| | Steven - Once again I disagree - strongly. I am only writing this because I believe that you are an intelligent person making an honest mistake.
Good manners and courtesy most definitely are intrinsically good (at least in most contexts). They are proper tools of social intercourse. A friend of mine used to say that you can take them with you anywhere in the world and they will be most welcome.
Being callous to the feelings of others is not cool. It is not radical. It is just crude - nothing more.
I have known a lot of people who ape the gruff "rugged individual" manners of many of Ayn Rand's characters thinking that such posturing will show the world that they are defiant geniuses or whatever. Such callousness was merely a literary device (contrast) Ms. Rand used to highlight the virtues she was writing about. I do not believe that she considered it to be a virtue.
On the contrary. I was present at an Ayn Rand lecture at the Ford Hall Forum in the 70`s when, in the question and answer session, she was asked why she arbitrarily cancelled certain subscriptions to the Ayn Rand Letter. I did not know any of the parties involved and the question meant little to me, but her answer sure made an impression. She stated something to the effect that when her subscribers were rude, she did not want to do business with them. Something to think about.
Now, getting back to this poll. I will ask again, what on earth is to be gained? What can be discovered that cannot be gleaned from the volumes of articles, blogs, threads, books, etc., that are freely and publically available for consultation? Public awareness? Hell, a major motion picture was even made about this. Social analysis? Not likely. As far as I can see, most people think that human beings do dumb things sometimes, despite or because of their professed moral values, and pay very painful consequences. I don't believe that any poll like this will change or add to that conclusion.
But, hey. Why don't we go whole hog? Let's try to engage Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky at this stage of the game, make a knee-jerk poll about their affair see if there is anything new we can learn from an "honest and open discussion" that has not been covered before. Would that be rational? Or would that be rude?
I know what I think.
If you believe that Barbara did not make her views clear, then what does the "Hear, hear" in her above post mean? Also, like Jennifer, I am getting bored with discussing this subject. There is an exciting range of issues about Objectivism and applying it living waiting to be tackled.
By the way, deferring to ladies is not a hollow tradition. It stems from a survival thing - establishing a proper form of conduct for protecting females when they are pregnant and in their most fragile state. This spilled over to doing it all the time. A case even could be made that it is now an ingrained part of the human psychological makeup. Personally, I find it charming.
Michael
(Edited by Michael Stuart Kelly on 2/24, 4:31pm)
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