Daughter badmouths Father


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http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/04/my_father_the_objectivist/index.html

There’s a new piece on Salon.com where a writer complains about growing up with an Objectivist father. It looks like an attention getting exercise ahead of the movie release.

Her story doesn’t quite add up, and there are some details that strain credulity beyond the breaking point. It was easy enough to find the website for her Father’s legal practice, so that lends some verisimilitude. But if he’s a workaholic attorney, why is it he couldn’t pay child support?

http://www.bbpatent.com/

Next, ARI has evening classes that teenagers take by phone? Conferences over long weekends? Regularly? News to me. Here’s a nice little snippet from the article, so you get the tenor:

Our objectivist education, however, was not confined to lectures and books. One time, at dinner, I complained that my brother was hogging all the food.

"He's being selfish!" I whined to my father.

"Being selfish is a good thing," he said. "To be selfless is to deny one's self. To be selfish is to embrace the self, and accept your wants and needs."

It was my dad's classic response -- a grandiose philosophical answer to a simple real-world problem. But who cared about logic? All I wanted was another serving of mashed potatoes.

In any event, she indicates she didn’t really pay attention or absorb whatever she was exposed to in Rand-land, which is a pity, since she may have come across this little gem to present to Daddy-dear:

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Imagine that: a teenager who doesn't understand her father.

I gather she's at university now, studying journalism. Presumably he's not helping with tuition.

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http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/04/my_father_the_objectivist/index

But if he’s a workaholic attorney, why is it he couldn’t pay child support?

Gee Ninth, I can't possibly think why. An attorney? Could it be that he didn't want to, didn't believe he should have to, didn't want his exwife to have the administration of one cent that he had earned and she didn't? Could it be that he found many ways to avoid paying?

I haven't even read the article, but come on. Why "can't" people with money use it for what other people say they ought to?

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Gee Ninth, I can't possibly think why. An attorney? Could it be that he didn't want to, didn't believe he should have to, didn't want his exwife to have the administration of one cent that he had earned and she didn't? Could it be that he found many ways to avoid paying?

I haven't even read the article, but come on. Why "can't" people with money use it for what other people say they ought to?

I agree that divorces can get nasty and people’s behavior is more likely to be irrational in that context. But she reports that he had to pay up, plus attorney’s fees; you’d think he’d see that coming, being an attorney himself. Anyway, I don’t know the guy, he might be a walking manure pile. Being a Rand fan sure doesn’t guarantee against that.

The thought that her father could have used Objectivism effectively to be a scum bag is beyond possibility. Clearly she is a lier, thief or lunatic.

Sez you.

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The California Court of Appeal decision on his lengthy efforts to reduce child support payments bears out part of the daughter's tale.

That said, I think the daughter was scoring a political/personal/emotional point, and some can find the airing of her tale a bit ick depending on their taste for family entrails -- how can Dad respond? The article deepens wounds, extends estrangement, and embarrasses the father. Power to her for getting off her chest and into text a proper Fuck You, Dad, but I understand an aversion to this kind of airing.

Carol, read some of the comments on the Salon article; there is nothing like other people's troubles to attract the looky-loos and the pontificators and the couch-experts. The first pages excoriate the dad and Rand/Objectivism.

As I said backstagee to Ninth, perhaps Objectivishism was pie-shell to his filling.

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http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/04/my_father_the_objectivist/index.html

There’s a new piece on Salon.com where a writer complains about growing up with an Objectivist father. It looks like an attention getting exercise ahead of the movie release.

Her story doesn’t quite add up, and there are some details that strain credulity beyond the breaking point. It was easy enough to find the website for her Father’s legal practice, so that lends some verisimilitude. But if he’s a workaholic attorney, why is it he couldn’t pay child support?

http://www.bbpatent.com/

Next, ARI has evening classes that teenagers take by phone? Conferences over long weekends? Regularly? News to me. Here’s a nice little snippet from the article, so you get the tenor:

Our objectivist education, however, was not confined to lectures and books. One time, at dinner, I complained that my brother was hogging all the food.

"He's being selfish!" I whined to my father.

"Being selfish is a good thing," he said. "To be selfless is to deny one's self. To be selfish is to embrace the self, and accept your wants and needs."

It was my dad's classic response -- a grandiose philosophical answer to a simple real-world problem. But who cared about logic? All I wanted was another serving of mashed potatoes.

In any event, she indicates she didn’t really pay attention or absorb whatever she was exposed to in Rand-land, which is a pity, since she may have come across this little gem to present to Daddy-dear:

I never saw Peikoff live before! Is that his original nose? It looks so generic!

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I never saw Peikoff live before! Is that his original nose? It looks so generic!

You'll find some youthful pics of him here:

I have no idea about the nose, let us know what you dig out. For the rest of the audience, given to stream of consciousness associations, I present you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qdB0g3cCSA

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I'm all for sticking it to parents, but this article...

well, Salon is known for a 'liberal' bias. So they're happy to print articles about people's lives being ruined by "Objectivism" (perhaps "how some people practice Objectivism" would be more appropriate, since many people have had good experiences from the practice of Objectivism). Would they ever print an article about someone BENEFITING from Objectivism? Of course not.

Its most likely an attempt to get 'liberals' screeching about the 'evil' of Ayn Rand before the opening of the Atlas Shrugged film.

CLARIFICATION: There are idiotic, cultish, monstrous Objectivists that ruin the reputation of all of us. That doesn't mean I don't find it offensive when one of them is held up as "proof" that I am somehow a moral monster.

Edited by studiodekadent
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This piece is way over the top, and the subtext there screams out at anyone who knows how things work, and part of what is being exploited are corrupt child-rearing tactics generally accepted by the culture, where it is considered "mean" to teach children self-discipline.

However, there is some small part that fits Objectivism. I can't speak to the particulars, and the daughter is obviously extremely biased and not a worthy witness of actual events, but the dogmatist streak in Objectivism is really there, especially in the ortho circles. This could be talked about without the slimy approach of exploiting a family issue. What the daughter did, and what the editors encouraged her to unwisely do, will probably permanently alienate her from her father, and even though she thinks reconciliation is impossible now, when she gets older she may very well realize how wrong she was on certain very relevant things that if it were not for this smear job, would have made her blame her mother not her father for many of them.

Shayne

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Decades ago Branden was quoted as saying "god help the first generation of Objectivist children." This is presumably an example of what he had in mind.

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I just read the article by Alyssa Bereznak (I wonder where that "Alyssa"came from, hmmmm? :) )

I feel for her. To see if there was any verifiable basis to her story, I typed in the following into a Google search:

Bereznak "Ayn Rand"

I came across the following link: The Law Offices of Bradley J. Bereznak. His expertise is intellectual property and intellectual property litigation.

A quote by Ayn Rand from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is right on his front page: "Patents and copyrights are the legal implementation of the base of all property rights: a man's right to the product of his mind."

So it is reasonable to presume he is the father she is complaining about.

Her story--which is obviously her side of the story with all the distortions a bitter daughter with hurt feelings would make--does not surprise me. I have seen enough people within our subcommunity who make an enormous mess of their emotional life and destroy their relationships. (I have not been innocent in that regard, either.)

Presuming that her story is somewhat accurate (at least it rings true according to what I have seen in others who use Objectivist organizations like Sunday School), I believe the goodwill was there in the father, but his emotional incompetence was too great to make the situation of family intimacy work. When people of this orientation--I call them control freaks when I want to use plain language--get their own feelings hurt, they demonstrate a humongous sense of being betrayed and victimized and almost total blindness to the reality of the others they have hurt.

I wish him well and I wish her well. I feel bad for them.

I hope someday he has the good sense to tell her that he loves her no matter what, and that the article she just did doesn't matter beans to him that level, and she has the good sense to tell him that not only does she love him, she is proud of the work he has been doing all these years.

I don't think that will happen, though.

There.

I've scratched my Dear Abby itch for the day. :)

Michael

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Rand herself regarded having children as irrelevant. I must wonder how she expected the human race to survive.

Failed marriages are an epidemic among Randists. I am sad to say that nothing in this article surprises me at all.

Irrelevant to what?

But not epidemic among non-Randists?

--Brant

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Rand herself regarded having children as irrelevant. I must wonder how she expected the human race to survive.

Failed marriages are an epidemic among Randists. I am sad to say that nothing in this article surprises me at all.

Irrelevant to what?

But not epidemic among non-Randists?

--Brant

Precisely.

I do not know of any data that shows that divorce amongst "Objectivists" is significantly higher than the median divorce rate amongst the regular population. If anyone has those stats, I would love to see them.

In the article, the young lady explains that:

"In the end, my mother moved out, but objectivism stayed. My brother and I switched off living at each parent’s house once a week."

This is unclear, but it "appears" to be some type of shared custody arrangement which would cast a different light on the issues.

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there are some details that strain credulity beyond the breaking point.

I just gave the article another scan, and the part that crossed the line came at the end:

He'd call me every other month to play 20-minute catch-up before he had to rush back to work. More consistent, however, were his e-mails. Forwarded from the daily objectivist newsletter he subscribed to, each one had a title like "George W. Bush, Genius" or "Obama the Pathetic."

George W. Bush, Genius? Since the father was hanging out with ARI types, and Peikoff endorsed Kerry and said Bush's re-election would be "apocalyptic", I just can't buy it.

This is unclear, but it "appears" to be some type of shared custody arrangement which would cast a different light on the issues.

It's always dicey to try to form judgements about other people's family squabbles.

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there are some details that strain credulity beyond the breaking point.

I just gave the article another scan, and the part that crossed the line came at the end:

He'd call me every other month to play 20-minute catch-up before he had to rush back to work. More consistent, however, were his e-mails. Forwarded from the daily objectivist newsletter he subscribed to, each one had a title like "George W. Bush, Genius" or "Obama the Pathetic."

George W. Bush, Genius? Since the father was hanging out with ARI types, and Peikoff endorsed Kerry and said Bush's re-election would be "apocalyptic", I just can't buy it.

It's always dicey to try to form judgements about other people's family squabbles.

Actually, quite a few members of the orthodoxy defended the Neocons and their foreign policy. ariwatch.com has a good catalogue of this. So yes, some Objectivists did praise Bush 2, unfortunately.

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"George W. Bush, Genius" is the title of an article that ran in TIA Daily in February, arguing that the uprisings in the middle east were making Bush's forward strategy of freedom look good in retrospect. If her father reads TIA Daily he's not an orthodox Objectivist.

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"George W. Bush, Genius" is the title of an article that ran in TIA Daily in February, arguing that the uprisings in the middle east were making Bush's forward strategy of freedom look good in retrospect. If her father reads TIA Daily he's not an orthodox Objectivist.

Well, then it looks like the article was properly vetted. It’s still a smear job.

I bet TIA is still read by plenty of Orthos, certainly many started their subscriptions before Tracinski went afoul of the Pope and his nuncios.

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