A Radical Left Turn (and then........)

Finished a book titled "Twilight of The Elites - America After Meritocracy." By Christopher Hayes.

Meritocracy is a philosophy that says the cream will rise to the top. The smartest, the most aggressive, the most talented will naturally achieve success and will rule - either in business or in government - fairly. Fairly because they are intelligent, empathetic and know what is best.

They will achieve their success fairly because it is the natural order of things. It just makes sense.

The book lays out quite nicely how this philosophy has been perverted by the uber rich and the uber powerful. Essentially saying the successful climb the ladder and then pull the ladder up after themselves so no one else can follow.

That is an over simplification but what the hell do you expect from me? I ain't no scholar.

Excellent book.

I then read "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Wait, what?

The book has been sitting under my end table for a very long time. I have picked it up a number of times and put it back down. Because it is written in a juvenile manner and I just couldn't get past the writing.

This time I decided to make the commitment. I read far enough into it to raise some curiosity. The sex did not fascinate me - it became boring after the 76th encounter. What interested me was Christian Grey's obsessions. His kink.

That kept me reading, although it was a challenge towards the end. I wanted to see just how unique and interesting this man was.

I'm sorry. Did I say unique? I guess I was supposed to say sick.

I got through it. I will not be reading the sequels.

Now, just this very morning, I began reading "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand established a philosophy called "Objectivism."

Objectivism defined: Follow reason, not whims or faith. Work hard to achieve a life of purpose and productiveness. Earn genuine self-esteem. Pursue your own happiness as your highest moral aim. Prosper by treating others as individuals, trading value for value.

I just started digging into this so I have little to say.

However I read some stuff that blew me away already.

From the author's intro to the 25th anniversary issue: "It is not in the nature of man - nor of any living entity - to start out by giving up, by spitting in one's own face and damning existence; that requires a process of corruption whose rapidity differs from man to man. Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by imperceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when or how they lost it. Then all of these vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one's mind; security, of abandoning one's values; practicality, of losing one's self-esteem.

.......................It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man's proper stature - and that the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning - and it is those few that I have always sought to address. The rest are no concern of mine; it is not me or The Fountainhead that they will betray: it is their own souls."

Gonna be a good read.