| | I said no to this poll because at the time of the poll, I had not tried since I was still learning. Since then, I've persuaded someone who hates Atlas Shrugged (he's a rampant literature geek) to focus on the philosophy rather than linguistics, semantics, and tone. I told him he would more enjoy her non-fiction instead, and he has developed more of an interest. And of course, I am free to talk about Rand with him *honestly*-- my experience, my thoughts, how we see the ways people put this into action, etc. I let him come to his own conclusion, because he's super smart and can do all the thinking on his own.
My roommate is currently reading AS; he's into it because he's interested in the philosophy behind "utopian societies" and how happiness and life can be made better. He's pursuing a Master's in a field that involves designing ways to help the handicapped be more self-mobile (at least this is what I gathered from my 2-3 conversations with him).
I really don't make it a habit of persuading everyone in my vicinity to read Rand.
I would choke on myself if I did that. Once upon a time, I made it a habit to persuade everyone in my vicinity to read the Bible. If they didn't like it, I'd try to argue them into guilt-ridden submission or condemn them to hell behind their backs. Yeah, how cool was I?
This approach is way too analogous for me. Now, I make it a habit to refer to differing books to back up my reasoning; I don't quote Rand more than others; I name writers/thinkers as relevant guidelines and why; I explain reasons why I like a lot of thoughts from someone yet not agree on others (Einstein, Gould, Russell). I wouldn't condemn my friends for their thoughts (while disagreements with progress are fine) because I find myself in that position again where I can understand (intellectually) where they're coming from... however, my friends all possess a high degree of grounded intelligence, so it's not that hard.
As for my parents, first I have to explain to them what atheism is --even though they're atheists already. I'm still at the point where every year I have to tell them to do an anti-virus check on their computer; this will be the 10th year. I'm a long ways away from getting my mother to read an English-language book more than 200 pages, more than once a year. My father reads newspapers, pharmacist magazines, and anything about golf; I know him well enough to know that those are his limits. My sister is Boss Woman-- she likes to run things-- micro and macro-managing. Her major was communications/advertising; and immediately after college she got herself hired at her first choice job. She's working her way up the corporate ladder by dint of ambition, determination, grittiness, hard work, intelligence; she doesn't take *any* crap, she's all things practical, grounded, and mature, she'll straight up tell reality like it is-- even in the dressing room, at full volume ("YOU CAN'T MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING! TRUST ME!")
My sister, mom, and I are on similar paths now; actually, I sent them a Cap Mag. article on reality, responsibility, rationality-- my mom's response was "I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU THAT FOR YEARS" while my sister's was "DUH..." I think on the whole, my family's doing well.
|
|
