Category: Media Citings

Randex Online Database on Rand and Objectivism

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Launched in February 2005, Randex is an online database of media references to Rand and Objectivism. The entire database of articles may be searched by text, date, and amount of relevant content. The purpose of Randex is:

To provide an indication of the impact of Ayn Rand’s ideas in today’s culture. This impact can be measured by the frequency with which the ideas are discussed or mentioned, the level of understanding shown, and also by the attitude taken by writers to Rand’s ideasâ??be it positive, negative, or neutral. As the database of references grows, it becomes a source for analyzing longer-term trends in these areas.

To be listed on Randex an item must appear online as a dated article at a news, information, or opinion website. Interestingly, the three new items listed today are repsectively negative, positive and neutral.

 

Major Media Interviews with Tal Ben-Shahar

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

We’ve mentioned here before that Tal Ben-Shahar‘s positive psychology class was getting a good deal of coverage in the Harvard Crimson.
Ben-Shahar founded the Harvard Objectivist Club in the 1990s and is currently an instructor at Harvard, where he teaches the largest class on campus, positive psychology.
Now his class is getting coverage in major media outlets, including Fox News (Four Happiness Tips from Tal Ben-Shahar), NPR (Finding Happiness in a Harvard Classroom), and the New York Post (C’mon, Get Happy).
He was also interviewed on Boston’s “Good Morning Live,” the video of which is available online (scroll down to “Harvard Psychology Professor Tal Ben-Shahar” on 3/16/06).
The central premise of positive psychology — the importance of personal happiness — is one that Ayn Rand understood and appreciated in her writings and in her philosophy of Objectivism.
Positive psychology, as a field, has elevated the importance of personal happiness to a science, allowing people to study the empirical precursors of happiness rather than relying on folk psychology remedies.
There is a lot of good work being done in this field, and professor Ben-Shahar has probably done more than anyone recently to bring that information into the public eye.

Atlas Shrugged on UPN

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The following is a clip of a surprising appearance of Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism on the UPN show, One on One. In this clip, one of the show’s character’s is studying for a philosophy exam that includes Atlas Shrugged. Another character explains–for the most part accurately–the essence of Objectivism.
Watch the clip.
(I’d like to give a hat tip to the person who found this–but I received this link on aYahoo Rand discussion list with no explanation of its source)

The Baltimore Sun Interviews Andrew Bernstein

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Baltimore Sun published today an interview with Andrew Bernstein, the author of The Capitalist Manifesto. Bernstein was introduced by the interviewer as follows:

The philosophy professor – author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, published in September – defends and celebrates capitalism as “the system of freedom.” He is an Objectivist, a follower of the individualistic philosophy created by Ayn Rand, best known for the novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

The interview was concluded with a direct question about Rand and Objectivism:

Q: You say your book is grounded in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. What is Objectivism?
A: She’s given us for the first time in history a philosophy that stresses reason, the rights of a human being to pursue their own happiness, freedom – these are the ideas that the United States was founded on, but Ayn Rand provided the philosophic foundation and validation.

The interview made a reference to Bernstein’s upcoming speech about Capitalism in Columbia, Maryland on February 18, which was announced on this meta-blog.

Mark Cuban on a New Fountainhead Movie

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Cinematical has published a new interview with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who is now getting into film production and taking steps to reform the way films are distributed.
From the interview:

Today, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh will premiere his new film, a small-town murder mystery called Bubble, in theaters. And on television. And it will arrive on DVD in just a few days. By releasing Bubble on their own, without the blessing of the studio dons, entrepreneur Mark Cuban and his partner Todd Wagner have taken the first step towards rattling Hollywood’s creaky distribution and exhibition foundation.

And later in the interview:

Ryan: I read somewhere that you are fond of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The last film adaptation of that book was in 1949. Is it time for an updating? Who, off the top of your head, would you cast as Howard Roark and Dominique Francon?
MC: I don’t know who owns the rights, but I would love to see it re-done. I would have to think about who. No one says it has to be anyone we have heard of.

I, for one, would love to see a new movie version of The Fountainhead! The old one had a nice style about it, but it feels rather dated to those of us who enjoy modern production techniques.
See the full interview for more about Cuban’s activities and ambitions as a budding movie producer.

Wal-Mart Documentary Likens Attacks to Atlas Shrugged

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

A new documentary from co-directors Robert and Ron Galloway examines Wal-Mart’s business practices. They assert the attacks on Wal-Mart parallel those against the producers in Ayn Rand’s magnum opus.
It is straight out of (Ayn Rand’s novel) ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ ” said Ron Galloway, co-director of “Why Wal-Mart Works.”
In an Investor’s Business Daily column, Sean Higgins discusses the Galloway film, and contrasts it with “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”, another documentary taking a very different view of the retail giant.
Whatever one thinks of Wal-Mart, the debate starkly highlights two opposing ideological camps. The two films accurately reflect the two sides of the controversy.
This is evident by contrasting the IBD column with a piece from the Denver Post.

Senate Oil Profits Hearings: Life Imitates Atlas Shrugged

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Sometimes, unfortunately, life imitates art.
Caroline Baum, in a brilliant column at Bloomberg.com, demonstrates some regrettable parallels between Atlas Shrugged and the recent hearings on oil company profits.
In the wake of record earnings Senators Frist, Domenici, et al elected to question Hank Rearden, er… Exxon CEO Lee Raymond, about his business.
Dominici (as cited in Baum’s column) said:

”I expect the witnesses to answer whether you think your current profits are excessive and to talk about what they intend to do with the reserves and the profit accumulations that they have.”

Raymond’s reply?

“The price is set on the world market by willing buyers and sellers, as to what willing sellers are willing to sell it for and willing buyers are willing to pay for it.”

Ayn Rand once said there were certain real life events she couldn’t put in her novel, since they were so outrageous she’d be accused of inventing them. Sadly, this wasn’t one of them.

Atlas Shrugged Film Closer?

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

According to a recent article in BoxOffice Mojo:
“…Howard Baldwin, [who] tells me that he is closer to bringing Ayn Rand’s epic to the screen. ” writes editor and publisher Scott Holleran.
There’s some reason to hope the screenplay will be faithful to the spirit of the novel.

“Based on a reading of the Atlas Shrugged script, producer Baldwin promises that Miss Rand’s essential principlesâ??reason, selfishness, capitalismâ??are integrated in the plot and that, as in the novel, businesswoman Dagny Taggart struggles to operate a transcontinental railroad in a nation run by preachy socialists, while looters and moochers pick at the remains.”

That would be welcome news, indeed.

Atlas Shrugged Mentioned in Crichton Novel Review

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

In a column from last December, conservative pundit George Will mentions Atlas Shrugged, semi-favorably, in a piece discussing Michael Crichton’s latest novel.
State of Fear is the story of the hunt for a group of radical environmentalists planning a ‘natural’ disaster for publicity purposes. Along the way a naïve, moderately left-leaning attorney has his eyes opened by a professor-cum-government operative who interrupts the plot occasionally to deliver miniature lectures.
Will writes:

“State of Fear,” with a first printing of 1.5 million copies, resembles Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” — about 6 million copies sold since 1957 — as a political broadside woven into an entertaining story. But whereas Rand had only an idea — a good one (capitalism is splendid), but only one — Crichton has information.

See Will’s full article for more information about Crichton’s book.

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