The Problem With Objectivism is That it's Not Sexy Enough

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

5 hours ago, Peter said:

A recommendation. We have started to binge watch, “House of Cards,” and we usually watch zero to three episodes a night on Netflix. I think there are 73 episodes.

It is a personal story about politics and they make very clear at the beginning of the show, it is not about the Republicans but it is about the Democrats from around 2012? until 2016? The Democrats are portrayed fairly according to the writers, who obviously are political insiders.

Peter,

Kat and I started watching this around 2015 and continued as it was happening. Kat had the stomach to see the entire thing. I dropped out after about four seasons or so (maybe a little more, I can't remember). I rarely do that, but I got to the point where I couldn't stand the world of those people.

I realized each character had their own strong desires and those desires were constantly being frustrated and obstructed (which is the basis of all great storytelling), but I stopped caring whether they achieved their desires because I began to feel revulsion at the characters themselves. And once you stop caring about the desires of the protagonists, their stories becomes boring and irritating.

I've done a lot of thinking about this. Why the strong reaction? The best I can come up with is that I think I found the world of values the writers constructed stifling. I couldn't breathe. There were no good guys anywhere. Just winners and losers among perennially corrupt and (to me) worthless human beings who appeared at times to be decent, but ultimately were shown to be grubby little souls with delusions of grandeur.

This doesn't mean I think the series is bad. I don't. It is great. Artistically, it is some of the best storytelling about people like that ever produced. That is, among the stuff I have consumed. There may be better out there, but I haven't seen it.

As you said, Kevin Spacey was fantastic, as was the entire cast (including my namesake, Michael Kelly (the actor).

During the time I was watching it, I read about it. Kevin Spacey said he went to Washington to pal around with politicians as part of his actor's prep for the show. I remember him saying how all politicians he met were terrible actors all the time--they never turned it off, but he stood in awe at how they constantly got away with it.

I agree with you that this show depicts the world of modern politics perfectly, especially, to me, the world of the Clintons.

In fact, I have a pet theory. I think Spacey did such a good job of showing how icky these people are, he got singled out by the behind-the-scenes puppet-masters from among the plethora of Hollywood perverts and tagged for destruction. I don't think the powers that be were mad at him personally for anything. He was just one among many. But I do think they were pissed at how great a job he did at unambiguously depicting a corrupt soul that was totally in alignment with the world of the Clintons and they needed to stop that show.

In other words, I bet House of Cards helped elect President Trump and that was Spacey's unforgivable sin. I mentioned this to Kat several times back during the 2016 election--that I didn't think the producers realized the effect of what they were presenting. Instead of preaching this or that, House of Cards made it clear just how ugly people like the Clintons were on the inside and how unlike normal Americans they were.

I heartily agree with your recommendation. People need to see this. A description does not do it justice. I know this show helped me see the political world of the swamp in a manner of spiritual detail I had not thought possible. But I won't blame anyone for dropping our after a few seasons like I did--that is, after they look and understand. That political world is awful for people who think like I do, it's creepy on a visceral level, but I didn't realize how awful it was until I saw it up close.

That doesn't mean it took effort to watch. On the contrary, the first few seasons sucked me in hard, so it was not a slog at all. I was glued to the screen. In fact, in the beginning, it was kinda fun. And it stayed kinda fun until it wasn't.

Like the Clintons.

Michael

[Peter]

We watched House of Cards again and we are into the third season. The show involved inviting the Russian President to a White House dinner, and also invited were the real life Vlad Putin protest group and songsters, Pussy Riot. It ran on a bit long but had a satisfactory ending.  

[riggins]

All this Pussy Riot thing was a pure propoganda. 

[Peter]

I saw what you call the pure propaganda group had a video out called Make America Great Again. Peter

From The Guardian. Pussy Riot sentenced to two years in prison colony for hooliganism. This article is more than 7 years old. Punk band members Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich jailed amid global protests

From Wikipedia. Ideology Civil society In an email interview with The St. Petersburg Times, the group explained their political positions further, saying that members' perspectives ranged from anarchist to liberal left, but that all were united by feminism, anti-authoritarianism and opposition to Putin, whom members regard as continuing the "aggressive imperial politics" of the Soviet Union. Group concerns include education, health care, and the centralization of power, and the group supports regional autonomy and grass-roots organizing. Members regard unsanctioned rallies as a core principle, saying that authorities do not see rallies that they have sanctioned as a threat and simply ignore them. For this reason, all of Pussy Riot's performances were illegal and used co-opted public space. Interviewed by the BBC during rehearsals the day before the Cathedral of Christ the Savior performance, band members argued that only vivid, illegal actions brought media attention. In an interview with Slate in the spring of 2018 during the band's first North American tour, Tolokonnikova stated that economic inequality "is a big issue for Pussy Riot", highlighting that such inequality was a notable feature of both Russian and American society, and that discussion of inequality was absent from mainstream political discourse in both the US and Europe.

[atlashead]

I'dve put my penis in Ayn's ass any age

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

16 minutes ago, atlashead said:

I'dve put my penis in Ayn's ass any age

A,

Stop it.

Try talent. Anybody can do what you just did.

I've always seen you as quirky and talented.

Never mediocre.

Until now...

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

Yuck.

--Brant

[atlashead]

I think this is disgusting, crumby, & despicable.  Why don't you ask your lover to take you on the "I Doo'd" during this "nasty" winter, you can rail Rail Wyland on the rail or maybe by the jib (watch out fo doz black flags hardalee's

whilst I'm an objectivist in lee's dungarees
Inspecting dung beatles & Kangaroos yada'N with Yoda & Rudy aka Rusty Collinder by the collider

edit: Butt of Marcus is dross intended to make you dr00L
lOOk, let's do something real gross & nitwitty this millenium, let's pretend Marcus is funna have sex with anything, including a head of let-us next to a scarecrow

SCARECROW: COVER YOUR EYES!

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Come on, dude.

You're outputting a lot of emotional baggage that isn't connecting.

It's like reading a cross between James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and a porn star on acid who just sawed off his foot.

Forget about Marcus. He speaks for himself. Do you know him?

If not, you are putting out useless hatred mixed with sewage.

What would Howard Roark do?

Not that. That's for sure.

You are letting your basic emotions and desire to communicate be defined by a person you probably don't even know.

I know enough about you to know you are better than that.

Michael