Books Apr 10, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Comments

1
Sweet Jeebus! That man needs some whiskey and whores, stat!
2
He should stick to cartoons.
3
Agreed. He doesn't know fucking anything about westerns, that's for sure. Or, uh, writing.
4
i'm just wondering which came first -- the reclusiveness or the crazy.
5
Where does Lash get his information that Rorschach was "Originally intended to be a scathing satire/commentary on Objectivism..."...? I always thought he was just the anti-hero-alienated-loner vigilante stereotype of the group.
6
This reminded me of his "NO color!" postcard I read about last year:

http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?o…

7
Paul I believe the quotes you placed around "philosophy" belong around "follows."
8
@5, Ditko created the objectivist comic book hero "The Question" in 1967 for Charlton comics, which was eventually bought up by DC/WB/TimeWarner in 1985s. When Alan Moore pitched his idea for what became "Watchmen" to DC Comics that year, it originally featured the Charleton heroes. DC balked at the idea of having their recently-acquired stable of characters deconstructed, and so Moore made changes to the characters to make them his own. The Question became Rorschach, Blue Beetle became Nite Owl, Peacemaker became the Comedian, Peter Cannon became Adrian Veidt, Captain Atom became Doctor Manhattan, and so on.

Moore said that in writing Rorschach he also folded in elements of another objectivist Charleton Ditko hero creation, Mr. A...
9
He's supposed to be an objectivitst? I've read a little bit of Ayn Rand, and her heroes aren't white hats. They don't go around "helping people in distress" from what I saw. In fact, the philosophy of altruism is seen as a tool of evil that's used to oppress our rightful ubermench overlords. Her heroes run around thinking Important Things, and building companies or buildings, and taking whatever they can, often by right of conquest. They're far too busy designing a new steam engine to be bothered about rescuing anyone tied to the railroad tracks. Unless its a hot chick that impresses them with her sexy disdain, in which case they have the right to rape her after they've untied her, and she'll probably enjoy it anyway.
10
@9, you're failing to take into account that Ditko is obviously batshit crazy
11
ive been posting as fake Ayn Rand at myballard just to be a dick
12
@9: What interesting about the rant quoted is that it doesn't have much admiration for pure altruism (the white hats): it sees them as weak, hesitant and enabling, the same way that Rand sees altruism.

What I know of Ditko's heroes suggests that he subscribes to a manichean morality that Rand didn't, but he seems to share her critique (a kind way of putting it?) of do-gooders.
13
Who's f*cking crazier, Ayn Rand, or her followers?
14
rands biggest error was to judge the imperceptible as irrelevant... the intolerance necessarily follows in such a consistent system.
15
Ayn Rand was a wonderful romance novelist. She just needed a better editor.
16
Ayn Rand was brilliant both as a novelist and as a philospher. It's not unusual, as witnessed in the prior posts, to see critiques by many individuals whom have probably really read any of her works. That requires intellectual independence and effort. It's much easier to copy the views of others without ever discovering the truth for yourself.

"Atlas Shrugged" changed my life because it exemplified the ideals that virtues demand. Ayn Rand needed no editor...her book sales are proof of that.
17
@16

Agreed. Except that I think you meant to say "never read."

Even so-called Objectivists are frequently seriously misguided in their interpretations of Rand's writings. Witness Ditko's lifestyle. Objectivism is a very challenging (and, yes, flawed like any other) philosophy that even Rand herself had trouble following.

When you announce to people that you believe reason is your ideal, that there should be no exceptions to being rational, then be prepared to be deluged with criticism from people who don't understand that this is something that you aspire to, not something that you have achieved.

Please wait...

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