tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post113701830794897349..comments2024-03-28T03:10:51.807-05:00Comments on Julia Sweeney: Julia Sweeneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02459682985438227986noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-54512702428217289322011-11-30T03:14:29.364-06:002011-11-30T03:14:29.364-06:00Really effective info, lots of thanks for the arti...Really effective info, lots of thanks for the article.www.alava-3d.comhttp://www.alava-3d.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1138599920151345072006-01-29T23:45:00.000-06:002006-01-29T23:45:00.000-06:00As a birthmother, I'm completely touched that you ...As a birthmother, I'm completely touched that you wonder about Mulan's biological mother. My daughter's nearly three, now, and although she doesn't know that she's adopted- she does love having me around and loves me. I'm very fortunate to be able to be a part of her life.<BR/><BR/>As for Ayn Rand.. I love her fiction novels. I couldn't finish reading her non-fiction works, though. <I>Atlas Shrugged</I> is my favorite book, but I don't agree with her on all of her points in objectivism. <BR/><BR/>(This comment is months late. But my sister ran into my bedroom to go "Julia Sweeney.. Isn't she that one lady?" as Desperate Housewives was starting up, so I had to make use of google and came across your blog.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1138473793078592862006-01-28T12:43:00.000-06:002006-01-28T12:43:00.000-06:00"I spent so much of my life wanting to just be in ..."I spent so much of my life wanting to just be in the biggest city, and now it feels like millions of strangers all packed together. Who are these people, I wonder? I used to feel so inspired by New York and L.A. and now it feels like there’s not enough calm and space to do the thinking and creating that I really want to be doing. People seem tense and competitive here and that's what I used to want be around and driven by so badly. And of course I am drastically over-generalizing. Now all I want to do is hike and read."<BR/><BR/>I hear you on this. I have lived in both NYC and LA. Currently, I'm preggers with my first kid and suddenly all I can think is "Wow, I wasted a lot of time!" We're moving to the Jersey coast in three months after our daughter is born. <BR/><BR/>Now, one of my fears is that she will oneday say to me, "Gee, thanks for taking me away from the 2 most culturally facinating entertainment cities in the US so we could live in NJ!" as she rolls her eyes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1138207564781390282006-01-25T10:46:00.000-06:002006-01-25T10:46:00.000-06:00Rand is a wonderful friend as long as you're hones...Rand is a wonderful friend as long as you're honest with her.tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00314970525652472201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1137991465503287002006-01-22T22:44:00.000-06:002006-01-22T22:44:00.000-06:00Luckily you can have objectivism without Rand--whi...Luckily you can have objectivism without Rand--which is obvious, because I'm seeing that these commentors aren't "Rand Folks" at all! I understand hating Rand. She's faulty on a lot of stuff. It's not Rand. One doesn't have to love Rand to get a really good handle on economics and morality. The best stuff is actually from David Kelley, not Rand. But I have to say that capitalism is much more preferable than state force. What's evil is when corporatism mixes with state. That's what we don't want. When those two get together, we don't have capitalism at all.<BR/><A HREF="http://www.whatisobjectivism.com" REL="nofollow">What is Objectivism</A>Hellbound Alleeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10268832216080854759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1137901219484070682006-01-21T21:40:00.000-06:002006-01-21T21:40:00.000-06:00I'll bet Brian C is another one of my fellow Objec...I'll bet Brian C is another one of my fellow Objectivists who was delighted, entertained, inspired, and awe-struck with admiration seeing "Letting Go of God." Watching Julia's performance, I saw her first-hand intellectual independence of mind that was the essence of Howard Roark in The Fountainhead and the wit, joy, and passionate pursuit of understanding and values that defined Francisco in Atlas Shrugged. I thought, "Boy, is she gonna love Ayn Rand!"<BR/><BR/>But it didn't work out that way. Damn! <BR/><BR/>Whose bright idea was it to start with Peikoff's abstract, dispassionate, structured presentation and only the chapters on politics at that? When I read Ayn Rand, I fell in love with her heroes and storytelling, but her right wing politics really put me off too. I bought into her "think for yourself, pursue your goals" approach to life right away, but the rest was a real hard sell. I wish Julia had started with The Fountainhead like I did -- no politics at all there -- but a wonderful story. <BR/><BR/>Julia wrote: <BR/><BR/>"I don't get philosophy, I guess. It seems quaint and old fashioned to me -- all those "isms" this and "isms" that. It doesn't seem to reflect what we know about ourselves scientifically." <BR/><BR/>Well, most philosophies don't. Maybe a better intro to Ayn Rand would have been "Philosophy: Who Needs It?" It's short but sweet (like Julia) and it is Ayn Rand's sales job -- not for her particular "ism" -- but a logical, scientific argument for the crucial importance of philosophy in human life. It's on the web at http://gos.sbc.edu/r/rand.html.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1137478082418108532006-01-17T00:08:00.000-06:002006-01-17T00:08:00.000-06:00Wow...the Rand folks are after ya! But, I don't w...Wow...the Rand folks are after ya! But, I don't want to start with that...I totally understand how you felt on that boat. I went on a cruise once and felt the same way. All I wanted to do was escape from my "escape". Too many people that I had nothing in common with all cramped together on a fabricated 5 day floating party. It was a nightmare. I did the same thing you did...I lost myself in the written word as much as humanly possible. I read, I wrote, and I tried to find quiet places to just sit and think. Not an easy task when "the macarena" is playing incessantly. <BR/><BR/>As for capitalism, I agree with you. I'm not anti-capitalism, but I think some things should simply not be about profit and that capitalism needs restraint in order to truly work for the common good. I know people will argue that a free capitalistic marketplace increases knowledge and competittion and that those things lead to a higher standard of living for everyone. But we have become a society obsessed with materialism and the bottom line. It seems like most large corporations, and the gov't for that matter, care more about profit than people. No matter how many ways you try to stroke it with a philosophical pen, valuing money over humanity is simply wrong.lorihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10575718087874674293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16654170.post-1137048751521284812006-01-12T00:52:00.000-06:002006-01-12T00:52:00.000-06:00We went on a Carnival Cruise. It was that cruise t...We went on a Carnival Cruise. It was that cruise that took us to LA to see your play, in January of 2005. Too funny. We really didn;t enjoy our cruise, either. The food was only mediocre, except at dinner. We mostly slept and hung out in our cabin. <BR/><BR/>elizabeth in seattleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com