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Post by jacquelope on May 26, 2011 4:20:50 GMT -6
We are all John Galt.
John Galt isn't just the top 1%. Everyone who works and buys anything is John Galt. There is no one person, no one great genius innovator or hero, who can shut the world down by taking their ball and going home; but the world can be shut down by a large and diverse group of such people.
What do y'all think?
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Post by fredorbob on May 26, 2011 8:54:20 GMT -6
John Galt is a purely fictional character that could never exist in the real world and someone should have put a bullet in Ayn Rand's head a long time ago.
If Greed is good, and any and all means to an end (wealth) is acceptable including stabbing people in the back to get your monah monah monah; then a bunch of rich people getting together to strike would never happen in a million years. By the Ayn Rand Cult's very own social theories (altruism is evil) rich people are nothing but a class of SCABS who never do anything for the "common good".
In fact the only way for John Galt to ever exist is ONLY if the rich abandon Ayn Rand Cult's social theories that altruism and cooperation with community for the common good is evil. (the community being a group of rich who want to strike, and have to work very closely together and sacrifice together to accomplish a goal)
In the real world if Bill Gates suddenly disappeared then that would effect absolutely nothing. Even if all worked perfectly, the great richie-riches goes on strike, then it would effect absolutely nothing. Pure fiction.
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Post by waltc on May 26, 2011 12:51:31 GMT -6
Fredorbob nailed it.
Rand herself was a economic terrorist/propagandist who promoted a evil economic/personal philosophy that has now become the defacto economic philosophy of Conservatives across the country.
And oddly enough Ayn Rand has been thoroughly embraced by the CEO's and gurus in Silicon Valley. It was documented in the book "Cyberselfish"
As a person, Rand was a all around dreadful and poisonous bitch hooked on cigarettes and meth, who routinely cheated in her 3 marriages and ended up alienating herself from everyone.
She ended up with lung cancer and on Medicare. So much for standing on her own, she crawls to uncle sam for help then croaks.
A fraud just like her compatriot Karl Marx. Another selfish and evil douchebag who let his children starve to death so he could write a book that would inspire tyrants to kill hundreds of millions of people.
And lets not forget Alan Greenspan another member of the Rand tribe who helped wreck our economy.
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Post by waltc on May 27, 2011 10:56:12 GMT -6
Adam Curtis has a good BBC video on Ayn Rand's influence in Silicon Valley and society in general.
Its worth a view.
In the second part he profiles another Ayn Rand follower - Greenspan.
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Post by fredorbob on May 28, 2011 20:22:55 GMT -6
Like how a culture of SCABS could never go on STRIKE in this dimension or any other alternate-dimension? Every time I hear that fictional name John Galt I want to..... someone
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Post by jacquelope on May 30, 2011 21:52:10 GMT -6
John Galt is not a person, it's a metaphor. It represents someone who is invaluable, irreplaceable. Ayn Rand tried to give it a name and define it as one individual. That was her big mistake. In the real world if Bill Gates suddenly disappeared then that would effect absolutely nothing. Even if all worked perfectly, the great richie-riches goes on strike, then it would effect absolutely nothing. Pure fiction. I have said as much several times to the guy in the other forum who referred to workers as "interchangeable carbon blobs". My point is there is no single John Galt. The world depends on the masses. A nation of millions of productive people (see: America) can be John Galt, but not any one person. Indeed, Bill Gates could be taken away by aliens 20 years ago and Linus Torvalds would have taken his place with Linux, and millions of Open Source coders would have taken up the slack if Bill Gates's entire corporation disappeared too. But if America shuts down... we as a nation are the proverbial John Galt. No one person... but the nation. America can take the world down economically. If the workers of the entire world go on strike, they are collectively John Galt. They can shut the world down, especially the rich. If the Middle East and their oil workers collectively go John Galt (which is, again, thousands or millions of people), the world grinds to a halt (at least for long enough for it to be epic). IMO, John Galt is made of millions of people... never, ever one person. On top of everything you said of Ayn Rand, which was all correct, Ayn Rand furthermore missed this fundamental reality.
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