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In Galt's speech, Rand wrote:An error of knowledge is not a moral flaw, provided you are willing to correct it; only a mystic would judge human beings by the standard of an impossible, automatic omniscience. But a breach of morality is the conscious choice of an action you know to be evil, or a willful evasion of knowledge, a suspension of sight and of thought. That which you do not know, is not a moral charge against you; but that which you refuse to know, is an account of infamy growing in your soul. Make every allowance for errors of knowledge; do not forgive or accept any breach of morality.So, a breach of morality is willful evasion of knowledge. Sometimes, a point is being made where one willfully compartmentalizes some knowledge due to a real or imagined lack of relevance to the issue at hand. If the lack of relevance is real, no moral breach was made. If it was imagined, then a moral breach was made. Two instances of this occurred in public media over the weekend. On Friday (1), Bill Maher interviewed freelance Egyptian journalist, Mona Eltahawy at the beginning of the show. Maher is a staunch anti-religionist and wanted to talk about the potential for the Muslim Brotherhood to take over Egypt if Mubarak steps down. He brought up the fact that most Egyptians believe in Sharia Law. Like a snake, Eltahawy avoided the questions, at one time even threatening to strike, if provoked. She used the 'argument from intimidation' and referred to Maher as a "Fox News" type of pundit. Maher felt the sting of Eltahawy's bite and he backed down like a coward. On the Monday Rush Limbaugh show, Mark Steyn filled in and had a few choice words to say about the SuperBowl "Chrysler 200" car commercial, featuring the rapper, Eminem. The commercial, akin to USSR propaganda, championed Detroit as the future of America. After ranting about this, Steyn took on-show phone calls. One such caller identified himself as "Dave." Dave was driven. He attempted to portray Detroit as at least somewhere along the way to Utopia. Steyn was consistent. He "peppered" Dave with statistic-after-statistic: --50% emigration out of Detroit in recent decades --44% semi-literacy (5th- or 6th-grade) rate for Detroit adults; equivalent to some Third World countries --High murder rate --70% of murders go unsolved --29% of Detroit adults are government employees At first, Dave tried to evade these statistics, like a master politician (liar). He offered to personally show Mark Steyn around the city of Detroit -- in order for Mark Steyn to get the "proper" picture of what Detroit is like. This brought to mind what I had read from other accounts of reporters or dignitaries visiting socialist hellholes and coming away thinking that they were at least part of the way to a Utopia. Political power-lusters know how to portray something in a falsely-positive light. Michael Moore went to Cuba to investigate their quality of healthcare, but I guarantee he did not get the true picture. The Olympics in China are another story. Months and months of preparation were required to reduce the smog. To "put up a front" so to speak. I think that caller "Dave" should get married to Mona Eltahawy. That way, when they have a difference of opinion leading to a potential fight -- they can both willfully evade that anything was wrong in the first place. Such morality breachers deserve each other. :-) Ed Reference: (1) http://www.hbo.com/real-time-with-bill-maher/#/real-time-with-bill-maher/episodes/0/201-episode/index.html (2) http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/02/08/chryslers-eminem-ad-fires-up-conservative-pundit-steyn | ||||
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