RoR: Forum

Post 0

Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 5:43am

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The background for this quote is a story of a rich guy who donated money to keep a national park open. The "Rob Reich" above isn't Robert Reich from Berkeley (the socialist economist talking head), he's from Stanford. The take-home message from his comment is: "Don't follow your dreams (because it's immoral to do that)." When people follow their dreams -- when they act on those things that they are most passionate about (when they exercise individualism) -- then our whole society suffers. The moral thing to do, according to this professor from Stanford, is to try not to support the things that we are most passionate about:

It is to get in-line into a collective herd and to go where we are ordered to go, and to do what it is that some spokesman for society orders us to do -- someone who knows what's "good for society" or what "society needs."

Ed

Post 1

Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 9:20am

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Over the weekend I re-read Rand's Anthem. I hadn't read it in years and had all but forgotten it. I was thinking how the word "I" had been stripped from language altogether and turned into a crime punishable by death was a little over the top.

Thanks for posting this quote. Obviously, I can be quite naive at times.

Post 2

Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 7:50pm

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Deanna,

I just read Anthem a few months ago and had a similar impression. It's so funny how -- when it comes to Rand (perhaps more than any other author) -- reality imitates art. This is obviously because, with Rand, reality isn't imitating art (it just appears like that is the case). The reason there's so much agreement between how Rand portrayed how things could be, and how things actually do turn out to be, is because she had so much insight (and, therefore, foresight).

Ed