Yaron Answers: Obama's Ayn Rand Comments

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ม.ค. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 324

  • @krissyramsey3934
    @krissyramsey3934 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    Interesting! Just now stumbled on this, here in 2021 during the collapse of civilization. All I can say us, I'm the same age as Obama, and Rand was definitely a fundamental influence on my life. Good work, Peter. Keep up the great work! Ayn's wisdom is needed now more than ever.

  • @victorriceroni8455
    @victorriceroni8455 3 ปีที่แล้ว +74

    I have yet to hear a person who disagrees with Ayn Rand do so without misinterpreting what her ideas were.

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      This sounds exactly like what people say about those who disagree with Karl Marx. Mybe her (and his) supporters are misinterpreting

    • @swoorupjoshi4638
      @swoorupjoshi4638 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@andrewpenfold7777 lol. because it never works.

    • @looper2586
      @looper2586 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      ​@@andrewpenfold7777 Well, you have to make your own judgment and not stop at similarities that you could find which could be misleading. I am new into this Ayn Rand thing but Nietzsche led me here as well as a course in miracles and many other things. So far my mind is still trying to understand what she says and whether or not there are arguments that can be opposed to what she says, or loopholes in her own reasoning that have real philosophical answers. To adovate selfishness is very counter-intuitive to say the least, exactly like what Adam Smith spoke about, but at least it raises the fundamental question of the relationship between the individual and the group, the group being the family/parents/couple, the business, the state, the country. It is true that our lives are defined by how we define our relationship with the group. Just for that aspect I can only be grateful to Ayn for bringing this critical subject to my attention. The thinking of course is still ours to do.

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@looper2586 I don't stop at those similarities but the tendency to defend someone based on the assumption that anyone criticizing them is misrepresenting them is something we need to point out. Read the virtue of selfishness and come up with your own opinion. I read it a long time ago and was unimpressed. You may find that you agree with it. The basic problem that I have with Rand is her tendency to do all her arguing against straw men. In her books, she creates these extreme caricatures of the ideas she opposes in order to build her philosophy. Where she is right, and she often is, she is not controversial, and very few would argue against her. But where she is controversial she is just plain wrong. The other thing to do is to listen to a few interviews with her where some of the inconsistencies come out a bit more clearly. There is a good one on freedom of the press. Probably the biggest inconsistency I find with her, is that she is big on freedom and individuality but not big on diversity, which is the hallmark of real freedom. Being free to do what Ayn Rand wants you to do is not freedom. Her views on people who think differently or have a different background or sexual orientation to her own is not one of celebration of the individual.

    • @ericridenour322
      @ericridenour322 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I highly doubt that. You just refuse to see it.

  • @fairfaxblaster7703
    @fairfaxblaster7703 6 ปีที่แล้ว +38

    I strongly suspect VERY FEW, probably ZERO politicians have STUDIED Ayn Rand's NON FICTION work, which is what MATTERS.

    • @sspbrazil
      @sspbrazil 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Plenty of valid criticism about her non-fiction work including the best criticism by Christopher Hitchens.
      “I care very much about literature as the place where real ethical dilemmas are met and dealt with, so to have novels as transcendently awful as ‘Atlas Shrugged’ and ‘The Fountainhead’ sort of undermines my project. I don’t think there is any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings, I don’t know what your impression has been, but somethings require no reinforcement.”
      “I have always found it quaint and touching that there is a movement in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”

    • @cyberedge881
      @cyberedge881 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @ssp
      You're doing exactly what Yaron is talking about. You're beating the hell out of that straw man, but your negative mischaracterization is not at all what individualist ethics is about.

    • @sspbrazil
      @sspbrazil 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@cyberedge881 bullshit, there is no straw man in Hitchen’s criticisms. It’s the truth.

    • @fazbell
      @fazbell 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@eirikmatias I could never read any of her fiction. It was as fucked up as her thinking. This is what happens when schizophrenics write novels and philosophical treatises.

    • @mikeb5372
      @mikeb5372 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@sspbrazil I'm curious if you have studied both Ayn Rand's works and Hitchen's works thoroughly?

  • @jtkoolj
    @jtkoolj ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks!

  • @georgiegingersnap8129
    @georgiegingersnap8129 8 ปีที่แล้ว +51

    Rand was the most important thinker in history. If we, her intellectual heirs, can pull it off, we may be able to use her ideas to save Western Culture.

    • @jorgecarrasco4206
      @jorgecarrasco4206 7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Georgie Gingersnap don't go that far So to hold that Rand was the most important thinker..and this is coming from.someone who deeply admires Rand and has read all of her works..Locke Adam Smith just to name two people were way more influential and relevant and also very profound

    • @MrJoeybabe25
      @MrJoeybabe25 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Indeed, though she is one of the most important thinkers of the 20th Century.

    • @geezzerboy
      @geezzerboy 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      That's the most hilarious thing I've heard in weeks. Rand was an idiot, obvious to any non-idiots.

    • @AndyTomlins
      @AndyTomlins 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Rand was a moron that the self obsessed get into when they are teenagers and grow out of.

    • @mjonausk
      @mjonausk 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Her ideas are great. Her biggest mistake was using the world 'Selfishness'. Its a bad sell.

  • @brookswoodward7278
    @brookswoodward7278 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    We are not ants ment to sacrifice ourselves for the colony. Ayn Rand understood this.

    • @lookbovine
      @lookbovine 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Woah, she knows people are not ants?! She must be a visionary.

    • @brookswoodward7278
      @brookswoodward7278 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@lookbovine lol

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@lookbovine Yeah she is. It's incredible people still don't understand that we are not ants neither ghosts. It's pretty astounding when you think about. Most people doesn't accept something so obvious

    • @cyberedge881
      @cyberedge881 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @lookbovine
      Well, it sure seems to be a difficult concept for lefties such as yourself. So, yeah, it's kind of necessary now to point it out.

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Swaaaat1 this is a classic straw man argument. If people actually thought we were ants sacrificing ourselves for the other ants, there might be a point to it. But nobody does. Unfortunately there are still many, mostly on the right, who, while they don't believe in sacrificing themselves are more than happy to sacrifice others for their own political purposes.

  • @Weirdomanification
    @Weirdomanification ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Yes, I should stand for my interests. This is why I don't support us flirting with Armageddon over UK ra ine.

  • @phoebelee55
    @phoebelee55 4 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I just found Ayn Rand a few years ago and I’m 47 now... I sure wish I found her in my teens, this women is exactly how I have lived my life and My life has been a good one.. Ayn Rand is a true legend and inspiration

  • @garymcaleer6112
    @garymcaleer6112 7 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    The words of Yaron are prophetic to our day in 2018.

  • @trucid2
    @trucid2 12 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    Just what is it about Ayn Rand that makes the media vilify her? Why is it that it seems "cool" these days among younger people to hate her and dismiss her writings without addressing them? It seems all Obama does is parrot the views of his younger supporters.

    • @00billharris
      @00billharris 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Among the brighter teens, the word gets around that Rand is for the stupid--therefore, un-cool for those learning how to think.

    • @lookbovine
      @lookbovine 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      She’s was a bad philosopher yet still tried to write philosophy rather than just fiction.

    • @davidhunt7427
      @davidhunt7427 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      *_If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose -- because it contains all the distinctions of the others -- the fact that they were the people who created the phrase 'to make money'. No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity -- to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words 'to make money' hold the essence of human morality._*
      ~ Ayn Rand, _Atlas Shrugged_

      *_Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_I am not brave enough to be a coward," she said. "I see the consequences too clearly._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_The man who produces while others dispose of his product is a slave._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_If a businessman makes a mistake, he suffers the consequences. If a bureaucrat makes a mistake, you suffer the consequences._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_We are fast approaching the stage of ultimate inversion: the stage where government is free to do as it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see. Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well-being is not their goal._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind, and a step that travels unlimited roads._*
      *_Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all._*
      *_Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach._*
      *_The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_The government was set to protect man from criminals -- and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people's savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by fiscal policies of statist governments._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping it's hands off._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_When you see that trading is done, not by consent, by by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the treat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance - and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve it's problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_I feel this country is being destroyed by it's philosophy. Specifically, by it universities. The most dangerous thing in this country today are the universities, because of teaching the kind of ideas that would necessarily have to lead to the destruction of this country._*
      ~ Ayn Rand

      *_Do you know the hallmark of a second rater? It's resentment of another man's achievements. Those touchy mediocrities who sit trembling lest someone's work prove greater than their own - they have no inkling of the loneliness that comes when you reach the top. The loneliness for an equal - for a mind to respect and an achievement to admire. They bar their teeth at you from out their rat holes, thinking that you take pleasure in letting your brilliance dim them - while you would give a year of life to see a flicker of talent anywhere among them._*

      *_They envy achievement, and their dream of greatness is a world where all men have become their acknowledged inferiors. They don't know that that dream is the infallible proof of mediocrity, because that sort of world is what the man of achievement would not be able to bear. They have no way of knowing what he feels when surrounded by inferiors - hatred? No, not hatred, but boredom - the terrible, hopeless, draining, paralyzing boredom. Of what account are praise and adulation from men who you don't respect?_*
      ~ Ayn Rand, _Atlas Shrugged_

      *_Envy is the only name she could find for the monstrous thing she faced, but it was much worse than envy; it was the profound hatred of life, of success and of all human values, felt by a certain kind of mediocrity... the kind who feels pleasure on hearing about a stranger's misfortune. It was hatred of the good for being the good... hatred of ability, of beauty, of honesty, of earnestness, of achievement and, above all, of human joy._*
      ~ Ayn Rand, _Atlas Shrugged_

      *_He thought of all the living species that train their young in the art of survival, the cats who teach their kittens to hunt, the birds who spend such strident effort on teaching their fledglings to fly - yet man, whose tool of survival is the mind, does not merely fail to teach a child to think, but devotes the child’s education to the purpose of destroying his brain, of convincing him that thought is futile and evil, before he has started to think._*

      *_From the first catch-phrases flung at a child to the last, it is like a series of shocks to freeze his motor, to undercut the power of his consciousness. “Don’t ask so many questions, children should be seen and not heard!” - “Who are you to think? It’s so, because I say so!” - “Don’t argue, obey!” - “Don’t try to understand, believe!” - “Don’t struggle, compromise!” - “Your heart is more important than your mind!” - “Who are you to know? Your parents know best!” - “Who are you to know? The bureaucrats know best!” - “Who are you to object? All values are relative!” - “Who are you to want to escape a thug’s bullet? That’s only a personal prejudice!_*

      *_Men would shudder, he thought, if they saw a mother bird plucking the feathers from the wings of her young, then pushing him out of the nest to struggle for survival - yet that was what they did to their children._*
      ~ Ayn Rand, _Atlas Shrugged_

    • @trucid2
      @trucid2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@davidhunt7427 Essebtially that is the left vs right divide today: The producers vs the parasites.

    • @thegeneralist7527
      @thegeneralist7527 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      "Hatred of the good for being the good, is the hallmark of the twentieth century. This is the enemy you are facing."

  • @macsnafu
    @macsnafu ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Usually, you can tell by their comments whether or not someone has actually read Rand. You're giving them the benefit of a doubt by suggesting they've read it but merely misunderstood it.

  • @MarcSmith23
    @MarcSmith23 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I have an alternate perspective about Obama’s statements towards Ayn Rand. Group think equates to severe emotional immaturity. Individualism equates to extreme emotional maturity. The political spectrum goes from the Left where the emotionally immature cluster and maturity increases the further towards the Right. Obama’s comfort with group politics means he is severely emotionally immature. Perhaps even a pathological narcissist. No emotionally mature person is attracted to group think.

    • @miroslawdobiecki4660
      @miroslawdobiecki4660 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I think that’s a great description but there is also a place for immaturity and narcissism on the extreme right as well. Unfortunately at the moment the Left have monopolised this immaturity.

    • @MarcSmith23
      @MarcSmith23 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@miroslawdobiecki4660 I can refine that; pathological narcissists will go anywhere and do anything to any length to obtain outside significance, even if it means infiltrating the more emotionally mature Right. However it’s a much harder row to hoe as there is much more resistance to blind obsequiousness. The more ‘talented’ ones can still find a home.

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Really, extremism is more likely to be a sign of emotional immaturity, from whatever side

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That seems like a pretty group think thing to say. No nuance in this slightly immature view. A more mature view is to understand the limitations and contradictions of both the left and right

    • @maryahhaidery7986
      @maryahhaidery7986 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Rand’s comfort with group politics like hanging out with the collective (whose members were mostly students and people much younger than her) points to someone who is emotionally immature…maybe even a pathological narcissist. No emotionally mature person is attracted to groupthink. You nailed that right on the head there Sparky!

  • @jhljhl6964
    @jhljhl6964 4 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I've read several books by Ayn Rand and liked them all .

  • @cafeta
    @cafeta 7 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

    • @cecilmorgan5084
      @cecilmorgan5084 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Cafeta I like that. And very true.

    • @davidhunt7427
      @davidhunt7427 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The quote is from Eleanor Roosevelt.

  • @markcredit6086
    @markcredit6086 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    It is laughable that Barry could even form an opinion on her she is so far beyond that boy it's embarrassing

  • @johnobryan6154
    @johnobryan6154 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I started reading Ayn Rand when i was 18, I'm 64 now, and I'm still reading Ayn Rand.

    • @lookbovine
      @lookbovine 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You must read really slow. Hehe.

    • @johnobryan6154
      @johnobryan6154 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@lookbovine There are a few of her books i reread.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@lookbovine jaksjjs. Good one

    • @macsnafu
      @macsnafu ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@johnobryan6154 I was going to say, at your age, you must be re-reading Rand. She didn't that write *that* much overall.

  • @johngalt8862
    @johngalt8862 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You have to remember what Rand has lived through to understand her views.. She was definitely anti socialist/anti Marxist!!

  • @philosophy2087
    @philosophy2087 12 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    I'm very surprised that even President Obama has addressed the topic of Ayn Rand. It's an excellent sign that Rand is becoming more and more relevant in the culture. I just hope that with her relevance comes understanding of her philosophy.
    Great video! Thanks Yaron and ARI!

    • @evankulak5468
      @evankulak5468 ปีที่แล้ว

      Unfortunately this hasn't aged well as America has moved significantly more to the left.

    • @et34t34fdf
      @et34t34fdf ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@evankulak5468 Actually no, its about the same.
      Proof? The make-up of congress isnt much different than 10 years ago, its back and forth.

  • @SpacePatrollerLaser
    @SpacePatrollerLaser 10 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    In re the "search for purpose". One does not find purpose; there is none to be found, one MAKES it: Just as one does not "find oneself"; one MAKES oneself out of the psychological attributes that one has, guided by Philosophy

  • @23ograin53
    @23ograin53 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I can't comprehend the pitiful mentality behind the opposition to individual liberty, self dependence, and individual responsibility. Where would we be today if the great individuals throughout history lacked these values and virtues? These make you a better person which makes a society of better people.

  • @rational-being
    @rational-being 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Obama's position, and the end result of the Civil War was, to paraphrase Lincoln, "...that government of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats, shall not perish..."

  • @michaelmasztal7275
    @michaelmasztal7275 12 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Excellent point about the idealism of teens and the adult's proclivity to abandon it.

  • @ChrisSkoog
    @ChrisSkoog 12 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Thanks for pointing out the misinterpretations made by kamrade Obama on Rand and the philosophy of individualism . Please continue to instruct people on the difference between rational self interest and.the.Mister conceived selfishness

    • @AndreiStoen
      @AndreiStoen 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I get from the 2 comments that race and trump matters in your life's. Sometimes keeping your moth shut makes you smarter than y'all are in reality.

    • @goingstealth6372
      @goingstealth6372 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@AndreiStoen dude this comment was ten yrs old lol hes a globalist he wants communiat tribalism and central gov control.. peace though✌

  • @SlimTortoise
    @SlimTortoise 6 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Perfectly put, It lets you see who the morons and false people out there, when you put them on the spot and say do you agree with someone who has the courage to have a view.

  • @ccady951
    @ccady951 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I'm 76 years old yet today I'm wearing me T-shirt that displays my thoughts "RAND WAS RIGHT"..

  • @bettersteps
    @bettersteps 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I wear AR shirts all the time. Few people catch it. If someone really has read her work they ask about my shirt and a friendly conversation issues. Some people, those who think they know who AR is but have never read her work, love to get worked up and confront me. I verbally rip them apart in a calm and intelligent manner. It's so fun.

  • @MadMax-dr6mf
    @MadMax-dr6mf 6 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Excellent. I only disagree with the statement that someone like Obama doesn't understand Ayn Rand. He and they understand all right. I can only imagine the holy terror enveloping their souls on reading her accurate definitions and descriptions of them. Shit, they must think, she's onto us; if enough people know about this, the game's up. Therefore their lives from that point are all about casting remarks that denigrate and ridicule this woman. So-called liberal writers are particularly culpable. I stopped watching the Simpsons because more than once they've ripped into Rand. Another show I now hate is Elementary, after the Holmes character arrogantly and sententiously says in one episode, Ayn Rand? The go - to philosopher for the mentally inadequate. Or something very similar. The occurrence of these slurs is always shocking because they often have no connection with the plot and are so arbitrary and vicious, with normally placid characters becoming enlivened in their nasty denunciations.

    • @EnligUlv
      @EnligUlv 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Right on. She called them out nearly 70 years ago. Of course they’re defensive...

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      She hasn't described anyone except the straw men she invents. If only she could really have grasped individuality

    • @cadbane1720
      @cadbane1720 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@andrewpenfold7777
      Then what is individuality .
      And are you for or against free markets .
      Definition of Free markets meaning no intervention from the government .
      I'm asking because you seam to know what individualism is better than the people that are anti-collectivist and hyperindividualist .
      The opposite of individualism is collectivism .
      And that is a fact .
      And people going to a party to party are a collective of individuals they are not neccesarily a typical collective or cult .
      Individuals can come together to achieve a goal.
      Its just that some individuals want society to be shaped to their image of perfection .
      These Shapers go by many names but they all put the GROUP before the individual and are Collevtivists .
      A Collective is a human invention that can only live in our minds .
      We are all individuals .
      When you are in danger you never think to help strangers accept when you have something to gain from others surviving such as your children etc .
      There is no cult of the individual .
      Objectivist will not seize the means of production and kill or imprison the capitalist .
      They will not put a picture of
      AYN RAND in their house and worship it like a GOD .
      They just know that if you look at human history and the written record you will see that when people believe in the Collective like when they believe in a KING or
      GENERAL SECRETARY or GOD they hold themselves back and do EVIL where millions die and the worst part is that they dont even gain anything .
      Objectivist know that the masses througout history have always been enslaved by individuals that hate individualism for others .
      Individualism haters who like it for themselves and not for others hate it because they know that they cant compete with millions of people that think about their self interest first instead of The WAR OR THE EVIL PROTESTANTS OR THE EVIL KULAKS OR THE EVIL BLACK PEOPLE OR THE EVIL MEN OR WOMEN .
      If a business wants to be SUCCESFULL it can not think to discriminate based on
      GROUP IDENTITY it can only discriminate based on individual action such as theft by a individual .
      Their is a group of people that believe that only by individuals having 100% control of their lives can they be free .
      If you think that the government should tell and block a transgender man are woman from changing their body to be in harmony with their state of mind you can not talk about how you know what individualism is because that is you and the government as a GROUP desciding what is best for someone and society when the actions of that someone dont hurt any other individual .
      That also goes for smoking , drinking alcohol , owning guns , planting marijuana , hating sex with people of the oppositie sex , not wearing your seatbelt , paying your workers $0,50 cents per hour if they have accepted the terms and conditions of the job .
      If you pay them to little for what they can do they wont stay working for you .
      You cant pay them a cook at Mcdonalds as much as Gordon Ramsay.
      Gorden Ramsay will maybe only work for you if you pay him 10 times more than his current income wich is in the millions .
      He was born in poverty and it was not luck that got him out .

    • @andrewpenfold7777
      @andrewpenfold7777 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@cadbane1720 I absolutely agree with most of what you wrote. Particularly the paragraph about Trans etc. Yes I am generally in favour of free markets, but don't see them as quite as totally free as you do. The principles of the market exist whether you and I support them or not, but I'm not a supporter of monopoly power and at various times that has had to be curbed. Rand herself of course supported an elected government's role in the military and 'security'. National security is of course the excuse most often used for curtailing freedoms. My view of individuality is that acceptance of the individual making their choices and living their own life, but more importantly, what that looks like is their choice not mine, yours or Rand's. There is of course a fundamental problem with this. That is that a group of individuals can act collectively and I also have to respect that as their individual choice.

  • @patmartin6936
    @patmartin6936 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Today's teenagers are gonna wake up one day wondering what happened to america. Maybe then they will read Rand's books for themselves. Everything she wrote is pure GOLD!!!

    • @goingstealth6372
      @goingstealth6372 ปีที่แล้ว

      He knew he just wasn't for what she saw as good in our society he for what she was warning about globalism and central control fooled we were bbb

  • @raghu45
    @raghu45 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Very astutely put, Mr. Brook! So, even though Obama got it wrong, his talking about her makes her and her writings that much popular, bcs it is the President talking!
    Second thing you said, about Rand appealing to younger mind, strikes a paradox in my mind. Note that Bernie Sanders, a worse socialist than Obama, has the biggest backing from college students!
    Of course, the paradox is resolved when you open the basket called young minds. There are those young one who seek to understand and those who want to get something for nothing!

  • @barkeater7867
    @barkeater7867 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    We are individuals and being true to that will take care of the collective.

  • @MisterDantastic
    @MisterDantastic 12 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I agree with this comment. Especially this bit, "Well said".

  • @chezanna1
    @chezanna1 12 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Haha, I really think Obama should pay more respect to the ones, teenagers and Objectivists, who are "supposed to" clean up his mess.

  • @joshuataylor3550
    @joshuataylor3550 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    It's sad he clearly identfies other people's biases and ignores his own.

  • @makmansa
    @makmansa 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Oh my goodness! I had not thought of it that way! Why does she appeal to teenagers? A very good question especially based on the fact that the best thing that can happen to you is not to lose the kid in you.
    Roark stayed firm, but people don't want that kind of firmness, because then, they can't use you to their will. They want to be able to bend and mould you like Peter...
    How I wish every kid would get exposed to Ayn's work, and hopefully build a self esteem so high and unbreakable.

  • @ytdave354
    @ytdave354 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Did he just call it "Rolling Stones"

  • @garyjohnstone6422
    @garyjohnstone6422 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    If ppl did not act in their own best interests what kind of society would you live in? A recipe for anarchy.

  • @vancouveride
    @vancouveride 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Isn't Libertarianism just the last utopian government model that has come down to us from the disaster of WW1? The other utopian models were tried out and ended in universal disaster but nobody really tried out Libertarianism and so many people still think it could work. Maybe Apollo had it right when he commanded Meden Agan. Perhaps the least unsuccessful government incorporates ideas from all camps and is a mass of conflicting ideas. Isn't that kind of how the US is set up, part democracy, part aristocracy (supreme court), part dictatorship (president)?

  • @Tony-ol4bt
    @Tony-ol4bt ปีที่แล้ว

    Well said

  • @stanleyyoung7638
    @stanleyyoung7638 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    In her later years, after surgery for lung cancer, she collected social security and Medicare. The very things she railed against.

    • @johnnynick3621
      @johnnynick3621 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Ayn Rand was FORCED to pay Social Security taxes.... so, the fact that she collected Social Security and retrieved some of the money taken from her by force should surprise nobody. What would be surprising is if she simply allowed HER money to remain with the government and be used to support the parasites and moochers she detested.

    • @jacksonstone246
      @jacksonstone246 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Oh nooooo the world is gonna end!!!!

    • @stanleyyoung7638
      @stanleyyoung7638 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@jacksonstone246 No, just her hypocrisy.

  • @elgrigorio1
    @elgrigorio1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I doubt that Obama has ever read a book by Ayn Rand.

    • @lookbovine
      @lookbovine 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Betcha he did. It’s like saying I bet you’ve never even read a book by Stephen King!

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@lookbovine But still. He didn't understood it or never read it. The example of stephen king has little to do here.

  • @glennjohn3824
    @glennjohn3824 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Rest assured tRump is still waiting for it to come out on DVD...

  • @Reidsmith1000
    @Reidsmith1000 12 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I think that is just great that Ayn Rand's philosophy has hung in there over the long period of time since the publishing of "The Fountainhead" in 1943 and "Atlas Shrugged" in 1957. It's more than just hanging in now, it's gaining momentum and it isn't because of any recommendations on the part of our intellectual establishment. (joke) It's because of the sheer power of ideas that correspond to reality, make sense to a lot of people and the efforts of Yaron and ARI.

  • @Jaji1948
    @Jaji1948 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    How about playing the clip with Obama's comments to begin this video so we can make our own judgments about them?

  • @deanrush516
    @deanrush516 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    OBAMBA DID NOT UNDERSTAND LIBERTY

  • @Svankmajer
    @Svankmajer 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Its not that strange. Rand has a popular following and is one of the most extreme political views out there.

  • @richardbeaubien5297
    @richardbeaubien5297 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The highest tribute to Ayn Rand, is that her critics must distort everything that she stood for in order to attack her. She advocated reason, not force; the individual’s rights to freedom of action, speech, and association; self-responsibility not self-indulgence, and a live-and-let-live society in which each individual is treated as an END, not the MEANS of others’ ends. How many critics would dare to honestly state these ideas, & say “..and that’s what I reject?”

  • @mileswindgate
    @mileswindgate 8 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    A lot of people in the world today will never understand Objectivism and Ayn Rand because they were never used to using their brains, and Obama is not a exception. Anti-conceptual mentality is the fashionable trend today, sadly, and these people will pass on from this existence without knowing the true nature of humans. I am a Christian, but I have no issues with Ayn Rand...and I truly wish success for ARI in promoting rationality and laissez faire Capitalism amidst these neo-Leftists, Socialists, and Fascists of today (pretty much the Liberals and Democrat idiots everywhere). In the event of a nuclear catastrophe (which is not far, given our situation at present), I will always trust the Objectivists to carry on and save whatever civilization mankind has left or taken for granted. Go ARI. ;-)

    • @fairfaxblaster7703
      @fairfaxblaster7703 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Rand DESPISED religion. Read her NON fiction, such as "Conservatism: An Obituary"

    • @sdprz7893
      @sdprz7893 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      2 years later, are you still an objectivist?

    • @raghu45
      @raghu45 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      You say you are a Christian. Do you want to maintain it or break the voodoo called Christianity.
      Even as you say Go ARI, you are not a Christian! 😊

    • @sdprz7893
      @sdprz7893 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      This was an honest question, really want to know the answer?

  • @Cirnenric
    @Cirnenric 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Well said.
    I did find the lighting over saturated and what looked to be a green screen background a bit overdone.

  • @petekdemircioglu
    @petekdemircioglu 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Its freely social

  • @toddklumb7855
    @toddklumb7855 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Continued... FLW was a creative artist which generally their roll in society is not personal wealth but the Wisconsin Idea was successful in doing that. Ayn Rand along with McCarthy likely took a part in destroying a good thing based on their psychopathic behaviors. The little that I have assessed about Ayn Rand that is hard to not to believe that she did some good but likely she did more bad than good. I feel Ayn Rand's philosophy is a "part" of what we need in society but there are people that have valuable skills that you could measure on directly on dollars they generate. Someone else could generate more dollars that does not have the inclination to hoard them.
    I agree if you want to hoard money, keep the money moving, as long as you deserve it but allow people who's life goals are more intellectual, moral, spiritual that provide a structure for the people who generate the money to have a place and power. If want to talk about people who do not deserve the trophies they win; we could make likely the most legitimate argument against the rich people you support.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's not "Hoard" is saving. By saying hoard you mean that they took it from a common pit. And they are just saving and protecting what they have created. Please read Ayn Rand because your image of what She representd is conpletely different from reality. You haven't read it or had any explanation from someone who understood her. So please watch his talks in youtube or Peikoff. Then you can accurately criticize her ideas.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Look, Rand have addressed your point of view in her books and explained hers. She allows anyone to pursue their values, including intellecual, spiritual, "moral" (whatever you meant by that). I don't really think you know what morality really means or tries to answer. Moral to who? Under wich standard? In what context?. I don't know who you were trying to answer but still there are a lot of missunderstanding here.

    • @jaspermcminnis5538
      @jaspermcminnis5538 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Todd, watch The Rageaholic for a videos like "Hollywood Was Always Red"
      "The Last Grasp of Red Hollywood"

  • @raymondmulholland8303
    @raymondmulholland8303 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I think, of all the "Fathers of Atheism" (okay, I don't mean to be sexist, but as a Mother of Atheism, she is pretty much by herself), Ayn Rand is the one who came closest to Christianity. Her view of how Capitalism should work is very, very close to the Christian idea of "being the best self you can be," and her single ethical standard in Atlas Shrugged (.) is remarkably close to the Christian concept of Human Dignity. John Gault, the love interest of the main character and the hero of the book, was the quintessential Christ figure: gathering faithful to himself, dying and coming back to life, and bringing the faithful to a paradise until it was time to return to the reborn world with the goal to renew it in a perfect image. The insanity the antagonists suffered as they left the story line is very much in line with the concept of Hell. While it is not unusual for Atheists to borrow from Christian ideals (Mark Twain is very famous for this), I am not aware of any who borrowed as heavily as she did for this one work.
    There are problems with Rand's ideas, but her detractors always miss what is wrong and instead attack what she got right. Most importantly, like all secular moral codes, she has to rely on people doing the right thing simply because it is right. In other words, her ideal can only work if people remain true to her ethics, no matter what the personal cost to them. And, of course, death is an end that cannot be avoided (Mr. Gault's remarkable recovery being an exception). Theism of all sorts (excepting Deism) offers Faith and Hope as motivation to remain true to one's Ethics no matter what the Earthly cost. In the end, her ideas are doomed to fall into Socialism because, without an afterlife, Faith and Hope can only be found in the oppressive laws she sought so desperately to discredit.
    But theological considerations aside, there are scientific and economical problems with her ideas. She assumes that science will continually and uniformly develop as long as scientists are free to explore and study. Dr. Kuhn demonstrated that science actually crosses very large plateaus before coming to the next radical change in understanding, and despite all the well wishing otherwise, he has been proven right. Rand also assumes that resources are virtually infinite, especially if science can keep up with the demand to find better ways to harvest the resources. Admittedly, I did see where she quantified this in an interview (Walter Cronkite?!?), by claiming that all critical resources are dispersed enough on the globe so no one person can manage them all. The concept of franchise and corporate empires are an anathema to her teachings, and to the best of my knowledge she has failed to provide a practical solution to this problem, which ultimately goes back to problem that people are not naturally good. In the end, one must either influence people's behavior with gods or laws.

  • @ScientificChampion
    @ScientificChampion 12 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Good work Yaron and Ayn Rand institute

  • @pillarnexustheancientgladiator
    @pillarnexustheancientgladiator 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    If someone says they read Ayn Rand's books, I'm going to ask "her fiction or her non-fiction ones?" We the Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, they're all good, but I like her dedicated philosophical books more; I think they're the ones that need more attention, but I still appreciate her fiction as well. Whenever someone dismisses another person, I have to ask "why?" What do they get out of doing so? What is it about that person's views that they don't want anyone else to accept and follow on?

  • @ericridenour322
    @ericridenour322 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Lol when the best guy you can find to talk can’t talk you have a serious problem.

    • @johnnynick6179
      @johnnynick6179 ปีที่แล้ว

      When you can't attack the message, and can only attack the messenger, you have a problem.

  • @timothyfreeman7913
    @timothyfreeman7913 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The most divine thing in 'man' is 'his' ability to conceive of divinity. This separates 'him' from all other species on the planet Earth. The basest thing in 'man' is 'his' assumption that 'he' is the most important thing on the planet Earth.

  • @petekdemircioglu
    @petekdemircioglu 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I love Ayn Rand

  • @flilguy
    @flilguy 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I was drawn into Ayn Rand because a friend of mine was taken in by her. Basically, I had to be into Ayn Rand to have a friendship with this person. As I grew older I decided that I didn't need friends that would make stipulations like that. I read "The Fountainhead" and it was interesting. I didn't like "Atlas Shrugged" and didn't finish reading the novel. It's not that Ayn Rand was wrong about everything. I personally consider her as a very intelligent woman. She was basically a propaganda tool against Communism. I do regard Communism as an evil system of government. The problem with Rand is she ignores the problems when a country goes into Oligarchy. And the big question is why would someone that is highly intellectual discard this? Russia didn't fall into Communism because it was doing too much for its citizens. It was actually European Capitists that pulled the strings that caused Russia to fall into Communism. The 1917 Communist revolution was designed to stop supply disruptions going into Europe. Rand also tries to claim that the 19th century was a model for capitalism in the USA. The 19th century was actually a time period where the federal government gave away millions of acres of land to immigrants. It was a century of redistribution of wealth. The government used the military to mine gold from Federally owned sources. It's how the Civil War debt was paid off. In 1913 when the gold mines were privatized by the Federal Reserve, that is when the American citizens got to experience the so-called theft called income taxes. A theft organized by a private cartel of banks. If I live long enough I will witness hyperinflation in the United States. It's normally called the final theft.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      If you only see his book as political propaganda then you missunderstood her.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      No. 19th Century wasn't a time of redistribution of weatlh, because there was no wealth to give away to begin with, property of land was given away to anyone who arrived there first, it was a literal race of who wins and your prize is the land, or if you wanted to build a bridge to access some land if you did the USA would give you the property rights. It was land that was given, not wealth, and it was neither redistributed. It was given to those who wanted it. To redistribute it they would have to be someone who owns it to take it from.

    • @flilguy
      @flilguy 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Swaaaat1 Land was not always given away first come first serve. My great great great grandfather was born in Ohio around 1830. He sold his land in Ohio and took a homestead in Illinois. He had a contract with the US government. My grandfather used to own half of that 160-acre homestead, now his nephew owns it. His nephew probably owns around 3,000 acres of land today. My father's family has been here for over 13 generations. I have ancestors that served in Continental Army in the 1780s. Technically the land belonged to the Native American tribes although they didn't have formal land ownership. You're basically saying that the land didn't hold value until we decided it had value. There are tribes of Native Americans that get oil royalties. In the 1940s and 50s, farmers in the midwest (Illinois) that had oil on their land destroyed their burial mounds. As the burial mounds were evidence that their tribes had lived there. Even more so now that DNA can prove actual ancestry. The reason the US government had control of that land is they used war and genocide to obtain it. Wikipedia is not the best although it explains a lot. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal

    • @flilguy
      @flilguy 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Swaaaat1 I'm guessing that English is your second language. "Angetox RodSash
      Angetox RodSash If you only see his book as political propaganda then you missunderstood her." How can a male write a book then be misunderstood as a female? Are you saying she didn't even write the book at all? Ayn Rand used to work as a propagandist for the National Association of Manufacturers. Propaganda was part of her career. She voted for FDR in 1932 I understand Ayn Rand better than one might think.

  • @isidoreaerys8745
    @isidoreaerys8745 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Individual too prosperous for a speech language pathologist

  • @markcuffe4610
    @markcuffe4610 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ayn is an amazing writer. I’ve read her two epics. I was sad to hear she was an atheist. I’m sooooo happy she’s smarter than God. If you have one scintilla of a working neuron, you will understand that this world was created by a higher power. Especially now with our new telescope.

    • @BobSmith-eq9vs
      @BobSmith-eq9vs ปีที่แล้ว

      People that rely on reason instead of faith or emotion are usually atheist.

    • @Weirdomanification
      @Weirdomanification ปีที่แล้ว

      God of the gaps ehy

  • @garyjohnstone6422
    @garyjohnstone6422 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Free Enterprise is vastly superior to any alternative based on its record versus competing systems. It has proven to be the most efficient way to allocate resources ever to evolve.
    Money is neither good nor bad but a means of keeping score. Profit seeking drives business as it should because it is the reward for providing better products and services and without which these products and services would not exist.. Business is not a community project so ought not use shareholder`s funds to serve it.
    Individual Sovereignty is better than The Collective. Ppl should run their own lives, not a committee.
    The primary purpose of the government it to protect the rights of the people. Government is the servant of the people and must act accordingly. Bloated government must be reduced to essential services. Internal kingdom building with your money is bad and builds dependency in society (ie socialism). Gov` t is a monopoly with all that implies.
    The founders believed that the government exists to perform only those services that the people cannot provide for themselves, such as the Defence, Justice, law and order. Contract enforcement. Posts and telegraph, Infrastructure planning,
    Money transfers from those who earn it to those who did not is theft by coercion.

  • @miimeowjess
    @miimeowjess 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    i never heard of it till obamba

  • @texas77563
    @texas77563 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    i really like ayn rand and i agree with her work mostly across the board but something isnt right with her. i think i understand what it is but i dont understand why. maybe controlled opposition or planned future development.

    • @paulcrist7285
      @paulcrist7285 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      ...study where ,when and how she grew up...that may be what you are detecting,she smoked cigarettes...there are unwise habits in the 🦉 wise.

  • @LibertarianRealist
    @LibertarianRealist 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Unfortunately, Rand idealized human nature. Her main intellectual aim was to portray ideal men in ficitional form. This video is a defense of the most idealistic aspects of her philosophy -- not of the cold, hard realism that is supposed to ground it.

  • @benjaminjoeBF3
    @benjaminjoeBF3 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    You are right we must defend the Producers (China and India) and stop the Leechers (West Free Markets). Totally agree on that.

  • @loneranger4469
    @loneranger4469 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Mr Yaron...as many teenagers are attracted to Ayn Rand....there are far more teenagers attracted to Marx. And please include the poor people of this Earth in your calculations.

  • @Aethertopia369
    @Aethertopia369 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    She's really not that deep. How is her philosophy different from a Hippy Commune? That's basically what Atlas Shrugged was. That's essentially what the John Galt gulch was. They tuned in, turned on, and dropped out and made their own thing, many hippies even worked on free energy devices.

    • @johnnynick3621
      @johnnynick3621 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Wow.... you really didn't understand Atlas Shrugged at all.... if you actually read it.

    • @Aethertopia369
      @Aethertopia369 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​Fair enough, I can see why you would say that after I re-read my comment, I think I was in a ranting mood when I wrote that. Let me see if I can elaborate some on what I meant by that.
      I don't think Ayn Rand understood it either. Associating with, and admiring, the likes of an Alan Greenspan and his circle. These are men who are actually far cries from your Hank Rearden's and your John Galt's of the world. Alan Greenspan and company, were part of a den of corruption, not people of integrity, substance, and good moral fortitude. Over the years after hearing about some of her associations, I have to question her judge of character, but nobody's perfect and I believe she strove for excellence, good, and understanding. All that being said, I enjoy Ayn Rand and her work quite a bit. She was an exceptional person, she was very talented, extremely bright, and she stimulates thought and inspires learning, and seeking to better understand everything. So I love to dive into her work from time to time.
      So how is John Galt's Gulch not similar to a good, successful idealistic hippy commune filled with talented individuals, where each individual contributes their talents freely and voluntarily? And is rewarded accordingly. Alternative communities with their own types of currency, and power generation, etc. based on freedom. Apparently she even based the Gulch on Ouray, Colorado, and we all know that "hippies" love Colorado, and now it's even the dispensary capital of America. I'm kidding, but yes, really the gulch did remind me of an intentional off-grid community. Especially some of the modern ones popping up today with all types of alternative energy generation, free associations, developing their own infrastructure and industries, all in the intention of respecting freedom, doing the right thing, and uplifting the good and best in humankind.

    • @Aethertopia369
      @Aethertopia369 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@johnnynick3621Also, Tune in, turn on, drop out is what her Howard Roark character selfishly did as well, and rightfully so. Similarly, Hippies would not be forced to conform to a corrupt society. They, too, didn't believe in "selling out" their talents to unworthy people. They held freedom and the right to be yourself, to be oneself unapologetically, naturally, in high regard, Of course, I'm generalizing, but you get the point.
      I know Ayn Rand actually thought deeply. I know people spend their lives studying her and like her because she liked so much to reason things out. Furthermore, I will continue to learn about her. As often the case with philosophers, for as much truth as she revealed, there are also many contradictions and gaps in her work. But I think that can be reconciled with further studying. I recently checked out Mark Passio's Seminar on Natural Law, If you are not already familiar with his presentations of Natural Law, in the spirit of learning and reasoning, it is well put together.

    • @Aethertopia369
      @Aethertopia369 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@johnnynick3621 Also, Tune in, turn on, drop out is what her Howard Roark character selfishly did as well, and rightfully so. Similarly, Hippies would not be forced to conform to a corrupt society. They, too, didn't believe in "selling out" their talents to unworthy people. They held freedom and the right to be yourself, to be oneself unapologetically, naturally, in high regard, Of course, I'm generalizing, but you get the point.
      I know Ayn Rand actually thought deeply. I know people spend their lives studying her and like her because she liked so much to reason things out. Furthermore, I will continue to learn about her. As often the case with philosophers, for as much truth as she revealed, there are also many contradictions and gaps in her work. She is very left brain oriented as well. I think those things can be reconciled with further studying a balanced variety of information. I recently checked out Mark Passio's Seminar on Natural Law, If you are not already familiar with his presentations of Natural Law, in the spirit of learning and reasoning, it is well put together.

    • @Aethertopia369
      @Aethertopia369 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@johnnynick3621 You're right, now that I think about it. Ayn Rand is too Left brain, hippies were too Right brain, there needs to be more of a balance. Of course, I'm generalizing.

  • @samjudge1240
    @samjudge1240 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Don't you mean realism?

    • @stevied3400
      @stevied3400 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      He doesn’t mean idealism in the platonic sense. He means idealism in the sense of Rand’s heroes and heroines in her novels. He means idealism as opposed to cynicism. Not idealism as opposed to realism.

    • @samjudge1240
      @samjudge1240 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@stevied3400 Then why just say the ideal hero instead? I'm just bit concerned how language are bit loose in this video, as it's a little carefree in words.
      I'm sure the video dose have good intentions and I do agree theres a lot of cynicism in on demand channels.

  • @1toplaystudio96
    @1toplaystudio96 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I like Ayn Rand, therefore I'm great. What a joke hahahah.

    • @VoluntaryistSkeptic
      @VoluntaryistSkeptic 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes, if anyone were making that argument, that would be a joke. Congratulations! You have demonstrated you're capable of creating a straw-man.

  • @Rainorshine004
    @Rainorshine004 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ayn Rand wasn't perfect, there were many things that shapped her philosophies.

    • @peromiestiloesunico
      @peromiestiloesunico 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Ocean Drive And again with your nonsense, no-one is having kids so who is going to fill your welfare state? When ayn was alive everyone was having kids so why do you care that much?

    • @VoluntaryistSkeptic
      @VoluntaryistSkeptic 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Who made the claim that she was perfect?

  • @Kulah-SS
    @Kulah-SS 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Claiming or implying that there is a dichotomy where one is either an individualist or a collectivist, is absurd. Everyone, including Rand practices a little of both.
    Both are foolish when regarded as an absolute principle.

  • @toddklumb7855
    @toddklumb7855 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Hey! You mention socialism as if everyone thinks of the concept in the same way but in reality everyone has a complete different concept of what that is.
    I grew up in Wisconsin. I know the family of Frank Lloyd Wright who lived at Taliesin West. I have never read her books or paid much attention to her philosophy because people who I consider to be my close friends claim she stalked them, harassed them and having gotten psychological advice they say her behaviors were psychopathic. She wanted FLW to be the character in her book but she wanted to portray him to be someone he was not but he believed in the Wisconsin Idea having grown up there. We need to make our economy a mix that involve people with different inclinations. We need to offer opportunities for everyone. Why do you have to make it one against the other? How is that going to work? Division has never worked. Offer opportunities for what you are saying and others too.
    BTW - Bill Gates sucks at social projects. He has caused more harm than good with his awful foundation. Maybe he should have stuck to what he knew and just did it more ethically instead of creating a disaster throwing billions at something he is not capable of doing. What makes him so great one success one failure. Why did he prove that? It was complete hypocrisy of him to do that. Seems like he valued skills he did not have over the skills he did have. Why was that?

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      What are you talking about? From what I read you have many different ideas and none has been clearly defined. If you are talking about the video in some parts you didn't understood what the video was trying to say. It's necessary to define and explain clearly what you want and what you think for there to be a successful exchange of ideas.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Their psychologist weren't as good for what I see. Saying someone is psychopath isna very serious issue. And I don't think they had the amount of research that know we have available to determine if someone is a psychopath or not. And If you take some test from someone respectable you will found that You have some traits yourself. It's not a black or white on this kind of topic. So saying someone is this from a very narrowed point of view and information is not reliable

    • @jaspermcminnis5538
      @jaspermcminnis5538 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Todd, I wish I could tell you what I would recommend watching, but my comment won't show up.

  • @MrBenMcLean
    @MrBenMcLean 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Of course, there are many more positions possible than just Obama and Socialism versus Ayn Rand and her total less faire capitalism -- something Rand herself and groups like the Ayn Rand Institute fail to mention.

    • @franckfontaine7744
      @franckfontaine7744 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      Keynesianism ?Yep, we saw it working in 2007...

  • @tomzeun9113
    @tomzeun9113 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    People do need to read Ayn Rand but then also Albert Ellis. Because Ellis exposes all of the false premises and untruths of Rands views. Is Onjectivism a Religion? Is a vital and one of the most important books that exposes Rands philosophy and dangers. Objectivism is extremely harmful and damaging to the US and the world.

    • @peromiestiloesunico
      @peromiestiloesunico 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Not even damaging enough as collectivism/Kantian ideas.

  • @timcombs2730
    @timcombs2730 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You know what's funny? My teenage metal head interest in Satanism was the gateway drug to Ayn Rand. So no, satanism didn't lead me to drugs and suicide, it made me vote for Romney.

  • @peskyfervid6515
    @peskyfervid6515 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ayn Rand was and individualist, but only if you bent to her individualism. The minute you started to express your own individualism, you were no longer part of her circle. So much for Rand's individualism.

  • @dudarmedharet
    @dudarmedharet 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Bruh, not gonna lie - libertarianism is very cringe.

  • @blumrich1970
    @blumrich1970 11 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    "Wobinson Cawuso"

  • @Heraclitean
    @Heraclitean 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm not sure the point holds about Obama ~having~ to address Rand in today's America. He was asked a question in an interview, and he answered it. He might just as easily have not been asked, and he surely wouldn't have mentioned Rand on his own.

  • @ClassicalLiberalWarrior
    @ClassicalLiberalWarrior 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    This comment is highly incompetent because Brook doesn't quote Obama's actual words. The intelligent, virtuous, fair-minded viewer has no way to judge who's wrong and who's right. Big failure, ARI.

  • @a1productionllc
    @a1productionllc 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Having read part of Ann Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," I have problems with Ann Rand. I also have great problems with Socialism, Communism, and any sort of collectivism. These problems are all related to my being a conservative Christian. Pride is among our worst enemies, along with lies, distortions, and those who do not uphold Holy Matrimony, which involves one man and one woman married to each other. Have a good day!

  • @EuropeanImperium
    @EuropeanImperium 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    I can think of ANOTHER 'chosen person' who "idealized human nature" and his first surname begins with 'M!' Ha!

  • @Svankmajer
    @Svankmajer 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The guy here is like Tommy Wiseau. Just even more crazy.

    • @inwoodboy1937
      @inwoodboy1937 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Andreas Moss very sad comment on your part.

  • @Svankmajer
    @Svankmajer 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Myeah, Wiseau might still be crazier. I suppose.

  • @slybuster
    @slybuster 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    As I said on the other video, I'll discuss the cultish parallels of Randianism and the other arguments I presented. However, if you choose to simply write nonsense about 'getting the last word' (as you did last time) and not present ideas nor offer critique of mine--I'll consider discussion with you a fool's errand and simply ignore you.
    e.g. /watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8

  • @kristianbrandt3012
    @kristianbrandt3012 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Independant of mind. Sounds almost tranquil, right? Of course what objectivism actually is, is just another ''the strongest survive'' scheme and only a selfish mind could embrace it.

    • @hUMERETURNs
      @hUMERETURNs 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Kristian Brandt ''the strongest survive'' Do you mean to deny that economic competition is massively beneficial? As to appealing to a selfish mind, of course, this is a philosophy that accepts (rational) selfishness as a virtue, so pointed that out isn't for us a criticism, it just shows you either don't know the philosophy or have fallen for the self-hatred of altruism.

    • @SaulOhio
      @SaulOhio 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      +Kristian Brandt In economics, the competition is between producers to see who can best serve the needs of consumers. It is competition to grow the most food for the lowest cost, weave the most cloth with fewer labor hours, produce the most energy to light and heat our homes at the lowest price. This is competition to see who can contribute the most to everyone else's survival.

    • @connor9423
      @connor9423 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@SaulOhio do you disagree there is competition between workers? Can you not pictured an interview, with several candidates waiting to be called in? Each having studied hard, and gained experience to make them and their skills stand out? After all, to produce more for less requires some degree of genius. These workers compete for high wages and good jobs, so that they may better their lives in some way. Whether that is through increasing consumption, increased security (via savings), or simply the utility of having attained an important job. This is rational pursuit of self interest.

    • @SaulOhio
      @SaulOhio 6 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes. Workers compete with each other. They go under the heading of "producers" that I was talking about. What's your point? Those who lose the competition for THAT job have opportunities to apply for another jobs. In a free market capitalist economy, there would be plenty of jobs to go around. The most productive workers would be the best paid.

  • @nickfraser422
    @nickfraser422 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    unfortunately she did believe in God

    • @arthurleegis1333
      @arthurleegis1333 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I'd say 'fortunately' instead. That she bases her views rationately, and not based on mysticism.

  • @scytale6
    @scytale6 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    But isn't individualism more or less downstream from "society" - you can only do what others allow you to do whether through cooperation or prohibition?

  • @you6382tube
    @you6382tube 6 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Only 412 thumbs up for this video in ...6 years? That's not many.
    Meanwhile-- Paul Ryan - devotee of Rand, and Speaker of the House of Representatives- just gave up his position- April, 2018. Resigned. Why?
    Because the voters in his home state of Wisconsin would have NEVER voted him in again.
    His philosophy is flawed. Profit-driven healthcare policy should be insurance-lobbyist driven, although he and his family get free healthcare for life for seving as a Representative.
    His position on union workers - CEOs can and should earn 600+ times the amount of the worker. Why? Because the CEO is God's gift to the corporation and is King of the realm. No one else has the magical super powers and genius to make the important decisions like this demi-god CEO could. Those pesky workers, wanting to feed their "families". Workers should not exist, actually. Robots are better.
    Ryan's position on taxcuts for the weathiest in this country, the top 1 %. Same reason as above. There are just too many pesky citizens, breathing up all the air, needing "clean air" and demanding regulations for "clean water". Can't they just drink Evian imported water like Ryan does? Beyond paying taxes, there are no benefits to having all these citizens.
    And of course Ryan's profit for himself and his well-connected donors. In other words - his non-representing the interests of his constituents. Yeah, that's greed and corruption.

    • @cecilmorgan5084
      @cecilmorgan5084 6 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      you6382tube This probably looks like I'm singling you out, but once again I'm struck by the monstrous illogic of your collectivist - inspired reply. Whether or not Wisconsin would have rejected him or not is moot, and is Wisconsin's affair. But to imply as you do that a CEO cannot be worth 800 times the lowest - paid workers in terms of value to the company is to betray a lack of knowledge of the workings of industry, economic (and American) history, and basic commonsense which is absolutely shocking, yet typical of a socialist. The heads of companies drive the whole machinery. They're responsible not only for the jobs of all their employees, but even the economic health of their communities, towns, districts, state and country, by extension. Rockerfeller, before the breakup of SO a century ago, was worth almost a billion dollars. 100 years ago if a working man made a dollar a day he was doing alright. How much more than his workers was Rockerfeller earning therefore? Was that immoral? Consider what he achieved from nothing. Well, just one aspect. In the 1860s oil on their land was an annoyance to farmers. Because candles were so expensive people around the country generally went to bed at dusk. The value of oil was then discovered and John D began to refine it, constantly discovering new applications for it, including as a fuel for house lamps. Ruthless efficiencies made this cheaper and cheaper until every household had a gas - fueled lamp and bought refills from the regular visit of the Standard Oil wagon. The evening landscape abruptly changed as people could now stay up later. Think of what was accomplished by the extra time now available to millions of people, and how many millions of dollars this generated for the American, and indeed, world economy? In this way, people like Rockerfeller, Ford, Carnegie, Morgan made the American supereconomy, the capitalist system that enables even someone on welfare to wear Nike trainers. A cleaner in the basement of an office building now enjoys a standard of living considered an impossible luxury in many parts of the world. No matter how much they gain from their efforts, it's a piddling pittance compared to what they've given and continue to give.

  • @MrTBoneMalone
    @MrTBoneMalone 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    OK, I'm just now noticing the date of this video, and here are my thoughts. If you are going to post a video on Obama's comments, why don't you start with what Obama said and then address his comments? I think this video is lacking substance without it.

  • @johnrolle6645
    @johnrolle6645 ปีที่แล้ว

    We in comparison with other societies and relatively young and are still striving for a more perfect union. Nothing is fixed in our world not unlike the inevitability of aging. So, what was good and profitable and acceptable for us a young Republic may not be today or 100/200 years from now. Given Ayn's rejection of religion, albeit who can totally disaffected themselves from religious principles of there up bringing, it almost seems moot to cite scripture with respect to her ideas. Nevertheless, I submit to you St. Matthew 5:30.
    What of the idea of the body politic as operating as as individual, for instance, a corporation acting in it's own self interest, a macrocosm of the human organism . I don't
    know Ms. Rosenbaum's personal background but historically there were a lot of messed up seizures of goods and property in the region of the world she came from and grew up in pre WWI & WWII which may
    have given rise to some of her notions.
    Are we
    as a society evolved enough to actually realize the kind of stark engagement or rather non engagement with those she characterizes as "SOCIAL BALLAST". We are still very Eurocentric in America albeit an ever evolving INDIVIDUAL ONE. Collective?

  • @peaceseeker9927
    @peaceseeker9927 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'ts amusing to witness the grave mindlessness of those who believe Ayn Rand was a great thinker. I read Atlas Shrugged and found it full of straw man characterizations and CHILDISH fantasy to no end, although an interesting read. Rand writes in PHONY extremes as if the masses are completely against producers, and have no appreciation for their contributions, and they want to loot from them and destroy them. That altruism and sacrifice is always a weakness and individual selfish interests is the only way to go. There will never be a world like Rand fantasized and there is no perfect system, whether it be capitalism, socialism, or whatever other ism, because people are complex, they have competing interests, and incompatible views of how society should be. The fact is that a diverse society like America with great wealth inequality and a perpetual growing underclass is at some point not sustainable. There will always be people who produce more than others but both sides will have to co-exist and they must both find a balance in order to exist as a free society. This requires sharing of resources to some degree no matter who invented or produced what. I could go point for point on her ridiculous ideology but blind CULTISH followers (just as in religion) will not change their views no matter what truths are told to them.

  • @josepharriola5255
    @josepharriola5255 ปีที่แล้ว

    Call it what you want, but she’s not appealing to a teenagers worth, she’s appealing to the selfishness. There is no value or virtue in selfishness. Kids are just becoming their own person and haven’t even learned the value of moral standards.
    She’s basically handing a gun to a child. Se is or was a sick lady that died alone, and on her deathbed found out she was wrong.

    • @johnnynick6179
      @johnnynick6179 ปีที่แล้ว

      Joseph is clearly one of the people Yaron is talking about who pretend to know Rand's work but is actually reacting to what he has read about her. The fact that these critics feel the need to attack her personally so many years after her death, instead of actually debating her ideas shows how effective her writing was and how huge an impact she has had. Rand lived her life in full accord with her views and never stopped advocating for reason and rational self-interest.

  • @hardliners57
    @hardliners57 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Lol this is a terrible clip.

  • @IjzerKeizer
    @IjzerKeizer 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Its so interesting hearing what people have to say about Ayn Rand. I read her book Fountainhead with zero knowledge of who she was and read the book as a fiction story and not a book of philosophy. It remains to this day one of my fav books. I also lean left

    • @jolem5000
      @jolem5000 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      The Fountainhead is her only good book and it was a masterpiece.

    • @IjzerKeizer
      @IjzerKeizer 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@jolem5000 is Atlas Shrugged not extremely identical too it (havent read it) ?

    • @jolem5000
      @jolem5000 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@IjzerKeizer Kind of, at the beginning. But somewhere in the last third of the book it becomes a really lame pat-on-the back fest. I had trouble finishing it. If I had read Atlas Shrugged first, I would have never read The Fountainhead.

    • @Swaaaat1
      @Swaaaat1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@IjzerKeizer Read it anyways. There's no better judge for saying something is good for you that yourself and your standard of values

    • @richardterrell1946
      @richardterrell1946 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@jolem5000 I disagree. Her first novel, "We the Living," is her best literary work (i.e. if one is looking for literary fiction).