The Politically Incorrect Show - 28/03/2001

[Music - Die Fledermaus]

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Wednesday March 28, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd., the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

The Black Caps trashed Pakistan yesterday, Russell Crowe won an Oscar, summer's stifling humidity has given way to a glorious Autumn ... all's well with the world. Pity about Aunty Helen reinstating Uncle Marian, but hell, it'll give talkback callers who believe that politicians should run everything another chance to moan about politicians.

One jarring note in MY world was news on my SOLO site that a young man had been excommunicated from an American university Objectivist club because he had so much as MENTIONED the SOLO site. It was partly as a counter to this sort of ridiculous behaviour that I set the site up in the first place. Objectivism is supposed to be a philosophy of reason, benevolence & life-celebration. Unfortunately, many of its orthodox adherents behave like rabid religionists who get their kicks from denouncing the heresy, real or imagined, of others, rather than from living an authentic life of their own. In so doing they lend credence to critics' claims that the movement is a "cult." And this behaviour comes from the top. Here's what Leonard Peikoff, the leader of the orthodox wing of the movement, the Ayn Rand Institute, said in a 1993 interview:

"I like having the power to make definitive statements on philosophical questions. I'm in a position to judge whether a particular view is essential to Objectivism, a betrayal of it, or purely optional ... & then to make my own view emphatically known. ... I like being the guardian of the philosophy's integrity."

Well, the nature of THIS philosophy is such that it cannot have such a "guardian." It must be grasped by each person independently, not repeated by rote in a manner designed not to offend authority figures. Anyone who grasps it - not just Leonard Peikoff - is then in a position to judge whether a certain view is consistent with it or not. In the event of a disagreement, the parties concerned should repair conscientiously to reason & reality, not to the intercession of a self-appointed pope.

Commenting on this latest excommunication, an American friend said:

"It's funny.  When people talk about God and praying and whatnot, I get this feeling of 'how could anyone fall for that nonsense.?'  Same thing whenever I hear about ARI and their nonsense.  It's just shocking that people can accept it as normal.  It's as if someone went to work and started talking about doing a rain dance, and everyone took it seriously.  It upsets me that people accept it not only as
non-controversial, but as somehow noble."

Noble it ain't. It's downright silly, harmful & unworthy of people who in many respects have done & continue to do a great deal of good. Fortunately, in this case, there's a happy ending - the young man concerned has found a hearty welcome on the SOLO site, & celebrated his arrival in a manner wholly consistent with Objectivism: with a Guinness & a steak!

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