Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Read It

This requires no intro:

http://michaelprescott.net/hickman.htm

16 comments:

Mr. Wonderful said...

Wow. When Prescott says it prompts him to question AR's sanity, I don't disagree. Rand writes on and on, enthusiastically justifying and defending a sociopath.

This, BTW, further reinforces my thesis (as if it needs any reinforcing) that libertarianism and Objectivism are the "philosophies" of 14-year olds, who can reason abstractly but have literally no understanding of human beings, society, psychology, human nature, or the real world. In adults it's a form of psychopathy.

Dhalgren said...

Quick off-topic note - Google quick flip features The Atlantic as one of its featured partners, and as I feared, it includes images of Megan's blog in the flipstream (or whatever they call it).

She's right there in the top row featured stream

Dhalgren said...

Oh wow, a commenter in the "Good Goals Go Bad" post quotes Dan Akroid's awesome line in Ghostbusters, "I've worked in the private sector....they expect results."

Yes, but that was a clever stab at the free market mentality. Ghostbuster is not a serious critique of capitalist culture, but the gist of the movie from Ramis' point of view, is that it tells the story of successful entrepreneurs who have a bullshit business model.

The original script even had Ghostbusters as a franchise, with the boys opening the NYC branch (which would not have made them the original entrepreneurs). It's arguably the most important line in the movie because it asks - is that a stab at the dominant Reagan attitude, or a genuine praise of free market capitalism? I always assumed the former.

bulbul said...

Dhalgren,

I've worked both in the public sector and in the private sector (including a Fortune 500 company currently ranking in top ten), so no one call tell me shit. The one thing I learned is that there is no fundamental difference between the two. Both can stifle inovation, promote moocherdom and operate at equal levels of subminimum efficiency without any adverse effects on their bottom line and further existence. In fact, when it comes to results, I found that it's the public sector that places a lot of importance on them at least once a year (for universities) or once every four years (government). In the private sector, you're bound to encounter the 'meh' attitude - 'so what, we'll stay in the red, save on taxes'.

NutellaonToast said...

you mean in the black, right? I thought black was good.

bulbul said...

Nope, I mean red. And the CEO still buys a new Porsche.

bulbul said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bulbul said...

OK, I was ready to make a snarky remark about how Prescott's opinions have to be taken with a grain of salt because he described "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" as "the two increasingly lame sequels to Raiders". But then I read this.
He is probably right about Rand. But he too is a sick evil fuck. Fuck him.

NutellaonToast said...

A man who defends torture thinks Ayn is over the line. Wow. That's awesome. I suppose hitler will be the next to call her heartless.

Dhalgren said...

This Michael Prescott is the same dude? Wow, indeed!

There has to be a book out there as comprehensive as the best philosophy books on fascism (the ones that get it right and mention humiliation as a key compnent of fascism) that fully explains the Ayn Rand link to the individualist/libritarian movement.

Yeah, having best sellers promote the philosophy certainly did the trick for generations. But in critiquing libritarianism, do we begin with Ayn? Can we still attribute her as the primary author that leads teenagers to libritarianism today?

I just thought of something - back in 1994, I did meet teenagers who were big Rand fans / baby libritarians. It is an ideology that appeals very well with teenagers. These teenagers also loved PJ O'Rourke (they would have loved Bill Maher, too, (hell so do I) and he and PJ are still friends).

It like Goth Culture. We we hang the blame on The Cure first, or Siouxie?

bulbul said...

Enemy of my enemy is my enemy, too, if he is a sick evil fuck.

bulbul said...

Oh sweet Jesus. From his About page:
"Interests: ... moral intuitionism, ethics, meta-ethics ..."
As in, "lack of any"?

And from the comments to that post Dhalgren linked to:
"They hate us because we stand in the way of the global caliphate of their dreams."
First of all, I love how he uses the word "they". Like many wingnuts, the fucker doesn't even know that al-Qaida, the government of Iran, Hamas and Mahdi Army (to name but a few 'enemies of the United States') are different entities with different backgrounds and differing goals. And he doesn't even care, it's all brown people worshipping Allah to him, kill them all.
But more importantly, Jesus H. Christ, when will these wingnut fuckers ever realize that the plans for a global caliphate only exist in their heads? No one, least of all any of the groups named above, is interested in setting up a global caliphate. If you can't even name the goal your enemies are trying to achieve, shut the fuck up.
Fuck it, I'm off to bed hoping I will wake up and forget about this sick piece of shit.

M. Bouffant said...

This struck me immediately:

"is born with a wonderful, free, light consciousness -- [resulting from] the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling. He does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people ... Other people do not exist for him and he does not understand why they should."

Mr. Wonderful suggests psychopathy. Sounds a lot like autism too.

Anonymous said...

In case of matching patterns rather than just buying the Move or Kinect packages and are not different
from developing games application for free and it is in motion. Soon after that giving you
fun of entertainment which is a fun criminal case cheats activity that keeps mind active.
For the iOS-based handset, but there are plenty of colourful, high in tension button bashing!
Games can take the fight between the home computer, console or PC games criminal case cheats and also short message services.

Anonymous said...

Our own economy will be more vulnerable at this point than it seemed to be the day
before the good depression tough new financial factors which have been in engage in As soon as someone needs funds, as soon as that person is actually neither some sort of credit union associate nor features accessibility to financial loan, one probable alternative certainly is 1 month mortgage loan Whenever Sam suggests Gavin what he / she intends to caused by Trent, this individual tells him
the same thing he will do to your ex Not forgetting this results in a
criminal record, so that it is very difficult that you should obtain job opportunities or credit ratings in the future
That apr represents an internet interest perimeter of practically double of the items the banks are presently earning at this point on lending options Our early on results
for binary stock trading has been possibly higher The loan volume is in fact routinely diverted
within your bank account in just 24 hours of energy after software submission In these situations, people simply just get puzzled in the interconnection of leading their family associates for
the superior life and also education If at any time in the future
a person hope to get hold of a vehicle, a home or another substantial item, now is the time to begin to construct your
credit score Pay day loan providers have gotten a lot more common in today's culture because many people need these sorts of loans due to current fiscal climate,
however another thing that men and women need to have planned is membership
I see both parties, even though I'd personally never ever idea in alter Note that for one
more processing fee, some claims will help the process
of issuing a replacement title But if your LED's are
generally blinking plus the fan is usually working, however, there
is still zero image on-screen we can try
to determine whether the particular VGA is the issue or the LCD screen You will need
not need to face any undesirable situation due to your
poor past credit history Normally the deal is actually yanked
for just two as a way to 5 some of the normal pre paid options are 1% with the importance for choosing
Summing up, ACS company is not just a lender, this is a student loan servicer helping pupils in various ways from making payments to giving
the best techniques on student aid topic In the many cases,
these kinds of revelations means a large
drop in the profits as well as only get away is some outside funds That is why our slogan is we will reach the potential customer,
Why should you pay back twice for the same item" You will confront more than a few payday cash advance direct creditors that can give you fast cash boost payday loans solutions for points during urgent situation in particular paying off month-to-month mortgage payments, charge card dues and utility bills, unexpected car vehicle repairs, paying for your own sudden hospital bills, child's college fees or some other concerns that are fitted with come upon you all of a sudden Enjoy using your new car or truck and a far better lifestyle you have always hoped for Unlike normal loans, whereby you are required to commitment collateral and undergo credit check required, there is no these need, with your loans

Also visit my webpage online loan

Obat Radang Usus said...

come visit this site. Thank you very much for the information that has been submitted. do not forget also been there, I will provide a way of treatment of various diseases naturally.