Drifting Fate

We have to be careful with our heroes because all men (and women) have feet of clay. Even the best of us are not right about 100% of things. This really applies to Ayn Rand.  She was so correct about so many things, but couldn't shake her communist education when it came to religion.  But, when it came to political science and sociology, she was spot on. If you never have, get through Atlas Shrugged .   Not the movie trilogy, ugh, that was bad.  But, the book is quite the read.  From a literary aspect the writing and plot elements are a bit heavy handed and only moderately creative, but as a tome on how evil and messed up government can be and how important civilian risk takers are, it's without peer. You should read it for no other reason than to read John Galt's famous speech. If you have to listen to it on audiobook, that counts, too. A quote of Rand's showed up on Prager U's Instagram feed today and inspired this post.  As is typical of ...

Here is a two minute video on YouTube  stemming from an interview (or at least a dramatization of an interview) with George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and 1984 . The words are well known, but, as the years pass, they become ever more poignant and more on point. A bit of thought, not a lot, but a bit, is required to think about how to heed such words.  From there will stem a tree of ideas, branches going every which way, but buds green with freedom and not red with the blood of Communism/Fascism/Totalitarianism. Yes, blood may be inevitable, it so often has been in the human struggle throughout history, but if it so, is this not why we teach (taught?) values clarification and the idea of triage to our middle-schoolers?  I suppose I live in the past, but, if blood is to be spilt better theirs than ours, better mine than yours, and, yet, better none at all if freedom can be secured without it. It's not like we haven't been warned...