Atlas Shrugged
What is the Moratorium on Brains? Is there a similar moratorium currently?
In the novel Atlas Shrugged, author Ayn Rand discusses a dystopian condition which she calls the "moratorium on brains." By this, Rand refers to the death of individualism and individual thought. Instead of supporting unique thinking and the power of invention, the corruption of the government and the social hierarchy in its entirety has changed the national landscape. People who thought for themselves and tried to define their selves as individuals disappear entirely or they simply vacate their jobs and get replaced by sinister people who will neither question the authority figures nor try to differentiate themselves. Those who remain behind understand that they are discouraged from thinking or using their minds in any capacity other than to perform regular ordered tasks throughout the day. They are being shackled intellectually by the government and thus are never able to transcend above their stations and achieve individual satisfaction.
The term "moratorium on brains" can be applied to any situation where the individual is ordered to behave and to speak in a certain way. Any time where individual speech and individual thought is derided by the majority population the moratorium on brains is in action. Right now in the United States of America, there is a contentious presidential election on the horizon. Never before have the two sides, Republican and Democrat, seemed so divided and by extension never have the people been so at odds. Those who support the Republican nominee Mitt Romney do not understand how people can support the Democratic nominee Barack Obama and vice versa.
Instead of using logic or statistics to back their arguments about why they support one candidate over the other, conversations have...
Atlas Shrugged John Galt, Ayn Rand's Ubermensch, relays his values in the poignant rhetorical question: "Which is the monument to the triumph of the human spirit over matter: the germ-eaten hovels on the shorelines of the Ganges or the Atlantic skyline of New York?" Galt's public address, delivered over the subverted airwaves, encompasses the major themes running through Atlas Shrugged. In the speech, Galt claims the triumph of reason over religion,
He needs to believe this not only for himself but also for those that follow and place their trust in him. He declares that money is the root of all evil and that it "can't buy happiness, Love will conquer any barrier and social distance" (392). These kinds of platitudes are nice to hear but they do not pay the bills. It is extremely important that the Looters believe
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, depicts interplay of two forces: regulated economic freedom and free-market system. This paper describes the philosophy and the practical stances of both the schools of thought within the context of events that occur in the book. ATLAS SHRUGGED Atlas Shrugged is a fictional account, which depicts the causes, the results, and the ultimate connotations attached to the moral and philosophical self-destruction that the mankind, in general, is
Atlas Shrugged The events in Chapters nine and ten of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged have much in common with the real world events of recent history. In Chapter 9, characters Dagny and Reardon find a car company which has been deserted. The Twentieth Century Motor Company factory is deserted. Everyone who was employed or who benefited from the factory has been made to suffer. The United States' government bailed out General Motors
Likewise, Dagny's brother James doesn't so much believe that money is evil so much as he believes that money is not a natural extension of human reason. Jim's means of making money is through connections and manipulation, not through creativity and intelligence. Therefore, characters like Orren Boyle and James Taggart represent the antithesis of what d'Anconia was trying to say about money. Like John Galt, Wesley Mouch's name is meaningful
Galt's Gulch and a strike of the mind is possible? Do we choose not to believe it or the philosophy because we might not be one of them or do we truly not believe in top down economics? In theory a strike of the mind such as the one perpetrated by John Galt and his colleagues at Galt's Gulch seems like a logical idea; smart people would just have to
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