John Stossel’s recent program on Atlas Shrugged is available on YouTube. Watch; enjoy; learn. (HT Reuvain Borchardt)
Stossel and Atlas Shrugging
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{ 11 comments }
Ouch! “He made 7 million dollars last year, is that fair?” Would like to see the rest of it and see where that one went! Ha Ha.
The two kids that Stossel gave opportunity to make comments, sad, just plain sad.
Interesting.
Saw this episode live. It was great. John Allison was great. His lecture on the financial crisis was one of the most educational hours of the past year.
Enjoyed the episode.
Was reminded of an Armenian Radio joke.
Q: Is it true that we are the most progressive country in the world?
A: Of course! Life was already better yesterday than it will be tomorrow!!
I'd written to ABC news several times to let them know that their stock rose and fell based upon their treatment of Stossel. They didn't listen — and apparently, I was right.
Before I watch, can anyone tell me if he brought up the idea of Alan Greenspan being John Galt? I've always enjoyed that conspiracy theory even if I didn't necessarily believe it.
Just finished watching it … not surprisingly, Stossel didn't venture into conspiracy theory territory. It would have been perfect though … if Greenspan (a colleague of Rand's and the author of Gold & Economic Freedom) got some mainstream speculation that he held interest rates too low for too long on purpose in order to stop the engine of the world.
Maybe he'll write a letter to be published posthumously.
The panel failed to explain the nature of Rand's selfishness with respect to some of the objections mentioned on the show. If one studies my namesake, Bernard Mandeville, specifically his “Fable of the Bees”, it is fully explained that all human action is selfish–every thought and action! In fact, altruism and all charity are selfish in that they make the actor fell good about himself and how he is regarded by others. This was a significant “premise” of the Austrian school of economics, especially Mises.
Selfishness (pride) manifests itself in action based upon what the actor values, what audience he seeks respect or adulation from, etc. It all boils down to Hobbes's point about human nature that man's actions are based upon his need for human (social) recognition, and if the actions are base or whther they are considered altruistic is merely the result of a man's valuations at the moment of action.
Man's most selfish need is to be loved or respected in some fashion. Kindness toward others achives this. Thus, our selfishness goes full circle. In order to get recognition, we must recognize others along the way.
I wouldn't say that the panel failed on that point. I remember one responder pointing out that Rand emphasized rational self interest, not selfishness. Selfishness, by the way, is a propaganda word. It is used by the truly selfish (i.e., the exploiters of human beings) to define those they wish to exploit who commit the sin of expressing a desire to not be exploited.
I was told by someone that I could get the gist of her philosophy by reading her book called Anthem, do you guys think that's accurate? I'm going to try reading it anyway because it's significantly shorter.
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I was told by someone that I could get the gist of her philosophy by reading her book called Anthem, do you guys think that's accurate? I'm going to try reading it anyway because it's significantly shorter.
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