The Binary Circumstance

Leonard Peikoff, who was a member of Ayn Rand’s “collective” and the person that she designated as her intellectual heir, tells us what Christmas means to him.

I watched the DVD version of Elmer Gantry this evening, not realizing that the story begins on Christmas and tells the tale of people who believe in people and things that don’t deserve their faith and the con men who are more than happy to take advantage of them.

Given the current political climate and the religious war between Osama bin Laden and George Bush, the movie’s central theme of religous revivalism, the attraction it has for people and it’s cost, couldn’t be more timely. When human beings feel guilty for being human and feeling good is as easy as believing fantasies, it is easy to see how an Elmer Gantry could become, well, er, President of the United States.
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Andrew Sullivan annoys the hell out of me. He apparently made some collectivist comment that stereotyped all “boomers” and a Viet-Nam vet called him on it in an e-mail. Andrew apologized for being “dumb and glib”. That’s like, well, a Christmas present.

Now if he’d just stop sterotyping and demonizing everybody else who doesn’t share his mystical view of the world.

Nevertheless, Andrew sometimes has great links: See what tragedy occurs when a gay, cross dresser named Natale, whose very existence marries the male and the female, comes between sterotypical males (brutes) and stereotypical females (helpless waifs).

Last week it was the pending flu epidemic and the panic to get shots.

After raising the Terror Alert Level to High a couple of days ago, we are being told that Osama bin Laden is behind the current threat.

“Just remember that al-Qaida is not just looking to kill as many Americans as possible. They’re looking to seriously hurt our nation’s economy,??? terrorism specialist Roger Cressey, former chief of staff of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, said in an interview.

In addition to big cities like New York and Los Angeles, al-Qaida has targeted Las Vegas, the officials said, because of its economic value as the nation’s No. 2 vacation destination and as home to large conventions and trade shows beginning next month.

Other possible targets include important infrastructure facilities, such as nuclear power plants and dams. The officials mentioned oil transport facilities at Valdez, Alaska, as a particularly likely target.

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