mweiss Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I had sent some friends of mine an e-mail titlted:"Wafa Sultan : the Middle Eastern Equivalent of Ayn Rand?"One of them was a Liberal, who replied:"Mark, every time you ever mention Objectivism, this is all I can think of:"I have to admit, the comic strip had me rolling in laughter. Best laugh I've had all night. All in good fun, of course. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Mark; Maybe it's me. I don't find it that funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mweiss Posted November 18, 2006 Author Share Posted November 18, 2006 Mark; Maybe it's me. I don't find it that funny.Normally, I would find such a strip offensive, but it must be that I have 'mellowed out' over the years. For some reason, I was able to set aside the Objectivist mindset and look at it as an outsider. Scary, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I don't find it offenseive. I don't find it funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I got a laugh out of it.How to eat in Galt's Gulch was not covered in Atlas Shrugged and I never even thought about that myself during all these years. (Also, I have "shrugged" in my life and then had to figure out how to eat. It's a problem.)Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Pross Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I understand the supposed humor of the comic strip, I don’t find it funny at all—and not because I’m “offended”. In the Galt's Gulch, the ‘men of the mind’ have no problem growing food, tiling the soil, sweeping up and other manual labor along with the more brainy work. When Galt said in his radio speech “We don’t need you”—he meant it. So that’s why the supposed humor is missing from this strip. Even a joke must have some layer of truth to it, and this one has neither wit nor irony. Believe me, I love humor. And so I’m a little disappointed with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Victor,Come on. Rand didn't present all those things. She worked from the top end.If some people find the thing funny, let them enjoy it. They have reasons to. (Try walking away from caricature art and living a few years. It will change your perspective.)Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mweiss Posted November 18, 2006 Author Share Posted November 18, 2006 I have to agree with Victor on this. He is correct. The men of the mind were producers and as such, knew how to do menial tasks as well as major accomplishments of science. The comic strip conveniently overlooks that. Good point, Victor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I thought it was very funny. Much classier than Randian Christmas. *wink* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 And I still found it funny for the reasons I gave.So there.Nyah! Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 :devil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mweiss Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 And I still found it funny for the reasons I gave.So there.Nyah! MichaelOkay, perfectly fine to react with laughter to something like that comic. One would not expect a response like the Mohammud cartoons evoked among Muslims. We're a civil philosophic school of thought here. But I do find it curious how my Jewish acquaintance is unwilling to stand in defense of Israel and Jews in general. He's ultra-Liberal left-wing. Oh well, he's lived in Boston much of his life. I guess that explains it. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 I like humor about Ayn Rand. The strikers started doing what was neccessary for their lives. I repeat the cartoon wasn't funny because any good reader of the book would know the strikers had no problem tilling the soil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Chris.When I have tilled the soil, it has kicked my ass hard. So I still think the cartoon is funny. What a horrible way to have to eat!Nyah to you too. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 The comic kinda fell flat with me. C'mon... They were a self-contained community and there had to be a Mickey-D's or at least a Starbucks out there. Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Pross Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 All they would have to do is get some former looters from the old world and say “Look, you wanna live? Then get to work, bitches.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMF Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 They could just bring in Dr. Archibald Bitchslap. Did anyone see Saturday Night Live last night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mweiss Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 All they would have to do is get some former looters from the old world and say “Look, you wanna live? Then get to work, bitches.” Now that's a scenario I would give my right arm to witness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Philip Rearden washing dishes. His mother mopping floors. Lillian could panhandle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Pross Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) Mark, It is so obvious to me that the “joke” was written by a liberal who seems to hold the Marxist “surplus value” theory—in that the real cause behind human production, behind human survival, is the sweat and muscle of “the workers” over brains. This not only jumps in the face against what AS is all about and demonstrates to be true—but against historical facts. In this cartoon strip, the “men of the mind” are really dependent upon the workers—the very thing that Rand’s theme seeks to discredit. She succeeded. This strip just ignores all these facts and takes its own theme as 'a given'. This is why this joke is not objectively funny—except to those who would hold a leftist view of production. In MSK’s case, he laughed at what the intended humor was meant to be, but upon examination the “humor” collapses under the weight of its own untruth. Nevertheless, thanks for posting it. I get a laugh from it of a different sort. -Victor Edited November 19, 2006 by Victor Pross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Victor; That's a thoughtful post. You are a very good thinker and I'm honored to be associated with you. Your art work is good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Victor,I didn't even think about class struggles, and I am not sure I agree with your analysis, although it is clever. I just thought about how tilling the earth to eat is hard work for anybody to do.Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Michael; You are correct. I did some farming when I was much younger. It was hard work. People who talk about going back to the land don't know what hard work is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Pross Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 (edited) Michael, You might not have thought about “class struggles” but what else is the cartoon about? Read between the lines where the supposed humor is presented. That joke doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it seems pretty clear to me that it was created from an “axe to grind” impetus. You don’t get that impression at all? Humor, it is true, can be totally non-cerebral, illogical and totally silly —such as you would find in a Marx Brother movie—but this cartoon is trying to convey a “message”—the one I just explained. By the way, nobody said that “tilling the soil” is easy work-- but that is all beside the point I’m making. Anyway, I don’t want you to think I’m getting all anal over a silly cartoon strip. Victor[P.S. Chris, where do you stand now? good god, man--you are making me dizzy!] Edited November 19, 2006 by Victor Pross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 I didn't think it was funny either. I was just kind of bewildered, and wondered, "Didn't they read the book?" for the reasons Victor mentioned.And I know that manual labor is hard. I once had to muck out a stall (that's ONE stall). The woman told me it would take me 10 or 15 minutes. 45 minutes later, I was only a quarter done and I was weeping with frustration. She took pity on me and finished the job so I could get on the road, because I had an eight hour drive ahead of me towing a horse trailer. It's a matter of knowing how and of having developed the correct muscles.Judith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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