 I am surprised at how relatively silent this list has been on the biggest news in Objectivsm or about an Objectivist-related event in a long time.
Logan Darrow has made a major breakthrough in making people realize the danger of big government (and as a secondary breakthrough he has raised awareness of Objectivism with the idea of placing copies of Atlas Shrugged in the Lost Liberty Hotel where the Gideon's Bible normally is).
His "Lost Liberty" project, and the idea of an eye for an eye with regard to eminent domain has resonated with the media.
No other Objectivist has had a segment devoted to him and his ideas on Nightline, as Darrow (born Doug Clements) did this week. The Nightline segment was a fair one, and allowed Darrow to get his viewpoint across.
Objectivists tend to live on the abstract level, talking about and trying to convert people to broad principles. But people live on the level of concretes, examples, cases. And in this case, the principle of retaliatory force was concretized:
Take the big shot who wants to steal your property and retaliate. Apply the same law to his property as retaliatory force. He says the government ought to be able to take your property and give it to a hotel chain. OK, let's do that to your property, Mr. "Justice".
There are several lessons to take from this for Objectivists. First, this is not Darrow's first attempt at activism. The previous attempts failed (most recently, he ran for governor of California and got fewer votes than there are in the take out line at Wendy's). But he did not give up. He kept trying to be an activist (presumably honing his communication skills in the process - he was quite personable and persuasive in his Nightline interview last week). And eventually he struck an idea that was brilliant and has brought him nationwide press attention.
So the first lesson: Keep on plugging till you get it right.
The second lesson? Find something that the average person can related to. Someone trying to steal his home is very much an example of this. As is the idea that the big shots don't live by the laws they impose on us. And, finally, Turnabout Is Fair Play.
When are Objectivists going to wake up and "brainstorm" to come up with more ideas like this, instead of wasting time trying to talk to poorly educated people (or worse, preach to each other on these endless, tedious discussion lists) about intrinsicism and subjectivism?
Logan Darrow has provided a wake up call ..to Solo Activists, to TOC, to Objectivist communicators.
Will they continue to solely debate philosophy? Or will they pick up the ringing telephone?
Will they rethink 'activism' projects...or will they just stay in their 'comfort zone' and continue to do what they have been doing unsuccessfully for decades?
--Philip Coates
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