Free Capitalist

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Posts posted by Free Capitalist

  1. Posted · Report post

    PS. Can you give me an instance of this white rock n' roll played with respectful quietness vs. the loud black rock n' roll? That's a new one on me.

    I had in mind the playing of rock music in the car, versus drive-by gangster rap, which is always audible at least three blocks away. A reasonable person always walks by such a car and asks himself, "Doesn't this guy have some manners?".

  5. Posted · Report post

    My comments might be slightly off subject. But, can anyone point to one country in history that once it became corrupt turned itself around? In all my studying of history I cannot name one.

    All the time. It is a falsely historic truism we are taught nowadays, that history moves in "eras", and during the Enlightenment era, or the Renaissance, countries were uniformly good, or uniformly moving towards the right direction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Upon careful inspection you find the history of Europe punctuated with crises, and with men who stepped in to turn their country around. In the early 1800s Charles Babbage wrote that England had lost all of its Renaissance creative impulse, and was stagnating into complete oblivion. You can still read his seminal essay, and take a lot of notice of its title: Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes. To change the course of things, he came to power, founded the Royal Academy of Sciences and peopled it with capable men. Britain thus impelled, turned around into a gigantic technological and scientific powerhouse of the 19th century, and he went on to build a mechanical, pre-electronic, computer!

    At the beginning of the 18th century, Joseph Addison, the most spectacular writer of his time, said that Britain has lost all capacity for literature and creativity; the native soil had become too barren and was incapable of producing great writers like the old Shakespeare anymore. He went on to write and teach, and through his own and close allies' gargantuan effort, he had initiated a revolution in English creativity literature, so that by the 19th century, you would get amazing novels like Middlemarch and Sherlock Holmes.

    When men awoke from the Middle Ages, a few singular Brits were stunned at their culture's own barbarity and irrationality in comparison to the old Romans, and proceeded with great urgency to rise to places of power and attempt to turn Britain around. Which, needless to say, they succeeded.

    And that's the story of just one country in Europe. The history of every country during the supposedly monolithic 'good times' was peopled with constant declines and falls, averted through titanic efforts of far-seeing individuals.

    Just the Greek and Roman history is itself replete with stories of statesmen who lived in corrupted and slowly rotting cities, and singlehanded turned the entire society and its people around through the sheer power of their intellect and will, Demosthenes, Cicero, Camillus, etc.

    ====

    In regards to this thread, I am a bit perplexed at why we review one Presidential candidate but avoid all contrast with the other. Surely we accept should candidates not on how they score according to our wishful thinking and rosy heights of imagination; but most importantly in how they contrast with the other alternatives, and taking almost no other consideration into account, than that.

    I also don't understand this notion to send candidates the message to get out of the way. Something of a more precise suggestion would be welcome.

  6. Posted · Report post

    From "the bad review", http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372561,00.html:

    It is said the legion of writers and directors who came and went before "Hancock" was initiated had a "black" comedy in mind — something that sent up the idea of superheroes.

    I don't understand what it is with this notion that black people are supposed to "send up" traditionally moral and good characters or values. Why is "black music" supposed to be obnoxious and loud in contrast to "white music", even rock'n'roll, played with respectful quietness? And why is a "black comedy" supposed to mock superheroes, and put the concept on its own head?

    I really hope Hancock doesn't do that. I was hoping to see it, since I love Will Smith films, but this really made me have a second thought.

  7. Posted · Report post

    But, the story is completely anti-human and another in a long line of eco-religionist stories.

    I have a completely 180 degree opposite perspective from this one. All his life, Wall-E wants nothing more out of himself than to just be more human, an to imitate humans in theier most beautiful and profound form. Humanity, in its perfect and healthiest state, is the highest standard that this movie can conjure up; so that when we face a certain revelation later in the movie, it is not a strike at Humanity with its capital H, but a strike at us for being too fat, slothful and lazy, in comparison to the vigorous, beautiful men from Hello Dolly, whom Wall-E worships. If you think of the character of Wall-E, and how he's more human than most of the human characters, I think you'll agree with me that this is one of the most profoundly human-worshipping movies made in a long time.

  8. Posted · Report post

    Yes but what happens when Sarkozy is out? Look how, just by himself he's in a boycott against the Chinese Olympics, and prevents Turkey from entering into the EU. He's materialized out of nowhere to suddenly be the biggest hope Europe's future (a Frech president, of all people...). Dutch politicians are all corrupt -- look how they're repressing Geert, how indifferent they were to Ayaan Hirsi's life, how they suppressed the Mohammed cartoons. Germany hosts the 2nd largest population of Muslims and their hospitals (from what I hear) are beginning to look favorably upon the science of acupuncture... Absent of communism, absent of any great moral conflict, Europe is still folding in on itself.

  11. Posted · Report post

    Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge

    By Steve Doughty

    Last updated at 2:12 AM on 04th July 2008

    Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family and marital arguments and to regulate finance.

    He declared: 'Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.'

    In his speech at an East London mosque, Lord Phillips signalled approval of sharia principles as long as punishments - and divorce rulings - complied with the law of the land.

    But his remarks, which back the informal sharia courts operated by numerous mosques, provoked a barrage of criticism.

    Lawyers warned that family and marital disputes settled by sharia could disadvantage women or the vulnerable.

    Tories said that legal equality must be respected and that rulings incompatible with English law should never be enforceable.

    Lord Phillips spoke five months after Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams suggested Islamic law could govern marital law, financial transactions and arbitration in disputes.

    The Lord Chief Justice said yesterday of the Archbishop's views: 'It was not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes'.

    He added there is 'widespread misunderstanding as to the nature of sharia law'.

    article-1031611-01D715D500000578-356_468x294.jpg

  12. Posted · Report post

    Is it one of those things where the name is wildly inapropriate to the thing? (ie, like 'fair trade', which is not fair)

    Not exactly.

    The contrast here is between rationalist, and rational. It's an -ism, an institutional reliance on reason only, to the exclusion of the senses. Another way to put it is "reason-ism" -- everything must come from reason and nowhere else. Since you throw away senses and the perceptual world, your thought processes are therefore bound to be self-referencing and disconnected from anything real or actual.

  16. Posted · Report post

    The Ayn Rand Institute has gathered together talks and interviews with people who knew Ayn Rand and you can listen to the free audios here.

    Many of these are also available from the AynRandBookstore.com and some are available no where else.

    • My Thirty Years with Ayn Rand — An Intellectual Memoir by Leonard Peikoff (Recorded 1987 at Ford Hall Forum)
    • Ayn Rand and the Atlas Shrugged Years: Reminiscences and Recollections by Mary Ann Sures with Harry Binswanger (Recorded April 25, 1992)
    • An Excerpt From Ayn Rand’s Life: Highlights and Sidelights by Harry Binswanger (Recorded 1993)
    • About Facets of Ayn Rand by Mary Ann Sures, with Leonard Peikoff (Recorded 2001)
    • Centenary Reminiscences of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff (Recorded February 5, 2005)
    • New York Centenary Reminiscences of Ayn Rand by Harry Binswanger and Allan Gotthelf (Recorded April 23, 2005)

    A lot of these are exceptional. I've heard Dr. Peikoff's 30 years speech, it was great. Have listened to the Mary Ann Sures and Harry Binswanger reminiscences, which were excellent (by the way who was that woman introducing and concluding the audio segment? Her listnessness almost negated the full-of-life sensation from the presentation itself).

  17. Posted · Report post

    Here we have a thoroughly-brilliant, original moviemaker who creates thrillers in a style that is careful, considered, thorough, and human (dignified), yet the mainstream critics can his films while giving slime like [...] countless other trashy films, a free pass. These are the same people who canned Unbreakable and Lady In The Water!?! Talk about injustice. Or some of them would give a Shyamalan film 3 or 4 stars, then give the same 3 or 4 stars to absolute trash.

    In connection with this point, which I think is a very valid criticism of the film industry, here's something somewhat tangential but relevant: actress Katherine Heigl, being nominated for the Emmies this year (and winning last year) for her role in the really average Grey's Anatomy show, said:

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_en_...N2bnt9hdrEE1vAI

    "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization" decided against competing, Heigl said in a written statement provided by her publicist, Melissa Kates, who was contacted by the AP.

    In other words, the Academy has lost practically all standards; is shameless. Therefore the actress has to take matters into her own hands, and remove herself from standing because her conscientiousness wouldn't let her stand to win. That's class.

  18. Posted · Report post

    There comes a time when a corrupt government becomes the worst enemy of the people it is governing. I think our government officials need to read the Declaration of Independence, "...Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government".

    Ray, the government is not acting for its own end here, indifferent or destructive to the governed: the people are the ones who want this, or else else we would've seen an outcry and an immediate repeal of this law.

    Even still, it passed just barely. Look at the voting tally, it almost didn't pass.

    I think it's better to plan for and investigate such an example course of action

    What, Shrugging?

  19. Posted · Report post

    Obama didn't take Econ 101, Military History 101, American History 101 (what with his America-loving preacher), and a host of other basic classes. But he passed the Platitudes 499 class, and so is on the way towards aquiring the Baccalaureate.

  20. Posted · Report post

    He became a supervillain in order to find a superhero (Bruce Willis). If that's not a BIG Romantic story about the pursuit of values, I don't know what is.

    Maybe it's a High Romantic concept, but I don't think it was delivered on the level that would've been appropriate. The whole movie is entirely understated. You expect, suppose, a movie about superheroes, and you get basically a bunch of regular folks trying to get some issues off their chest. Maybe this is one of those big examples of an unfulfilled expectation, which can ruin even the best movies, but I went away unsatisfied here.

    I hated the sense of life of The Village, but the story's level of abstraction is outstanding. The production is also of very high quality.

    I agree completely. Sense of life -- so so, but in terms of concept, and delivery, it was outstanding. Here you think you've stumbled into almost a horror movie, but... well I won't spoil anything but it's nothing so bad. And the message really is outstanding as well.

    I'm surprised no one mentioned Sixth Sense, which I (along with the populace at large) found amazing.

    But yet, I don't think M Night is of stature that he (and the media) sometimes make him out to be. He's artsy and original, but more conventional directors can quite predictably output more emotionally fulfilling and heroic movies, so he needs to work on being less artsy, and more fulfilling.

  21. Posted · Report post

    I was kind of forced to see it because of my gf, and I don't know, I thought it was a chick flick... Don't get me wrong, there was nothing bad in it either plot-wise or sense-of-life-wise, merely an absence of manliness and triumph which men really love, and a whole lot of drama, emotions, and dramatic emotions, which appeals a lot to the fairer part of humanity.

  23. Posted · Report post

    This doesn't entirely fit under painting, I don't know, but these friezes were unknown to me, and I thought it could be interesting to post them here. These are the so-called Cancelleria Reliefs (or Anaglypha Traiani), discovered from 1938 to 1939, but still relatively unknown even today.

    012_051108_0214WSa_850w.jpg

    http://www.rome101.com/Cancelleria/

    Everyone always hearkens back to Greek friezes for true masterpieces, but these seem to me just as impressive.

    The expression in this image, in particular, I thought might be appealing to every member on this Forum:

    0609_1344_T.jpg