Why not lead by example? Even as a guest, you are afforded the same right to express your cogent analysis as that granted to the posters you denigrate with strained analogies.
Having blown your darts, now’s your turn to impress. Whenever you’re ready, please proceed.
I think these days “compassion” means says the appropriate words at the appropriate time while being careful not to hurt people’s feelings with what one says.
I couldn’t care less about that.
Then why did you diagnose Ayn Rand as a sociopath?
Look people, Ayn Rand was something of a crank with a decidedly idiosyncratic world view. The thing people have to remember is that at a young age she saw her country torn apart by a vicious dictatorship, all under the banner of unselfishness and altruism. And she escaped but at the cost of permanent isolation from her family and friends.
It doesn’t take a Freud to connect a few dots.
He (she?) didn’t. TSS said that perhaps Ayn had Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I was the one who asked if Ayn qualified as a psychopath or sociopath ,given the statement quoted by someone else.
Seriously? You don’t care about hurting feelings–not of your wife, or kids or coworkers? And here I thought we had come to some accord. I had thought you a decent human being in the AIG thread. Won’t be the last time I’m misled.
Yes he did:
You must have missed the part of my post where I was doing just that. Next time PM me and I will give you the Cliff’s notes.
Also, why are you bringing class issues into this? Why must you make digs at me based on some perceived social status advantage? I feel a bit oppressed by your crass implication that since I don’t have a “Charter Member” tag, I am some Johnny Come Lately that you graciously allow on the board so you can pat me on the head and say “That was just dandy, but now run along and let the big people play”.
Maybe you should show a little empathy for those less fortunate than yourself, instead of just structuring the discourse to your advantage.
But then he went on to correct that statement later in his post. It’s called thinking out loud–a favorite past-time on the Dope and especially in the Pit.
Me, I’d say Ms Rand was misguided at best and foolish to boot. But she wrote good airport books. Her works are neither deep or significant to any lasting degree. At best she’s a footnote of minor interest for the time in which she wrote. YMMV.
I think scylla is saying that compassion as defined here is all show and no go, and I agree with him if that’s what he means.
Am I racist for originally reading that as “Hydrokinetic Wench”?
I am so glad neither of you is a nurse. Compassion as defined above is not all show and “no go”–you’re the one all about “no go”, feeling “bad” about giving to charity and all. What a mind!
If you don’t care for “the appropriate words at the appropriate time while being careful not to hurt people’s feelings with what one says.” I can only imagine what you might say to someone recently stricken with cancer or laid off or even evicted from their rental property. Oh, that’s right–those kind of people should have made better business deals. I forgot.
What goes around, comes around. Someday it will be you, wanting the compassion of your fellow humans to abide with you. What do you think will be doled out to you?
Rand Rover gets off on his belief that he is an uber rational tough guy. The more you comment on it, the faster his hand under the desk goes. This is (for obvious reasons) the first and last time I will provide him with masturbatory material by posting on this topic.
No sweetie–that’s sexist. Do try to keep your “ists” in order. 
Is this a joke?
No, seriously, is it?
If you were both compassionate, wouldn’t you provide him with aid just because he is a human being in need? (Or maybe just because of the delicious irony?)
Good question.
:smack:
A friend, knowing of my feelings about Ayn Rand, sent me this quote recently. Maybe it’ll give you a chuckle:
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” - John Rogers
Bingo!
If either of these posters were people in need, of course I’d help them. If they show up at my hospital, I’ll treat them well, like I do all my pts. If they were my neighbors I’d watch out for their mail etc like I do my neighbors when they go away. I am flanked by neighbors who are very conservative and disapprove/ actively dislike the current President etc, but we’ve never been anything but polite to one another–that is, we’ve used “the appropriate words at the appropriate time while being careful not to hurt people’s feelings with what one says.” Conventional manners, IOW.
These are basic minimum standards that even they should be able to meet. After this thread, I’m not so sure about RR or Scylla. You I have no doubt about.
It’s clear that I should go back to assuming every new poster is a troll until they demonstrate otherwise. Rhetorical profiling, I suppose, but justified under the present circumstances.
I ask this in all seriousness: What more do you need to know about the guy?
I assert my self-interst and egoism by only wasting my time on and with people who will either make my life better (be it ever so temporarily or pointlessly) or allow me to enrich theirs (to at least the same degree). People who do neither are off my planet.
Warmed over Randism? What are we, college freshmen? But, hey – if you’re entertained by it – Enjoy!