14

My Disgusting Day

Posted by $ SarahMontalbano 9 years, 3 months ago to Ask the Gulch
92 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

Yesterday, I saw an ex boyfriend reading a book titled The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the 2008 Financial Crisis. He was talking about Rand's affair with Nathaniel Branden, and he was smearing her, badly. I overheard this, but I did not say anything. I did not stop him. I did not defend my hero from being smeared by a disgusting rat. The words that most closely resemble what was going through my head was: "I couldn't defend you from him." I'm not sure whether "you" meant Ayn Rand or myself. I was disgusted with the fact that a book as horrible as that exists, that purportedly intelligent people read it, and that I had been so horribly wrong in my selection of him as a former partner. My current partner was quick to blame this on the ex-boyfriend's relation to me, but my feelings of guilt would not be alleviated even if he were not an ex.

My questions for Gulcher's are these:
1. Was it right to stay silent in this circumstance?
2. Was this really a "betrayal", as my emotions felt like?
3. What is the best way to fight in situations like these, if at all?

Comments not directly related to my questions are welcome.

All Comments

Previous comments...   You are currently on page 2.
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I just checked fox news and there's nothing new there
    on isis. . what are you seeing? -- j
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    check out the new posts on ISIS this stuff just flashed on the screen right after midnite my time now 12:53.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    that should be his understanding, Sarah, but as you
    do think of him just shrink those thoughts by remembering
    how he has treated you, and, well, Ayn Rand also, if
    you will. . he appears to be a negative person, trying
    to drag you down. . "consider the source" as you
    discount those thoughts. . please. -- j
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    many understand that they were just projecting their
    aspirations for "the first black president" onto him as
    they voted -- but will they remember this lesson for
    long enough to make it to our nation's future??? -- j
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I didn't learn that fact for years after that, but I had a
    sense about the trip which was not good at all. . it turned out
    to be a premonition. . she was virgin when we began
    our relations, at the university, and I had met her parents --
    played bridge with them and the like -- before she
    went on that trip. . very sad thing. -- j

    p.s. I found out very recently that she is in Taos, N.M.
    now, still using her maiden name. . I have a new
    search engine.
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    yes. . revenge is a very attractive emotion to some folks;;;
    while it is best served up cold, it can also be avoided
    as you understand. . do not give him the opportunity. -- j
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Mamaemma 9 years, 3 months ago
    Sarah, the most important thing is that he is your "ex". Good for you! You made the right decision. You already know that any words of yours to him would be wasted.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by gaiagal 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    My absolute favorite quote from The Fountainhead (movie)! It was the slightly puzzled way in which Gary Cooper's Roark delivered it. It was not thrown out as an insulting retort to Douglas's Toohey. It was simply a truthful statement made by a man who was not defined by anyone's opinion but his own.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The real "inner circle" was jokingly called "the collective" and was comprised of mostly NYC residents. I lived in the Detroit area and was friends with a shrink named Lee Shulman. He and his group were close to Branden and met with him when he came to town, which was quite often as we had a rather large and active "Ayn Rand Society." On a trip to NYC I met A.R. at a lecture and dinner with a group of Objectivism students. Branden, Barbara Branden, and a number of other notables from the collective were there as well. Branden did make considerable contributions to Objectivism, much of which is now uncredited. Plus he helped spread the lecture series via tape all over the country.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ SarahMontalbano 9 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I would have, if I was sure he was thinking rationally. I did not engage because I believed he would be impossible to convince.
    Reply | Permalink  

  • Comment hidden. Undo