REVIEW: Atlas Shrugged The Movie, Part 1.

I went and saw the movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” today. My first thoughts are that it was a great success in conveying some of the core messages of the book. I’m predicting that the majority of the criticism is going to be of the same nature that the book itself gets, which means critics will act precisely as the villains from the novel with noncommittal unsubstantiated criticisms of their own false intepretation of the subject material.

The bottom line? If you loved the book, you’ll most likely enjoy the movie. Aside from some minor details that would have improved the over-all quality of the film, it was a solid take on one of the greatest books ever written.

Here’s a link to my video review:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0xLq-3obak

Solution to net neutrality.

And it doesn’t involve compromise.

In a nutshell: Make adherence to the rules and regulations of net neutrality voluntary for the ISPs. If it actually creates a more fair and just internet then people will go to the ISPs that follow those rules and regulations. If it doesn’t work, then we aren’t stuck with another EPIC FAIL that WE have to pay for.

DO IT.

Here’s a youtube video on my channel with me rambling about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv2c9Bz57-g

Where was I?

This is to put to rest the ridiculous non-argument that the left perpetuates towards libertarian perspectives on the basis of “where were you when Bush…” ect.

The Best of Both Worlds.

People get so tied up in republican vs democrat, conservative vs liberal, that they end up squabbling over nothing except perceptual emotional whims instead of the deeper issues of principled concepts. Entire paradigms could be shifted for the better if people could stop and think about what they are actually advocating when they buy into the feel good rhetoric of their favorite media pundit or politician.

Collective vs Individual Rights.

My friend posted an excellent review of what the idea of “rights” actually entails. You can check it out on his blog here: http://simonofski.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/rights-and-men/

In it he explains that anything that has to be provided by someone else’s labor cannot be considered a right. Declaring such things to be a right is nothing more than the right to enslave those that provide those products and services such as health care, and housing. I began to think about why it is people can become twisted and manipulated into thinking of these as rights, and have concluded that it has its roots in collectivism.