Ayn Rand: Government playing role of ‘food police’

[The Straight Story]

Ayn Rand: Government playing role of ‘food police’
Contributed by the Ayn Rand Institute

DOWNEY-Congressmen are haggling over which flavors of cigarette to ban. Nearly all agree that chocolate, strawberry, almost any other conceivable flavor be banned, but there is a furious debate as to whether clove-flavored cigarettes should be a permitted exception.

“The very existence of such a debate,” said Alex Epstein, junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, “the face that the government is dictating anything related to what flavor cigarettes may or may not be produced and consumed is an ominous indicator of the state of liberty in America.

“The purpose of a government is to protect our freedom to live our lives according to our own judgment. This necessitates leaving us free to choose whether, what, and how much to smoke – whether we choose to rationally enjoy cigarettes in moderation or make the mistake of smoking too much – just as we are free to choose how to conduct ourselves in eating, marriage, child-rearing, and business, even though mistakes in those realms are legion. Individuals should be absolutely free to consume whatever flavor of cigarette they regard as most enjoyable.

“On the principle of individual freedom, those who are concerned about the hazards of smoking have every right to work to persuade – but not force – others to choose not to smoke. But the anti-smoking movement and today’s paternalistic government reject the principle of individual freedom. On the premise that individuals are incapable of governing their own lives, the government dictates to us what we may or may not do in an ever-expanding number of realms: from medical treatments to retirement planning, to what kind of cooking oil we may consume, to forbidding flavorful cigarettes.

http://www.thedowneypatriot.net/briefs/briefs01.php

[Jack Rabbit]

1. and blah, blah, blah. To Ayn Rand, liberty is for artificial persons

What her "philosophy" boils down to is a moralistic justification of greed and selfishness based on a poor reading of Aristotle.

[FVZA_Colonel]

2. However rediculous this particular situation might be, I'm pretty sure that anyone at the Ayn Rand

Institute would consider any government intervention in the food supply (up to and including the mere existence of the FDA) to be "a violation of personal freedom." These people are so damned afraid of "the government" it's almost childish.

[The Straight Story]

4. Sad but true

Some, like Ayn type folks, want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

[JDPriestly]

5. Addictive substances are a violation of personal freedom.

The mistake that Ayn Rand and her ilk make is thinking that only government can violate our personal freedom. Unfortunately, today we have to worry not just about government overstepping but also about private corporations and as always criminals overstepping and violating our rights. Big tobacco violates the rights of people who become addicted to its products. At least I can vote about the extent to which government infringes on my liberty. The 13-year olds who get addicted to tobacco don't really get much of a say.

[Quantess]

8. So you are saying that corporations can also violate our personal freedoms.

Edit:
Sorry, I misunderstood you.

[JDPriestly]

17. Yes. Germany attempts (or attempted) to guarantee human

rights against private violations. Thus, they prohibited NAZI and neo-NAZI party activities after WWII. Our Bill of Rights only restricts government activity. I have the impression that Ayn Rand is concerned mostly about government violations and not the many, many private ones. So my supermarket can snoop on my buying habits, but the government should not be doing that.

[Quantess]

29. WOW. Corporations have acquired way too much control over

OUR way of life!

Ayn Rand, interesting as she was....may she rest in peace.

[Warren DeMontague]

And what about marijuana? alcohol? processed sugar? video games? pictures of nekkid ladies?

All those things can be or have been argued, at various times, to be "addictive".

[bperci108]

3. For a look at Ayn Rand's theories in action and the world they will create, read:

Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle".

Objectivism is little more than "conservative" economics raised to the status of fundamentalist religious faith.

:puke:

[tinrobot]

6. I agree, banning by flavor is wrong.

Just ban all cigarettes. They're filled with poison.

[Quantess]

7. Good f888ing lard

I AM AYN RAND! I am going to be steadforth in my will to put antifreeze in toothpaste!

[marions ghost]

9. oh yeah

:eyes:

The pigs at the end of the pipeline should be free to consume any disease-inducing garbage the food industry produces.

This is "individual freedom"...:puke:

[LeftishBrit]

10. I wouldn't trust anything called the Ayn Rand Institute further than I could throw it

Yes, the government can sometimes be over-intrusive into people's personal lives, but so can businesses and employers. There was a thread only the other day about some American (non-government) employers threatening to penalize employees financially if they failed to meet weight, blood pressure and cholesterol targets.

I am not sure what would be the rationale for restricting *flavours* on cigarettes - it's not the flavour that's dangerous - unless it's to make them unattractive to young children, which might have a point.

But governments are justified in setting certain restrictions, e.g. on 'quack' medicines or adulterated food.

[baldguy]

11. Ayn Rand, Joseph Goebbels, Joe Stalin

Same, same

[hatrack]

12. Ayn Rand is dead. Her books suck. Was there anything else?

Just asking . . . .

[Nikki Stone1]

13. She was addicted to amphetamines in an attempt to keep her weight down

The ridiculously long diatribes in "Atlas Shrugged" can be attributed to her having been constantly on speed at the time she wrote it.

[hatrack]

14. Well, I've heard that the sentences in "On The Road" go on and on becuase Kerouac was stoned

Very plausible.

The only question I have is why Ayn Rand couldn't have acted like a normal tweaker and done something less damaging to society as a whole, like spending four or five days taking radios apart and looking at the tubes.

[NuttyFluffers]

15. well that just further confirm that 'speed kills'

sadly, while most other tweakers just destroy themselves, she creates a pseudo-intellectual movement based on childish selfishness.

PS: which reminds me, i think i'll start calling people who respect her writings or spout her philosophy 'tweakers.' maybe 'shit tweakers,' because they're worse than regular tweakers. they swallowed that shit, make new shit of their own, and now want to 'spread it' all over everybody.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Kesey wrote One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest on mescaline.

Great book.

[baldguy]

23. Ah, but HE had an editor.

[Marr]

16. I think Ayn Rand's ideas have been more throughly disproven than Communism.

And yet, she's still promoted. Her ideals are still embraced by our political "elites". It's not because they work-- they don't. But they provide an excuse for greedy people to steal even more. Easiest sell in the world. That's what keeps Limbaugh in business as well. If you can explain how vice is actually virtue, you'll never lack for an audience.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. I'm gonna listen to her? She's dead. If zombies are walking the Earth, we've got bigger problems

than the food police.

[hatrack]

21. If it's a case of zombies walking the Earth, shouldn't we call the Brain Police?

If only we knew who they were . . .

[Posteritatis]

24. There are, they're called Randroids. (nt)

[dkofos]

20. Ayn Rand =IDIOT

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. Did she ever find that "rugged individualist" to rip her bodice?

[Ikonoklast]

25. Ayn Rand would support the decision to put cyanide

in hot dogs. After all, if it was profitable for the corporation and its' stockholders to do so, it's YOUR fault as a consumer to have eaten poison.

Objectivism is a failed theology, worshipped by those that have no critical thinking skills.

[Le Taz Hot]

26. Does anyone know if they're still

teaching Rand's version of economic Darwinism in colleges these days? I know they were in the 1980's but luckily, I never had a class that made me read any of her stuff. Anyone know?

[Junkdrawer]

27. FROM THE ARCHIVES: BEST AYN RAND POST EVER....

DUer Telly Savalas from 10/2005:

Ella turned towards the window, folded her arms, and said, "Kent, I cannot understand why you read that drivel. If there's anything worse than a bad political philosopher, it's a bad political philosopher who writes bad novels to present her flawed ideas. It's bad enough when she writes nonfiction works that foist assertions and conjecture on the reader and tries to pass it off as 'reason', but when she tries to dress it up in a fictional work with one-dimensional characters and a cheesy plot, it's downright putrid. I'd go so far as to say that her writings dishonor the thousands of years of evolution required for humans to develop language skills.

"The worst element of her 'writing' is how utterly ridiculous the dialogue is. In real life people converse with one another, they don't take turns delivering speeches to one another. If she'd ever spent anytime actually interacting with another human being who wasn't clinically insane, she'd know this and it would be reflected in her writing.

"Furthermore, don't you think she could go to more effort to be a bit more terse? I mean, Jesus Christ, I've seen bumperstickers that are more nuanced than one of her novels, so I don't see why she can't be more succinct in the exposition of her cheap little 'ideas'. Does it really take an 800 page novel to say "guvmint bad, capitalism good"?

"Face it, Kent. She's a second-rate hack that makes Jackie Collins look like Dostoevsky. Put that shit down and do something a bit more intellectually engaging. For instance, there's a Dukes of Hazzard marathon on the country network. Try watching that instead."

Kent set the book on the table and glanced up at Ella.

"Ella," he said, "I see your collectivist friends have poisoned your mind with these bizarre ideas about word economy and multi-dimensional characters. Such things are only devices to enslave the Individualist. Every word the Individualist says is a gift to the universe, so the universe benefits the more he speaks. Hence all this silliness about being brief when trying to make a point does not apply to the Individualist.

"Let's be clear, Ella, that when I say the Individualist gives a gift to the world by expressing his thoughts, it is not altruism that motivates the giving of this gift. No. No. No. Altruism is an evil sentiment that only results in atrocities like child labor laws and homeless people being fed. Thus the Individualist is ego-driven. By satisfying my own desires and showing complete contempt for the needs of others, I make the laissez-faire capitalist system work as it should and the benefits rain down on everyone. Although many economists prefer to use the term 'trickle down.'

"For instance, when I enriched your life last week by giving you a 45 minute lecture on the necessity of abolishing the capital gains tax, I didn't do it because I wanted to please you. Rather I did it because I love the sound of my own voice. The fact that you were enlightened by my observations is only secondary. Nevertheless it demonstrates my point about how being selfish is superior to being altruistic. Had I been altruistic and payed heed to you wish for me to...what was that phrase you used repeatedly? 'Shut the fuck up', I believe it was? Well, had I done that, then you'd have spent the rest of your life unaware of the great thoughts that course through my mind on an hourly basis.

"Yes, Ella. It amazes me how unwilling the collectivist mind is to accept the truth. Why wasn't it just last week when you were claiming that society should chain down the Individual by using some of his resources to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina? After I was able to overcome my feeling of horror and disgust that you would suggest denying the Individual his Freedom, I successfully rebutted your point by observing that A equals A, therefore it logically follows that the so called victims should fend for themselves and not depend on the altruism of collectivists. Rather than daring to challenge this impenetrable logic, you simply dismissed my comments by calling me an asshole. Were I a petty collectivist, I might have taken offense at that remark. However, I am a noble Individual and know that your hurtful words were motivated by your envy of my superior intellect. For it is individuals such as I who propel society forward.

"Um...the Individual's freedom should be regarded as...um...Egoism is the one true...um...er...what was it we were talking about, Ella?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4973593#4975243

[Anarcho-Socialist]

28. Ayn Rand's 'Objectivism' is a superficial dead-end philosophy

[BlooInBloo]

30. Ayn Rand: Jackass.