Ayn Rand's "A Selfish Christmas"
Bob Vogel
their persuasion:
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003030.html
"The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time: Ayn Rand's A
Selfish Christmas (1951)
In this hour-long radio drama, Santa struggles with the increasing
demands of providing gifts for millions of spoiled, ungrateful brats
across the world, until a single elf, in the engineering department of
his workshop, convinces Santa to go on strike. The special ends with
the entropic collapse of the civilization of takers and the spectacle
of children trudging across the bitterly cold, dark tundra to offer
Santa cash for his services, acknowledging at last that his genius
makes the gifts -- and therefore Christmas -- possible. Prior to
broadcast, Mutual Broadcast System executives raised objections to the
radio play, noting that 56 minutes of the hour-long broadcast went to a
philosophical manifesto by the elf and of the four remaining minutes,
three went to a love scene between Santa and the cold, practical Mrs.
Claus that was rendered into radio through the use of grunts and the
shattering of several dozen whiskey tumblers. In later letters, Rand
sneeringly described these executives as "anti-life.""
fred...@papertig.com
Bob Vogel wrote:
> Thought all (or maybe some) might get a kick out of this, whatever
> their persuasion:
Why?
It's a moronic distortion and caricature of Ayn Rand's view of Xmas - a
view btw she clearly stated, so that smears of this type are even more
inexcusable.
http://tinylink.com/?JDA4q4y9C1
and
http://www.capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=2254
Fred Weiss
Reggie Perrin
> Thought all (or maybe some) might get a kick out of this, whatever
> their persuasion:
ARF!
x
x
x
x
x
Bob Vogel
fred...@papertig.com wrote:
> Bob Vogel wrote:
> > Thought all (or maybe some) might get a kick out of this, whatever
> > their persuasion:
>
> Why?
Because a sense of humor is a healthy thing.
>
> It's a moronic distortion and caricature of Ayn Rand's view of Xmas - a
> view btw she clearly stated, so that smears of this type are even more
> inexcusable.
Smear? I thought it was a joke. As in, "chuckle chuckle" or "ha ha"?
>
> http://tinylink.com/?JDA4q4y9C1
Yes, I read that exact article not five minutes before I read the
"smear". It's 2nd from the top when you google "good will ayn rand".
What's the problem, again?
.
.
.
.
.
fred...@papertig.com
Bob Vogel wrote:
> Because a sense of humor is a healthy thing.
Sure, when something is funny. I have no idea why you thought this was
funny.
Fred Weiss
Clever Monkey
> Bob Vogel wrote:
> > Thought all (or maybe some) might get a kick out of this, whatever
> > their persuasion:
>
> Why?
>
> It's a moronic distortion and caricature of Ayn Rand's view of Xmas - a
> view btw she clearly stated, so that smears of this type are even more
> inexcusable.
>
made funny.
Dude, it's a /joke/.
Malrassic Park
<clvr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>fred...@papertig.com wrote:
>> Bob Vogel wrote:
>> > Thought all (or maybe some) might get a kick out of this, whatever
>> > their persuasion:
.
>> Why?
.
>> It's a moronic distortion and caricature of Ayn Rand's view of Xmas - a
>> view btw she clearly stated, so that smears of this type are even more
>> inexcusable.
.
>Of course it is. Absurd distortions are one of the ways things are
>made funny.
.
>Dude, it's a /joke/.
You're joking around about the goddess of their religion.
Matt Barrow
"Clever Monkey" <clvr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1165015402....@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
No, absurd distortions are used to smear, or they signify gross
misunderstanding.
If you're trying to claim satire, then whats used is sublety, not gross
distortion.
>
> Dude, it's a /joke/.
You're a joke of a human being.
Clever Monkey
you get the idea that satire must be based on subtlety. Given the root
of the word itself, I think you might want to disabuse yourself of that
notion.) While still accounting for taste, various forms of humour
require distortion, exaggeration, misdirection and recontextualisation.
The Rand blurb was taken from a collection of stories that, in toto,
play with the ridiculous notion of Christmas specials. Think Rand at a
Very Muppet Christmas. With Star Wars. In the future. Doing a
version of A Christmas Carol.
See, it's ridiculous fun that anyone can play. Even humourless moral
objectivists. No one is suggesting that Rand ever said or did any of
this.
Contrasting the ridiculous ideas of pomo Christmas specials and
ridiculous pomo philosophy is just /funny/, man.
> > Dude, it's a /joke/.
>
> You're a joke of a human being.
Well, as long as you are happy with that observation. This might not
be a reality dependent on your mind, however. You might want to try a
little critical thinking, there, and see where it takes you.
You are taking all of this a bit seriously. Unless the joke's on me
and you are being mock-serious, in which case: well done, sir! I tip
my hat!
Otherwise: what happened to you? You've changed, man. It used to be
about the /ideas/.
Matt Barrow
> Matt Barrow wrote:
>> "Clever Monkey" <clvr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:1165015402....@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
{garbage snipped}
Grow up!
FLUSH!!!!
John Alway
Clever Monkey wrote:
[...]
> The Rand blurb was taken from a collection of stories that, in toto,
> play with the ridiculous notion of Christmas specials. Think Rand at a
> Very Muppet Christmas. With Star Wars. In the future. Doing a
> version of A Christmas Carol.
> See, it's ridiculous fun that anyone can play.
The idea is to not laugh at your values, i.e. don't belittle your
values. It may be great fun in the short run, but long term you're
only harming yourself. Just imagine if you laughed at your mother
with ridiculous ridicule. Sure, it can be funny in a narrow context,
but in the big picture, it's not so cute.
>...Even humourless moral
> objectivists. No one is suggesting that Rand ever said or did any of
> this.
Being moral doesn't mean being humorless. Hell, I laugh at idiocy
all the time. It can be great fun.
I mean, 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. I think that's
funny, and I think there is an element of truth to it.
...John
Bob Vogel
Malrassic Park wrote:
>
> You're joking around about the goddess of their religion.
What I thought was humorous was the juxtaposition of the weighty,
serious subject matter of Atlas Shrugged on a light-hearted holiday
fairy tale, as well as the obvious non-viability of a 56-minute
philosophical manifesto therein.
This is a recurring theme in the list, see "A Muppet Christmas with
Zbigniew Brzezinski" and "The Lost Star Trek Christmas Episode: "A Most
Illogical Holiday"".
And I *like* Zbigniew Brzezinski and Star Trek, but I'm certainly not
offended by their inclusion.
What's ironic is that I found the page by googling "ayn rand good will
christmas" because I was looking for an fleshing out of what I already
know her interpretaion of christmas to be, that is, a secular
celebration of good will toward men, a sentiment which is appealing to
me, BTW.
David Buchner
> "The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time: Ayn Rand's A
> Selfish Christmas (1951)
> In this hour-long radio drama, ....
This would be much funnier (or more nearly funny) to imagine, if it was
an animated TV special in the style of Rudolph or maybe the Charlie
Brown one.
"Merry Christmas, Kyle Brovlowski!!!"
David Buchner
Malrassic Park wrote:
> > You're joking around about the goddess of their religion.
Bob Vogel <bobvog...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> What I thought was humorous was the juxtaposition of the weighty, serious
> subject matter of Atlas Shrugged on a light-hearted holiday fairy tale
[ .... ]
Hmmmm.