Saturday, February 12, 2011

Galt is great, Galt is good, let us thank him for our greed

Here's a broad, parodic condemnation of capitalist excess. It doesn't say, but I assume it was funded by the Communist Party USA or somesuch:



The video includes dialogue like this; note that the second character is the Captain-of-Industry "hero" of the movie.

"They say you're intractable, you're ruthless, your only goal is to make money.  
 
"My only goal IS to make money."  
 
"Yeah, but you shouldn't say it."  

Really, guys--could you possibly have been any more hamfisted? I dislike capitalism as much as anyone, but when you caricature free-market types to such an extreme degree, it's not even funny anymore--it's just too broad to be effective. Next time, you really ought to rethink what you're…

…what's that?

Really? Well I'll be…wait, really really?

…never mind, then.

Seriously, this fucking blows my mind. The Rand cultists are really that far up their own asses? I mean, I know that having a sense of perspective is bad, as that involves thinking about other people and not being one hundred percent solipsistic at all times, but it's still kind of stunning to see this laid out so nakedly. I have to doubt that this is gonna play well amongst the general public, outside of the cultists' own little enclave--false consciousness notwithstanding, I really question the notion that Americans want to think of themselves in this fashion, even if we tacitly accept such a system in our day-to-day lives. This is what happens when you put ideology over everything else--you alienate people. Or so I devoutly hope. Optimistically, I can imagine that having this inhumanity rubbed in their faces could even shock a few people awake. And fuck me, this is supposed to be a trilogy? I can imagine nothing more hellish than paying for the privilege of having asshole libertarians (but I repeat myself) shrieking "GREED IS GOOD!" in my face for six-odd hours.

Given the difficulty the Narnia movies (which, at any rate, actually have higher production values than Left Behind) are having with getting made, I have serious doubts that something as awful as this is going to be seen out. I hope not, anyway. But hey, what do I know; maybe it'll turn out we really, really do like bowing and scraping before our corporate overlords! In which case, just turn out the lights when you leave, okay?

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