The short answer for me..
humans are the dominant species IMO for two reasons.. our animal spirits AND no less important our altruism.. neither qualities are the exclusive purview of either side of the political divide which exists in the US AND Canada... Ayn Rand looks only to one side in my opinion.. The combination is what has made us so successful...
Teaching one how to live imparts the idea that there is only one way to live... possibly that is the problem in both our countries that have made for such binary divides... The Religious Right as example certainly believe that they have the one true answer on teaching folks how to live .. n'est-ce pas ?
Anyone who believes Rand advocated indoctrination... of any dogma... has not paid attention... at all... not even a little bit...
The post was ALSO about dogmatic thinking .. a true bugaboo for me... most folks quoting her buy it as dogma.. A fav poster of mine (the guy that led me to SI in fact) who now has me on ignore due to anti Mr. Trump posts used to have this in his Profile.. Every time I see Ayn Rand quoted I think of it..
The partial I first saw.. One of my ALL TIME favourites...
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. ? Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
full quote
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
? Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance |
