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Knightskye
06-09-2009, 04:53 AM
http://www.playboy.com/articles/ayn-rand-playboy-interview/index.html

There was a link on Twitter from the Ayn Rand Center to an article, and they had the "tags" for articles on the side, and "Atlas Shrugged" was in big letters, so I clicked it. This was one of the articles.

Various topics.

Tyrants:

PLAYBOY: Weren't Hitler and Stalin, to name two tyrants, in control of their own lives, and didn't they have a clear purpose?
RAND: Certainly not. Observe that both of them ended as literal psychotics. They were men who lacked self-esteem and, therefore, hated all of existence. Their psychology, in effect, is summarized in Atlas Shrugged by the character of James Taggart. The man who has no purpose, but has to act, acts to destroy others. That is not the same thing as a productive or creative purpose.

Sex:

I would say that a selective and discriminate sex life is not an indulgence. The term indulgence implies that it is an action taken lightly and casually. I say that sex is one of the most important aspects of man's life and, therefore, must never be approached lightly or casually. A sexual relationship is proper only on the ground of the highest values one can find in a human being. Sex must not be anything other than a response to values. And that is why I consider promiscuity immoral. Not because sex is evil, but because sex is too good and too important.

On objectivism being "black and white":

PLAYBOY: In Atlas Shrugged you wrote, "There are two sides to every issue. One side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil." Isn't this a rather black-and-white set of values?
RAND: It most certainly is. I most emphatically advocate a black-and-white view of the world. Let us define this. What is meant by the expression "black and white"? It means good and evil. Before you can identify anything as gray, as middle of the road, you have to know what is black and what is white, because gray is merely a mixture of the two. And when you have established that one alternative is good and the other is evil, there is no justification for the choice of a mixture. There is no justification ever for choosing any part of what you know to be evil.

PLAYBOY: Then you believe in absolutes?
RAND: I do.

On Christianity and religion in general:

Now you want me to speak about the cross. What is correct is that I do regard the cross as the symbol of the sacrifice of the ideal to the nonideal. Isn't that what it does mean? Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the nonideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the non-ideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used. That is torture.

On Richard Nixon:

PLAYBOY: How about Richard Nixon?
RAND: I'm opposed to him. I'm opposed to any compromiser or me-tooer, and Mr. Nixon is probably the champion in this regard.

This is a good one. On "Conservatives":

I never describe my position in terms of negatives. I am an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, of individual rights—there are no others—of individual freedom. It is on this ground that I oppose any doctrine which proposes the sacrifice of the individual to the collective, such as communism, socialism, the welfare state, fascism, Nazism and modern liberalism. I oppose the conservatives on the same ground. The conservatives are advocates of a mixed economy and of a welfare state. Their difference from the liberals is only one of degree, not of principle.

:D

I'm not done reading it yet, but it is very interesting. ;)

Objectivist
06-09-2009, 05:07 AM
Yep. Do you have the date on this? I bet I have the issue.

sevin
06-09-2009, 06:49 AM
I've read this, it's awesome. Her interviews and articles are often more interesting and easy easier to understand than her fiction.

LibertyEagle
06-09-2009, 07:03 AM
"That's one thing about freedom; you have to tolerate the nonsense too." - Ron Paul
Indeed.

Natalie
06-09-2009, 07:21 AM
Lol, LibertyEagle ;)

heavenlyboy34
06-09-2009, 08:12 AM
"That's one thing about freedom; you have to tolerate the nonsense too." - Ron Paul Indeed.

+a bunch. :)

Knightskye
06-09-2009, 01:33 PM
Yep. Do you have the date on this? I bet I have the issue.

Says March, 1964 on the page.

Maybe people do actually read Playboy for the articles. :D


Indeed.

Come on now. :P State specific "nonsense".

and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation

torchbearer
06-09-2009, 01:40 PM
I liked her view of the cross.
Maybe that is what never made sense about the whole story.
And then you have to ask- was it even really a sacrifice when by his death he ascended to the right hand of his father.
He didn't die- he transcended.

But Ayn's points do make sense.

Original_Intent
06-09-2009, 02:26 PM
Lol, I don't dare hit the link from work, they will think I am surfing porn. But the quoted selections look good, I will have to check out the entire article when i get home.

Matt Collins
06-09-2009, 02:26 PM
What is funny is the title of this thread says "Ayn Rand in Playboy - but there are no photos" ha ha ha ha.

sevin
06-09-2009, 04:18 PM
What is funny is the title of this thread says "Ayn Rand in Playboy - but there are no photos" ha ha ha ha.

And thank God for that! ugh

Knightskye
06-10-2009, 06:38 AM
I'd still like to know what's nonsensical.


What is funny is the title of this thread says "Ayn Rand in Playboy - but there are no photos" ha ha ha ha.

I wanted to make sure people knew it was just an interview. :P

Matt Collins
06-11-2009, 12:05 PM
And thank God for that! ugh

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/ayn_rand_4.jpg
http://dimpost.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/ayn_rand1.jpg
http://static.open.salon.com/files/rand3.gif
http://heritageamerican.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/ayn-rand.jpg
http://raahi.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/aynrand2.jpg

Knightskye
06-11-2009, 12:19 PM
[QUOTE=Matt Collins;2162360][CENTER]http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/ayn_rand_4.jpg

This one's actually pretty good.

RevolutionSD
06-11-2009, 04:07 PM
http://www.playboy.com/articles/ayn-rand-playboy-interview/index.html

There was a link on Twitter from the Ayn Rand Center to an article, and they had the "tags" for articles on the side, and "Atlas Shrugged" was in big letters, so I clicked it. This was one of the articles.

Various topics.

Tyrants:


Sex:


On objectivism being "black and white":


On Christianity and religion in general:


On Richard Nixon:


This is a good one. On "Conservatives":


:D

I'm not done reading it yet, but it is very interesting. ;)

GREAT stuff, thanks for posting!

Knightskye
06-11-2009, 05:59 PM
GREAT stuff, thanks for posting!

:)

I think more people would view her and the philosophy favorably if they actually read what she wrote.