Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[AlabamAlum]

I read the book.

[sardis]

Gone With the Wind was on TCM last night, in all it's 4 hour glory. It gets better and better with each viewing...

There is no way a human today can sit through 4 hours of that.

Why do you lie?

[innocentbystander]

I read the book.

So did this mouth breathing moron.

I think that they could have done something nice with the movie but they had to really alter the premise away from railroads and steel. I think (to make a more fitting 21st century Atlas Shrugged) Dagney Taggart needed to be CEO of a large worldwide airline, a huge Dot.Com like Amazon or Google, or maybe even an investment bank like Leehman Brothers, that kind of thing. Then add the current problems this industries have seen and maybe it would have made more sense to the public.

[hedge]

Serious question: Who is John Galt? I've heard the name, but nothing else...

[hedge]

I read The Fountainhead, after which I vowed to never read anything else by Ann (sic) Rand. It's a vow I have gladly kept...

[innocentbystander]

Serious question: Who is John Galt? I've heard the name, but nothing else...

Technically, he was a character in Atlas Shrugged. But he is more of a concept than anything else.

In the book he worked at a automotive plant. He was a line worker. He got pissed at the company because they decided to communize the compensation at the plant (all the people with the greatest financial needs were paid more, those men and women who were single with the least needs would be paid the least.) Merit was not a factor. So he walked off the job and he vowed to "shut down the engine of the world."

Throughout the book John Galt met privately with all the biggest world executives, the Jeff Imelts, the Bill Gates, the Warren Buffets, the Koch Brothers, etc. These guys were all pissed off at all the regulations and taxes they were paying. They didn't feel like they were appreciated, that government simply took their effort for granted. So John Galt convinced them all to simply walk away from their billions and leave their companies to fend for themselves without their leadership (which of course ended the companies.) They all went with him to Colorado and started businesses in their own private little world, f-ck everyone else. John Galt bult the Colorado power plant with his invention to draw the infinate amount of static electricity from the planet.

Basically, the whole world shut down into total ruin because the brightest minds in the world who drove all the resources and achievements disappeared.

Originally, Ayn Rand wanted to title the book "The Strike" because that is exactly what it was, a management strike, an owner's strike. But that wasn't cute enough for her. So she thought of Atlas holding the whole planet earth on his back and basically said, it Atlas was unappreciated, taken for granted for holding up the earth, she would tell him to "shrug."

[Jungle Rat]

Shut up

[innocentbystander]

I read The Fountainhead, after which I vowed to never read anything else by Ann (sic) Rand. It's a vow I have gladly kept...

She was on Phil Donahue's show and admitted to an audience who gasped at the following remark: "The most beautiful thing in the world is a skyscraper." That was mostly the premise of the Fountainhead.

[hedge]

Sounds like a somewhat interesting plot for a comic book (single issue, not series). I imagine that's the core audience for that sort of thing, although I understand that a few men of otherwise high intellectual credentials have also found it interesting...

[Jungle Rat]

I read The Fountainhead, after which I vowed to never read anything else by Ann (sic) Rand. It's a vow I have gladly kept...

She was on Phil Donahue's show and admitted to an audience who gasped at the following remark: "The most beautiful thing in the world is a skyscraper." That was mostly the premise of the Fountainhead.

The Phil Donahue Show? Jesus man, I was like 6 years old when his show was on. You're lucky I can't punch you in the face right now for being a Douchebag.

[innocentbystander]

She was on Phil Donahue's show and admitted to an audience who gasped at the following remark: "The most beautiful thing in the world is a skyscraper." That was mostly the premise of the Fountainhead.

The Phil Donahue Show? Jesus man, I was like 6 years old when his show was on. You're lucky I can't punch you in the face right now for being a Douchebag.

I think I even remember the year they filmed it, it was like 1980. The second OPEC oil crisis was going on and we didn't have Reagan yet to fix all the problems. I remember everyone kept asking her what we should do about the middle east and oil prices and Ayn kept saying over-and-over that the Saudis owed the US and Britian everything for showing them HOW to go about getting the oil out of the ground. If it were not for the US, they would all still be eating sand, so the US has every right to demand the oil cheaper. It was classic, the audience couldn't even believe what they were hearing. Then Ayn went on record saying that she would never-ever vote for a woman to be President of the US because any woman who would want the job to order men to their deaths (as the Commander in Chief) is a woman who is terrible person, only a man should ever want that kind of job. Every woman in the audience gasped at Ayn's frank honesty.

[Jungle Rat]

Still doesn't stop me for wanting to punch you in the face.

[innocentbystander]

Still doesn't stop me for wanting to punch you in the face.

Wanting is okay. It is even reasonable and understandable. You can want to do something all you want. But sometimes taking action on those wants can lead you down a terrible path and release a horrible chain of events.

[Jungle Rat]

You gonna give me Aids?

[innocentbystander]

You gonna give me Aids?

I thought you already had it?

[Jungle Rat]

That would mean your wife has it too.

[innocentbystander]

That would mean your wife has it too.

So you are the one who gave it to her....

[Jungle Rat]

Maybe. There was a long line behind me.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Speaking of Ayn Rand...

[hedge]

[youtube]M7c-Ei7btbI[/youtube]