BBC’s Rand Misquote

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Tito

As she explained in a 1959 television interview: “I am primarily the creator of a new cult of morality which has so far been believed impossible – namely, a morality not based on faith, not on emotion, not on arbitrary edicts, mystical or social, but on reason.”

No BBC, no. The word was “code”. Not “cult”.

The summary of her views is ridiculous too:
The “beards and moustaches”, and “Robin Hood” entries are obvious attempts at ridicule.  The “homosexuality” entry misses crucial context, without which it becomes an implication that Objectivists reject homosexuality, which is just untrue.

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  • djb.thirteen

    What’s the context on beards and homosexuality? I’m guessing the BBC didn’t put them in for *no* reason.

    Also, at a stab, I would say that the hack in question was probably rushed and didn’t have time to look into the matter, rather than actually trying to ridicule the code.

    • sarrionandia

      http://www.peikoff.com/2011/05/09/is-it-true-that-ayn-rand-detested-facial-hair-on-men/

      He’d have had to put in some serious amount of research to dig up the old chestnut on facial hair!

      • djb.thirteen

        Basically, a double case of ‘technically right, but not very helpful information’.

        If I were to guess, I’d say that the journo probably just dashed off an email to a philosophy expert who knew those oddities, and she just stuck them in the article without checking, y’know, an actual expert on objectivism. Have you read Flat Earth News? It’s a fascinating study of how the media is shit because we don’t fund it properly.

        • sarrionandia

          I’ll check it out. 

          It’s bizarre how news outlets like the BBC see some demand for trite content, and so overwork useless hacks to churn it out. The internet generates content of this quality with no help at all, the exercise is pointless.

          On the other hand, where did all the investigative journalism go? 

          • djb.thirteen

             Read Flat Earth News, it charts the whole lot.

    • sarrionandia

      Homosexuality:

      Rand once said in an interview that it was “disgusting”, probably because she was under the impression that people actively chose to do it above heterosexuality. 

      Later in life, she adjusted her view to “We don’t know enough to say if it is immoral or not”. 

      Today, no student of Objectivism thinks that there is anything wrong with it at all.