[BaalChatzaf]

Ayn Rand was out her most brilliant and at her best when she told stories. Her greatest accomplishment in that role (story teller, griot, keeper of the legends) was -Atlas Shrugged-. If her style was a bit heavy and Victor-Hugo-esque it was still excellent (hey! There are worse writers to be like than Victor Hugo!). It was when she ceased telling important stories and began to pontificate all aspects of life, that she jumped the shark. When she became an ueber den-mother to her acolytes that Rand was at her worst.

We are all judgmental, insofar as we make judgments. But Rand as Pontificatrex-Maximus and Judge of What is Good and Evil, was not a proper role for her. She did not have the chops for it and it brought out her worst aspects and it had the effect of bringing out some of the worst in others. That is sad. Primarily because it brought her best thinking (shown in her novel -Atlas Shrugged) into question and disdain. Most sad, most regrettable. Isn't that the way of it? Our worst doings taint our best.

Judgment is necessary, but it is not our major task. Our major task is go out and do our best. Judgment is a means to that end, not the end itself. We need to find out (for ourselves) what is Beyond where the tracks meet in the distance. We need to make that journey.

Judge Judy is entertainment. Judge Rand is tragedy.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

BaalChatzaf, on May 7 2009, 08:35 AM, said:

Judgment is necessary, but it is not our major task. Our major task is go out and do our best. Judgment is a means to that end, not the end itself.

Bob,

I fully agree with this idea. When you remove it from context like I just did, it is beautifully stated.

Now if you could only start expressing stuff like this as stand-alone ideas instead of constantly using them as a means for bashing Rand or comparing yourself to her, I believe these things would spread within our little community. This one in particular makes a lot of sense, both on theoretical and practical levels.

As Johnny Mercer's song goes:

Arlen and Mercer said:

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between.

Michael