[MD] Flying Spaghetti Monsters

[Micah]

Ian,

As an Objectivist, I would be interested in your definition of the "public
interest".

As for writing style, Ayn fits her philosophy - which is the mark of a good
writer. Characters are good or bad, etc. Ayn is either loved or hated.
Objectivism - either/or - good/bad. You even mimic her style in review.

Which of her arguments can you logically refute?

I totally agree that MOQ and Objectivism are tight.

Micah





-----Original Message-----
From: moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org
[mailto:moq_discuss-bounces at moqtalk.org]On Behalf Of ian glendinning
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 3:13 PM
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Subject: Re: [MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters


Hi Ben, You said
I've read Atlas, which I thought was a brilliant book.  Rand condemns
altrusim, which I thought was the weakest part of her argument, although she
may be defining altruism differently than how I would.  Rand condemns
certain behaviors that are justified as being altruistic (such as wealth
redistribution) but I believe her to be quite an altruist herself.  The
whole point of her book is that by disrespecting the industrialists--the
movers and the shakers--politicans and bureaucrats destroy society.

I've read it too. I thought it was brilliant idea for a book, but I
found her thin on actual arguments generally, and mind-numbingly
pedestrian in style.

The behaviors she condemns, that were justified as altruistic, were in
fact so obviously fictional, misguided, misconceived and corruptly
applied legislation etc, that I found her pointing out the folly as
just too simplistic. No way did she have any arguments against well
devised "public interest" incentives.

This industrialist is good, this law is bad, these law makers are
corrupt, therefore any and all public intervention is bad. Some
argument.

Disrespecting anybody is bad for society, not just industrialists.
(She just saw the US in contrast to her troubled Soviet motherland at
the time, and made too simple a conclusion. McArthyist I said several
times) I did find that in summary her philosophy, despite being
descibed as "objectivism", was remarkably close to evolutionary
psychology and MoQ in practice.

Ian
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