What is everyone reading

MFn G I M P

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.

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Person who hates CFB:There are few things more annoying than a college football fans arguing over which conference is better. Guess what, you're all basically subsidizing massive corruption at your schools.


Tennessee student:If we beat Alabama I don't care if our wins are powered by ground-up fetuses and Bibles.

NoLimitMD

So true, it's like the writers of manuals have no idea how to get it right. There's either the "phone book" style, or the Ikea style, that refuse to use words OR clear diagrams.

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"I'm busy." The Hat

mcmikel

It's one of my favorite books, even though it's a Fascist primer. "Atlas Shugged" is also great reading, again the poltics are obnoxious.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

mcmikel

"Wolves Eat Dogs" by Martin Cruz Smith (Renko is one of my favorite characters)
"The Bomber War" by Robin Neillands (I think Germany got of light in World War II)
"Cognative Coaching and Renaussance Schools" by Costa and Garmston
(yet another grad degree)

plus the LSU media guide.

Ruskies or Nazis and I'll read it, same for a GOOD law mystery.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

Mr. Peabody

Just finished reading "Valhalla Rising" by Clive Cussler. Great read with interesting characters. I was a little shocked while reading it though. The author, Clive Cussler, put hisself in the book in a few small parts. I was taken back by that. I didn't know what to think. I would guess he probably does that in all is books. It must be an ego thing or something. I've never read a book where the author puts hisself in it before. Weird!

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mcmikel

He usually has an envelope in his pocket, too.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

Frogleg

How could you possibly say that it's a fascist primer?

On the contrary, it's a fantastic novel with Objectivism as an underlying theme. Oh, i guess you like the typical modern day novel where people sacrifice for everyone and their brother while neglecting themselves.

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Judo Chop

Frogleg

Below is a definition from Wikipedia of fascism. It appears that you have not a clue what fascism means, or what Rand's philosophical theme was in The Fountainhead. I think you lack understanding of both. (Actually, Fascism and Rand's Objectivism are almost polar opposites)


Definition

The term fascism has come to mean any system of government resembling Mussolini's, that in various combinations:
exalts the nation, (and in some cases the race, culture, or religion) above the individual, with the state apparatus being supreme.
stresses loyalty to a single leader.
uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to forcibly suppress political opposition.
engages in severe economic and social regimentation.

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Judo Chop

Fish19

I'm reading Mountains Beyond Mountains cause we have to as an incomming LSU student. The book doesn't have anything to do with college so I don't get it. I'm just gonna survive it and hope that that's the last book I'll ever have to read ever.

saltyone

As an incoming freshman, I'm afraid you will be very disappointed.

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Fish19

Oh well, I'm afraid that I'm in denial.

JVincent25

I'm on page 27, I can't stand this book.

Fish19

Are you reading it for LSU too?

JVincent25

Yeah, I don't think anyone would read it for pleasure.

SabanFan

Which reminds me of one of my favorite Seinfield scenes:

KRAMER & MICKEY: Rock, paper, scissors match.
MICKEY: All right, rock beats paper!
(Mickey smacks Kramer's hand for losing)
KRAMER: I thought paper covered rock?
MICKEY: Nah, rock flies right through paper.
KRAMER: What beats rock?
MICKEY: (looks at hand) Nothing beats rock.
KRAMER: All right, come on.
KRAMER & MICKEY: Rock, paper, scissors match.
KRAMER: Rock.
MICKEY: Rock.
This pattern then continues for some time.

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"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

HatcherTiger

I am currently reading " HARVEY PENICK'S LITTLE RED BOOK: Lessons and Teachings from a Lifetime of Golf" as I contemplate whether or not to pick up the game.

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... FOREVER LSU ! ( Sometimes I feel, ...
like I been tied to the whipping post, )

Frogleg

Small Stakes Hold 'em --the definitive guide to crushing loose games and amateur opponents....

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Judo Chop

mcmikel

Rather than move along the low road of personal attacks, negative rep points: The Oxford American Dictonary, a book, defines Fascism as, among other entries, any system of right-wing or authoritarian views.

The Fountainhead is a response to Roosevelt and the New Deal. Rand, who's family lost their store and fortune in the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, became an outspoke critic of the FDR economic model. Like many Americans of the 1930, she was favorable to the "reforms" of right-wing dictatorships sprouting up in Europe (remembering Cole Porter's "You're The Top" featured the line "...You're the top! You're Mussolini..." before it was revised at the start of World War II).

The Taggert heroine, opposed to government until it fit her needs, is a prime example of a supporter of a far-right wing government. Rand's lame attempt at correlating the Taggert Rail to the transcontinental railroad built in this country avoids little stunts like federal land grabs throughout the west in order to complete this important transportation link.

Rand's later activites, including her testimony to HUAC in the late '40's , plus her weekly (daily?) syndicated column on reinforce opinion that she was a fascist. She was not a champion of personal liberities, only the freedom to create capital at the expenses of others.

The term "Fascist" is also a victim of the political correctness that is choking the country. Over the past 15 or so years, any one of conservative views are tagged with this label. Historical supporters of the true term are/were of extreme wealth, power that had been lost to democratic changes. Again, do not interpert this as "communism is democracy". Rand's family was not considered to be a humane employer, but more of the Ebenezer Scrooge ilk, lacking in sympathy for their workers. This new PC is in large part due to talk radio that polarizes divergent views to a point the left and right would rather see Bin Laden in the White House than a Democrat or a Republican they oppose, losing track that we are all Americans.

When failed a sports public relations worker, or a caustic comdey writer can mold the opinions of millions of citizens via the air waves, or rich foreign-born media moguls who become citizens only enhance their wealth through loop-holes in laws regarding media ownership and then pass their views as fact, or a liberally trained news department slants news stories without checking facts, all America loses because the concept of critical thought and true debate with a workable consensus resolve is gone and the American democracy is weakened.

Of course, I could be wrong, my degrees are from LSU and were formed from research in a library funded by unknown sources, taught by teachers of unknown agendas in an campus environment that was definitely not Harvard or Berkeley. I took a course in grad school taught by Dr. Hilton on historical politcal literature in the US during World War II. The Fountainhead was the featured book in the course. It is a tremendous book, well written, but the politics are, as I stated, obnoxious.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

martin

rand is the opposite of an authoritarian, she is virtually an anarcho-capitalist. i'm not saying that anarcho-capitalism is good, just that you dont have any idea what you are talking about.

i suspect you read this somewhere and havent actually read or heard this testimony.

yes, and you are, you dont know what you are talking about. you are right in that rand is a freak and has some wild ideas. but she is the exact opposite of a fascist. she is in favor of personal liberties so much that if her ideas where really put into pracitce in might lead to complete chaos due to too many personal freedoms. that is the opposite of fascism. you could not be more terribly wrong.

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thanks for reading.

mcmikel

At the power end of fascism, personal liberties are carte blanche to those in power, Rand and her heros/heroines.

Look into the social structure of fascism, it might be educational.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

martin

you will have to explain yourself a little better than that.

when i use the term "personal liberties" it doesnt mean "personal liberties for the fascist dictator". you have a child's understanding of this topic. the thing rand is most opposed to is people or collections of people having power over others. thats why she is maybe the biggest critic of authoritarian (communist and fascist) regimes in the history of the world.

hey, i see you took a course on politics. great. for all you know, i majored in politcal theory. just stick to telling me how i am wrong and we will not play a game of arguing who needs an education.

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thanks for reading.

mcmikel

Martin Dies and my grandmother were school friends that fell out over union activites in east Texas during the depression. Congressman Dies was a frequent subject a family politcal battles.

But being a polysyllabic Pacifica radio sound-byte, you knew this.

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The Good Lord Doesn't Look Kindly On The Aggies

martin

i didnt ask about your grandma. i am asking you if you have heard or read the testimony. have you? or did someone tell you she said fascist things?

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thanks for reading.

martin

here is a link to her testimony:

http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/texts/huac.html

if you would, point out how it would "reinforce opinion that she was a fascist".

good luck.

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thanks for reading.

Frogleg

You name "The Fountainhead" yet mention "The taggert heroine", which is from the book "Atlas Shrugged" It appears that you are confused on many things.

Rand's basic purpose in "The Fountainhead" was to present the ideal man, which was Howard Roark, according the her Objectivist Philosophy. By and large the book is a vechile to present her philosophy.

Here is the core of her philosophy, that you repeatedly call "obnoxious." Please explain exactly which part you find "obnoxious." I'll be waiting with the keenest anticipation. Of course, you're free to ramble on you're blurry tangents again.

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." —Ayn Rand

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Judo Chop