John Galt tattoo, by request.

Katamaran · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts:

John Galt tattoo, or rather, Atlas Shrugged, it's still healing, needs to be finished/touched up, so you get the design, just cause Banana asked.

Bananashroom · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts:

what is this, i dont even.... im too lazy to google so what does this lighted broken cigarette means? smoking broken money away?

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

The whole idea behind Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and the easiest way I've found to describe it in one sentence is selfish self-determination with the goal of turning as much honest profit as you're able. In the book, there's basically the good guys, who are talented and motivated and get things done, and the bad guys, who duck the blame, ask for gov't assistance, and expect others to get things done for them (it was written in the 50's, not yesterday, believe it or not). It's also got a very strong anti-communism undertone, since Ayn Rand grew up in Communist Russia.

It's about a 1200 page book, so without getting into too much detail, the cigarette with the money symbol became an icon for the good guys.

Everyone should read it.

Bananashroom · Joined: 30 Jun 2009 Posts:

another question, where did you put this tattoo? lol. 100g says your arm.

Griiiiiiimmer · Friend Joined: 28 May 2009 Posts: 276

I am sorry to say I have not read this book but I have read synopsizes and articles on it. Therefore I feel empowered to say why this is the worst thing ever.

Ignore the fact that the people who run and support the governments are also working towards their own selfish self interests. The mass disappearance of a whole sector of the work force is catastrophic regardless of their considered importance in industry. If all the migrant farm hands in the US suddenly vanished we would have similar disasters.

However, such a catastrophe would be temporary. In any natural setting, when a power vacuum occurs, the power is taken by others. Companies just get new CEO's instead of shutting down. Here is an article that shows what happens when such vacuums occur.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129511326

In the end, no one or thing is indispensable and we are all easily replaced. Keep that in mind if you don't want to show up to raid for a couple of weeks : |

Katamaran · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts:

Yeah, fright says it pretty well. What's different about my interpretation is that I believe the good guys still had flaws, and so the cigarette is stubbed out, half smoked, broken but still smoldering.

ps, Ayn Rand wrote prolifically throughout her life, and Atlas Shrugged is just a piece of all that. Atlas Shrugged itself is even just the continuation of ideas put forward in Fountainhead. So, you've gotta be a bit more specific when you say this is the worst idea ever, there are a fuckload of ideas there. what the tattoo means to me isn't about creating my own colony out in the wilderness, it's a reminder. I think before she died she called them Primary Movers, this is the idea that some people create and shape life as they see fit, primary movers, and the rest choose to follow, putting together a life stitched from monkey see, monkey do. This tattoo is a reminder of that.

Griiiiiiimmer · Friend Joined: 28 May 2009 Posts: 276

I am saying Ayn Rand is a doody head and she smells like poo.

Edit: What I am saying is that a Primary Mover is not itself indespensible. A primary mover could easily be displaced. When reptiles were the dominant species, their numbers were decimated by a mass extinction event. Life didn't wither, mammals flourished and became the dominant species. This has repeated numerous times in Earth's history. I also feel the article I linked illustrates that point. Fart

Ourstateobzen · Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts:

What I learned from this thread: Ayn Rand is actually a chick. Never knew that.

Yeetawh · Joined: 22 Jul 2010 Posts:

Ourstateobzen wrote:

What I learned from this thread: Ayn Rand is actually a chick. Never knew that.

Ditto.

And I'm lazy and quit reading after Fright's post and I just still don't see how this has to do with John Galt. My mind is fried after the probably worst exam of my life that I spent about 4 hours on today, gimme a break.