If that was not a clear enough response to your question, then you're absolutely right in that continuing this is pointless. Your preference is to stick to your preconceptions, so I'll leave you to it. I would also like to commend you in aiding my argument by providing direct quotations that demonstrate the kind of…

I hope you will at least appreciate that my criticisms are not without reason and not voiced for their own sake.

That was an attempt at some lighthearted sarcasm.

Here again is the Ayn-Rand-eats-poor-people type straw man I was referring to earlier. You may actually believe that an accurate definition of an objectivist is someone who laughs maniacally while watching your house burn down. I don't know. But it sounds like something you would imagine an objectivist would do rather…

It's not the disagreement I have an issue with; I would love to come across some disagreement on this topic that is substantive. It's the reflexive dismissiveness. The immaturity is on full display in that last paragraph, and you're correct in labeling it as such. There is a world of difference between judging a…

I must say your hierarchy of extremism is rather indiscriminatory.

Well that's my point. If that's as extreme as it gets, it seems pretty benign next to the guy with the lighter and gas can, no?

Way to put words into my mouth. Obnoxious? Most definitely. Extremist? Certainly. But the Objectivist brand of extremism does not call for burning somebody's house down.

What prompted me to join this thread in the first place was the quite juvenile impulse, as demonstrated by you, Rururr_Jurur, to relegate any philosophy you disagree with to quotation marks. You may disagree with it, you may find it repugnant, but any honest appraisal would have to come to the conclusion that it is a…

Kinda contradicting yourself there, aren't you? I would bet that if I ran into you in a bar and we somehow stumbled onto this topic, you would be flabbergasted at your ability to get along with me. As I said, I am not an Objectivist, so don't take me for a representative, but I do think Rand deserves some respect.…

That wasn't my point. My point was that those who so often choose to judge objectivism as morally reprehensible usually leave it at that, as if it was a self-evident axiom, with no substantiation necessary. I understand that most people don't like to have their convictions challenged, but simply saying that something…

At the risk of causing Sonia Sarraya to write me off as subhuman scum, I would like to jump in here as a Randite sympathizer.

It's funny how the scarcity or outright absence of a particular demographic is, in and of itself, taken to be evidence of a wrong. Can anyone, Jay Pharoah in particular, honestly claim that the casting department of SNL is or has been actively engaged in discriminating against black female performers? It's no longer a…

No, my judgement of tokenism is based on the fact that their hiring came about as a result of a blacks-only casting call, which only took place as a result of SNL caving in to a public outcry, which had no rational basis.

Well shit, Winston, if this isn't tokenism, what is it? Long-overdue recognition of genuine talent? Have you seen the two videos above?

Some ideas on an appropriate title for the inevitable TV movie. I'll start:

And here I thought that I was a condescending prick. We should hook up, not Bridget. I think we'll get along just fine. I've been a big boy for some time now. ;)

I mentioned Kubrick, and specifically 2001, since its detractors tend to have the same reaction to it that I did to Nashville, i.e. they're bored out of their fucking skulls.

To each his own and all that, but this was one of the most excruciating movie-watching experiences of my life. I approached it with an open mind, in fact I expected to like it quite a bit, having seen Altman's Short Cuts and Gosford Park.

You must be joking. I had to stop reading the Sopranos recaps because he was ruining the show for me. The self-absorbed, solipsistic musings, the inane, mind-numbingly incessant ranking, the strained attempts at eloquence… we obviously have different standards for good writing.