Comments on this quote from "How does one lead a rational life in an irrational society?"

[Mike Hardy]

Meanwhile, re her eyes...

Recently, at a restaurant which is one of the four local restaurants where I sometimes have dinner by myself on evenings when Larry is teaching late, there was a waitress...

She was new; I hadn't seen her before. Her facial structure was similar to AR's. And her eyes... large eyes, ones that caught light from any angle; disproportionately large irises, dark brown in color.

I found myself as if "mesmerized," feeling almost compelled to look into those dark "pools," as it were. I remembered those occasions -- three -- when, talking with AR, I looked directly into those eyes of hers.

So here I am on my monthly visit to Objectivist Living and I see this, and what I think of is that a while back someone posted a link here to a youtube video of Mike Wallace's interview with Ayn Rand in about 1960. Someone who commented on that youtube page mentioned that AR never blinked in the 10 minutes or so of the interview. And I think that was correct. -- Mike Hardy

[Ellen Stuttle]

So here I am on my monthly visit to Objectivist Living and I see this, and what I think of is that a while back someone posted a link here to a youtube video of Mike Wallace's interview with Ayn Rand in about 1960. Someone who commented on that youtube page mentioned that AR never blinked in the 10 minutes or so of the interview. And I think that was correct. -- Mike Hardy

It's impossible for someone never to blink in 10 minutes -- in much shorter than in 10 minutes. One minute would be pushing the limit, just rough estimating from having deliberately tried not to blink on several occasions.

Also, I think what you're referring to is Dragonfly's post wherein he said that he found her eyes "shifty." See. He also described her as making "a rather shifty and uncertain impression" in an earlier post. See.

I understand what he's talking about in the visual appearance, though I think that the appearance is misleading as to how she usually came across. I think it was her first TV appearance, and she might have been distracted by the background activity, plus that the strong lighting might have picked up glints from the large corneas, producing a "shifty" appearance as a "trick of the light."

E-

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[Brant Gaede]

That shifty-eyed TV appearance by Ayn Rand was atypical of her.

--Brant

[Mike Hardy]

It's impossible for someone never to blink in 10 minutes -- in much shorter than in 10 minutes. One minute would be pushing the limit, just rough estimating from having deliberately tried not to blink on several occasions.

OK, here's the youtube video. It was 1959.

I could easily be wrong. (Sometimes.) -- Mike Hardy

[Brant Gaede]

It's impossible for someone never to blink in 10 minutes -- in much shorter than in 10 minutes. One minute would be pushing the limit, just rough estimating from having deliberately tried not to blink on several occasions.

OK, here's the youtube video. It was 1959.

I could easily be wrong. (Sometimes.) -- Mike Hardy

I saw a few blinks. I couldn't figure out why her eyes went back and forth like that.

--Brant

[Wolf DeVoon]

It's impossible for someone never to blink in 10 minutes -- in much shorter than in 10 minutes. One minute would be pushing the limit, just rough estimating from having deliberately tried not to blink on several occasions.

OK, here's the youtube video. It was 1959.

I could easily be wrong. (Sometimes.) -- Mike Hardy

I saw a few blinks. I couldn't figure out why her eyes went back and forth like that.

--Brant

I think she was frightened. That's what it looked like to me anyway.

W.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The prominent unblinking eyes could have had a physical cause since this was not present in Rand's later recorded interviews. Here is a description of Graves disease (a thyroid condition) from ADAM Health Encyclopedia: Eyes - bulging:

Hyperthyroidism (particularly Graves disease) is probably the most common cause of bulging eyes. With this condition, the eyes don't blink very often and seem to have a staring quality.

This is speculation, but it's the same symptoms.

Here is a photo of the eyes of a lady with Graves disease from the same article:

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

Michael, very interesting. But that'a only because of my medical background. Wolf, I don't think she's frightened, which would be stage fright. There's no stress in the voice. I wonder if she looked away to catch a thought.

--Brant

[Alfonso Jones]

It's impossible for someone never to blink in 10 minutes -- in much shorter than in 10 minutes. One minute would be pushing the limit, just rough estimating from having deliberately tried not to blink on several occasions.

OK, here's the youtube video. It was 1959.

I could easily be wrong. (Sometimes.) -- Mike Hardy

I saw a few blinks. I couldn't figure out why her eyes went back and forth like that.

--Brant

Try appearing in such an environment. It's very distracting - people offstage (but often within your field of vision, perhaps the audience being visible to you depending on the lighting arrangements, etc...

It look nice and intimate to us on TV, but to the one being interviewed there is an interviewer, multiple cameras, handlers offstage, people with cuecards or teleprompters - lots of activity.

That being said - I don't know the particular arrangements for this interview.

Bill P (Alfonso)