(June 5, 2012 at 11:56 pm)Tempus Wrote: Wtf? I wasn't appealing to Ayn Rand as an authority on anything*, it was a quote which - in addition to having nothing to do with economics, politics or Ann Coulter - concisely summarised what I wanted to say. If anything, you seem to be doing a vague appeal to authority by saying she wasn't an economist, or didn't have a Ph.D therefore she couldn't have possibly been correct about anything or have had anything of value to say (even on unrelated topics!). Whether or not you think that, I don't know, but I'm getting that impression. If you'd stop fixating on the author of the quote you might actually have some time to actually look at it.
*I actually disagree with some (possibly many if I knew more) of the things she's said / positions she held. All in all, I'm really not that familiar with her - I guess you could say I know enough to know that I don't want know any more. My personal dislike of her or disagreement with her on other matters does not affect the truth value of the particular statement quoted.
Indeed. While I am not a fan of her philosophy as a whole, I will admit that I have read a few of her novels and enjoyed them as literature.
Paraphrased succinctly, that particular quote can be loosely read as "Act consistently with your values, and reasoned values are better than those that aren't".
Whatever you may think of the messenger, the message stands on it's own merit.
