Comments on: Shorter Dr. Missus Ole Perfesser

By: Hyper-Galtism « Jsolbakken’s Weblog

Hyper-Galtism « Jsolbakken’s Weblog — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:20:36 +0000

[...] Oct 15, 2008 – 3:17 pm 178. Sadly, No! » Shorter Dr. Missus Ole Perfesser: [...]

By: Kip W

Kip W — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:44:19 +0000

Back when I had time for such foolishness, I read Rand’s novels several times. They’re a parade blank-eyed automatons belching forth philosophical postures and carefully stacking the deck in as blatant a way as possible. They might as well say, “Are we not robots? If you prick us, do we not make a speech?” There was something about them I found entertaining, but the holes in the plot and underlying world view get bigger the more you look at them.

I read that Wikipedia entry (Wikipedia was founded by a fan of hers) and followed the link to the Modern Library reader poll that puts all her novels in the top ten for the 20th century, accompanied by Battlefield Earth. Did I mention that the poll allowed repeat voting?

Atlas offers the best framework for mockery, but I’d rather read it again twice than revisit Anthem. That stinker was just gaseous pretension floating in a framework of concentrated inanity that makes DUCK AMUCK look like a model of sanity.

By: Seanly

Seanly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:26:43 +0000

slightly_peeved:

In the book, they have a retreat somewhere in Colorado. I read not just “Atlas Shrugged” but also “Fountainhead” & many of her short stories until I realized what a horrible writer and human being she was. A miserable, miserable philosophy.

By: slightly_peeved

slightly_peeved — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:56:57 +0000

“Stopping the motor of the world?”

What, they mean the EU?

Oh wait, they might mean the financial motor. Britain, then?

Or I guess they could mean the most productive country. China?

I guess they could mean the place that supplies the energy; the fuel tank, if you will, rather than the engine. So they mean the monarchies and theocracies of the middle east?

Though maybe they’re looking forward, and thinking about Uranium – I mean if nuclear is the energy of the future. So that would mean the places with all the Uranium – Australia, then?

These people talk about leaving the US – where would they go? Amongst western nations, the only place that believes that ‘government is the problem’ bullshit is the US. And they’re the ones who are heading – and dragging the rest of us – into recession.

What, the US isn’t an accurate measure of what objectivism would really be like, if someone tried it properly? Go sit over there with the communists and bitch about it to them, because a government that hasn’t been done right yet is probably a government that won’t ever be done right.

By: sagra

sagra — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:14:01 +0000

…a scintilla of cognition?

A quarter of a scintilla at the most, or I’m Joke the Plumber.

By: roseyv

roseyv — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:28:28 +0000

Why does the phrase “B Ark” keep bouncing around my cranium right now?

By: Mike S

Mike S — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:01:13 +0000

I think a Randian is what you get when you combine the contempt and massive sense of entitlement of a John McCain with the philosophical skills of your average lemming.

By: sekmet

sekmet — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:46:49 +0000

The only thing she produces is hot air from every one of her orifices.

By: actor212

actor212 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:33:19 +0000

Ayn Rand was all about the greed, and to that extent, she had a point, but…

Rand never took into account that people strive to be better than she wanted them to be.

By: Dreamweasel

Dreamweasel — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:35:47 +0000

So I guess the real question now is: what is the best way to convince these self-righteous dickheads that it is essential for them to fuck off into the wilderness and leave us the hell alone?

Convince them that liberals would prefer it if they didn’t fuck off into the wilderness and leave us the hell alone.

By: Clever Pseudonym

Clever Pseudonym — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:34:54 +0000

For once I agree with a Libertarian. I’m all for people who inexplicably get paid to bloviate their juvenile political and social opinions to “withdraw their talents.”

By: me

me — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:47:41 +0000

Ah, the wholesome family joy of electro-convulsive therapy. All that cognitive dissonance magically wiped away at the pull of a lever!

By: Zuzu's Petals

Zuzu's Petals — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:28:07 +0000

Let’s see, professor at third-tier law school/blogger, psychologist/consultant/blogger, withdrawing their talents….

Visualizing pulling finger out of bucket of water.

By: Teaflax

Teaflax — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:11:04 +0000

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I will sell their organs to the highest bidder.

Complete brilliance. Even made my hard-to-impress wife laugh.

By: OneMan

OneMan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:01:01 +0000

I always thought Rand was teh funnay because I could never picture a group of libertarian “producers” who would: a) be able to do anything as a group for more than about five minutes at a time and b) amount to a large enough number to make any difference at all.

Never mind the overwrought prose, evidently aimed at precocious 12 year olds.

I too would love, love, love to see the most Randian “producers” haul their Buttocks to…I dunno, Russia or Somalia or some other libertarian dream location. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, boys!

By: ckc (not kc)

ckc (not kc) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:48:13 +0000

…do you really mean “restless peg”? Is this the Long John Silver version of “restless leg” (the mental image is compelling!!)

By: ImJohnGalt

ImJohnGalt — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:40:34 +0000

That’s right. Soon, I will revoke all of your pie-filter privileges. I withdraw my greasemonkey script!

By: Cletus von Clausewitz

Cletus von Clausewitz — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:39:41 +0000

My favorite is that the so-called supermensch can’t live without their high blood pressure medicine or their anti-depressants or their bladder-inhibitors (!) or their restless peg medicine. All of these are survivable ailements, but will reduce your quality of life. Or howsa about “pain management medication”?

By: julia

julia — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:18:27 +0000

I’m pretty sure that dropping out of society to cleave to the land would mess with your tenure at a public university which would cease to exist anyway.

I’m also pretty sure that when the folks who feed the hamsters at Paypal die of tunnel-related carbon monoxide poisoning the Reynolds family is going to feel it a bit.

By: hopelessly naive

hopelessly naive — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:57:14 +0000

Aren’t all those CEOs with the Golden Hang-gliders and 100 million dollar haircuts the kind of “productive” geniuses we’re talking about here?

And isn’t everybody calling for their heads?