A philosophy is one's system of beliefs with regard to reality. There is only one true reality - that which is - but everyone has their own view of the world, and thus anyone can play the "magical reality" game. Barack Obama comes to mind as someone who should be mentioned here as a fine example of a magical reality kind of guy.Well, by gosh, a philosophy seeks to understand and even explain the nature of our existence. By "our" I mean, of course, "your" - I already know the nature of my own existence. Poverty. They say (and by "they" I mean Wikipedia) that our philosophy - our belief system - becomes our personal standard through which we perceive and process ideas. In this sense, you could say that philosophy is the foundation of knowledge. I'm not sure I would say that, but smart people have said it. You are smart, so you may say that too. Barack and company destest knowledge and sound ideas, so "they" wouldn't say that.
Basically, what we want to know is, what the heck is going on and what our place is in the world. Maybe in the universe even. Somebody once said that once you start philosophizing about your purpose in life, in the universe, then you are sick. So it's a catch-22. Was it Freud? Sounds like something he would say. Somebody smart like him, anyway.
Anyway, I started out wanting to do a little post on Objectivism, a word (and philosophy) coined by Ayn Rand to explain her philosophy of life (or personal crazy sickness) because... well, because the word existentialism had already been taken, I guess. Actually, I don't have to guess - Ms. Rand admitted those very words herself. BTW, please don't get Ayn Rand mixed up with Georgia O'Keefe.
Why did I want to make a little post on the subject of Objectivism? You might well ask. I don't really know. Just because it is the weekend and J.E.B. Stuart still hasn't returned in the other series of posts anyway. Besides, Ojectivism is REALLY interesting (just not that interesting on a blog, sadly) and has the added appeal of probably pissing off liberals. Win-win. But I ramble. I know I do. Getting back on topic now. Very soon.
Gary Cooper WAS Howard Roark in "The Fountainhead." I tell you this else no one but the Rocket Scientist would have gotten the connection of the clever picture insert. Well, A. would have gotten it, because A. knows most everything and is good at free association.
Incidentally - as if you weren't impressed enough already - there is an Ayn Rand Society, which is affiliated with the American Philosophical Association (A. Phil Ass) which you also may not have heard of (your loss) because there are only a few members. Ayn Rand, Georgia O'keefe and her buddy D.L. Lawrence (and almost surely his philosophical gardner) and myself and probably Soubriquet. Most assuredly NOT Adullamite. All are dead. Well, not ALL. But the famous ones are.
Objectivism promotes the values of love, friendship, wealth, and comfort. Sadly, Ayn realized none of these things, but hey. I personally like Objectivism because it emphasizes reason and clarity, both of which I could be a universal model. in.
"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." —Ayn Rand.
Sort of like President Obama's philosophy of life, only backwards. I was reminded of the man's hatred of self-reliance as I watched his jobs speech the other night. Pretty darn good speech, by the way. I mean, pretty good for a socialist. Count me in on that more spending and higher taxes thing. Put me down for another $75. And tax the living crap out of the small businessmen who create jobs; that'll do the trick. That's fair. Heck, more than half of Americans pay zero income taxes now. You call THAT fair? Everybody should pay SOMETHING. Oh, god, I kid you.
Were you trying to make some sort of sense?
ReplyDeleteI'm not desperately knowledgeable about Ayn Rand. I've only read "The Fountainhead" which I found interesting but occasionally thought made no sense.
Kind of like this post.
Wait, it's a rant, right, because our government, which is being blamed because continuing tax breaks haven't (gasp!) created jobs, trying to work a plan where people actually will go back to work and contemplate paying taxes?
That bastard. Only using the method that actually worked after the depression. Finally.
Philosophy, a dead mental exercise that goes nowhere but allows the participant to feel proud of their 'knowledge.'
ReplyDeleteObama, a black man who sought fairness for all, especially those at the bottom, while those who had enough kept what they wanted and hated black men as presidents.
God help America! One day they will understand why 9/11 happened!
@Stephanie Barr - I'm not making a rant. I read something about Objectivism and I thought I'd share and maybe someone would give input. I don't know much about it, so I free-associate, as you so often do in your own writings. Reading about Objectivism in Wikipedia "articles" led me to Ayn Rand, and I remembered I had seen the movie of her book on the old movie channel once, though I dozed and didn't get it at all. No help from you there either, though you claim to have read the book and COULD have told me if you'd wanted to. I think she looked like Georgia O'Keefe but later changed my mind. So never mind. D.L. Lawrence was free association because he and Georgia were apparently friends. I didn't read all of THAT book either. Nor have I read War and Peace. There, now THAT'S out in the open too. As you know, I am not against Obama's policies because he is spending us into oblivion and it isn't working and he keeps trying the same thing over and over that doesn't work, I just hate him because he has black skin. I hated Jimmy Carter's policies too. I guess his black skin color doesn't come out well in his photos.
ReplyDeleteIt was WWII that got us out of the depression, as you well know, and I want you to know I think you are wrong in saying you believe Obama should start another WWII just to kick start our economy. Obviously his war on Libya isn't big enough to get our economy back on it's feet. I think he is starting to blame George Bush for Libya though, and saying he inherited Libya when he took office. Help me out here: if a person keeps dong the same thing over and over again but each time expects a different result, what do we call such a person?
Obama's job speech the other night did have one different thing though, and it COULD work. Can you tell us what that one thing that might work is?
Is it wrong for me to pray each night to keep Obama safe so that Joey Biden doesn't take over? Or is it racist to not like buffoons too?
You can thank Adullamite for some of this stuff unfairly lumped into my comment to you, but I know he reads my comments and I can't bring myself to answer him right now without calling him names. Thank you.
Actually Obama made more than one good point in his speech, so you don't have to pick one.
ReplyDeleteI saw Michelle and her husband today outside the Pentagon taking pictures with fans on 9-11 remembrance day. He sure is getting gray. I noticed it the other night too. But you could quickly see that he was working on Sunday seeking fairness for all, especially for those on the bottom.
Someday we will learn the real reason 9/11 happened, say the sages of the more worldly outside world. I think we somehow brought it on ourselves? America haters unite!
I didn't realize you were looking for insight on "The Fountainhead." since I don't know anything about Objectivism, I can't tell you how much it flavored the book or not.
ReplyDeleteThe Fountainhead is about an architect who refuses to compromise his vision, which is almost the ultimate blend of form and function. He won't play games, indulge in the empty decorations that are "in" in his day and age.
The book is about how this stand makes him an enemy of people who want people manipulated and obedient by deciding what they should want (even if it has no merit). His giving fine capable buildings makes him some sort of rebel. There was a love interest whose actions I didn't get and I vaguely remember those after our protagonist shooting themselves in the foot over the course of the book, but I might be mistaken.
It was an interesting read but didn't make the list of ones I wanted to reread because none of the characters really spoke to me. As I said, although clearly some of it was supposed to reflect some philosophical point, it didn't make much impact on me, other than I also am an advocate for uncompromisingly doing the best job you can do.
I don't think you realize how hateful you come across when you talk about our President. America haters unite, indeed.
(And recovery was beginning before the war, and other steps, much sneered at the time, had long term advantages, including the development of infrastucture falling apart some eighty years later and regulation that has been systematically undone over the past thirty years with, surprise!, the same results.
Let me get this straight: the entire world of liberal thought got to disrespect our last president for 8 solid years and call him a liar every single day and call him and idiot and attack him in the most vile and personal manner, and sneer about how glad the world was that he was no longer president and how a new day was dawning with his ouster, and I am not allowed to give my opinion about the current president's failed policies without being called hateful and a racist and childishly ignorant of economics? Is that how it is?
ReplyDeleteThe fact is not everyone agrees with liberals and their brand of political thought and that doesn't make them automatically right. The fact is, we've tried it their way and we now owe 14 trillion dollars. Give it up. Try something new.
I wrote a post yesterday that will publish tomorrow which tells, again, what my personal economic thinking is. There is little new in it, but I am going to keep repeating it.
And I, for one, and damn sick and tired of people saying if a person doesn't love Barack Obama's way of thinking and don't believe he has been anointed to save the world that that is only because they hate black people. It just SUCKS! If there is anyone in the world who doesn't understand America AT ALL it is people who say those kinds of things.
@Stephanie Barr - I was looking for insights on Objectivism. Or observations. I am happy to find out more about "The Fountainhead." All I know is Howard Roark (in the movie) never seemed to be happy and never seemed to get any recognition for his work. And I don't think he knew how to laugh. If Wikipedia quoted Ayn Rand correctly, Objectivisim is supposed to be about pursuing happiness. I don't connect happiness with Roark. But from what you said about the book, I'm not going to read it to find out. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know about recovery before WWII. I've just been told that WWII came along and cured the Great Depression. I do know that I don't believe borrowing money is ever the answer in the long term, and I don't believe that making up pretend jobs is any better than just mailing people checks. One way or the other it is just aid from their fellow citizens.
I have also heard some people say that it is all coincidence and nothing we do either way really is what gets us out of periodic recessions; they just happen every once in a while. Then they get over. I don't want to believe that. But I have seen recessions come and go and unemployment rates go up and down and interest rates go up and down, and the country seems always to just stagger onward one way or the other. I'm tempted to just say "who knows" but I am sure you know.
All I really know about Ayn Rand personally is that she came to the U.S. from Russia (I think in the 1930s) and that she was a Libertarian. Libertarians are unrealistic to my way of thinking.
I don't think I look half as bad when I attack Obama's failed policies as you folks looked when you reviled our previous president on a daily basis and attacked him personally instead of just his policies.
I personally have never met anyone who didn't like Obama as a person and that includes me. Too bad he can't be a nice guy with a good personality and have better plans and better people around him.
I personally have never NEVER come in contact with an American who hated Obama the man, or who thought Obama shouldn't be president because he was a black man. Have you? Be honest. I don't think so. Those are just things liberals fling at "Teabaggers" and things Europeans say about American conservatives in general, without any facts to back up their statements. But I've never met such a bigot in the flesh. Never. I think that school of thought died with the George Wallace generation in the South. The tiny fringe minority of those kinds of haters might hang out in the corners of the internet along with the skinheads, but I have never met one in the flesh.
@Adullamite - As usual, it is hard to argue with your well thought out wisdom. Your logic is unassailable about St. Barack and his ignorant (and bigoted) detractors.
ReplyDeleteRather than waiting for America to stumble across the answer eventually, won't you favor us by just telling us straight out why 9-11 happened? You would be surprised to learn how many unlettered Americans think it wasn't America's fault. Won't you give us a hint?
I challenge you to find out where I reviled the former President on a "daily basis" (since, once again, I'm lumped with every democrat, whether of the rabid or moderate kind). But, since you asserted it, I'm sure you can back that assertion.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, though I revile many things Bush stood for, I voted for him in the first election and was genuinely shocked at the actions he took and the directions he took. My mistake. But I bet you can't find a single potshot I took on him as a person that rivals the ones you make every time you bring up Obama. But maybe you can.
As for meeting an Obama hater in the flesh, you can find them every election here in Texas, as close as allowed to voting venues, complete with handwritten signs declaring him, and I'm not exaggerating, "Hitler" and "the Anti-Christ". To be honest, I was taken aback myself, that they could find staff willing to stand with those statement in hand. I was accosted by them, in fact, and left lest I give them an honest opinion of their honesty and/or intelligence.
Well, not YOU. He was reviled every single day by fanatical liberals. I could only find 127 instances in YOUR blogs. :) But you know what I mean. He was attacked personally - not just his policies, but the way he pronounced his words and how he laughed and how dumb he was - every single day of his presidency. Obama is not getting that kind of treatment. His policies are getting attacked, and there's nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteI've never met those kind of people you describe, and, frankly, even those vile signs don't show hatred for his race.
So calling him Hitler and the Anti-Christ is OK, not attacking him personally, because it's not racial?
ReplyDeleteYou're an interesting guy, RM.
@Stephanie, those hateful names are not ok with me either, but that's beside the point. It was said by another commentor that (lots of) people don't want Obama to be president for the simple reason he is a black man. I challenge that. Even the people who want him out of office very badly don't say that. Only liberal tv commentators say the right says that. They say it happened at a teaparty rally and that the N word was yelled at black congressmen as they walked by. How odd that all the tv cameras picked up the congressmen's words in low conversation but not the crowds "allegedly screamed" N words. How very odd. One would almost think it never happened. It was insinuated, at least that's how I took it, that I myself was one of those people who attacked his policies because he is a black man, not just an incompetent man. If you can find where I have racially attacked him (OR ANYONE ELSE in public with a racial slur sign), then I will back off. I think the only place you will find those people are in the ranks of instigator lying liberals, on their websites hiding out, liberal tv commentators, nazi websites, and people who like to lie about the tea party people. I simply would like you to try and point out the signs of protest, teaparty or otherwise, which call him racist names. You said you saw hate words. Did you say racial slur signs? I will believe you if you say you did. Show me the alleged huge number of white people who don't like him as president because he is a black man. Show me. Adullamite won't back up his statement with facts, though he makes it often enough, so maybe YOU can help him out. That's all I'm asking.
ReplyDeleteAs for other names, Obama is getting it no worse than Bush and not nearly as long and widespread.
@Addulamite - still waiting to hear what America did to invite 9-11. Still waiting to find some actual proof that rank and file anti-Obama Americans don't want him as their president simply because he is black.
ReplyDeleteHave I seen footage of black congressmen called racial slurs and photos of posters held up with racial slurs on Obama? Yes. I don't assume everyone who is not an Obama supporter is necessarily a racist.
ReplyDeleteSince I have not accused you of making racial slurs, I don't see why I should called into the discussion at all. You don't like being lumped with the blind haters (who demonstrably exist). Fine, but don't extort against such treatment (being lumped) and then lump me with your accusers.
That would be doing exactly the same thing you're defending yourself against.
@Stephanie Barr - I have seen news footage of the black congressmen "running the teaparty gauntlet" that time, baiting the teapartiers, but never ever heard any sound that lets me hear the racial slurs the liberal congressmen claim were shouted at them. The congressional Black Caucus (a purely racist organization, btw) ALWAYS plays the race card. I was just hoping for proof. Not there in that footage.
ReplyDeleteI don't think ANYONE, teaparty or christian right or any other conservative group, who constantly disparage Obama's economic policies, have ever done it because he is a black man. I'm just not going to yield to you saying that. ALL liberals say that about conservatives.
There are enough Americans of all stripes that I will admit practically anything you or I say at any given time, there is bound to be SOME radical narrow minded hater who will say that thing. But I believe, maybe just WANT to believe, that the people who don't like Obama simply because of race (and not because he has squandered our grandchildren's birthright) are so small as to be statistically insignificant, and I resent liberals saying it all the time as if it were gospel. NOBODY who matters is against Obama because of his race. Period. One has to be a dyed in the wool shameless propagandist, such as Michael Moore or MSNBC "news", to seek out the few signs among thousands of signs to "prove" teapartiers are racist.
I'll admit I have formed an opinion of your politics based on the things you have said on this and your own blogs. But I will be more careful not to lump you. You are one of a kind. And that isn't intended to be an insult. I like people who are one of a kind.
Which is all I want.
ReplyDelete