RoR: Forum

I just watched Schindler's List again (for the first time in at least a decade). Another quote came from an interview with someone on the list who was not named directly in the film (nor in the credits, to my knowledge):

If such a cultured country as Germany--she was known for music, for high education, for respect. If they could have done this to another nation ... any other nation could do this. Don't take nothing for granted. Anything could happen.

In a time when we have a data storage capacity of 200 trillion DVDs (30,000 DVDs for every man, woman, and child on the planet) -- and that capacity is growing exponentially every year -- we have to be real careful about refraining from the infringement of individual rights. An alarm bell is contemptuous hate, which is often given away by short, biting remarks from our current leadership -- whether it be talking about the mental capacity of your rallying voter base before moving on to become the mayor of a large city, or whether you get right up in the face of other supporters of yours, and threaten to walk out if they do not censor themselves.

There is a scene in Schindler's List where the NAZI Amon Goeth has an engineer shot after getting advice from her. He wants to have it both ways. He orders underlings to implement the advice she gave, but this comes after he ordered her to be shot (because she was part of what Rand would refer to as 'the motor of the world'). His excuse is that he doesn't want to have someone around who might argue with him. That same attitude is evident in some of the current leadership in this country.

Ed

Post 1

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 8:06am

There was a real life scene in a Hampton-Inn in Danville, PA, where I got into an elevator manufactured by these guys, and realized that if that had been London, England, I would have been in Schindler's Lift.

These guys: http://www.schindler.com/us/internet/en/home.html

Post 2

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - 11:00pm

Fred,

Good one! Whew! As long as there weren't any arrogant, national, socialist elites in that elevator who would ruthlessly have you shot for daring to disagree with them (on what buttons to push, or whatever), I guess you would be okay.

:-)

Ed

Post 3

Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - 6:41am

Ed:

I'm pretty sure you've read and re-read Peikoff's "Ominous Parallels."

I think his analysis was compelling, and when he wrote it-- decades ago, now -- I thought he ended it with a kind of optimism, as in 'but probably not in America because of some unique attributes and conditions.' (This isn't a quote, it is a summary of the aftertaste I was left with after reading his book-- back then.)

I really wonder; re-assessing America today, would he be as optimistic?

Is America, on the whole, really that much more educated, erudite, and with a firmer grasp on the principles of individual liberty and freedom than the people of Germany of last century, egged on by their egg head German philosophers, many of whom are clattering around unlaughed at in our own institutions of indoctrination-- or has the jungle fought back against modernity and the tribe is slowly reclaiming its own?

The jungle is relentless, you know. Without care, its clinging vines will take back any edifice modern man constructs...especially a fragile experiment in individual freedom and liberty.

I shouldn't make stupid jokes about Schindler's List, but part of me is a jungle lout. It really wasn't a joke; I actually had the revelation in an elevator in Danville, PA a few years ago.

My wife laughed when I said it; "Hey, look, we're in Schindler's Lift; what the movie might have named, if Spielberg had a severe lisp and was selling the project to a British studio...." I don't want her or anyone to go to a Hell I don't believe in, just for laughing at my stupid observations.

regards,
Fred

Post 4

Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - 9:14pm

Fred,

I really wonder; re-assessing America today, would he be as optimistic?

Your wondering is prescient. Peikoff's outlook is more "dim" in his last book (and yes, he said it is going to be his last book). Let's hope he's wrong on both counts.

:-)

Ed

Post 5

Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 11:51am

Thanks Ed. I've ordered the book.

DIM= Disintegration...Integration...Misintegration.

I'd add Reintegration: The Jungle imperfectly and seemingly inexorably reclaiming its tribal own after the brief appearance of Individual Human Freedom in history.

But, that would have made the book DIMR...

Freedom is(was?)freedom from the tribe, except under rules of free association. Forced association with the tribe is coming back with a vengeance.

Just like, vines climbing up the Empire State Building in some post-apocalyptic future.

Without care, the Jungle will reclaim modernity. Not part of any long term plan, other than, entropy.

Modernity has been sloppy about letting the weeds go.

regards,
Fred

Post 6

Sunday, July 28, 2013 - 11:29am