choice, by how you ignore the actual philosophy.
theredscourge 1 month ago
@theredscourge I ignore her "philosophy" because it's a joke. I suffered through the self-centered claptrap of The Fountainhead until her (obviously admirable) protagonist raped Dominique. Of course, she really wanted to be raped, she just didn't know it until she realized later that Roark was such a supreme being that she was lucky to have his penis forced into her. You can't blow this off as just fiction, because she was pushing her dogma with her novels. I'll remain unenlightened, thanks.
1960mayhem 1 month ago
@1960mayhem "A true rape, Rand said, would be "a dreadful crime"" - something tells me Rand is not a fan of rape, oh wait, HER OWN WORDS TELL ME THIS.
Do note that you are engaging in the logical fallacy known as "ad hominem". The truth or accuracy of a statement a person has made is independent of whether or not you can color them as a bad person. Don't worry; you're not the first person to do this in a discussion about Rand, you're not even in the 1st thousand on YouTube actually
theredscourge 1 month ago
@theredscourge Do note that Rand or anyone can say whatever they want--it doesn't mean that they're not hypocrites. Don't worry: you're not in the first thousand to fall for the misconception that she had anything of worth to say. Thanks for defining ad hominem for me, but as your defense of her has gone on ad nauseam (to the point of nausea), I'll be moving on. Peace out.
1960mayhem 1 month ago
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chrisSo91 3 months ago
On the basis of Objectivism people like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther would count among the most evil of all people.. I mean come on!!
Sreeragxyz 3 months ago 2
@Sreeragxyz Martin Luther King wanted to secure freedom and equality for his race, family, friends, loved ones, and himself. Rand defines "sacrifice" as surrendering a higher value to a lesser one. That would be evil. But King did not sacrifice himself; he worked tirelessly to attain a great value that was irrationally removed from him and his race. Ayn Rand detested racism; she likely respected King.
Nature89 2 months ago 11
@Nature89 Michael King aka. MLK was a black communist who liked to sodomize white whores he bought with his campaign money.
stopglobalswarming 2 months ago
@Nature89 Perhaps. I wont disagree. You seem to have more knowledge about this. Thank you. :) But brotherhood and compassion is still no evil to my eyes. Bill Gates is one of the greatest industrialist and philanthropist at the same time.
Sreeragxyz 2 months ago
@Sreeragxyz Nelson Mandela was a terrorist and the others had good ideas but were misguided.
callofduty4eva 2 months ago
@callofduty4eva Misguided how if I may ask?
Sreeragxyz 2 months ago
@Sreeragxyz Gandhi had a set of principles okay dosent mean he was right. MLK was very religious and went by religion dosen't mean he's right.
callofduty4eva 1 month ago
@Sreeragxyz No, they don't. They all cared about a cause and pursued it at a personal cost. They didn't advocate making other men and women give up a part of their own values by force to support that cause.
ScionAscendant 1 month ago
Ms. Ayn Rand mistakes morality for virtue. It is not immoral to act on your emotions, although it is a bad idea to. Furthermore, morality is not "following your reason to the best of your ability". That is a virtue. Morality is simply the preservation and advancement of freedom. What is immoral is to use force to prevent somebody from doing whatever they might want to do. Virtue is upper morality or "moral excellence" and moral increase of ability.
ExpandingUponWealth 3 months ago
@ExpandingUponWealth Morality is subjective. A head hunter society might welcome Dahmer with open "arms". If you are an American you might not like his moral frame. What about Taliban morality? I can see why she says what she does.
H8dogma 2 months ago
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World is better off without this nasty bitch.
Ninjadelusion 4 months ago
Despite all of the her posturing (and the fact that she was correct about reason and intellect being the only smart foundation for one's thinking, she was an incredible hypocrite and totally dismissive of anyone else's concepts, even when they were similar to hers. I've always admired her ideas on individualism and self-esteem, but the conflicts within her writing and in the way she lived her life, and her idea as to people having the "moral right" to be greedy. diminish her impact greatly.
tommary1962 4 months ago in playlist Philosophers - Ayn Rand 1905 - 1982
she's a victim of people treating her like she's a genius.....I'm impressed by her dental work...that's about it.
sssssjjjj1 4 months ago
@sssssjjjj1 You are a victim of automatically thinking that every opinion, with enough people thinking it, has to be the opposite...
MrMiriland 4 months ago
omg, too intelligent for you maybe.....if they are globalists, they tell you she's great and you believe it....if it's not a globalist and against the FED, you won't be seen anywhere other than a morgue. wake up people. tv is a staged show to guide you into debt slavery....period.
sssssjjjj1 4 months ago
I have to say her thoughts on writing are brilliant.
Kleinfurkon 5 months ago
My goodness she is ugly. I'm barely sexually attracted to her.
bluenickels 5 months ago
@bluenickels My favourite response to anything on YouTube ever. Kudos sir
Kleinfurkon 5 months ago
@bluenickels bwhahaha, he's right, ur comment is pretty fuckin awesome, haha, good one
carlo88moe 4 months ago
Commie swallowed a dictionary.
MunkiZee 5 months ago
Ron Paul 2012 ( the begining of Laissez Faire dream)
NekoyX 5 months ago
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NekoyX 5 months ago
I wish more people would listen to Ayn Rand and what she has to say about Objectivism. Especially the part about not taking anything on faith.
soik90 5 months ago
How are you going to give an interview and and not read your guests book?
AnarchoAssassin 5 months ago
in the fountainhead, a question that comes comes up to me is why do u care what people think, why do you all care ?really why. and that applies to myself too, shes not saying be a cold hearted fuck dont give or love anyone, shes saying live on your own values, make your own choices, do what you want to do, dont stop yourself because your afraid of what other people think, what fucking life is that , and whether you notice it or not ww all live like that at one stage afraid of what other peopl
passion370 6 months ago 2
@passion370 e think. she loved her husband, but she admitted that sometimes it was sefish love. (cant spell for shite ) whats beauty ? is it what people tell you it is when your a child ,? beautys in the mind in the eye of the beholder, all shes saying is that you are allowed to have your own thoughts people should respect that and above all you should respect theres to, the right to be yourself,
passion370 6 months ago
@passion370 cheated on her husband every chance she got.
totoaklan 4 months ago
@totoaklan where the evidence, the reliable source, or is it from what other people said or thought
passion370 4 months ago
@passion370 she had a 14 year affair with her chief apostle nathaniel branden with the full knowledge of her husband frank o'connor and branden's wife barbara. it was a sordid scandal in 1968 heh heh! the evidence can be found in the journals of alissa rosenbaum a.k.a. ayn rand, nathaniel and barbara branden heh heh!
totoaklan 4 months ago
@totoaklan ok fair enough, but Iam open minded I dont agree about her having an affair when she was married to frank especally if he was gud to her, I do feel she had a point with lots of her ideas , I appreciate what you are saying do
passion370 4 months ago
Very ironic that a self-centered cunt like her spent the greatest part of her latter life drawing social security...
HYPOCRISY rules.
dervishmadwhirler 6 months ago
@dervishmadwhirler
Source?
SquareRo0o0t 5 months ago
@SquareRo0o0t
Source? All over the place...I always wonder why people always seem to fail to do searches for themselves; the whole web is full of this...
providing sources is something for scientific publications, not for youtube...
people who are on the internet can use google or any other search machine...
dervishmadwhirler 5 months ago
Dangerous, self-centered old coot with her ignorant "me first, screw everyone else" attitude. What is more sad (or perhaps more hilarious?) are the number of teabagger party folks who wear their Christianity on their sleeves for everyone to see and hear (repeatedly) about, while also touting Randian philosophy as though Jesus Himself spake it. Even though the two are utterly diametrically opposed.
rabrrrrrr 6 months ago
@rabrrrrrr
"Dangerous, self-centered old coot with her ignorant 'me first, screw everyone else' attitude."
The true dangerous types are people like you who simplistically twist Rand's ideas. Why are liberals so fucking stupid?
itachi705 5 months ago
I love her face when he said he can't remember the name to her one book.
IsaacRTeach 6 months ago in playlist Ayn Rand Objectivism
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This is WAAAYYYYY better than the Phil Donahue interviews. I see the uploader has ONLY uploaded these three videos over all these years, I'm glad he/she made this contribution!!! This interview is definitely a gem!!
tygerk 6 months ago
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tygerk 6 months ago
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tygerk 6 months ago
this women is full of shit!!
i believe is reason, yes, but emotions cannot be thrown out. we are naturally emotional. out emotions guide us more than our intellect.
in most situations it is our emotions or our intuition that guide us towards our decisions. i think the intellect can be misleading.
i find this woman arrogant.
LadyScorpio39 6 months ago
@LadyScorpio39 Of course she is arrogant, she's Ayn Rand. But full of shit she isn't. She achieved her goals through her philosophies and died with her own sense of honor. Many of us will never do that. Full of shit? I think not. Your emotions may guide you more than your intellect but you don't speak for the rest of us. If you think you have it better I look forward to reading your "Atlas Shrugged"
eleventhsun 6 months ago
@eleventhsun
did you ever hear her views on women? i watched her phil donahue interview, she said she wouldnt vote for a women president because she didnt feel that a women should rule over men.
if this is what you call a brilliant an elightened mind.....i'll pass!
LadyScorpio39 6 months ago
@LadyScorpio39 I have seen one interview on Donahue ( I think there are a couple) not sure if it was the one you're referring to. I will admit that is a bit of a messed up theory and will admit that I don't 100% agree with all of her philosophies, but on the other hand have a very high level of respect and look up to her for being true to herself, that is something I admire about anyone. Ill look for that interview also!
eleventhsun 6 months ago
@eleventhsun
the donahue interview that i am referring to is available here on youtube.
I found the statement she made about women appalling, especially coming from a woman.
however i do understand that she is a product of her generation and has the sexual/gender hangups of that generation had, regardless of intellect.
ive watched many an interview with her, and i cannot say that i agree with anything she says. Objectivism is not for me. i believe reason is important, but so are emotions.
LadyScorpio39 6 months ago
@eleventhsun of course you are guided by your emotions, you are a woman..........thats why you are all crazy
VOD713 6 months ago
@VOD713 ROFL
FlawlessCock 6 months ago
@LadyScorpio39 as she said in another interview, those emotions come from a basic premis..that you can reason to.
Your emotions have a base of where the come from, and the point is knowing from where. Deconstruct where the emotion comes from, and you know why you had it...and can even change it.
kardentyrell 6 months ago
@kardentyrell
you can deconstruct emotions all you want and know where they came from or why you feel them. i understand what you are saying.......but.......understanding why you feel them isnt going to neccessarily change them. i think human beings are a little more complicated than that.....and are beyond pure reason and logic.
LadyScorpio39 6 months ago
@LadyScorpio39 Myabe not all but emotions can change, because they were shaped from specific thoughts, experiences, extrapolations of events. This would come easier to those who approach things with more reason then people who are completely driven by emotion.
kardentyrell 6 months ago
@kardentyrell
i didnt say we should be driven by emotion....im just saying that are emotions are just as important to us as our intellect and we should find a balance between them in order to have a healthy life.
LadyScorpio39 6 months ago
@LadyScorpio39
How is someone who is driven by emotion like? I don't get this whole debate. We only act by our emotions on the surface. Beneath the surface it's the same old brain doing calculations on what is best option considering every possible outcome. Feelings affect us but we have those feelings from interaction with the environment and so those feelings are rational.
Apjooz 6 months ago
Yii Developer's Tutorial Part 3-4 (8 of 9 in series)
dreznik 6 months ago
This women was too intelligent for american people. Sadly.
notengonickcojones 6 months ago 26
@notengonickcojones ...Don't you mean "woman?" "Women" is plural. Ayn Rand is one "woman."
ThePolyfather 5 months ago
@ThePolyfather obviously i meant woman, we can speak in english, french, german, spanish, i hope american people would learn another language apart english... and never make errors.
notengonickcojones 5 months ago
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ThePolyfather 5 months ago
@notengonickcojones
That's not very hard though, a house brick could outwit the average american.
SquareRo0o0t 5 months ago
I think the American people incorporated a lot of what she said. Sadly enough.
PlatoJaspers 5 months ago
@PlatoJaspers She was a minarquist so i can't agree, i think she was misunderstood, and a scapegoat.
notengonickcojones 5 months ago
From my point of view, the US has a minarquist government in many respects (though not on the war front).
Only Obama tried to create a health care insurance for all and even that was not welcomed by a great part of the country. Ayn Rand's ideas about capitalism and free market have been greatly realized, as far as I know, but I'm not that familiar with her work, so maybe I'm wrong. In what way was she understood, and in what way was she a scapegoat?
PlatoJaspers 5 months ago
@PlatoJaspers scapegoat: republicans took her ideas in order to promote low taxes BUT she also said that a any government is evil in the sense it promotes monopolies so that they took the ideas from Ayn Rand that were useful to their goal (even if the simple fact of A government is against her thoughts). Minarquism in EEUU? well look at dictatorships in south america... who promoted them? read the files form wikileaks, etc...
notengonickcojones 5 months ago
I see what you mean. Politicians often abuse ideas (either religious ones or those of thinkers) to suit their own goals. I'm not familiar with minarquism and as far as I know many dictators in South America were set up by the Americans.
PlatoJaspers 5 months ago
@notengonickcojones - Come on, lets be honest here -- She's too intelligent for nearly everyone.
314Aurelius 4 months ago
@314Aurelius True.
notengonickcojones 4 months ago
@314Aurelius the philosopher ludwig wittgenstein designed and built an edifice that would have made howard roark scream with envy. he also designed aircraft engines and propellers. he sculpted in the best grecian tradition and played the clarinet at a virtuoso level. alissa rosenbaum never learned to drive a car. she was scared to death of airplanes and her new york apartment horribly stank of cat piss.
totoaklan 4 months ago
@notengonickcojones she's a russian plant.
totoaklan 4 months ago
@notengonickcojones Then why does she have more admirers here than in Europe?
NoGoodBoyo1000 4 months ago 6
@NoGoodBoyo1000 oh thats easy. about 40% of americans who make useless noise are a herd of sheep as they claim themselves herded by a handful of people who brainwash them with what is called "que words". ayn rand is a que word. anytime an american in the herd hears the que word ayn rand he jumps around like a monkey eventhough he has not read even a letter of ayn rands books. on the other hand eurpeans study all points of view and accept and reject based on scientific conclusions.
jrswordfish1 2 months ago
@jrswordfish1 Try again. Derp.
hearthisman 2 months ago
@NoGoodBoyo1000 Are you referring to America when you say here? I am from the UK, so I can only speak with more certainty for there, and I would say it has to be the left wing / "new liberal" / socialist culture. Growing up in the UK, despite the enjoyment we had from so many things from the USA there was an acceptance through envy I believe to speak badly about "Americans" such as them being stupid, load mouthed and greedy. A cultural ridicule still exists.
Avidcomp 1 month ago
@Avidcomp Yes, that's what I meant and why I responded to the viewer from Spain and his insult which was similar to the ones you mentioned. My own opinion of Rand is mixed.I wasn't making the case for or against her. Thank you for the question and the insight.
NoGoodBoyo1000 1 month ago
@Avidcomp Good points. There was a time that I held disdain for the common man, whether they be American, English or French for that matter. Showing contempt for a person who isn't well versed in literature or lacks refinement is boorish in itself. Especially when that person is busily engaged in producing the very products you buy at the local store. A businessman may never read a book but without him I would not have a car to drive, an Ipad, or the food on my table to consume.
SuperCLabs 4 days ago
@notengonickcojones No. The most fervent of Ayn Rand's fan have been Americans. The only place where Ayn Rand's ideas can thrive is in this country.
MiaoPurrington 4 months ago
@notengonickcojones What kind of racist comment is that? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on! There are well over 300 million people in the USA - who the fuck are you to declare us as too stupid for Rand? Assholefuckfacedouchebag...
beeroosterm 3 months ago
@beeroosterm I'm from Europe, we learn about everything, we taught you how to made everything... you are from the country who looks for massive weapons in remote countries.
notengonickcojones 3 months ago
@notengonickcojones Who is "We"? You're just a moron looking to stir up the pot. Just write in your own language; your English is terrible. I'd rather use Google Translate to tell you you're an idiot.
beeroosterm 3 months ago
@beeroosterm i'm scientist, you are the moron... never mind, you are american i've no time to explain you simple facts.
notengonickcojones 3 months ago
@notengonickcojones Of course. We Americans are just too simple-minded to understand. Ahora ¿por qué no te vas a chingar a su madre y?
beeroosterm 3 months ago
@beeroosterm You have made of this genius a scape goat. This is sad.
notengonickcojones 3 months ago
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Ayn Rand's philosophy led to her cheating on her husband with Nathaniel Branden.
waddyprocess 6 months ago
Ayn Rand does a fantastic job of making the idiot feel and look smart.
lnqusitor 6 months ago
@lnqusitor this sentece is said by an idiot i suppose... i don't see a lot of arguments in your comment.
notengonickcojones 6 months ago
@notengonickcojones The argument is I do not believe Ayn can't see the flaws in your philosophy. With all the energy she puts into explaining it she has to know the naive positivism 100's of years ago. So why does she base a philosophy on concepts like objective reality, freewill and the mind?
lnqusitor 6 months ago
@lnqusitor Well, she came of URSS so obviously she is pro-capitalism, apart that point wich is not philosophy, the rest is quiet clear and obvious: we only have this reality, so why base our life in spiritual things in this life or next? the point reality exists impliesdirectly her philosophy.
notengonickcojones 6 months ago
@notengonickcojones There is no objective reality only the reality we abstract from our environment.
lnqusitor 6 months ago
@lnqusitor There is an objective reality, the reality we physicist study for exemple. Another thing is talking about quantum physics. Yhe abstraction we do from THIS reality is called, in fact, abstraction... :)
notengonickcojones 6 months ago
@notengonickcojones You are not a physicist. No PhD in physics would write that so what are you realyl and why do you pretend to be one?
lnqusitor 6 months ago
@lnqusitor I'm physicist and in fact a good one. I'm not going to discuss with people that use fallacies (such: ''you are blablabla'' OR ''you are not blablabla''). Quantum physics says that the observation collapse the wave function, that's what i meant... i suppose it is too much for your little brain.
notengonickcojones 6 months ago
The sexiest mind.
backwoodsninja 6 months ago
Snyder was an excellent interviewer, too bad he's no longer with us.
christopherhoughton1 6 months ago
Thank you for uploading this!
666dagstein 6 months ago
So much hate. Some people so fear freedom of others. Enough fear to start a third. world war.
mustang607 6 months ago
@Shyhalu I don't quite understand your response. Ayn Rand did not oppose cooperation among men in the proper voluntary context. But if by cooperation you mean that the rights of some men are violated in order to uphold the "special rights" of others(which is the essence of the welfare state), then you have made a grave error in your understanding of rights.Rights are conditions of existence required by man for his survival. They are not "granted." They are either recognized or evaded.
sandb232 7 months ago 9
@sandb232 "hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT" of course right are granted, just as truths/realities are made--made to benefit a certain type of thing(first just white men, then men worldwide, now corporations)--rights are fictitious, we cant assume we're entitled to concepts we made up like "freedom" and "democracy"...
carlo88moe 4 months ago
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THE BIGGEST CUNT IN THE UNIVERSE
LibertyWaxlips 7 months ago
This comments truly depress me.
ZorrisPorris 7 months ago
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Axe-murdered Ayn Rand zombie masks! Available now Full head, split with axe embedded and eye dangling, voicebox activated says "I am a dead dirty Galt girl" also available blood-dripping dollar sign necklace and matching brooch!
YYYeahhHup 7 months ago
@tstruss912 You equate the good with altruism, but you offer no reasoning for such a view.Before one can say something is good, one must ask "good for whom and for what?" Ayn Rand's most unique and radical achievement in ethics is that she traced the concept value to its hierarchical root in survival. A man needs values to sustain his life; he identifies this need and chooses the values; and he produces the values by his own effort.Then the altruists come in and demand sacrifices. By what right?
sandb232 7 months ago
@sandb232 Survival of the species. Family => Clan/Tribe => Town/Community => State => Country => Planet => Species. This is generally our path of progression of cooperation. Ayn Rand and like thinkers have us stopping at Family.
Ask yourself this, who grants rights? The people do, and they can decide to take them away too.
Shyhalu 7 months ago
@tstruss912 I don't understand how you can be both a materialist and "non-determinist." Materialism is specifically the rejection of consciousness. If all conscious states can be reduced to material interactions, then personal efficacy is illusory, and all actions are "determined."
sandb232 7 months ago
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AYN RAND=ZIONIST JEW
HUMANSAREBENEATHME 7 months ago
when was this?
'... people are turning to the Right, but there is No 'intellectual' leadership there.. '
Tom Snyder show:
'Unique one-on-one exchanges were common to the program, notably with..... in 1975, actor and writer Sterling Hayden, and author and philosopher Ayn Rand.'
(wikipedia: Tom_Snyder)..
Landis.
lunarmation 7 months ago
Ayn Rand indeed had a few holes in her idealism, and was a shrill woman; however she never looked down on the worker. She looked down on the 'second-handers' who leech from others and create a cycle of self-pity. What right does a worker have to gain more then reasonable for the idea and the progression that the person who orders them brings? And any unreasonable living conditions is simply society's fault, the society that praises the majority over the minority. That is her train of thought.
Vargarr75 7 months ago
Rand is ugly inside and out. What a disgusting creature. She even took SS after she preached against the gov her whole life. What a total fraud.
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 If you pay into something against your will, why not get your money back?
MNpatriot1776 7 months ago
@MNpatriot1776 Out of principle. If you're really against something then you go against it no matter what the cost. Did she ever protest taxes and go to jail or pay a fine? Did she turn down SS? Not that I know of...she was full of it, a true manipulator.
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 Why would you deny getting your money back out of SS? It would make no sense not to. Have you seen any Republican/Tea Party voters refuse government benefits? No, so why is it wrong for Rand to accept SS but its ok for conservative Veterans to accept the benefits they get from the governnent, or and other conservative for that matter accepting government benefits?
MNpatriot1776 7 months ago
@MNpatriot1776 The Tea Party etc has nothing to do with Rand or her actions. She is THEIR leader, not the other way around. Basically your argument is that you should always do what benefits you. OK, no change could ever come from that way of thinking. Change takes sacrifice, self-sacrifice. Rand could have made a point and started a possible revolution, but instead she sold out for a couple of bucks because she always did what was in her interest and never sacrificed for HER "principles".
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 That statement, that way of thinking, only bolsters Rand's philosophy. Your argument relies on the assumption that money is greater then the spirit, that by selling out there is no self-sacrifice. If there was a contradiction, then Rand is the manifestation of your idealism of self-sacrifice. Taking without progression in human thought and invention- that is what self-sacrifice is. Your idea of sacrifice is hollow because there is no tangible line to be drawn.
Vargarr75 7 months ago
@Vargarr75 Self-sacrifice is GIVING. GIVING. That's my point. We need to care more about eachother, and to GIVE more. What did Rand give? She gave her time to badmouth the givers of this world--the ones who help us when we're down. In my opinion, that's a very empty, sad, and meaningless life....
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 You missed my point entirely, that, and you didn't even give an argument of any kind. All you did was "badmouth" Ayn Rand. Tell me, how does this world of "giving" to others work? If we just gave and gave then there is nothing that we can physically call 'ours' as property becomes less important. Once that happens there is no more giving, only taking, as everything is everyone's. The only true way to give is to strive for one's self and in doing that help move the wheels of humanity.
Vargarr75 7 months ago
@Vargarr75 Why do you, who just before pointed out that spirit is more important than money, keep thinking I'm talking about property? Give what you can; give a helping hand, a kind word, or something like that. This is quickly turning into a winner take all, soulless, self-important society that is missing any sense of community, or caring, or fairness. Your view is that of the extremist, black or white. I'm simply talking about adding more care, community, and fairness to America, that's all.
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 Your soul is property, don't think otherwise. Your soul is yours, it can be bought and sold if you wish it to. Now please stop with this high and mighty talk. You sit there with your judgement yet you spout the same nonsense. Your line of thinking is a fallacy because there is no line of thinking at all! You judge Ayn Rand and make pretentious remarks at us yet you refuse to give us your philosophical views, you just utter nice words but don't tell us what you mean by them.
Vargarr75 7 months ago
@Vargarr75 I'm not trying to judge or insult you. I do dislike Rand, though. I don't try to hide it. My philosophy is pretty simple: I'm a materialist, humanist, non-determinist, and I believe that human nature is "good" (aka social) in 98% of people (2% are sociopaths). When I look at how policies should be made I look at both causal and systemic impact and think how the two would best be balanced. I hope that explains it. And, I'll tell you what bothers me about Rand.
tstruss912 7 months ago
@Vargarr75 Rand always sides with the individual, as if somebody made it to the top by working alone in the middle of the forest. What about all the workers who lacked dignity, basic healthcare, and decent living conditions that helped the "producer" make their fortune? The workers are viewed as some secondary less important species by her. I think that successful TEAM efforts should ALWAYS benefit the WHOLE team! Why not allow cooperatives like in other countries? Then we could choose....
tstruss912 7 months ago
@tstruss912 haters gonna hate
Minkki82 7 months ago
I disagree; my faith is reasonable and not based merely on emotion or I would have hung it up years ago.
ghostnoteus 7 months ago
@ghostnoteus well your reason is fucked up
VOD713 6 months ago
@VOD713 Have you even heard my reasons?
ghostnoteus 6 months ago
Rand is a flaming fraud. A free market failure who couldn't even pay her own medical bills.
teapartyxpress 7 months ago
@teapartyxpress The hospital administrators did not find it in their self interest to keep her alive
lambertvilledrummer 7 months ago
What if you find reasonable to have faith?Does that contradicts Objectivism?Or is still an Objevtivist notion?
tekster300 7 months ago
@tekster300 give a logical reason for faith and no it does not. but nobody has ever in history created one, and therefore, you cannot find faith rational, and so it does contradict objectivism, as it bears no rational self interest.
amazing647 7 months ago