These days, we seem to be living in a world of black and white. There are no shades of gray. Particularly in politics. So I found this video particularly powerful, as it addresses the religious beliefs of Objectivist Ayn Rand, who has a rather devoted following among many conservatives:
It’s a case of selective editing, to be sure, but it makes a powerful case that Ayn Rand was an atheist, unlike the majority of her supporters.
In this world where everything gets captured on video and can get edited, remixed and spread in minutes, we’re going to see more clips, commercials and other content that slices and dices a person’s words to prove a point.
Beyond politics, brands won’t be immune to this sort of editing technique from people who like a brand, or people who don’t like a brand and/or the corporation behind it. We’d better get used to this level of stridency.
Glad you brought this up. As a Christ-follower and a Conservative, I’ve come to realize how many conservatives are objectivists, more than merely conservatives. And objectivism is a sort of isolationist, idealist (ironically) philosophy that is clearly at odds with my faith. I want responsibility from my political party, and individual responsibility is part of objectivism; but the reality that others face trials and handicaps that are not they’re responsibility is never quite recognized by objectivists. It’s a “screw everyone else, it’s all about me” approach that is inconsistent with any theism or religion I know.
Brent, you are way under-informed on the actual ideas of Objectivism. There is nothing in the philosophy that could be interpreted as “screw everyone else.”
How do you get “screw everyone else” out of Rand’s idea that all men have the same nature, the same capacity of reason and the same goal to live a life that fulfills the potential of that nature, and in a world of fallible men, the same need to be autonomous in the application of their reason to their actions in the service of their life?
And her politics of radical capitalism demands that the government use force only to stop the initiation of force by any person(s) against others. It mandates only that all human interrelationships among men shall be by their voluntary choice. How does that screw anyone?
Christian conservatives on the other hand are perfectly comfortable coercing childless individuals and couples (at the point of a gun) to pay for the education of other people’s children. “Screw them, it’s all about my children!.”