This Rand-cult bonehead drove over 12,000 miles back and forth across the US, clicking his GPS logger on and off at selected points to create a series of waypoints that would spell out his message to the world when displayed in Google Earth, if anyone bothers to look. (Yeah, I’m spreading the message for him with this post, but the humor potential, I think, outweighs the likelihood that anyone is going to take his advice.) What does he so desperately want you to hear?:
Stupid cultists with GPS - not a good combination.
Sadly, he ran out of gas before completing the whole message. I’ve helped him out with the rest:
Truth in Googling.
leanleft
Kevin
tgirsch
Kevin T. Keith
Judd
Except that you can’t drive in the ocean, dumbass.
Yeah, this person was a ‘tea party activist’ whose candidate failed miserably
in the Tennessee republican primary. He had to pause for station identification. He lost his moral compass when his candidate fell in a construction hole.
You beat me to it. But my mom said my message is funnier.
Please, tell me he drove a Hummer and is now filing for bankruptcy.
Love the headline for this post.
I wince every time I hear Rand’s name and work trashed. I always wonder if the people who are doing that actually READ enough of her books to know what they are talking about.
First the disclaimer. I grew up in the 50′s and 60′s in a GOP household, deeply active in the Civil Rights movement. Everett Dirksen was one of our senators. I cast my first vote in ’72 for “I am not a crook” Dick.( I’ve tried to atone for that since.) 8 years later I had read just about all of Rand’s books, fiction and non-fiction. I was in Alaska where state and national races were solidly RED. I voted Libertarian as protest votes that might sort of register. In ’88 I wanted to work for Dole ( I had lived in KS 65- 75) and knew he would have a tough battle against an incumbent VP. In trying to register and participate in the GOP primary, I discovered that without toting and quoting a Bible, it was not possible, in addition to not being desirable, to be a Republican. I went to the Democrats thinking I would be holding my nose and biting my tongue. I became a Dukakis Democrat. I’m one of a few dozen people who read all his position papers… Since then I have modified my agreements with both Rand and Jesus. I am a Unitarian-Universalist and an RN.
Rand absolutely made some errors in her thinking and writing. (I think Jesus did too – although the written errors were created more by the people who did the writing, since he didn’t.) My problem is that the distortion of her work is as disgusting and extensive as the distortions of Jesus’.
What Rand did develop were some concepts of basic morality that, if followed, would be a great improvement for humanity. On Judge not versus Judge and be prepared to be judged: both are right depending on the situation. Race, sexual orientation, religion, etc should not trigger a moral judgement. They are facts, which in some instances are not alterable. When it comes to the cardiac surgeon who would do open heart surgery on you, full judgement mode should be in effect. It should be in effect for elected officials, government employees, corporate officials and employees.
Immorality is an equal opportunity vice. Some times there is omission which is negligent and related to overwhelming work loads, etc. Other times it is pure laziness or intentionally looking away/not making an effort to look. And then there is commission. Intentionally doing something that can and will cause harm with a significant degree of probability.
Lying, deception, obfuscation, misinformation, and disinformation are all plagues on human growth, and success. Rand’s business characters that were her heroes did not lie. Her discussion on the absolute value (morality) of telling the truth, and immorality of lying is intense and wonderful to read.
She believed absolutely in meritocracy. She derided those who would pull down true innovators so they themselves would appear equal.
She advocated the kind of wealth that does not take pride in ostentatious wealth, but honestly earned wealth. Her characters spent money on high quality – cars, etc.- but not quantity.
From the biography “The Passion of Ayn Rand”: during the fall of ’80, Rand went to California to talk with Reagan. She returned utterly disappointed and convinced he was not the person to lead the conservatives. She died the day after his inauguration. The infiltration of the GOP by theocrats
alone would have driven her out. The behavior of CEOs and hostile takeovers might well have pushed her into denouncing them as well.
Rand’s error of linking morality to capitalists and capitalism is clear. And a bit of cognitive dissonance since she advocated that money was not inherently good or evil – it depended how you made it and spent it that it acquired a moral judgement. Capitalism and other forms of government are not necessarily good or evil. It depends on the humans who are responsible for making and executing the laws.
I am particularly concerned about this because of the meme that the midterm election is about insiders vs outsiders. It is about the age old battle of capital versus labor. Capital has expanded it’s control of government and commerce so much, labor is losing any realistically equitable amount of power.
All that said, I think this character is a good example of the kind of people who maintain their objectivist (Rand’s name for her philosophy) beliefs without serious judgement of it. Objectivists used to be smarter than this.
Finally relocated a fascinating essay from the fall issue of Democracy, A Journal of Ideas.
” Why we must judge.” http://democracyjournal.org/article.php?ID=6770
In searching for that, an over looked survey and report on what voters are really concerned about.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/07/what_americans_want.html
[...] There are no words. Lean Left: [...]
I can’t help but note how much of this little mudpie was made possible by those evil socialist public roads, and visible to us only because of all that wasteful government spending that developed the Internet.
Hey, don’t forget that big-government, military-industrial-complex project that is GPS!
I want to know whether he drove through “Galt’s Gulch.” If he didn’t, it doesn’t count.
You laugh. Supposedly there is a community called The Gulch, but they’re very secretive. I’d love to find out more, if only because they’d be the only people who claimed they were going to “go Galt” if Obama was elected who actually had the gumption to do it. Somehow, rugged individualism is a lot easier to talk about than to do.
Vinny,
Lots of effort but no apparent success. Although Kevin may have helped the moran out by completing the message. The tip of the I would be close enough to Fairbanks, AK:
http://rkba.org/libertarian/isil/galt/atlantis.txt
http://libertariannation.org/a/f71h2.html Costa Rica, much warmer than Fairbanks…
Wanna bet there is a ravine somewhere – especially in Colorado – that has a “Galt’s Gulch” sign on it?
Kevin,
The kicker to that is Galt actually did his thing alone for quite some time. He took only menial labor jobs for years instead of any kind of job he could be well paid for. After the Gulch became a place to go, he continued taking the menial jobs so he could contact potential strikers.
Makes me think of the Y2K alarmists who sold their houses and built refuges in the mountains.
Now the 2012 doomsday group + people who are just afraid of where the world is headed are building or buying into fancy refuges that will only be able to sustain the occupants for about a year.
Oops. Rand was also very fussy about being very accurate in writing.
The first paragraph should be:
The kicker to that is **in the book, Atlas Shrugged,** Galt actually…
Rand isn’t quite THAT bad (barely) – “I read Ayn Rand because I’m a moron” would work better.
So, someone decides to set out and accomplish a goal. There is no reason to belittle his accomplishment.
So, someone decides to set out and accomplish a goal. There is no reason to belittle his accomplishment.
But every reason to belittle his goal.
By the way, somebody has been inspired by Fred Clark to bite the bullet and take one for the team: They’re reading and analyzing Atlas Shrugged so that the rest of us can avoid touching it: http://newscum.wordpress.com/
Dan M:
Awesome link, thanks!
She was right to worry. As are you.
http://shallowsage.tumblr.com/post/759598050
Pfssst. The Gulch is an awesomely-reclaimed area in downtown Nashville, DUH.