The Real Meaning of Labor Day

The Joplin Globe has printed a terrific Labor Day column by ARI columnist Fredric Hamber, which begins:

It is fitting that the most productive nation on earth should have a holiday to honor its work. The high standard of living that Americans enjoy is hard-earned and well-deserved. But the term “Labor Day” is a misnomer. What we should celebrate is not sweat and toil, but the power of man’s mind to reason, invent and create.
Several centuries ago, providing the basic necessities for one’s survival was a matter of daily drudgery for most people. But Americans today enjoy conveniences undreamed of by medieval kings. Every day brings some new useful household gadget, or a new software system to increase our productivity, or a breakthrough in biotechnology.
So, it is worth asking: Why do Americans have no unique holiday to celebrate the creators, inventors, and entrepreneurs who have made all of this wealth possible – the men of the mind?

Read the full article.
Our own Craig Ceely has also published a recent column about Labor Day.

Saaket Sethi, Architect

An article today’s India Express profiles architect Saaket Sethi, who is quite a fan of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead:

Mumbai, September 1: WHEN 11-year-old Saaket Sethi was asked to draw a sketch for his grandfather, he ended up doodling an entire airport! “The family was quite mystified. But then, I always had a passion for drawing grand structures,” says this new architect on the block. […]
And like all good architects has he memorised Ayn Rand�s The Fountainhead? “Every architect worth his salt has read the book. It’s amazing how the author sexualises architecture. And Roark’s passion is something that every architect should feel for his creation,” he declares with Roark-like fire in his eyes.

See the full article for further information.
Ayn Rand is remarkably popular in India. For more examples of her influence in India, see our postings on India’s first woman astronaut, the Fountainhead primary school, the Language of Liberty Summer Camp, and India’s richest woman.

ARI: The Morality of War

The Ayn Rand Institute has announced a talk and Q & A on the life-and-death consequences of the United States’ moral premises. The event will take place on September 9, 2004 at the Hyat Regency Irvine in Irvine, California. The press release describes the talk:

In this passionately reasoned lecture, Dr. Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute illustrates how “just-war” theory has been undercutting America’s success in the war, and why it is necessarily self-destructive. Dr. Brook argues for an alternative morality of war, one that justly demands the total, ruthless eradication of the enemy, and lasting victory. Drawing upon Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, he advocates a war based on the principles of rational self-interest.

View the PDF flyer.

Defending Price-Gouging

The St. Petersburg Times quoted Edward Hudgins, the Washington Director for The Objectivist Center, defending price gouging during emergencies.
“Gouging gets a bad rap, economists argue” is mainly focused on the economic arguments against anti-gouging laws, reporting the views of many economists who argue that these laws lead to shortages and delays in recover. But it also includes several advocates of a moral defense of free-markets. Hudgins is quoted as asking “Why should one hurricane victim by prevented from paying more money for better or faster service, just because another hurricane victim can’t or won’t”?
Read the full article.

Fountainhead Movie in San Fran

Live in San Francisco? If you’ve not seen the movie version of The Fountainhead before, or even if you have, you can watch it this Wednesday at the San Francisco Public Library:

Architecture and the City Film Series
The San Francisco Public Library presents a special screening of “The Fountainhead,” a cult classic based on Ayn Rand’s best-selling book about controversial downtown architect Howard Roark, who designed Manhattan’s Wynand Building.
3 p.m. Wednesday at the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Admission is free. Call (415) 557-4400 or visit www.sfpl.org.

'Explaining Postmodernism' by Stephen Hicks

Objectivist scholar Stephen Hicks has published his long-awaited book on the intellectual causes of postmodernism. And it was well-worth the wait.
Explaining Postmodernism clearly presents the history of the ideas that gave rise to the contemporary movement characterised by nihilism, skepticism, and relativism.
The primary thesis of Dr. Hicks’ book is that “the failure of epistemology made postmodernism possible, and the failure of socialism made postmodernism necessary.” The history of modern epistemology has, by and large, failed at defending reason as one’s means of knowing the world. Similarly, the failure of socialism, both economically and morally, lead to, as Hicks calls it, a “crisis of faith” among many in the Left.
In order to maintain their belief in the superiority of socialism over capitalism, many theorists used the failures of epistemology to eschew reason, reality, and truth. One now no longer had to deal with the evidence that shows the superiority of capitalism. Thus, we ended up with the nihilistic, skeptical, and relativistic Postmodernism dominating much of academia and the political left.
I highly recommend Explaining Postmodernism to anyone ? philosopher or not ? with an interest in the history of ideas or an interest in understanding postmodernism. It is available at many bookstores and at Amazon.com.

Cordair Gallery Celebrates 8th Anniversary

Quent Cordair Fine Art is celebrating its 8th anniversary this month. From an eMediaWire press release:

Quent Cordair Fine Art in Burlingame, California celebrates their 8 year anniversary by offering the finest in Contemporary Romantic Realism. This unique gallery is located minutes south of San Francisco.
Burlingame, CA (PRWEB) August 27, 2004 — Quent Cordair Fine Art was established by artist Quent Cordair in 1996. As a premier provider of contemporary Romantic Realism in painting, sculpture and drawing, QCFA has grown to serve an international clientele of private and corporate collectors.
Romantic Realism, the movement which renews the high esthetic standards and techniques of pre-20th century ateliers, brings a rebirth of comprehensibility, beauty, romanticism and stylization to contemporary subject matter. The gallery’s collection emphasizes themes which celebrate the moments of happiness, joy and success possible to Man on earth. Subject matter includes figurative, narrative, allegorical, still lifes, seascapes and landscapes.
The gallery features the art of Danielle Anjou, Sam Axton, Bryan Larsen, Damon Denys, Bill Mack, Karl Jesen, Han Wu Shen, Sandra Shaw, Bobbie Carlyle and many others.
Recently all ten titles of the Ayn Rand cover art painted by Nick Gaetano were released as limited-edition fine art prints on canvas.

More on Joss Whedon and Ayn Rand

Last week I noted that fans of Joss Whedon’s Firefly had discovered, and were enjoying, Monica White’s review for the Atlasphere.
A new thread has begun on a discussion board devoted specifically to Firefly. This group seems more sympathetic to Monica’s analogy between Joss Whedon (and his hero, Mal Reynolds) and Ayn Rand’s heroes.
Here are a few choice quotes from various participants:

“I looooooove Ayn Rands work, maybe that is why I love Firefly. I never really noticed parallels between her books and the whole creation of FF, but now that I think about it, there really are so many.”
“Me too. I hadn’t noticed it either, until someone else pointed it out. Monica, the author, described it well. Her article should sell some more DVDs and movie tickets, too. :)”
“I’m so SICK of seeing television shows that have promise get RUINED because they end up being run by committee and the one guy with the real vision gets pushed out. Shows like Firefly (and I’ll say B5 too because JMS ran his ship tightly too) maintain consistent levels of excellence *because* there’s a real bossperson with whom the buck truly stops.”
“I couldn’t agree more. There are many, many examples of shows that have been destroyed that way. I suspect the purpose of committees is to cover for and carry those who lack the talent of a Joss or JMS. It doesn’t work.”
“There’s a line in Atlas Shrugged, said mainly by John Galt… ‘I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.’ Sounds a bit Mal-ish, don’t it? Only it predates Firefly by about 45 years. That’s kind of Rand’s overriding philosophy, and I think it complements nicely. That’s why I love Firefly… loved Atlas Shrugged first, and Mal is Rand’s kind of hero, IMHO.”
“The setting may be a bit dated today, but AS is still a terrific book. I agree, Mal is a Randian kind of hero.”
“Yes, *very* Mal-like! I think Mal would have a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” at his bedside.”
“You know, it just goes to show what an intelligent, well-written show Firefly was/is. You don’t see people making favorable literary references to things like ‘Joe Millionaire’ or ‘Fear Factor’. Now…how to get Fox et al to give the public credit for having some brains!”

See the full discussion if it interests you.

Recent Sales Figures for Ayn Rand's Novels

Ayn Rand’s novels continue to sell well, in both hardcover and paperback editions, many years after their original publication. This is well-known. But have you ever wondered what the actual figures are?
BookMagazine.com published a table summarizing the sales figures of the top 50 classic bestsellers (books that continue to sell well more than 5 years after their publication) for the year 2002.
Ayn Rand is one of the few authors with more than one book on this list. Here are the sales figures for her two most popular novels, from January through December of 2002:

Atlas Shrugged – 130,000 copies (#19 on the list)
The Fountainhead – 81,000 copies (#35 on the list)

These figures include chain booksellers and online outlets, representing approximately 70% of the bookselling market in the United States, but do not include campus or high school bookstores (which could add a substantial number of sales).
See the full list for additional details and the titles of the other top 50 classic bestsellers.