Mark Mardell admirer, former Labour MP and arch Europhile Denis MacShane, is full of praise for the World This Weekend presenter again today:
As soon as I heard Mark announce the item about Ayn Rand I guessed she wouldn't be his cup of tea, and I wasn't exactly surprised when Mark talked to two people who aren't fans of Ayn Rand and one person who was but now isn't any longer!
There is unrest in the forest
ReplyDeleteThere is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas
The trouble with the maples
And they're quite convinced they're right
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade?
There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'oppression!'
And the oaks, just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw
I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand, who is indeed one of the loopiest and plain wrong political philosophers of all time, probably on a par with Pol Pot and Lily Allen. The fact (if fact it is) that Sajid Javid is a fan, doesn't surprise me at all. Lots of banker types like Rand because they feel she justifies their huge wealth. Neither does the fact that SJ was a banker up to his neck in the derivatives mess that caused the 2008 crash (Sunday Times today) surprise me. And neither does the fact that his Uncles are up to their necks in some sort of migration scam (Mail). This is one of those very rare occasions when I am with Mardell!
ReplyDeleteIt would also suggest that Sajid Javid has pretty poor literary taste!
ReplyDeleteBut irrespective of MB's prejudices there is clearly an agenda being run by the far left against the pro-individualist and anti-authoritarian thinkers. Owen Jones ... rabbiting on about 'neo-cons'. Eagle railing against Hayek and now Rand being hit on by the corrupt and intellectual pygmies.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't describe my objections as prejudices! Just as there are creepy versions of nationalism e.g. Putin's brand, I think one can say that Rand's approach could be called "creepy individualism" and seems based on the wrong headed notion that individualism is not itself a social product. When not actually wrong, her admonitions and aphorisms barely rise above the greeting card level...
DeleteBut you are right of course that the Far Left enabled by the BBC and other branches of the MSM are seeking to undermine individualism. The attack on free speech is itself a serious attack on individualism, by attempting to shoehorn everyone into group classifications and so on.
Dennis Mc Shame does not like Ayn Rand big surprise he ended up in jail for corruption re his EU associations
ReplyDelete