Rand's view re: blind followers

[CNA]

I found this quote today by Rand and I found it interesting. I think if Rand saw what was happening with the "blind followers" in O'ism she would roll in her grave and would condemn them. I think she would be upset and disappointed at some of the things going on in O'ism today. I figured I would post it so everyone can take a look at it. The blind followers is also what this site rejects compared to a lot of what I've seen on other sites and it is whole heartedly what I personally reject as well as most on here know.

The quote is as follows:

"In response to an admirer who offered her cult-like allegiance, Rand wrote:

My philosophy advocates reason, not faith; it requires men to think – to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction – to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof. A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult."

[Kat]

"My philosophy advocates reason, not faith; it requires men to think – to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction – to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof. A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult."

Thanks for that wonderful quote, Angie. Do you remember where it was from?

It seems such a contradiction that people would follow it blindly at all. Creating a cult of personality or requiring people to make some type of leap of faith is counter to a philosophy of reason and individualism. Philosophy is a tool for living. It gives guidance and insight, not rules and dogma.

Kat

[CNA]

Hi, Kat.

The quote is from Wikipedia. I was browsing through looking for a few specific things and ran across it. There was another quote I found interesting and I agree with it. This one comes from Neil Peart talking about Rand. He explains it wonderfully that you can find answers to "pretty well everything" about yourself personally. I so agree that the only person that can give you answers is yourself as to why you do what you do. I've been doing this for the past 17 years or so by asking myself question after question and always answering those questions as to Why I was doing What I was doing, etc. And for me, this is where it is at and how I came to the same beliefs and "saw" way more than what I was expecting. But here is Neil's quote also from Wikipedia.

"If you take her ideas, then take them farther in your own mind, you can find answers to pretty well everything on an individual basis."

[JennaW]

"If you take her ideas, then take them farther in your own mind, you can find answers to pretty well everything on an individual basis."

If you take anyone's good ideas-- and further them on your own, then answers are pretty easy to find! This quote is so true from personal experience-- and I'm loving being able to think through to answers to everything, even if I disagree with every major thinker out there (which I do, and gives me the pleasure of being an individual).

[Victor Pross]

"My philosophy advocates reason, not faith; it requires men to think – to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction – to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof. A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult."

This is from the book "The Letters of Ayn Rand". Rand is answering a question put to her by a fan who wrote her. I like this quote, too.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Victor Pross

[Mikee]

"My philosophy advocates reason, not faith; it requires men to think – to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction – to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof. A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult."

Great quote Angie. Thanks for finding it and posting it.

"..to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction – to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof."

That works for me.

[Victor Pross]

Too many “intellectuals” are locked up in a toffee-nosed Ivory Tower detached from the “imperialism of reality” to the point where they would stand their ground during a stampede of woolly mammoths because they’re theoretically instinct.

[Charles R. Anderson]

Theoretically extinct? Or do you mean maybe instinctive, which does seem to have much appeal on many campuses? Or maybe the culture and the perspective of woolly mammoths is as good as anybody else's in those dim academic minds? Or maybe the woolly mammoth is due payback for the past sins of man in oppressing woolly mammoths? Yea, those academic intellectuals should stand frozen in the face of the woolly mammoth stampede. In fact the governments should put out RFPs open only to minority woolly mammoths and shunt the bulk of academic research funding to the woolly mammoths.

[jack9f]

"Or maybe the woolly mammoth is due payback for the past sins of man in oppressing woolly mammoths?"

That made me chuckle!

[Charles R. Anderson]

Thanks Ivan. I hope it gave Victor a chuckle also. I was just funning with him and playing with the idea he started with.

[Victor Pross]

Thanks Ivan. I hope it gave Victor a chuckle also. I was just funning with him and playing with the idea he started with.

LOL. Yeah, I was making fun not of 'the new intellectual' --but rather: the new rationalist intellectual.