“But this is only part of Rand’s message, and the other part is the poison pill, a deadlier appeal: It’s those looters who don’t approve of excellence who are keeping you down.”
As lethal as I’m sure it will be to speak even faint praise of a person that is so widely hated that expressing loathing of her is a common ‘applause light’...
That’s not what Rand’s message was. It wasn’t even part of her message. One of her main points was, to use the classical phrase, that evil is ultimately impotent. The power of evil to harm comes entirely from the failure of good to recognize it and refuse to loan it its own power.
Rand’s message was that people were keeping themselves down, that they had bought into ethical and ideological positions and accepted them without questioning, that they had accepted teachings which passed off poorly-disguised wolves as lambs long before they’d developed the critical thinking skills to evaluate the teachings. And that the teachings were that white was black and black was white, etc.
I am often struck that the people who declaim Rand’s writings and ideas most vehemently, especially those that use their proclaimed disapproval to win the approval of others, almost always hold up crude parodies of what Rand actually said in the process, and rarely address her actual positions and their strengths and weakness (of which there are many in both categories).
“One of her main points was, to use the classical phrase, that evil is ultimately impotent. The power of evil to harm comes entirely from the failure of good to recognize it and refuse to loan it its own power.”
This is a defense of Rand? I agree it’s one of her main points. Also completely false, to the point where I consider it a classic error of people trying to reform social systems. The idea that if you can just expose the evil of the system, that will fix the problems.
Intuitive, noble, and totally wrong when applied to a world where evil most often emerges from the behavior systems which are not easily understood or modified.
Where do you think social systems get their power? People give it to them, then the population becomes ignorant and/or apathetic and allows it to run amok with no attempts to strip it of the power they gave it.
The idea isn’t that you just expose the evil. You have to deny it power over you.
If each individual denies it power, it will have no power. If half of them give it power, it will have a lot of power, whether or not you’re one of the people giving power. You’re just one person. You don’t give it much power. But if you learn the system, and figure out how to meddle in it, you could weaken it, make it lean more towards doing good, or harness it for your own gain.
“But this is only part of Rand’s message, and the other part is the poison pill, a deadlier appeal: It’s those looters who don’t approve of excellence who are keeping you down.”
As lethal as I’m sure it will be to speak even faint praise of a person that is so widely hated that expressing loathing of her is a common ‘applause light’...
That’s not what Rand’s message was. It wasn’t even part of her message. One of her main points was, to use the classical phrase, that evil is ultimately impotent. The power of evil to harm comes entirely from the failure of good to recognize it and refuse to loan it its own power.
Rand’s message was that people were keeping themselves down, that they had bought into ethical and ideological positions and accepted them without questioning, that they had accepted teachings which passed off poorly-disguised wolves as lambs long before they’d developed the critical thinking skills to evaluate the teachings. And that the teachings were that white was black and black was white, etc.
I am often struck that the people who declaim Rand’s writings and ideas most vehemently, especially those that use their proclaimed disapproval to win the approval of others, almost always hold up crude parodies of what Rand actually said in the process, and rarely address her actual positions and their strengths and weakness (of which there are many in both categories).
“One of her main points was, to use the classical phrase, that evil is ultimately impotent. The power of evil to harm comes entirely from the failure of good to recognize it and refuse to loan it its own power.”
This is a defense of Rand? I agree it’s one of her main points. Also completely false, to the point where I consider it a classic error of people trying to reform social systems. The idea that if you can just expose the evil of the system, that will fix the problems.
Intuitive, noble, and totally wrong when applied to a world where evil most often emerges from the behavior systems which are not easily understood or modified.
No one said that exposing evil would be sufficient, and heroes of Rand’s novels didn’t just go around exposing evil. It helps, though.
Where do you think social systems get their power? People give it to them, then the population becomes ignorant and/or apathetic and allows it to run amok with no attempts to strip it of the power they gave it.
The idea isn’t that you just expose the evil. You have to deny it power over you.
If each individual denies it power, it will have no power. If half of them give it power, it will have a lot of power, whether or not you’re one of the people giving power. You’re just one person. You don’t give it much power. But if you learn the system, and figure out how to meddle in it, you could weaken it, make it lean more towards doing good, or harness it for your own gain.