Friday 7 February 2014

Quote of the Day: On political battles

“A political battle is merely a skirmish fought with
muskets; a philosophical battle is a nuclear war.”
- Ayn Rand, from her essay “What Can One Do?”
in her book Philosophy: Who Needs It

Discuss.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That means a philosophical battle has no winner unless the sides are grossly miss-matched. If miss-matched to that extent its not rational as might being right is not the same as rational debate. Blowing up the opposition and then sitting down for a cuppa while surveying the destruction gets you no further ahead.

3:16

Mr Lineberry said...

A nuclear war implies someone wins (albeit at a cost), but the other fellow is annihilated.

If the philosophical battle is between "freedom" and "socialism", and a battle is played out on a battlefield, it is hard to see socialism is the chap in retreat! haha!

Unless I am missing something -

1. It is not socialism which has been eliminated from the media and schools
2. It is not socialism which is widely viewed as a dirty word
3. It is not socialism which is portrayed as cruel and heartless and evil
4. It is not advocates of socialism which are wandering around the battlefield looking for someone to surrender to HAHAHA!!
5. It is not socialism which just de-registered itself because it all seems too much like hard work and getting pissed is more fun.
6. It is not socialism which has yet to move beyond the "People's Front Of Judea" stage
7. It is not socialism which cannot remember the last time it had any victory on any issue
8. It is not socialism which refused to knock on 1000 doors and tell people why they should support them.
9. It is not socialism which has been portrayed by its opponents as the "1%" who are destroying the World, to loud cheers from the moronry.

Question: Surveying the 'battlefield' in February 2014, who 'won' and who got a nuclear bomb shoved up their arse?
Answer: