Put down your symbols of torture for a moment, grab a couple of good old pagan Easter Eggs, and consider something more uplifting than the Easter story Here, courtesy of Lindsay Perigo, is his wholly revised, updated and uplifted Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are the poor in spirit—when they become rich in spirit and matter, for theirs will be the kingdom of earth.
Blessed are they who mourn—when they get over it.
Blessed are the meek—when they acquire pride, for then they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after individual rights—when they rise up for their cause, for then they shall become free.
Blessed are the merciful—when they learn to discriminate, for then they shall obtain justice.
Blessed are the pure in heart, since to be pure in heart they must be using their brains.
Blessed are the peacemakers—when they learn that peace doesn't come at any price, and wipe tyrants off the map.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely—when those men be the High Priests of Islam, Christianity, Socialism, Postmodernism, and all other manner of unreason.
Blessed are the rational, the independent, the honest, the sincere, the productive, the just, the justly proud; the scientists and capitalists; the poets, singers and symphonists of love and thought—for theirs is the glory of man.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward on earth—when you have earned it, and it is not the fruit of a bailout.
Ye are the salt of the earth—but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? If ye become tame as sheeple, ye shall be trodden under the feet of politicians and bureaucrats and postmodern philosophers. Be ye instead the light of the world. Do not hide that light under a bushel, but let it so shine before men that they may see your vision of reason and freedom, and glorify it, and bring it to pass on earth.
Amen. Hope you’re all having a good one yourself.
6 comments:
Good old Lindsay Perigo - putting into words what many others think.
Inspiring stuff for the two or three people still deluded enough to think Perigos rantings are worth paying attention to.
I'll stick with the original.
What a silly comment Anonymous; no surprise you are posting anonymously!
Many people dislike, and are terrified of, logic and truth - usually because it seems too much like hard work - so attacks on Lindsay are both commonplace and expected.
For instance it is a lot easier to accept virgin births and resurrections as being truthful, rather than the slightly more likely alternative, because otherwise you have to admit to yourself that you are incredibly stupid (and may involve a level of self honesty few people possess).
However you would be hard pushed to find a single post or article written by Lindsay in the last 20 years which is actually wrong.
Solo passion? That's a joke right? I mean looking at that Perigo guy, maybe not, but WTF? That's taking individualism a wee bit far.
Perusing the SOLO website, it seems odd how passionate Perigo is about Ayn Rand, considering what she had to say about homosexuals. But I suppose there are a lot of Jews who are Mel Gibson fans as well.
Barry
Now that is an odd thing. What is odd about the Objectivist movement in general is how there is a continued claim of rigorously adhering to reason and logic, yet much of the "system of thought" boils down to statements of whim or subjective preference (your example of Ayn Rand's denunciation of homosexuality being one such, her comments about the goodness of smoking cigarettes being another, her imposition of physical "romance" upon her #1 follower being a third, her conjuring up of government as moral necessity being a forth, her unseemly correspondence and admiration of a convicted child abuser/murderer a fifth, her long term dependence on drugs a sixth, her refusal to correctly cite others who had either originated the ideas she was claiming as her own and/or her repeated misrepresentations of what others had contributed to human knowledge, her dismissal of the Plains Indians as unworthy of having any property recognised as theirs by "civilised" people and thus fit for genocide, her dismissal of Mozart as "pre-music",.....). There is much of Ayn Rand that is unpleasant, wrong, silly and foolish. She was inconsistent and was what might be referred to these days as being a "high maintenance" personality. There is terrible and needless tragedy in her life, in what she bought upon herself and upon her closest intimates, friends and followers. On the other hand she was correct about several matters pertaining to human thought (philosophy) and morality. She did make important contributions and she did this at a time when much of what she promoted was deeply unpopular within the ruling intellegensia. She had great courage to stand up to the statist opposition she encountered. She had great persistence to continue to stand against them even as they belittled her and lied about her (for example, that creature Buckley, a liar & a coward) and tried again and again to hurt her. For many people hers was the first time they came across a voice promoting individualism and freedom. For many, many people it was true that "it all started with Ayn Rand". For that she should not be forgotten or underestimated. Looking around in the year of 2014 what is apparant is that the downfall of Objectivism has been a result of taking aboard the shortcomings of its founder alongside the strengths and truths it inherited from her. That has been all but fatal. The best way to recognise the good of what Ayn Rand provided is to ignore the silliness and the foolish stuff she occasionally promoted. Forget that and instead remember what she did do and what she did get so right. Learn from that.
Amit
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