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Who's NewPollFor the PAR- and PARC-Literate: Is the Deception of Ayn Rand by the Brandens Forgivable on the Grounds of Youth?
Yes. They were too young to know what they were doing, and Rand manipulated them.
12%
No. They have exhibited similar behaviour right up to the present.
32%
Yes, if they would truly come clean now.
4%
No. They are both clearly sociopaths.
12%
Who gives a damn? It's all ancient history!
32%
Other (please specify).
8%
Total votes: 25
 Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
 Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
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Universe of Evil Submitted by wsscherk on Sun, 2006-03-26 04:55
[Edit April 1, 2006] More pix, links, and post-mortem at bottom. ________________________________________________ I have enjoyed the Mertz-Wissler sideshow very much. It occurred to me that I needn't observe the existence of the Iron Curtain between SOLOPassionofbitchingendlesslyaboutpeoplewhodon'tgiveashitaboutyouroryouropinions, and RebirthoftheSanerLargerpieceofthepiethatLinzwastoostupidtonoticewasbeingdivviedup . . . and so thought to link and post some lighthearted banter from the Dark side of the Universe. The undeniably evil RoRers gave me atlas points before I had even closed the editing window, so that should indicate the depths of their hideous mendacity and depraved sense of life. Linz, I salute you. You rose from the unfunny and untrue accusation of being a drunken raging maniac to preside over the funniest, most entertaining corner of the objectivist universe. And lately, of course, your triumph in attracting Empress Diana to converse with actual mortals (the glorious Holly excepted). Please make her Empress to your Emperor, so she can delete people's accounts arbitrarily until there is no one left but you, her, Casey and a bottle of fine Australian. She is possibly the funniest, go out on the porch and throw up a good dinner funniest of any person who styles themselves an O'ist. If only she could take over from Peikoff as Pope. She is also living proof that people with Asperger spectrum disorder can make fine rulers of all that moves. From boo! hiss! RoR, post 30, in the dreary but evil thread 'Why doesn't Diana like me?': Philip Coates comments on La Mertz over on her popular blog, with some cogent observations. Of course, Diana is also now active on Linz's site. I read Noodlefood with a grim fascination. As a person who is not just yet quite ready to call himself an objectivist, I find I can't look away. La Mertz's factionalism exemplifies one of the 'ick factors' that keeps me from donning the robes . . . My fascination turns to appreciation when I turn my dial to 'entertainment.' Then I imagine La Mertz as Empress of the Objectivist Universe, atop the castle ramparts pouring boiling oil on the evil TOC army below, and later, after reviewing the records of that days beheadings, slinking into bed with his Majesty Linz, and whispering "KASS me, you radical.' At the moment she has got herself in a stew of quite amusing contradictions over at SOLOPassionofbitchingaboutBarbaraBranden, where her toadies gush and Valliant and his demented wife continue to examine the sheets of Ayn Rands 1968 bed for stains of evil. La Mertz finds herself an able match in the quick-witted Shayne Wissler, but cannot acknowledge this because she has only the one eye in the middle of her forehead -- the one and only eye in the kingdom that Sees all, Knows All. I'll tell ya, if she ran for meter-maid in my town, I would move to Costa Rica in fear she would take power and start killing people. As it is, she has her universe, her castle, her king, her fellow maniacs and enough rectitude to fill the Bay of Fundy. There is nothing like Valliant lapdog Casey Snarky-Face battling Evul and making friends with maniacs to remind me that objectivism is fun and getting funner! And Snarky-face probably hasn't had as much fun since he played Joe McCarthy's grinning stooge in his Grade Four drama fest. Oi. WSS [Edit 1] removed redundant 'grimly fascinating' in favour of ' I can't look away.' (Note to self: Always read Jenna's posts before hitting the button: she expressed my feelings without any of the snarl and narstiness. If I wasn't gay I would ask to bear her children and clean her cabin) -- I salute Phil for his patience . . . as a professional educator, it must be hard to deal with dumbass sophomores who think they can beard the bear. I utterly disagree with Trager's misreading of "analysis" as "judgement" and his consequent descent into the swamps of Lower Semantica, but I must be fair: Phil, Galt love you, I admire your stance and your persistence and the essential wisdom of all your posts (which I read carefully), but a prideful lecturing tone gets in the way sometimes, brother. You can be mistaken for a huffy, angry and arrogant teacher with little human touch on some rare occasions. If I was your student, and was treated that way, I would write "Wonderful, wonderful educator, my favourite lecturer. Would attend his seminar even if held in a Bombay meat market's offal depot during communal rioting. Hat too tight. Needs to get laid. More than once." - would someone please give the squabbler Orbit Davison a dang Atlas Point or two? I hate the frigging things, but he hasn't had one since gawd created the heavens (a mere 6000 years ago). Please have a bowel movement, Orbit. You are about to burst.[/Edit 1] [Edit 2] just getting around to reading all the responses to this cross-posting. I had suspected that the difference between RoR's reaction and SOLOP's reaction would be negligible. I was wrong. The pro-Mertz on RoR gave wise and spirited defences of her, her blog, her output, and her general value . . . whereas here at SOLOP, not only did the joke (explicitly laid out for the autistic, below **) fail for all but Diana herself, but the implicit invitation to self-criticism was ignored. The most balanced, benevolent and reasonable responses, and expressions of respect were on RoR (from Diana's interlocutors such as Phil Coates, William Scott Dwyer, etc., as well as a rebuke by the editor . . ). I wasn't sure which way it would go. Now, Snark Doggy Dawg here will never disappoint me because my standards are so low, but jeez, what a weak and disjointed response: "keep day job drunk crazy man rant go bowling more please non-DC wackjob." (The 10/10 answer to Ms Munk's question †† at bottom.) Your regular Saturday Night Drunk Rant™, amended on Saturday, April 1st. WSS -- brought to you by objectivists, "Serving novice objectivists since 19 -- . . . wait a minute, we don't serve novices -- get off my property or I'll blow your brains out!" ___________________________________________________ ** -- just because you didn't understand it when you skimmed it, no, that doesn't mean it's incomprehensible: schisms are not really funny -- but those who pillory Diana Mertz Hsieh for her orthodoxy should play fair and discuss here, in SOLOP, where she is open to polite exchanges. Let us not beard each other. My joke was an astringent for those with Grand Guignol rhetoric, which those in leadership here, Linz and Diana included, are *not* selling tickets to. I was spoofing those who think La Mertz is a histrionic authoritarian with Asperger's. For heaven's sake you first-time readers . . . give it another go, huh? †† "Ask the person."]
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Tic Toc pick talk
Thanks for the correction and minor twitting, John -- we all need it now and again, 'specially if yer just a presumed drunkart like me an t'other queer mountain people of Royal Socialist Federated Canuckistan.
Finally witted up to the fantasy 19-gallons-of-Minnesota-fortified-sugar-wine Weekend-of-Evul Jason and other drunk-spotters seemed to catch in their first skim.
Glad you like the clown (pronounced "KLOOON" in French, which makes clowns way more icky and creepy . . . )
WSS
The referrence to Birdcage
The referrence to Birdcage had nothing to do with faggishness, but the hyperactive, colourfull character Robin Williams played. It was a compliment actually. I could imagine your post being enacted by Williams.
Sigh now it is you who doesnt get it....
The dx was similarly tongue in cheek. Common man!
As to my degree, it is unfortunately, not from as prestigious a "university" as California Coast University, from whence I believe Branden got his Ph.D.
love the clown pic btw.
Wow
That screed is, I swear, the closest I've seen a post here approach a signal to noise ratio of zero.
Diagnosis at a distance
I thank Dr Newnham for the clarity of his Dx -- fag reference re: "Birdcage" notwithstanding -- and for his Rx:
Ritalin [ prescribed for various attentional/hyperactivity disorders]
Xanax [a very common hypnotic, prescibed for anxiety]
Did you get your degree in Dx-at-a-distance from the corner grocery, or did you mail away for it?
(we note your earlier Dx of N Branden: narcissistic PD)
WSS
Ok I get it....a poor mans
Ok I get it....a poor mans Robin Williams from "Birdcage", with a pinch of ritalin and a dash of xanax.
!
Now that would have been somethin'.
Right! But I say he's as
Right! But I say he's as good as ole Ben Johnson! Only it's not iambic pentameter.
Umm Okay
He aint no Voltaire!
What Jenna just said...
I agree with Jenna. WSS is witty with his satire. It's much better than simply being snide...and it's perhaps had the unintended side effect of bringing about pure irony. I like irony. And I won't explain this lest I be accused of being snide.
just because you didn't
just because you didn't understand it when you skimmed it, no, that doesn't mean it's incomprehensible: schisms are not really funny -- but those who pillory Diana Mertz Hsieh for her orthodoxy should play fair and discuss here, in SOLOP, where she is open to polite exchanges. Let us not beard each other.
This part wasn't snide. I took the rest of the article in the same humor as I do when I watch Monty Python-- WSS, to me, is a satirical mirror. His satire, while unpalatable to whom he is satirical of, doesn't say that he is being unfair, because if he chooses to make a satire of me, I think I can stand to learn something from it.
Suggestion
William
It's painful to see someone of obvious talent write such snide material. I suggest you take a look on the SOLOHQ archive and read any of the articles written by David C. Adams, and you will see the heights you might be better aiming for.
Tim
This clown notwithstanding
See also: a selection of vintage posters
"Pseudo-Intellectual . . . "
Tim Sturm writes: "The detached, pseudo-intellectual pose you have assumed isn't fooling anyone. I think you can do better than this."
Fair enough. What would you like to see? (athough the original fell flat and failed, I have added a pic/link and a coda) . . . I can't do much about the tone now, but always welcome critiques.
WSS
Mr Scherk
Mr Scherk
The detached, pseudo-intellectual pose you have assumed isn't fooling anyone. I think you can do better than this.
This clown
This clown notwithstanding,
Phil did not appreciate my disgust, and my calling into question, the accuracy of his "critique" of Diana's post, and cautioned others to "IMMEDIATELY STOP DEBATING SUCH A PERSON".
Apparently a great many people have taken his advice with regard to *him*.
regards
John
sorry WSS, I hate clowns and mimes, nothing personal.
WTF???
WSS, you and Rick Giles should get together and go bowling sometime...
Way beyond Freudian creepy
One of my early psychology profs had fun with a 101 class, when she asked, "What is the most efficient method of discovering a person's motivation?" (I paraphrase, this was 1997.) **
Athough a fan of multiple choice snap tests, this time she asked for prose responses. She sat rather primly up front, pretending to mark our previous week's output, with an occasional glance up at the cowed and confused
As with all Pysch 101s she had raced the class through the first seven chapters to get us ready for midterms, and I could hear the whispers of people freaking out, "what chapter was that in? does this count?" -- since when someone asked "can we use our books?" she responded, "of course."
40 rather stunned undergraduates set to furious scribbling and flipping of pages, and on a bathroom break my tablemate told me rather proudly that it couldn't possibly be Skinnerism. I had finished my three word response and so moved on to answer that week's leftover Phil 101 question, "what is the purpose of life?" -- where I had got transfixed by my initial answer: "I don't have a fucking clue, please don't flunk me."
_____________________
-- my spoof had its intended effect over at RoR. Although the sniping from the anti-Noodles and the anti-SOLOP's and the anti-everything zombies had not reached its apogee in the referenced thread, there was enough grandstanding and chestbeating for me to bring the whole sorry mess to a conclusion. With a chortle or two, the thread lightened up. The truly afflicted/blessed by Asperger's, of course, thought I was on drugs. Those with other subtle frontal lobe disorders did what I expect they usually do, mutter under their breath, repeatedly, "What did he mean, what did he mean, what did he mean . . . ?" -- unfortunately we don't yet have an O'ist Temple Grandin who can provide inside testimony -- and of course, most don't bother to read Grandin, Damasio, Goldberg, Kihlstrom, Pinker, McNally, Schachter or even Loftus since they are all purportedly socialists or sport other marks of the Beast such as tenure at Harvard, best-selling books, or repeated accolades from their peers. As for Freud, I read his output through the filter of Grunbaum, Cioffi, Borch-Jacobsen and the evil Crews . . .
++++++++++
On a somewhat more serious note, I have wondered why folks rarely, if ever provide Uniform Resource Indicators to the objects of their wrath/censure/blessing. There is nothing easier than hrefs, and one can therefore say "context is but a click away." As for those who bleat stupidly "why doesn't TOC talk about PARC?" no amount of URIs of such online TOC Talk as is actually occuring would prod the dopes in that direction. Someone less benevolent than me might say that the bleaters are simply too stupid to look, but I prefer to believe it is an honest error or an unfamiliarity with what 'search term' means . . .
-- thank you, Diana, for getting the joke. I especially appreciate your sly reference to objectivism's favoured drinking game and the testimony of our addled elders.
Love your blog.
William Scott Scherk
**(Ms Munk, my instructor, gave 1/10 to the sole person who wrote 2000 words on Wundt, failed the rest, and since she felt I had answered the question correctly, told me it was time to take on a boatload of independent study, the bitch)
Of all the...
Wow, of all the raving screeds against me, that one really takes the cake. It even bests the bit from Andre I recently re-posted. (I think Andre was at a disadvantage: he was sober.) And the whole sexual fantasy between Linz (gay man) and me (married hetro woman) me was way beyond Freudian creepy.
All in all, thanks for the favor of so clearly showing the intellectual vacuity of my insulting opponents, wsscherk! You're a gem!
-- Diana Hsieh
diana@dianahsieh.com
NoodleFood
More!
Please write more like this. It makes me think all the crackpots aren't in D.C.
--Brant
Nothing like a Saturday
Nothing like a Saturday night drunken rant...
- Jason
You were so proud of this
That you posted it here AND at RoR? Don't quit your day job.