| | I hadn't thought of that quote in a long, long time. I think it is because I have been too long in the thick of discussion (well, it's more often like blood sport) inside of the Objectivist world, at least the Internet one).
I want to keep my comments tight on this one, but it ain't gonna be easy... :)
On the whole, of all the experiences with people I have ever had (at least on the intellectual or word plane, the writing plane), if I were to count them, there is no doubt that I have nothing but a giant pile of great people from my years with Objectivism, which started around '79 when I read Atlas Shurgged and the top of my head pretty much got blown off. There are so many. In no particular order and by far incomplete, I think of Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Chis Sciabarra, Walter Foddis... those were some of the first ones. Ellen Stuttle. Roger B. Pretty much the whole endless family feud on Atlantis II. Everyone that didn't get expunged from the Branden Yahoo site. Nathan Hawking. Now, Mike Kelley and Kat, for two. Linz, for not blowing my ass out of his website just on principle. Joe R. There are dozens and dozens. There is goodness, decency, and honor in Objectivism.
I bring all that up, not to just follow Oscar acceptance speech format (for I have won nothing, but I often feel like I have), but to point out the pure human goodness that I have always not just intellectually grasped, but more importantly, felt, deep in my being. To read that quote brought it back to me full core. For us fighting and feisty types in Objectivism, this might be the be all and end all, because Miss Rand said it. What she said, in essence, is that people got Jesus wrong. Praise be... Like George Burns in Oh God (as God) said about Jesus, he had many sons, that one just got the most publicity. :)
Objectivists are good people. They are quality people.
"If you have an unpleasant nature, it is no obstacle to The Work."- J.G. Bennett
My interests have changed, or at least, they have become more focused. Yesterday, I was ready to leave here for good. Sorry to those who would otherwise applaud. I have too much invested in Objectivism to leave it behind. I will build to it, but I not only won't leave it, I can't, because it is part of my inner structure as a human being. Objectivism shaped me for the positive. It literally contributed to me doing things on a world-class, and it allowed me to look at life in a more affirming way.
I am a Unitarian Universalist, now. Yes, I am technically a mystic, a "religionist" (whatever the fuck that is or where it came from).
My interests are about using everything Objectivism has to help heal the world, before it is too late. Objectivists have highly concentrated, specific talents.
This quote, it should be on billboards... ;)
rde
painfully annoying
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Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the non-ideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing would make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the non-ideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used.
