Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for January 28, 2011

Love Darthfield.

It’s the dog names that make it happen for me.

He’s pretty much nailed Marmaduke, Howard Huge, and Clifford all at once. That’s all their material for the year.

The Fountainhead: Perfect.

this week had murder, suicide, soiled pants, use of the words dammit & a-holes. And because of that I’m naming it best tom the dancing bug ever.

Alas, some people read Rand and turn into selfish a-holes for much longer than three years…

I don’t care what he says - I am not reading the text or attending class to discuss it and I’ll still pull a B- at least.

I think I just peed myself. bleeep you Super-Fun-Pak Comix!

Use the FARCE John, Use the FARCE …….oh. too late.

Is the marriage counselor’s name a reference to Dan Harmon, creator of Community?

Christopher: You are calling me a name and you don’t know me at all. Shame on you.

As an admirer of Ayn Rand and supporter of her philosophy of Objectivism for over 45 years, I’ve seen about every kind of irrational attack on her there can be. This sort of mindless name-calling is typical.

I’ll give a temporary pass to the cartoon itself because I have also seen about every kind of mistake and misunderstanding when some people first encounter Ayn Rand’s ideas, so perhaps the cartoonist has encountered people fitting his description; I don’t doubt they exist.

But just reading “The Fountainhead” barely scratches the surface of what Ayn Rand is about. “Atlas Shrugged” lays out the first statement of her basic philosophy, which she spent the rest of her life elaborating in books such as “The Virtue of Selfishness”, “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, and “Philosophy: Who Needs It”. If anyone thinks they understand Ayn Rand without having read at least these, they are wrong.

But the only way for you to know for sure is to read her and judge for yourself.

pscheare:

As a wholesale attacker and trasher of anything you think smacks of socialism you’re the one to talk.

Junco: Thanks for remembering me; I’m flattered.

But while I am proud to attack socialism in all its colorations, it is generally the ideas I address and not the personalities (except for slavering mad-dog Worst-Person-in-the-World Keith Olbermann, who is a special case).

Plus, I know a helluva lot more about the philosophy and history of socialism than the typical attacker of Ayn Rand knows about her or her philosophy. So I suppose you are right: Yes, I am the one to talk.

Darthfield was a stroke of genius Kudos to the rest Though I be damned for eternity This strip makes me twice blessed

Ha ha. I knew Pschearer would come out because of the Fountainhead joke.

Rand in my opinion is the master of attacking empty castles. Who can find anybody standing up for her versions of ‘collectivisim’ and ‘mediocre public standards’ she so eagerly attacks. It’s so ridiculous how everybody tells Roark that he is too briliant, too fantastic and too original.

In a soeciety where everybody struggles to somehow stand out you’ll never hear anybody defend lowest common denominators the way her imaginary western communists do.

It’s as if she forgot that she left Russia. She kept fighting the ghost of communism even when it was nowhere to be seen. Beside that she’s a bore.

I’ve never read “The Fountainhead”, because everything I’d read about it led me to believe I wouldn’t enjoy it. Life’s too short to read 900-page books unless you think there’s a good chance it’ll be worth it. But I figured I could risk two hours on the movie, to see if that would change my mind. Instead, it cemented my belief that Ayn Rand had nothing to say to me.

The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is ridiculous, the “message” is abhorrent, and the dialogue is laughable; everybody speaks in slogans: “Mr. Roark, I’ve devoted my life to destroying you because you’re a genius.”

Rand wrote the screenplay herself, so she has nobody to blame but herself if it misrepresents the book. Of course, one of Roark’s/Rand’s POINTS is that no worthwhile work can ever be done as a collaboration, so maybe she should have directed, designed, shot, and acted the movie entirely on her own…

Ayn Rand’s philosophy is compelling and classic… when you’re 18. Then most people go into the real world and grow up, because life and society are complicated and Objectivism’s inane simplicity collapses under any actual scrutiny.