I believe she would probably use her brilliance in what you or I or anyone here on the Gulch are saying. I understand people who call themselves non-believers yet I will never believe it. I am a mere mortal man just wanting what God has in store for me. I believe if he was here in the physical I believe he would be right along with us. Christ said himself that money is not bad it is the love of money "greed" that can get you into a whole big mess. That is what a progressive does. They start out knowing they can make something of themselves and will use what and who they can to get to that point. Then when they have made it they do not want anyone else being in competition with them so they spend more time buying those that want it easy without working for it that might have a little pull here or there and sometimes it works sometimes not. When those in D.C. started they made a lot of promises and then they met those that had been there getting that attention and just followed along just like sheep. They now see what it has lead to, but they still love that power in the likes of McCain, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, and BO. and do not want anyone else achieving what they consider all their's. We the People made these arses and I still believe their downfall will come and come hard. That day will come As for Ayn on that subject she would definitely agree their apathy has gone to far.

How do you think Ayn would respond to that declaration?

Agreed!

"God used Ayn" if we still had 'quote of the day" in here I'd post this there.. LOL

But she had the upper hand. He still misses her. Hell I would love to just have been able to sit and listen to that woman. I know and you probably know I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I really believe God used Ayn to relay what would take place sort of like a prophetess. Cerf was just a simpleton to her he never had a chance. And He knew it.

I think the former option would be the way to proceed.

I think it would be dead easy. She hands you the ms., you say "thank you", maybe there's some conversation, she leaves and you take it over to the folks who set type.
or maybe you mean the kind of editor who wants to change things. ulp.

thanks so much for sharing this - I haven't seen it in a long time.

ummm ... I call his kind of willy-nilly thinking "trying to get money" -- maybe?! -- j

I would love to see a conversation with Ayn Rand and president Obama. She might have been the only person capable of pulling is head out of his Butt.

that is a possibility. He didn't care about ideas one way or another-just wanted to make money

let's see, Kaila ... he was fascinated with her,
yet felt that her philosophy was horrifying ...
could it be that he had a gut feeling that her
storytelling would sell better if he created a
scandalous, negative aura around her -- after
all, he was a marketer of books, and scandal
sells! -- j

I string along with her theory, and I'm no cultist.

me thinks mr. cerf was a politician not wanting to rock the boat. he was as easy as could be for AR to put in a corner, with a pointed hat but he wouldn't have recognized it. the only comment he made several time that I agree with is the she was a brilliant woman.

I think that your suppositions and my points are pretty much two aspects of that same thing only expressed through alternate views.

Thank you for sharing that.
You can learn far more from an enemy with ethics than a friend who lacks ethics.

Revealing and encouraging.

More http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/cerf.ht...

Remember in the questioning they both loved The Fountainhead? "I loved that book!" I am reminded of a scene with Dominique and Toohey in her office-two great cynics- Toohey a murderer of ideas, Dominique a mercy killer. (I read that somewhere).

I know many persons like Cerf. They are so concretized in their ideas that no amount of logic or reason can penetrate. If Ayn Rand herself couldn't penetrate that wall of stone, what chance would you or I have? It's interesting to me that Cerf never once tried to justify his attitude or reveal what there was in his mind that made him reject her ideas out of hand. As to her so-called sycophants which she jokingly called "the collective" -- it was filled with brilliant people whose abilities on their own, without the presence of Rand, made for one outstanding enclave of brain power. Cerf was not exactly what you'd call an intellectual giant. However, even he was charmed by A.R.'s magnetic presence, and you'd think that after she had nailed him to the wall as often as he claimed, he would have thought, "Hmmm, maybe there is something to her philosophy."

Interesting points. I will stick with my original supposition that individuals like Cerf, who are smart, witty and clever are just that. Clever. They do not have a philosophical foundation. They are a Toohey-someone who sees it as their job to belittle those who state moral absolutes. Moral absolutes cannot be in a cynical view of the world. The fact that he separated out the Person Ayn Rand from the philosopher demonstrates that he was not a man of ideas-rather a cynic of others expressing their ideas. He was very successful in the publishing world. Look at the books we hold up today as valuable and meaningful as literary fiction- -that anti-hero.
I'm not sure what to make of his name calling of her inner circle. He does it several times in the short discussion. I would say he sounds almost jealous-which is interesting. It's easy for me say her affairs were fated. But I can look at closed Objectivism today and see that culture of secret handshake which one can make an objective case against.

Unfortunately, no.

I think I will make a little project out of this.

"Outside of her fanatical cult, nobody really strings along with her theory that religion and public relief are a sop and should be abolished." I think that progress has been made in both endeavors.

Great find! Thanks for the link. It was interesting and insightful.

The fact that he spent hours with her, genuinely liked her, yet rejected everything she said and wrote philosophically, proves my point regarding cynics. Ultimately to be a cynic means you have to be somewhat amoral.

I didn't remember that character either.