I'd actually take Rand's proposal that "not everyone is deserving of love" a big step further: No people are deserving of love (it's a biblical concept)- we're all wicked. But as God chose to love us despite our sin, we should love others, meaning we should forgive the faults of people we despise and show kindness to them (even if we don't want to!).
Ayn Rand was an atheist so she would probably accuse you of completely missing the point.
I say make weed legal and tax it like cigarettes and liquor.
Let's be honest- marijuana has caused way fewer deaths and maimings than drink and causes fewer health problems than cigarettes.
So is why is that illegal?
Why do we spend exorbitant amounts of money arresting and jailing people who use and deal it?
Has prohibition taught us nothing?
I've never toked myself- not once- but as I contemplate the beer I will enjoy today, I'll just say that I'm no hypocrite.
And while we're here I want to know: How do you guys feel about gay marriage and abortion. Because I've known quite a few people claiming to be libertarian, some pretty hardline but only ONE identified as pro-choice, (though personally against it). A true libertarian should be pro-choice going by their own philosophy... And for the record, when it comes to social issues I have a libertarian streak, it's the economics though I'm going to avoid here
Not necessarily- arguably the biggest argument about abortion is whether or not it is murder (from a moral standpoint if not a legal one). If a libertarian had to be pro-choice due to his philosophy, then he would have to say it's all right to shoot the slow checkout lady at Walmart because she's an inconvenience to him. That of course is absurd.
Gay marriage is the same way, I think, but is probably much more likely to be supported by libertarians (but I still know several who do not support it and yet can easily be considered libertarians by a plethora of other beliefs).
Remember, a label can be helpful, but if the subgenres here at Prog Archives have taught us anything, it's that they often aren't.
Joined: April 12 2008
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Posted: July 15 2009 at 10:53
Epignosis wrote:
I'd actually take Rand's proposal that "not everyone is deserving of love" a big step further: No people are deserving of love (it's a biblical concept)- we're all wicked. But as God chose to love us despite our sin, we should love others, meaning we should forgive the faults of people we despise and show kindness to them (even if we don't want to!).
Ayn Rand was an atheist so she would probably accuse you of completely missing the point.
She is also not that really good a representative of libertarian politics. Most philosophers who support the same political course of action as she did (e. g. Robert Nozick) are no big fans of the ethical egoism she used as an argument in favour of it. (of which she's one of the few big-name defenders)
"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
I say make weed legal and tax it like cigarettes and liquor.
Let's be honest- marijuana has caused way fewer deaths and maimings than drink and causes fewer health problems than cigarettes.
So is why is that illegal?
Why do we spend exorbitant amounts of money arresting and jailing people who use and deal it?
Has prohibition taught us nothing?
I've never toked myself- not once- but as I contemplate the beer I will enjoy today, I'll just say that I'm no hypocrite.
Not to mention that the drug schedules are based on: addictiveness, and medical uses. Alcohol and tobacco are both highly addictive, serve no real medical purposes, and prolonged use of them will do damage to most organs of your body. Weed may not be harmless, but MUCH more so then alcohol/tobacco not to mention to mention the possible medicinal uses. Yet it is illegal while booze and cigs are legal and advertised! In fact weed is a schedule 1 drug, above coke and on the same level as heroin!?
I've heard some say that taxing it would eliminate our debt and pay for healthcare. I just do not think THAT many people do it. But no doubt it could generate some serious revenue if marijuana was legal and had an excise tax. I believe Milton Friedman, (God to conservative/libertarians) was one of the first to condone it.
And while we're here I want to know: How do you guys feel about gay marriage and abortion. Because I've known quite a few people claiming to be libertarian, some pretty hardline but only ONE identified as pro-choice, (though personally against it). A true libertarian should be pro-choice going by their own philosophy... And for the record, when it comes to social issues I have a libertarian streak, it's the economics though I'm going to avoid here
People toss that word around an awful lot without it having any clear meaning.
If a man comes in meaning to rob and murder my family, how can I possibly love that man in any meaningful respect? No, if I love my family, I will hate that man, and do what I must to protect my wife and children (and please don't come at me with Christ's words that "You should love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you," as though I've never heard that statement or never studied it in context).
I'd actually take Rand's proposal that "not everyone is deserving of love" a big step further: No people are deserving of love (it's a biblical concept)- we're all wicked. But as God chose to love us despite our sin, we should love others, meaning we should forgive the faults of people we despise and show kindness to them (even if we don't want to!).
Joined: February 02 2005
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Points: 4702
Posted: July 15 2009 at 03:11
Heh, look, I'd like to reserve the term 'philosopher' for people of far greater intellectual potential than Rand, and most importantly for people who actually had something profound to say.
Although she did stress the existence of a reality independent of our hopes and wishes. Seeing that so many people seem to think their perception is reality that's gotta count for something.
Too bad her 'philosophy' is a u-turn on that basic principle, though.
Joined: February 02 2005
Location: Poland
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Points: 4702
Posted: July 15 2009 at 02:44
Atavachron wrote:
reminds me of Charlie Rose's show
so what's the crux of this thread Jim, the decline of intellect in TV journalism or Rand's philosophies?.. I'll say this: I'm sick of philosophy in general, a feeble attempt to organize ideas and views, a trap wherein true principles and ethics are ignored in favor of an Idea Set
Why are you mentioning philosophy in an Ayn Rand thread?
Joined: May 26 2008
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Points: 16715
Posted: July 14 2009 at 21:01
I agree, which is why I enjoy The News Hour and of course the indomitable Charlie Rose.
However, I can't say the same about Ayn. "Greed is good and altruism is evil" sounds to me suspiciously like an attempt to validate being a bad person...
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