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Do Words Matter?

The words slave and master were outlawed. Everyone was free. The Party said so.

Then certain people and families were granted the right to own contracts obliging other men and women to work for them. Children of obligated workers were also obligated. The obligated were not compensated, but their employers provided for their food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Employers sold, bought, gifted, and traded contracts, and therefor workers, back and forth. The obligated could not own weapons, could not deny their employers or appointed supervisors sexual favors, nor could they work with “dangerous tools” without supervision, nor could they be educated beyond a certain point.

There were workers not bound by obligation, as the economy needed workers who could work with “dangerous tools” or who were educated more highly than was allowed the obligated. These workers lorded it over the obligated.

But everyone was free, because the words slave and master had been outlawed.

Albert Perez
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L. Reichard White’s Silly-Assed Mistake

Ayn Rand’s Greatest Mistake, By L. Reichard White, December 28, 2019, referenced by Mr. White in his article in TLE 2023-Jan-01

L. Reichard White’s Silly-Assed Mistake is thinking that businessmen James Taggart and Orrin Boyle are Ayn Rand heroes AND that they are somehow equal to Hank Rearden, Ellis Wyatt, Ken Dannager and Nat and Dagny Taggart.

The FIRST TWO very accurately portray Mr. White’s personal businessmen acquaintances — but how Mr. White managed to conflate them with Ayn Rand’s heroes is truly beyond comprehension.

Dennis Wilson
Signatory: The Covenant of Unanimous Consent
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Re: Fw: L. Reichard White’s Silly-Assed Mistake

L. Reichard White’s Silly-Assed Mistake is thinking that businessmen James Taggart and Orrin Boyle are Ayn Rand heroes AND that they are somehow equal to Hank Rearden, Ellis Wyatt, Ken Dannager and Nat and Dagny Taggart.

The FIRST TWO very accurately portray Mr. White’s personal businessmen acquaintances — but how Mr. White managed to conflate them with Ayn Rand’s heroes is truly beyond comprehension. –Dennis W.

My “Silly-Assed Mistake” – – –

I’m flattered that Dennis W. read my piece in TLE, “ The Sociobiology of Liberty: The BIG PICTURE,” carefully enough to follow one of the links to another article of mine, “Ayn Rand’s Greatest Mistake.”

Unfortunately I was not as wired-in as Mr. W. seems to think. I’m unable to honestly count the JCs Larry and I addressed nor Adolph Coors Jr. nor the casino magnates who manipulated the Society to Preserve Lake Tahoe as my “businessman acquaintences.”

But much more unfortunately, they aren’t fictional as are the Ayn Rand heros (and heroines) Mr. W invokes, specifically Hank Rearden, Ellis Wyatt, Ken Dannager and Nat and Dagny Taggart.

It was quite a rude awakening for me when I realized that while manners and fair-play in business are nice, fiduciary responsibility and market competition foster and nourish dog-eat-dog and less than mannerly behavior. And equivalent outlook.

For those folks who haven’t been rudely awakened yet and aren’t feeling all melty, you might gain some deeper if unwelcome understanding, particularly of the ubiquitous non-fiction political connections of the game Ms. Rand nailed so well — and why the entities that choose to play it much more often resemble James Taggart and Orrin Boyle than they do Hank Rearden or Dagny Taggart — in the followup to Ms. Rand’s Greatest Mistake here.

Elon Musk may be an exception but that’s getting him into financial difficulties — and questionable fiduciary territory.

You can find additional deep insight into just how tough that game can be — and why — in another piece, a case-study involving Hank Greenspun, someone I can honestly count as a “businessman acquaintence,” in Why Main Stream Media Almost Always Sucks“

Thanks for the feedback, Dennis W. And – – –

Health,happiness & long life,
lrw
[email protected]

P.S. It’s very easy to miss or grossly underestimate the base emotional forces arrayed against voluntary exchange. They are the force behind the ubiquitous “bad” effects of trade and markets the left reacts to. You can find a pretty complete and surprising presentation in “Why NOT to Trade??” a chapter from “The Hi-jacking of Civilization.”