Government Literary Stimulus!

Read up, bookworms!  

Here's an accompanying bon mot: "It should be a point of consensus that any chief executive that sends the public flocking into the loving arms of Orwell and Rand is probably not doing the job correctly." Heh.

Movie Madness: "Atlas Shrugged"

Is this film adaptation of Ayn Rand's massive Objectivist novel going to be a triumph or a ... um ... train wreck?

Who is John Galt?

Movie News: Production Begins on "Atlas Shrugged" Film

I suppose it's an idea whose time has finally come. Lights! Camera! Action!

Nerd Analysis + Book Review: Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" Flying Off the Bookshelves

Duke University professor of economics Bruce Caldwell has an analysis of why free-market economist F.A. Hayek's classic book "The Road to Serfdom" is currently enjoying a massive reader renaissance. It is selling very well. No wonder, given the zeitgeist.

I'll say this for the current recession and the concomitant government follies that are going on in the name of "fixing it": it has unexpectedly lit a fire under the chairs of people all over -- a fire that drives them to educate themselves and think for themselves and READ ... and engage in a debate of ACTUAL IDEAS. That is the silver lining to a gloomy cloud.

You'll recall too how Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is also selling well.

RELATED POST: Satire Alert: DHS issues No-Read List.

Nerd Notes: Assessing Ayn Rand

Here are two interesting looks at Ayn Rand -- one and two.

I do really like Milton Friedman's piquant (and very quotable) opinion of Rand as "an utterly intolerant and dogmatic person who did a great deal of good."

For me, Rand reinforced rather than gave me my convictions. I was already sympathetic to libertarian ideas when I first read Rand, and I found Atlas Shrugged both a thrillingly comforting and mentally invigorating read. One of Rand's greatest contributions in that book (and, I suppose, through her work overall) is her celebration of the individual and his/her talents, skills, and potential, and also her bracingly clear articulation of the noxious (and unfortunately popular) idea that the individual must always yield to some vague collective demand in the name of the "good" of the collective -- even to the great personal detriment of the individual. As for the role of an overweening, all-consuming, all-intrusive, morally misguided government in the destruction of its own country and people, well, I don't really have to elaborate, do I?

Anyhoo, I'll readily tell you that I'm a great part libertarian, though I won't go as far as to say that I'm a pure Objectivist.

Quote of the Day: Ayn Rand on How We're All Felons and Criminals Now

Here's the quote:

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."

Here's a fascinating article to go with it. I give you a blurb from it:

In his new book, the Boston-based civil liberties advocate and occasional Reason contributor Harvey Silverglate estimates that in 2009, the average American commits about three federal felonies per day. And yet, we aren’t a nation of degenerates. On the contrary, most social indicators have been moving in a positive direction for a generation. Silverglate argues we're committing these crimes unwittingly. The federal criminal code has become so vast and open to interpretation, Silverglate argues, that a U.S. Attorney can find a way to charge just about anyone with violating federal law. In fact, it's nearly impossible for some business owners to comply with one federal regulation without violating another one. We're no longer governed by laws, we're governed by the whims of lawyers.

Argh. We are SO over-regulated, and it's about to get worse.

Book Review: New Academic Book About Ayn Rand

Add this to your reading list, young grasshopper! I just re-read Atlas Shrugged and was quite taken with how fitting it is for this day and age.

Paging Dr. John Galt, MD

Hmmmmmmm.

Pop Culture Commentary: Harry Potter and the Death of Reading

This is an interesting take, even if I'm not really on board for all of it.

The writer in part laments how many adults like to read Potter and calls this "cultural infantilism." Well, OK, maybe, but it is actually possible to read both Potter and "acceptable" (according to this writer) books. I'm looking at my bookshelf now, and I wonder how much of it is "acceptable" to the writer of that article. A random selection of fiction authors include J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare, Jasper Fforde, Robert A. Heinlein, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Virgil, Dante, Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, Ovid, Homer, Lindsey Davis, Ayn Rand, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis (Space Trilogy!), and Jim Butcher. They can all write rollicking good yarns, and isn't that that we want? I don't see why we have to constantly muck up the pursuit of a good story with snooty-sounding elitist fretting about how we're all mush-brained idiots with low sloping foreheads for liking pop culture along with the great unwashed masses. Or whatever.

Part of me is thinking that the article singles out Potter because he's just such an easy target. Nowadays anything popular and successful invites attack simply by dint of being popular and successful. The attacks usually come from the snobbish self-proclaimed egotistical intellectual elite. You know, folks who use terms like "cultural infantilism." (Did I say that out loud?) From the way he starts off, you'd think we were all heading for "Fahrenheit 451" territory or something. Get real. (You know, during the Dark Ages, literacy plummeted all over Europe, but somehow everyone all muddled through and came out the other side -- and even created some glorious bits of cultural magnificence along the way. We're currently living in the most literate period ever in the Western world. Think about that for a minute. And think about the sheer power of LITERACY, being able to read and write. And more people can do this now than ever.) Besides, is reading/books/writing alone the standard of measurement for "cultural infantilism" or even cultural vitality? Hardly.

And the really weird thing is the complaint that because a ton of people young and old read the Potter books, reading is in decline. It seems kind of, oh, oxymoronic somehow. Isn't it a good thing that a bunch of people discovered (or rediscovered) the pleasures of reading a rollicking good yarn? Apparently not, since it was the "wrong" kind of book?

Anyhoo, if I may engage in a little hypocritical digression: In all honesty, adults loving to read Potter is nowhere near as alarming as adults -- OK, let's say it, adult WOMEN -- loving to read the "Twilight" books and mooning over the execrable Edward Cullen character. I tried the first book to see what the media fuss was about, and (curiosity killed the nerd!) I wanted to gouge my eyes out afterwards. Rowling at least has a good STORY. All I'm going to say is: the Battle of Hogwarts.

My advice for everybody: read what you like and enjoy yourself, for goodness sake. Life is short. Don't let "cultural critics" dictate to you what you should or shouldn't read. They can offer their opinions, and that's it. Your choices are our own. Read with your friends and talk about what you read -- one of life's great pleasures (add coffee and cake, natch). I would also suggest reading the classics both (A) because they're fabulous in themselves and (B) you need them so you can appreciate delightful riffs on them such as Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" novels or "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

Yes, yes, we should all read more good books, etc. etc., blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, und so weiter. But I'm not going to get into a big argument about what books are good ones (according to WHOM?). I can only tell you about books that I personally like and recommend. I'm going say, Go and have fun reading what you want to read, OK? If you have good books to suggest, please do so!

(You can also apply all this to movies too.)

Oh, and I owe you lot a "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie review, don't I? Oops. I've been too busy gushing over "Moon" and the information overload in the aftermath of Comic-Con. (In a nutshell, HP 6 was adequate, even good, but it wasn't anywhere near "Moon" or "Star Trek" for sheer delightful movie-going.)

Analysis: Big Business versus Big Government

Here is an interesting opinion piece. It has some piquant ideas, actually.

Is choosing between Big Business and Big Government really choosing the lesser of two evils? Or is this actually a false dichotomy (and one that's vastly reductive)?

Bonus: a quote from Ayn Rand.

Nerd Journal: "Summer Is A-Coming In -- Loud Sing Cuckoo!"

Oh, early medieval English poetry! And summer is coming. Summer is here.

Yesterday was a gluttonous festival with friends -- everything from an early round of Satan Coffee and pastries at a local legend of a bakery...making wickedly awesome brownies in the afternoon...watching a DVD of the hilarious BBC retelling of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"... (Note: If you needed another reason to watch it, observe that somehow Rufus Sewell manages to wear tall high-heeled boots as well as La Parisienne and I can!)

Then I decided to splurge on a big luxury. The result was an image that I found really amusing: me sitting in a comfy chair getting a spa pedicure while reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and chatting with the Vietnamese manicurist about the value of hard work and education (she was asking me about my schooling since her own daughter is soon going to college).

Something about that whole exchange made me happy -- and not just because I was indulging in a luxury. I find the whole idea of small business and entrepreneurship to be just thrilling -- and the idea of the honest exchange of goods and services to be thrilling too. There's no element of pity or charity or sentimental bleeding-heart emotion in the exchange of my hard-earned money for a good pedicure. I buy the time and skill of the professional, and in return she gives me what I want. There's something really pure and honest and -- yes -- respectable about the entire exchange. The entire shop was completely busy too -- the hum of business and the sound of people making a living. I absolutely love it. Especially in a time of recession. (Well, I guess I really AM a heartless capitalist pig. Oink, darlings!)

FYI, not that you care, but I picked out a shamelessly bright red nail polish that says, "Summer is here and I mean to enjoy it!" If you look carefully, you can see tiny little sparkles in the paint. Wear with wedge-heeled sandals, knee-length skirts, and a sassy attitude (natch). It is so not-Nerdworld that it'll make your heart sing.

And no, I didn't splurge all the way and get a manicure. Nice manicures are wasted on me. I type too much on computers and spend too much time lugging books and journals; the nail polish chips almost immediately. Also, I am evil and spend a lot of time doing stuff like clawing out the eyes of my enemies while listening to the lamentations of their women, so I can tell you that that sort of behavior is very hard on manicures!

Life is good. And getting better. Nerd News: Tomorrow -- finally! -- I am getting on a plane and disappearing. (I can see the student newspaper now: "Enviro-Criminal MM to Mother Earth: Drop Dead.") Yes, I'm off to join the Cinema-Mad Sibling to wreak havoc across the universe. The undergrads have long since fled campus; finally it'll be the turn of the instructors, grad students, and faculty.

Check back tomorrow for the last Nerdworld Soundtrack song of the Spring 2009 school term! (UPDATE: Here's the song!)

PS: From La Parisienne and Il Barista, here is a bit of manicure-related humor (starts around 4:30, though she's got some other funny ethnic-humor stuff before then too). No political-correctness here, people!

Confucius Say, "Go John Galt"?

A PhD student in philosophy has an interesting application! These days I've been reading more Ayn Rand and Jane Austen than Confucius, but maybe I should crack open the Analects:

The Master said, “When a prince’s personal conduct is correct, his government is effective without the issuing of orders. If his personal conduct is not correct, he may issue orders, but they will not be followed.” -- Analects book 13

Going Galt, are we, Confucius?

Or it could be as simple as: hey, why should we pay taxes if Geithner and other DC fat cats didn't? It's called leading by example, folks.