It looks as though Ayn Rand's magnum opus "Atlas Shrugged" has finally made it to the big screen. I wonder, though I think I already know the answer, will the Catholic Church say a word about the false premise upon which it is based? And will the Church use the release of this movie as a moment to teach and inform the average person in the pew that listens to all the conservative commentators on radio and TV that constantly extol the virtues of this evil system of belief, a system that denies the existence of God and puts reason in His place? A system that places happiness at the pinnacle of morality and lifts material success to the highest good. A system that worships the individual while denying the need for family and society.
Below are the words of Ms. Rand, words that I've posted before, words that if read by any Christian should be sufficient for him to deny any and all things Objectivist.
So here's your chance Vatican. Stand up and speak out in clear and comprehensible language about the evils of Objectivism and unrestrained, laissez-faire capitalism. And while you're at it, speak out about the evils of Marxism, too, in all its various guises. Explain what the Church teaches regarding proper economic systems and activities. Explain the role of the individual and how he is part of a larger familial system of blood and community. Explain that truly, no man is an island.
Explain, in clear, simple language, the truth. Do that and you'll change everything.
You have the power; use it!
"My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:
Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church."
Ayn Rand .org
"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 Lexicon
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For all her use of words such as, "heroic being", "happiness", and "productive achievement", she is just one hell of a bore. Wearying to read.
ReplyDeleteI've tried, repeatedly, to get through "Atlas Shrugged" but I haven't made it yet. And I read boring stuff all the time, mostly history and theology.
ReplyDeleteThe book is wordy, the characters are shallow and self centered to an extreme and the basic premise is so objectionable and just plain wrong that I can't finish it.
Yet, I hear people go on and on about it with a nearly religious zeal. I suppose that's because Rand's philosophy is a religion, deifying man and worshiping at the altar of capitalism.
And in that respect it fits perfectly in the Neo-Con world view.
You hit the proverbial nail on the head, again, Catawissa.
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