So imagine two enemies, Parasite and Producer (John Bunyan, eat your heart out), each with a hostage. It’s an unstable stalemate, the dramatic conclusion of a cheesy movie. Who’s gonna flinch first? Will both hostages perish? Why is that guy smirking? What does he know that we don’t, or is he bluffing?
Cramming Atlas Shrugged into this framework, we know why Producer is smiling. Parasite’s hostage, which is the world Parasite knows, means nothing to Producer. Producer’s hostage, his own productivity, means everything to Parasite. So Producer has nothing to fear; he holds all the cards, and he doesn’t even care if Parasite figures it out.
Of course, that’s not how I characterize the situation we face today. Because there is no Atlantis, the world Parasite knows is the only world Producer knows too, and Producer loves her dearly, and is anguished at the pain she’s already suffered, and is terrified that Parasite just might kill her.
Producer also knows that Parasite will never let his hostage go voluntarily; Producer has spent the whole movie up until now trying to appease Parasite, and the situation has only gotten worse.
So Producer has taken a hostage of his own, his own productivity. But Parasite is smirking at Producer. “I know you’re never gonna pull that trigger, because you love your own hostage more than I do!” And Producer thinks Parasite might just be right, and then it’s game over.
But Producer can turn this situation around in two ways. First, he can let Parasite know that he’s just bat-shit crazy / punitive enough to pull that trigger. Parasite is searching Producer’s eyes, counting on seeing a glint of fear. What if Parasite saw something else?
The second scenario, well, let’s just hope we don’t get to that point. Parasite’s hostage is sick, and getting sicker. In the back of his mind, he knows that if she reaches the point of no return, there won’t be anything holding Producer back. Producer will be mourning, free, and in a mood for vengeance.
I wrote up this little metaphorical analysis because it helps clarify what I’m going for here. And it’s not how some of my readers see things, which is fine. They feel like they’re in the same situation as Atlas, that they don’t care about Parasite’s hostage. Obviously, their path is easier than mine. They’re not hurting me in any way, and I wish them luck. Heck, I hope I can help them as well. But because I want to save Producer’s hostage so much, and I don’t think Producer can bluff his way through this conflict, I’m trying to think of ways to convince Parasite that Producer means it, and to remind Producer that yes, the situation is bad, and isn’t going to improve.
Well there’s always the option of shooting the other guy’s hostage in a non-lethal but incapacitating way. Also you could convince Parasite’s hostage to fight back, Parasite is fairly weak after all. Finally you could shoot the gun out of Parasite’s hand, but you only get one shot at that and you better have good aim. All of those are metaphorically speaking of course.
All I can respond with is the words of Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I’ve been grieving the Hostage for years now. Whatever fresh corruption they unleash to consume some new part of her corpse is just a minor chord in a symphony of sorrow. The bulk of my personal wealth bears the upright and triumphant image of Liberty in all her glory, shrouded in stars and stripes and greeting the rising sun like an old friend. The Parasite infested her, paralyzed her Productivity with the poison of the promise of Security, and devoured the blood of her body, that shining sanguine commodity called Wealth. No, I do not smirk, but snarl, bare my teeth and ball my fists, in the face of the Parasite. But my rage is impotent against such a formless foe. There is no heart through which I can drive a wooden stake, no head to cut off, no vital points into which to sink my teeth and nails and spill its non-blood upon the ground.
All I can do is deprive it of any fresh bounty.
Pray tell, what exactly do you produce?
Annie –
Doesn’t the fact that you’re looking around and seeing a lot more people who feel the same way you do give you any hope? A “Holy crap, guys, we just might come back and win this thing!” sorta feeling? That’s what I’ve got now. Lots of people want to solve this problem. And Atlas was by far the biggest clue how, but it’s not a complete solution. Maybe we third-stringers can drive these last five yards.
It does give me hope, John — but only for the producers. There’s another clue I picked up on in Atlas, something most Objectivists are apparently glossing over — ruthlessness. Oh, I could come up with a dozen dozen ways to fix the entire crisis we’ve been in for the last hundred years, some bloodier than others. But, the issue that I want to make absolutely clear to you — and to everyone who hears these words — is that I meant every word of what I wrote up there. During the bicentennial, I learned a lot about this country and its Founding Fathers, their ambitions and goals, their ideals in setting up a brand new country. Over the years, I’ve learned every minute way that the Attilas and Witch Doctors have raped and pillaged those ideals. The image of America of my childhood was of Lady Liberty, polished and shining like fire in the morning sun. But she has not been so for a long while, since long before I was born. Now, my image of her is a rape victim, bound and gagged with duct tape, her clothing stripped off, shot full of amphetamines and tranquilizers in turn, and finally left in a dark alley, leaking blood and ichor from a hundred sores. Tell me — if this happened to someone you intensely love, how would you feel about those who did it to her?
I am an American, in the purest sense of the world. I have no pity for those who killed Liberty. I will see them smashed to bloody pulp before I am done. But I would rather be torn to pieces than to see any work of mine benefit those rapist-murderers. And I can’t wish you well in your endeavors because of that.
Please, get on with it already and “go John Galt” for real. And do it like a real mensch, not this half-assed, chicken-shit “work slowdown” garbage. Flee to Valhalla in the mountains like Galt and his merry men did. I’ll happily jump into the vacancy (in my field) and produce twice what the Galter did before “striking.” Your wealthy “producer,” personified perhaps by Sandy Weill (look it up), eviscerated my last two entrepreneurial employers with his Galtish, virtuous greed. I’ve been practicing actual capitalism while those controlling the largest amounts of money in the economy have been robbing us blind once the government cleared out of their way.
Perhaps you didn’t get the memo from one of Rand’s oldest, dearest fans, Alan Greenspan. When we let the wealthiest pirates run the engines of the economy unfettered and unwatched, far from planning for their own companies’ long-term future, they looted them into insolvency, and the country as well. Who’d'a thunk it? Certainly not Ayn Rand.
If you think the crash was caused by non-working “parasites,” your grasp of reality is fantastic (literally). Instead of clinging to a paradigm you swear must work if given a thorough chance, observe and learn the object lessons of today. As a good friend of mine likes to say, “In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they aren’t.”
We need 20th-century banking/finance/insurance regulation restored (e.g. Glass-Steagall). We obviously can’t trust the SOB’s to behave with our money when left to their own recognizance.
@salmongirl73,
Wow.
In absence of laissez-faire gun laws the melodrama would be comedic but lighten up because you’re scaring the kids. You might want to burn some incense, turn on some new age music and do a little ashtanga. You poor thing, you’re going to blow a fuse.
I work in the industry and I do mean the business and I agree with Jim R. The rational self interest which you hold in such high esteem is at the nexus of the current meltdown. The masters of the universe risked the entire financial infrastructure to place a bet in which they had little personal exposure to the downside. These are the real parasites as they had full knowledge that the unregulated system was unsustainable but also knew that they’d be long gone when counterparties finally properly evaluated the risk.
The same goes for the elite that UBS helped to hide billions.
I’d love to know to whom you’re referring when you use the words “Atillas” and “Witch Doctors”. It’s intellectually dishonest to make the allusion without stating your true meaning.
Pack your bags, head to the Gulch and leave the rest of us to find a solution. Rousseau is not mutually exclusive from Belsham.
We have a very simple problem.
Our elected “reps” are no longer even pretending to represent their constituencies. They are purchasing their place at the trough with our production. What we all produce in the context of this discussion is tax dollars. Most of us prefer to do what we want to do with our production, rather than turn it over to Dear Leaders and have them unconstitutionally buy more votes from non-producers. (Nearly 50% of the population pay no net income tax.)
The surest way to ameliorate this situation is to cut or diminish the flow of these tax dollars. Then, demand that tax dollars contributed be used only for those activities allowed for in the constitution. The states will be able to manage their own citizens and budgets and private charities will be able to help those who need it in an efficient manner. All of your complaints about the “Galtish greed” would be moot without a Fed or confiscatory income tax. Many erroneously consider bankers (especially central bankers) working, non-parasites. You miss the point that , in fact, those responsible for the creation of CDO’s MBO’s and CDS’s ARE non-working parasites- as are short sellers and bear raiders and other con-artists.
To this end, many of the “producers” have reached a point where we feel the need to make an effort to reconnect with what this country was founded to do. Promote the individual freedom to live your life and prosper in whatever form that takes.
While no one is under the illusion that the literal form of “going John Galt” is practical or necessary, even small but widely applied efforts at minimizing our “production” can have a significant effect on the largesse that our government is misusing.
If you are not planning to attend a Tax Day Tea Party you should reconsider. These are an excellent opportunity to show those who would be re-elected how many are willing to take time away from “production” to express displeasure with their direction. They will also provide opportunity for recruitment to subsequent tax action. A coordinated and extended tax holiday, if well represented, would be especially effective in many states where financial strain is already evident. Government that cannot pay for its promises are not looked favorably upon by voters. Think Gray Davis and now Arnold. These are forms of “going John Galt”.
It will, ultimately be up to us “third stringers” to win the game.
Stop talking and start doing.
I would like to suggest a few books to read.
The Creature from Jekyll Island
Unequal Protection: the Theft of Human Rights and the Rise of Corporate Dominance.
The Little red Hen.
Ordo Ab Chao is the motto of the Government these days.
@Nate:
You wrote: “Many erroneously consider bankers (especially central bankers) working, non-parasites. You miss the point that , in fact, those responsible for the creation of CDO’s MBO’s and CDS’s ARE non-working parasites- as are short sellers and bear raiders and other con-artists.”
Not so fast. Did creators of CDOs, MBOs, CDSs, sort-sellers, bear raiders, and pushers of no-doc loans and sub-primes hold a gun to anyone’s head? Were they beneficiaries of some vast subsidy from taxpayers (before the meltdown, I mean)? Everything they did was completely legal (with rare exceptions, e.g. Madoff) and uncoercive — securing freedom from coercion is the goal, right? That’s all that Galt asked of government, right? “Get out of my way.” (paraphrased) Government responded in this case, and eliminated restrictive banking/finance/securites/insurance regulations.
The fact that “banker-parasites” you mention were, in your opinion, not Real Scotsmen because they don’t eat Haggis, is irrelevant. When high finance was liberated from “oppressive” government rules and oversight, very much as Obectivists demand, the masters of finance went on a feeding frenzy like there was no tomorrow.
How can a given ideology be a good basis for society’s laws, if everyone must be a pure-of-heart ideologue lest society collapse?
Can you explain the reference to John Bunyan? I’m familiar with the Puritan/Baptist who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, but I can’t tie anything to your allusion.
Oh, there’s nothing more to the Bunyan reference than giving my protagonist and antagonist labels for names.
I noticed you didn’t bother to answer Flies’ question of what exactly you produce, because let’s face it you produce nothing.