Re: Alice Rosenbloom (was Re: religion bashing?)

Replicant00@aol.com
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:30:42 EDT

In a message dated 10/25/1999 8:28:28 PM Pacific Daylight Time, spike66@ibm.net writes:

<< I see no reason why one should not choose one's own name to fit ones taste and personality traits.
>>

people are ignoring a crucial problem here... The discussion is avoiding the central issue: whether letting go of cultural heritage is based on one of the following.

  1. "shame" - a dislike of one's own heritage and the trappings thereof
  2. a desire to 'assimilate' into mainstream sulture ( in this case Christian/Caucasion hegemony) and remove the stigma and prjudice against one;s race ( in this case anti-semitism).
  3. An insistance on blatant individualism, shunning cultural ties for the simple reason that labels not define who we are, and should not.
  4. other factors

I think Ayn rand was a blend of 2 and 3. The values she espoused were of upper middle class and rich peoplel, who - during the time period she existed - were 99% anti-semetic and would have shunned her. However, that in itself was not the total motivation, which we can deduce by her extremist views on indiviuality and egoist propaganda.