I must say this...
I understand Ayn Rand's points about mystics, and I agree with a large part of it, but being a religious person does not by default mean that you are the problem. Not everyone who is religious subscribes to the philosophy of the mystic looter.
The simple truth is it has turned out to be the progressives that are killing our society with their self destructive philosophy of sacrifice of self to their idea of the public greater good.
One day the Moochers and Looters will fall. It is inevitable that their policies will result in their own destruction because they are not sustainable. They rely on having something to mooch and something to loot. Eventually they will run out of both.
Once the moochers and looters are removed from their high places of power and our nation has returned to the ideals of self reliance, production, and personal liberty that made it so great we will have all the time we want to debate each other on the existence and merits of god. Right now we have a lot better things to do than to climb all over each other about who does and does not believe in the divine.
We, the men and women of the mind, are at war right now with a very clear and present danger to our way of life. The penalty for losing this war is the subjugation of our lives and production to the federal government. I am not saying that there should not be any debate on the site, that's part of the fun. I am concerned that we are coming to a point where these debates are becoming a dividing force at a time we need to be strongest.
Look around yourself. The American people voted Barack Hussein Obama II president only a few years after 9/11. Our government and public have begun to embrace the very people and religion that perpetrated that attack. The federal government is spying on Americans, militarizing the police, making us a laughing stock of policy failure around the world, and threatening to take away our very right to self defense while the Supreme Court has ruled that police are not required to protect anyone. China is launching aircraft carriers and building stealth fighters.
Do we really need to be insulting and disrespecting each other about who is and is not religions? Do we not have bigger fish to fry? .
The simple truth is it has turned out to be the progressives that are killing our society with their self destructive philosophy of sacrifice of self to their idea of the public greater good.
One day the Moochers and Looters will fall. It is inevitable that their policies will result in their own destruction because they are not sustainable. They rely on having something to mooch and something to loot. Eventually they will run out of both.
Once the moochers and looters are removed from their high places of power and our nation has returned to the ideals of self reliance, production, and personal liberty that made it so great we will have all the time we want to debate each other on the existence and merits of god. Right now we have a lot better things to do than to climb all over each other about who does and does not believe in the divine.
We, the men and women of the mind, are at war right now with a very clear and present danger to our way of life. The penalty for losing this war is the subjugation of our lives and production to the federal government. I am not saying that there should not be any debate on the site, that's part of the fun. I am concerned that we are coming to a point where these debates are becoming a dividing force at a time we need to be strongest.
Look around yourself. The American people voted Barack Hussein Obama II president only a few years after 9/11. Our government and public have begun to embrace the very people and religion that perpetrated that attack. The federal government is spying on Americans, militarizing the police, making us a laughing stock of policy failure around the world, and threatening to take away our very right to self defense while the Supreme Court has ruled that police are not required to protect anyone. China is launching aircraft carriers and building stealth fighters.
Do we really need to be insulting and disrespecting each other about who is and is not religions? Do we not have bigger fish to fry? .
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Yes, I am pretty sure they are two different countries, but thanks for pointing that out.
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Wait, what? I thought Obama's ethnic heritage was in Kenya (at least on his father's side). The people who committed the 9/11 attacks were Arabs from Afghanistan.
You realize that Kenya and Afghanistan are two totally different countries, right? Or are you trying to imply that Africa and the Middle East are essentially the same because they're both foreign territories on the other side of the Atlantic?
"I could give many more examples of how Ayn Rand's particular view of "the reasonable" became intellectually restrictive. Instead, to those of you who are her admirers, I will simply say: Do not be in a hurry to dismiss observations or data as false, irrational, or "mystical," because they do not easily fit into your current model of reality. It may be the case that you need to expand your model. One of the functions of reason is to alert us to just such a possibility.
It would have been wonderful, given how much many of us respected and admired Ayn Rand, if she had encouraged us to develop a more open-minded attitude and to be less attached to a model of reality that might be in need of revision. But that was not her way. Quite the contrary. Other people's model of reality might be in need of revision. Never hers. Not in any fundamental sense. Reason, she was convinced, had established that for all time. In encouraging among her followers the belief that she enjoyed a monopoly on reason and the rational, she created for herself a very special kind of power, the power to fling anyone who disagreed with her about anything into the abyss of "the irrational" -- and that was a place we were all naturally eager to avoid."
Good post... I do however find it troubling that I am almost inclined to quote Rodney King... I fear this thread will also be hijacked and wander from the specific point...
Respectfully,
O.A.
You never know what function religion serves in a person's life - it may be the last thing keeping them sane.
So I don't even challenge people on religion (unless of course they ask for it - then I open up an intellectual can)
Just because someone is religious does not mean they are not capable of rational thought. It also not mean they subscribe to the brother's keeper thing the way you mean it. You are putting forth a generalization to cover a group of people.
If you honestly believe that there are no bigger fish to fry than being concerned if someone is religious or not then you may have your priorities a bit misaligned.
So quit calling it a "Christian ethic". You're excluding Jews and Moslems.
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