Barbara Branden

George asked: "Has Peikoff always been this nuts, or has he gotten worse with age? " Yes, George, he has always been this nuts, but there used to be people around him who would throw fits at some of his atrocities, and who had the clout to stop him from uttering them publicly. (He once came roaring into my apartment in New York, after having witnessed demonstrators protesting the Vietnam war, to announce that it would be morally proper to machine gun them all. ) Barbara

George wrote: "The most important advice I would give is for a person to follow his or her own own star and not pay much attention to what others tell you can and cannot be done. " Amen! As this thread illustrates, when you are about to try something new, you will be given all sorts of contradictory advice, unreasonable advice, cowardly advice, ignorant advice, social-metaphysical advice --and pehaps a few dollops of valuable advice -- and if you listen to all of them, you probably will end up totally paralyzed. In The Passion of Ayn Rand, describing the birth of NBI, I wrote: "Nathaniel and I opened an 'office' -- whch consisted of the combination desk-dining table in our apartment -- and sent announcements to people in the New York area who had written especially interesting and intelligent letters to Ayn. We had no experience in the lecture field; we did not know that at that time it was unprecedented to offer lectures on philosophy privately, without a university affiliation. A few years later, the president of a large lecture agency commented, 'I'll admit quite candidly that if you had come to me for advice then -- I would have told you that what's happened is impossible. Lectures on philosophy?' He shook his head." Barbara

Phil, this is such nonsense that I can't believe you really mean it. You want a major contribution for which credit is owed but not given? See Tara Smith on self-esteem, and her crediting Leonard Peikoff with much of Nathaniel's early work on self-esteem. Barbara

I've never understood why anyone likes Lanza. I 'm reproducing here one of my posts from an earlier discussion of romantic music on OL Jonathan had written, "Btw, does obsessively listening to Mario Lanza turn one into self-important twit, or are self-important twits obsessively attracted to Mario Lanza? Either way, there appears to be a lot of evidence that connects obsessing over Lanza with being a self-important twit." Please find it in your heart to forgive Lanza for numbering Perigo among his fans. Lanza (of whom I am a passionate admirer) had and has many more respectable fans. When conductor Serge Koussevitzky heard the young Lanza sing, "his response was shocked, sincere, and immediate. Repeating the words 'Caruso redivivus', the maestro made immediate plans for Lanza to sing at Tanglewood. "Yours is a voice such as is heard only once in a hundred years," he said. Enrico Rosati, formerly coach to Gigli, said that Mario Lanza had one of the most beautiful voices he had ever heard. Lanza has been a major influence on the generation of tenors who came after him. Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Josep Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, and Jerry Hadley all credit Lanza as an inspiration to them in pursuing their chosen careers. Most of the music critics of his day agreed that Lanza's vocal range and quality were at least on a par with Caruso. Maria Callas (not known for her praise of contemporary singers) called Lanza "Caruso's successor," and in a 1973 interview said of him: "My biggest regret is not to have had the opportunity of singing with the greatest tenor voice I have ever heard." "You have the greatest given throat ever heard in a young man." - Tito Schipa "Mario Lanza has the greatest singing instrument ever bestowed on a human being." - George London "We were both surprised by the size of the voice--we were also impressed by Lanza’s innate musicality. No doubt he could have had an outstanding operatic career." - Richard Bonynge and Joan Sutherland "Mario could have sung in any opera house in the world and his career would have been sensational." - Dorothy Kirsten "He had a voice of enormous dramatic impact." - Placido Domingo "His magnificent voice enriched our lives and introduced us to a wide spectrum of classical and popular music." - José Carreras "He had a fantastic voice--not just wonderful--a fantastic voice." - Luciano Pavarotti Barbara I

You're missing the point. It was not the singer of a song she responded to as embodying her sense of life. .It was the melody. Barbara

You are quite right. Words might add something to a melody Rand liked, but the melody itself-- its sense of life -- was the sole basis on which she liked or disliked a song. If she didn't respond to the melody, the words, however beautiful or inspiring, were irrelevant. Barbara

Can you imagine that any reporter would keep his job or escape a public lynching if he suggested that America belongs to the white man and that blacks should get the hell out of America and go home to Africa? It's interesting that Obama publicly excoriates Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and the cop who arrested his professor friend - but has nothng to say when Helen Thomas wishes a second Holocaust upon the Jews. But "interesting" is not the right word. "Disgusting" is slightly more appropriate. Barbara

The Intellectual Activist is almost always well worth reading. I recommend that you take advantage of this offer of a free subscription from now until after the November election. Barbara Thu, June 3, 2010 7:15:02 AM The Gods of the Copybook Headings From: TIA Daily <editor@TIADaily.com> Publisher's Note: From now until after the November election, we will be sending out a free version of TIA Daily to our entire mailing list—including former subscribers and trial subscribers. Please enjoy our coverage of the political battle in this extraordinary and important election season. Feel free to forward our newsletter on to your friends, and tell them to sign up in the "trial subscription" box at our website, www.TIADaily.com, if they want to receive this free version. (If you don't want to receive TIA Daily, use the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of this newsletter.) Article like the one below will also be posted every day at TIADaily.com. The central issue of the November election, in my view, is the Obama's administration's attempt to break the last of the bonds that used to curtail the power of government. This year will decide whether any limits remain on the power of the state. That's why I'm trying to rapidly increase the distribution of TIA Daily, in order to provide more ammunition to more people as we fight this ideology battle for liberty.—RWT TIA Daily • June 2, 2010 FEATURE ARTICLE The Gods of the Copybook Headings Europe Pays the Price for Defying Reality by Robert Tracinski European markets continue to collapse as the Southern European welfare states slide into insolvency. There has been a lot of discussion about the cause of this disaster, but to any good Kipling fan the answer is obvious: it's The Gods of the Copybook Headings. The title of Rudyard Kipling's poem is obscure today but would have been clear to any educated Englishman of his day. A copybook was a kind of penmanship exercise in which the student copied over and over again a sentence printed in the heading at the top of each page. These copybook headings were usually aphorisms or statements of commonsense wisdom, so Kipling used the Gods of the Copybook Headings as a symbol for basic, immutable truths. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn. The point of the poem is that the various schemes for "social progress" being promoted at the time—and most of them are still with us today—are based on denying the basic truths represented by the Gods of the Copybook Headings. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. Kipling's derisive reference to the "Gods of the Market Place" was not intended as anti-capitalist. "The market" is not short for "the free market," as it is in contemporary parlance. Rather, the "market" refers to the public spaces where people gather to listen to demagogues who promise the impossible and the irrational—the function performed by CNN today. Which brings us to modern politicians and the collapse of the European welfare state. See if you recognize this warning from Kipling . In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die." That's a concise summary of the inevitable disaster of the welfare state. And more: it names a key part of the mentality behind it—the systematic evasion of basic, obvious truths. Who thought this was ever going to work? Who thought we could build a society in which an ever-increasing number of citizens are told that they don't have to work and that their needs will be provided for by somebody else—while the burden is shoved onto the shoulders of an ever-smaller, ever-more-despised minority of producers? That's what Greece did, shifting a huge number of its citizens onto the government payroll and creating a lavish pension scheme in which the average retirement age is 61 and workers in some fields are guaranteed retirement at age 50. When the overloaded private sector could no longer pay for all of this, the Greek government borrowed money to paper over the shortfall—until the Gods of the Copybook Headings caught up with them and their scheme came crashing down. We're all headed in that direction. A recent report revealed an ominous statistic. And I'm not using "ominous" in the loose, sloppy modern way that just means "vaguely bad." By "ominous," I mean: this is a harbinger of societal collapse. The statistic? The percentage of income in the US that is derived from government payments—welfare benefits plus government payroll—is reaching an all-time high, while the percentage of income derived from private-sector wages is reaching an all-time low. If I understand the figures in this report, they imply that the government is paying out two dollars in income for every three dollars of private income. Put simply, the takers are eating up the makers. At some point—and it's not too far off—there just isn't going to be enough private income to seize to pay for the public income. The system is inherently, mathematically unsustainable. But nobody cares about mathematics. The welfare state is based on denying the truth that two and two make four. The report linked to above quotes an economist who worries that "People are paid for being rather than for producing." And that's what reminded me of Kipling. His poem concludes by describing what will happen when "the brave new world begins." When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! That brings us to the motivation for this evasion of reality. It is not just avarice for unearned wealth, as Kipling implies. It is avarice for unearned wealth—combined with a moral code that makes parasitism seem noble. The altruist creed that one man's need gives him a claim on the wealth produced by others is not just an injustice—Kipling describes it as a system that hands out undeserved rewards, while shielding men from punishment for their vices. It is also an attempt to overturn the law of cause and effect. The cause of wealth is production, but the altruist welfare state is built on the assumption that a man's need will bring him wealth, regardless of whether or not he produces anything. In order to maintain a moral code that makes need into the ultimate moral claim—while denigrating as "greed" the virtues of hard work, ambition, and success—the defenders of altruism have to stage a rebellion against reality. In this, they are supported by a whole network of modern intellectuals and philosophers, who tell them that there is no objective truth and that reality is whatever we collectively choose to believe. In effect, this is an excuse to say that when their moral theories conflict with reality, it is reality that will bend. But reality is absolute and always asserts itself in the end, with dreadful consequences for those who rebel against it. If you think that the last line of Kipling's poem, the part about terror and slaughter, is over the top, remember that this poem was written in 1919, when the terror and slaughter of World War I were still fresh. (The Battle of Loos had claimed an Irish Guard named John Kipling, the poet's only son.) Mercifully, Kipling did not live to see the terror and slaughter to come. As for the terror and slaughter this time around, take the riots in Greece—the firebombs thrown at banks in the heart of Athens, burning three employees to death—as a warning. Let's hope we don't get around to the terror and slaughter here in America. Kipling tells us how we can avoid it. Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. There are no Gods of the Copybook Headings—not in the literal sense—so it is going to be up to us, those who insist that reality is real and cannot be cheated, to take on their role and limp up to explain it once more. One-Year Subscription — $74 Six-Month Subscription — $38 Subscribe now! Copyright © 2010 by Tracinski Publishing Company PO Box 8086, Charlottesville, VA 22906

George: "When Welles was asked about his innovative camera techniques in Citizen Kane, he replied that he had never made a movie before, so he wasn't aware that he was breaking new ground. He then observed that as creative people get older, they learn what they are "supposed" to do - the "rules" of their discipline --and this often hinders their creativity. Welles suggested that creative types recapture the spirit and perspective of their earlier years and forget about the conventional rules they have learned since then." That is wonderful advice. Thanks for posting it. Barbara

Jeff: "You don't assume the criminal gang calling itself the 'government' of the United States should be financially propping up (and otherwise aiding) the criminal gang calling itself the 'government' of Israel?" Do you care to put that question in a form that will make it possible for me to answer it? Barbara

Jeff Riggenbach responds to my post defending Israel: "But don't assume you or those who share your goals have a right to seize my money to support your projects." You are very quick to put me in one of your pigeonholes. But you see, I don't assume it. Barbara

Agreed. And we ought never to forget what it is the two countries have in common. Barbara

North Korea torpedoes and sinks a South Korean ship. The world yawns. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc. tyrannize, torture and murder their own citizens at will. The world yawns. Israel refuses to allow war materials to enter a country ruled by terrorists that will use them against Israeli cities. Protest erupt around the world in righteous horror and indignation. Never again? It’s happening now. And many members of Objectivist Living are yawning. Barbara "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew..."

Phil wrote about the Godfather movies: "It's almost an Objectivist theme: Be true to your own self. Or else." Are you saying that this is the deliberate message of the films? You can't mean that. Can you? Barbara

Christopher wrote: "Look, it's really not that Glenn Beck is helping people think. All those who vouch for him here are already self-thinkers, so the discussion is about those who don't essentially think for themselves. And I've met this latter type who follow Beck. They agree with Beck, but their opinions are the opinions of Beck, not self-generated. Is he helping America? Not from my perspective. If anything, he's rallying people into a group that he controls. Hitler had some healthy stuff to say at the beginning of his campaigning as well. It didn't help anyone. "There's a big difference between an MSK who follows Beck and the average person who follows Beck, and I'll tell you: MSK doesn't need Beck, but the other persons do. That's why Beck is at best unnecessary and at worst a manipulative leader. "IMHO:" Christopher, there will always be people who don't think and who attach themselves to those they believe will think for them. Every important figure has had his true believers-- from Karl Marx to John Lennon to George Washington to Ayn Rand to Barack Obama. That tells you a lot about the true believers; in itself, it tells you nothing about those they choose to follow. You say you've talked to people who are blind followers of Beck . How many? Two? Five? Two dozen? That does not give you the knowledge or the right to say that "he's rallying people into a group that he controls." implying that control of unthinking people is his purpose and his goal. That is the method of the most vitriolic of Rand's critics, who say that because there are true believers among her admirers, that means that the purpose of her life and work was to manipulate and control a lot of boobs. Beck is doing something very valuable., He is working to give people the information and the perspective -- and the spines -- that they badly need in order to understand and to effectively oppose the dangerous mess that is our government. You say MSK doesn't need Beck. I think he does. I know I do. I've learned important things from him. Because your comments are an echo of the left's party line on Beck, should I announce that you are a non-thinking person who is being manipulated and controlled by a group of power-hungry statists? Barbara[

'Phil: "But, until you can write with the success and influence of those intellectuals, you should always be trying to improve. . . " Phil, this statement -- "You should always be trying to improve" -- is typical of how you too often deal with people on Forums. It's guaranteed to get people's backs up. Do you not see how insufferably patronizing it is? Should one respond, "Gee, Daddy, I didn't know I should always try to improve . I promise to do better in the future." Phil, we are not your children; nor are we enrolled in your classes. And you are much too intelligent and thoughtful to spend so much of your time antagonizing people. At the risk of sounding patronizing myself -- and if it comes across that way, I apologize -- I see you as now having a choice. You can look for other examples of your attitude --pompous patronizing, all-knowing, teaching to those who do not require or want your lessons, and decide if you want to do something about it -- or you can inundate me with self-serving explanations of how I misunderstood the line I quoted from your post to Jeff. you can go on and on about context, about your past with Jeff, about his last eighteen posts, etc.. You pay your money and you take your choice. Barbara

We the Living -- which is a wonderful movie -- certainly belongs on this list. I have the feeling that many of you haven't seen it. If so, you're missing a thrilling and uplifting experience. Barbara

Phil. even from a laundry list, don't you think one learns a lot about the person? When I visit someone's home for the first time, I'm highly frustrated if I can't look at their library; that's how I learn about them -- even if I'm not familiar with many of the books -- to a depth that hours of conversation can rarely equal. (Of course, this assumes they don't have a weird profession or hobby such that their books deal predominantly with the intestines of the ostrich. . . . although I suppose that, too. would tell me something.) Movies are in the same category as books. When I look at my own list of movies, I feel they are almost embarrassingly self-revelatory. Barbara

I looked back at my own list and tried to see what they all had in common. They were all grandly heroic in some sense or other; none were comedies; all moved and inspired me on some deep personal level; many had scores written by master composers that I listen to apart from the films. Judith Judith, this isn't the first time I've been aware that we have a lot in common. I'm glad you mentioned Now Voyager. I forgot to include it on my list, and I've probably seen it 12-15 times. I also forgot what is now a dated but wonderful movie: The Seventh Veil. Barbara

I've never heard of this, and it's not on imdb.com Maybe you meant Remains of the Day and/or Terms of Endearment? I've never seen Carrington or Brief Encounter, I've added them to the queue. Oops! I meant Remains of the Day. Thanks. I can't promise you'll like Carrington, but I can almost guarantee you'll love Brief Encounter. Please do let me know, Barbara

My list would include the following: (List one contains the movies I've watched most often.) List One: Brief Encounter Wuthering Heights The Hurricane That Hamilton Woman The Way We Were Casablanca Terms of the Day Doctor Zhivago Rocky Camille Judgment at Nuremberg Of Human Bondage Yentl Carrington List Two: Victor, Victoria Sophie's Choice Same Time Next Year The Great Escape A Streetcar Named Desire Notorious North by Northwest Citizen Kane Gaslight Tootsie The Great Waltz Cries and Whispez Les Miserables The Count of Monte Cristo (with Gerard Depardieu) Cyrano de Bergerac (with Jose Ferrer) The Fountainhead We the Living Schindler's List The Magnificent Ambersons Fiddler on the Roof My Fair Lady Ninotchka Sleepless in Seattle The Great Escape Gone With the Wind The Man who Came to Dinner Dead Poets' Society Hunchback of Notre Dame Some Like it Hot Exodus Amadeus Inherit the Wind The Razor's Edge Laura Love Letters The Fountainhead We the Living The Sting List Three All the movies I've seen a number of times but have temporarily forgotten A a I compiled these lists, I realized that my strong response to many of the movies is significantly subjective. I that true for others besides myself? Barbara

Ian: "My apologies. I didn't intend for this to be 'Branden Bashing", but it's your site and I respect your interpretation. My apologies to Barbara also - I didn't intend to disrespect you. I am aware of your contributions and accomplishments. "I was born and raised just outside of Concord/Lexington/Boston and the feelings that are conjured in me when I walk on that historic ground are nothing like the the feelings that I get when I hear Glenn Beck. To me, and this is only my opinion of course, comparing Paul Revere to Glenn Beck dishonors the former to a degree that is incommensurate with what one gains from even making such a rhetorical gesture. I hope that puts some perspective on my last comment." Ian, I accept your apology, with thanks, and I believe I do understand your context. My intention was not to compare Glenn Beck and Paul Revere in all respects, but to make the point that Beck , like Revere, is desperately trying to warn us of imminent danger. And, like Revere, he is doing so at considerable personal risk to himelf; the Administration is out for blood where Beck is concerned -- and I only hope that is simply a metaphor. Barbara

It is long past time that someone told the American public that they should be afraid of their government. What Obama and his cohorts have done in a year-and-a half is terrifying -- and if we don't understand that, and understand where we are being led, this country is lost. Glenn Beck is today's Paul Revere. Barbara

I met Chris only a few times, but we occasionally corresponded and often connected through Internet Forums. My impression was of a thoroughly good and honorable man. We can ill afford to lose such a man; there are too few of them. I'll miss his cheerfulness, his quiet intelligence, and his kindness -- and the uniqueness of his personality; one could not read one of his posts and think it was written by someone else. Barbara