Aaron Rodgers brags he has Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” on his bookshelf.
— Marcus Hayes (@inkstainedretch) January 4, 2022
Explains everything. pic.twitter.com/fYHmGeY7FX
January 4, 2022
Aaron Rodgers explains everything.
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83 comments:
He's gotten more interesting as he gets older.
A rare (seeming) libertarian with a degree from Cal Berkeley.
I like the way he introduces himself as an alumnus of Butte Community College.
Thinking that one book out of many on a shelf “explains everything” is exactly the kind of thinking Rodgers is pushing back against, the same closed mindedness that spouts fiction like “follow the science” while enacting rules with no basis in science. Does physical health have any effect on contracting and overcoming Covid?
Hawkeye, do you think Berkeley’s weak support for the epidemiology experts on their faculty had anything to do with Aaron dissing his UC Alma Mater?
I'm a sorta-kinda-libertarian with a couple of degrees (in wildly divergent fields) from Cal Berkeley.
Also, I liked Atlas Shrugged very much when I read it, a few years back. I do not understand people who sneer at the writing or say it's just a book for adolescents. IMO Rand's characters resemble actual people and demonstrate actual character traits I can see in today's world.
'I'm a sorta-kinda-libertarian with a couple of degrees (in wildly divergent fields) from Cal Berkeley.'
Then you, my friend, are a rare bird yourself.
As a life-long Bay Area resident, I am always highly amused that Cal, the self-proclaimed 'Home of the Free Speech Movement,' (and Berkeley in general), is such a cesspool of woke conformity and intolerance.
Well that's at least one mind that UC Berkeley hasn't spoiled. OTOH the teams that play the Green Bay Packers wish that Aaron would throw the book--rather than the football at them.
I've spent a lot of time in Berkeley over the years--three in law school, and many visits over the next 45 years as I visited a brother and sister in law who lived there. Physically Berkeley--or at least the Berkeley hillside--is a beautiful place. Intellectually it can be a stimulating place. Politically it's a Hellhole--not much political diversity there--just different shades of PC and Red.
I feel a lot of people are going Galt lately. It's about time.
He did that live on ESPN.
Ouch.
A lot of pustules popped. I doubt they let him speak live much more. They prefer to be able to edit and clip.
Greg Gutfeld also went to Berkeley, and has his own mind. At least a few escaped.
Now I am definitely rooting for the Packers to win the SB.
wendybar: sure go Galt. Not one will notice when all you second handers quit.
Aaron Rodgers allows his helmet to be used as a billboard for the NFL socialist equity messages. I doubt Ayn Rand would approve.
CTE is a real problem.
Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying. I doubt the fake Ayn Rand that lives in your pea brains would approve.
AR only spent 2 years at UC Berkeley. 1 year of CC, and left after Jr year. Not sure he graduated. Maybe he learned the other AR warming the bench in Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers is an eccentric and as such, as with all of those, was put on earth for us to savor, IMO. So yeah, what he reads is mildly interesting. But what is way more interesting to me is his laser-accurate throwing of footballs. Everyone's read 'Atlas Shrugged'.
'Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying. I doubt the fake Ayn Rand that lives in your pea brains would approve.'
This comment is even more foolish than normal for you.
"Medicare is funded by the Social Security Administration. Which means it's funded by taxpayers: We all pay 1.45% of our earnings into FICA - Federal Insurance Contributions Act - which go toward Medicare. Employers pay another 1.45%, bringing the total to 2.9%. (If you're self-employed, you must cough up the entire 2.9%.) The Medicare deduction on your paycheck might say FICA-HI. The HI refers to Health Insurance, and it's your premium cost for all Medicare coverage."
The above citation is from CNN, no less.
Rand paid taxes on her earnings. She is entitled to the benefits of that contribution.
Rodgers reads a book a week. One of his teammates asked him for some book recommendations and he went to Barnes and Noble bought him a stack of books. That inspired him to make a book of the week recommendation during his weekly segment on the Pat McAfee Show. The list of this seasons books can be found here: https://www.sportsgeekery.com/35264/aaron-rodgers-book-club-complete-list-of-books/
Also, pointing to a single book on a bookshelf to claim it explains everything or even anything about a person is idiotic. You can find Mein Kampf, Atlas Shrugged, The Communist Manifesto, and The Wealth of Nations on my bookshelf. If you were to just pick one of those out you would only have a 1 in 4 chance of guessing which one espouses my political and economic beliefs, if any.
>>Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying.
Medicare - Health insurance where you pay your premiums for 50 years before your coverage starts.
“Colin Kaopectate for the win!”
—- Readering
Readering said: "AR only spent 2 years at UC Berkeley. 1 year of CC, and left after Jr year. Not sure he graduated."
LeBron James: LBJ spent 0 years at UC Berkeley. 0 years of CC, and left after high school. Not sure he graduated. Yet remains a hero of the left and chief sports advocate for Xi Jinping-pong and Chi-Coms.
I'll take AR any day.
Howard said...
Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying. I doubt the fake Ayn Rand that lives in your pea brains would approve.
Ayn Rand pointed out that if she kept her money she would have been able to use it more efficiently than the government bureaucrats that stole that money using the government monopoly on force.
She pointed out that the private sector and people motivated by profit from mutually agreed transactions and contracts always came up with better solutions than government thugs.
That does not preclude her from using a system she was forced to support by people who used violence and majoritarianism to crush the individual.
What is telling is that you thought your argument so superior you thought you could throw in an attack on the intelligence of others after throwing out your bumper sticker wisdom.
You just aren't as smart as you think you are Howard.
Always with the excuses, Achilles. It must suck to be a man saddled with battered wife syndrome.
Howard said...
Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying. I doubt the fake Ayn Rand that lives in your pea brains would approve.
-----------
Ayn Rand was pretty okay with getting back what one"paid" for. - especially since she objected when it was taken by force.
well at least its not Mein Kamp.
I first read that Tweet as being by Marcus Haynes...
"I'm Marques Haynes to show you how."
Anybody remember the Saturday morning Harlem Globetrotter Popcorn Machine?
(Marques Haynes intro @1:05)
Ice Nine said...
Aaron Rodgers is an eccentric and as such, as with all of those, was put on earth for us to savor, IMO. So yeah, what he reads is mildly interesting. But what is way more interesting to me is his laser-accurate throwing of footballs. Everyone's read 'Atlas Shrugged'.
---------
Everyone's read 'Atlas Shrugged'.=== how many have gone back to read it?
- we are living in that world! think of it as lesson in root causes supply chain to exist and what "snafus" it
"Aaron Rodgers brags he has Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” on his bookshelf. Explains everything."
Aaron shrugged. Sorry.
Anyway, good to have one non-woke star speaking up. DeSantis should invite him to the nominating convention.
Blogger Howard said...
Always with the excuses, Achilles. It must suck to be a man saddled with battered wife syndrome.
Are you battered Howard ? My "pea brain" is the size of a watermelon, Howard. How about yours ?
Atlas Shrugged is the perfect novel for the Libertarian Right. Its a fantasy where the Right wins by running away and hiding and "Going Gault". They don't seem to understand that already happened in the USSR. Lenin and the Soviets killed, imprisoned, and exiled most of the business leaders and bougoise technical personnel. Things collapsed in the 1920s, but eventually it was all rebuilt and USSR industrial output exceeded by many times what it'd been in 1917.
But the novel represents the Conservative dream. We'll all run away to our cabin in the woods - that'll show those Lefties what's what! We'll win by not fighting, hurrah!
Howard said...
Ayn Rand got medicare when she was dying.
I've noticed this tic among those who advocate for government programs in order "to help all the people" who then fantasize about excluding their political opponents once they force them into the program.
Who the hell is Marcus Hayes?
Oh… he tells us himself; he’s an ink-stained “retch”
Seems appropriate
Howard said...
Always with the excuses, Achilles. It must suck to be a man saddled with battered wife syndrome.
Stupid people are boring.
Good to see you acknowledge your CTE Howard. An important step in your recovery. Wish you luck.
Yes, but does he have the original Port Huron Statement?
And not the compromised second draft?
---You just aren't as smart as you think you are Howard.
Hey, be nice to Howard. He's clearly having a little trouble with the transitioning phase.
"Its a fantasy where the Right wins by running away and hiding and "Going Gault". "
Charlayne Hunter-Gault?
"It's a fantasy where the Right wins by running away and hiding and "Going Gault"."
Charlayne Hunter-Gault?
Maybe he means Willie Gault, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Bears (and would've competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics if the US hadn't boycotted).
LOVE AARON RODGERS!!!
"But the novel represents the Conservative dream. We'll all run away to our cabin in the woods - that'll show those Lefties what's what! We'll win by not fighting, hurrah!"
I believe the point (and I say this as someone who isn't a fan of either the book or Rand) is that the industrialists feel no obligation to give the fruits of their effort to a society that is openly hostile to them. They aren't winning so much as no longer playing the game. Of course this is only possible thanks to the super science they invented, so yeah it's a fantasy.
"Things collapsed in the 1920s, but eventually it was all rebuilt and USSR industrial output exceeded by many times what it'd been in 1917."
Which was stil a pitifully small number as compared to Western countries. Of course, the money to rebuild was supplied by pillaging post-WWII Germany and eastern European nations as well as the captive nationalities in the "Union" of Soviet Socialist "Republics".
Ayn Rand was polarized and polarizing.
We don't have to be.
I think she'll be remembered as someone who suffered under communism
She would really have hated posterity thinking her as a victim.
rcocean: "But the novel represents the Conservative dream. We'll all run away to our cabin in the woods - that'll show those Lefties what's what! We'll win by not fighting, hurrah!"
Rod Dreher hardest hit!
I find it interesting that most Conservatives are embracing Aaron Rogers, a football player, yet they tell the basketball players who speak out on non Conservative items to "shut up and dribble" Is that because he has a degree from Cal? Is that because he is white? Is that because he, conveniently, looks like most right wing-nuts?
i treat him like most Athletes, who cares?
Vicki from Pasadena
Good Galt, is this guy actually PRO-freedom? Does he actually think his life and property belongs to himself?! Stone him, burn him at the stake!
Charlayne Hunter-Gault?
The name sounded familiar. But I couldn't place her face, I mistakenly pegged her as a white woman, possibly related to Charles Kuralt.
(maybe the woke are right 😯)
Aaron Rogers. Kylie Irving. J.K. Rowling. Three humans who resisted the mob. They are heroes. (I’m vaxxed, btw, and have never read or watched Harry Potter.)
I find it interesting that most Conservatives are embracing Aaron Rogers, a football player, yet they tell the basketball players who speak out on non Conservative items to "shut up and dribble"
Actually, Conservatives don't tell basketball players to "shut up and dribble". They tell them to stop attacking the American people and start attacking the Chinese Communists.
Is that because he has a degree from Cal?
It's because Rodgers is attacking our enemies instead of us.
Kyrie, dammit.
I believe the point (and I say this as someone who isn't a fan of either the book or Rand) is that the industrialists feel no obligation to give the fruits of their effort to a society that is openly hostile to them. They aren't winning so much as no longer playing the game.
Now look at how Elon is treated.
He came here as a penniless college student. Instead of getting a graduate degree, he lived in his office and created (at the time) revolutionary software. He sold it for millions of dollars. This was his first chance to quit the game and live a life of leisure.
Instead he took his new wealth and helped create PayPal (in a not insignificant role). PayPal revolutionized online commerce. He walked away from PayPal with approximately $200 million. Again he had a chance to quit the game, and live a life of extreme leisure.
Instead he risked it all. He took over Tesla and founded SpaceX, and invested all of it in them. At one point he was borrowing money from friends to pay his rent. Both companies succeeded, in fact dominated, and fundamentally changed their industries.
We'll throw in Neuralink, Boring Company, Tesla Energy and Starlink (all fundamental game changers) in for good measure.
Man of the year? So far he's the man of the century. He has had a greater impact on the world, and improved the life of everyone on the Earth more than any other person or organization in the 21st century.
Does he get the thanks he deserves? Not from the Left. The Biden Administration either ignores him or insults him. AOC and Pelosi call him a freeloader, even though he repeatedly ignored multiple opportunities to become just that.
Not only is Elon still playing, he's winning.
I was wondering about Rodgers's religious beliefs, and it turns out he was raised a Christian, but no longer considers himself one. Rand, of course, was an ardent atheist. Also, a pretty heavy handed prose stylist, at least in her fiction. If I want to read conservative fiction by a good writer, I'll take Heinlein. Or Mark Helprin.
Ayn Rand using Medicare is explained in Atlas Shrugged many times, and for those so ignorant as to use the concept against her, she created the character Ragnar Danneskjöld and his motivation to make the issue as clear as she could.
I also find it funny when people suggest Ayn Rand's support for "Open Borders" means no immigration control. She was against "Closed Borders" such as existed in the USSR, where no one was allowed to escape. Immigration to Galt's Gulch is heavily controlled and requires taking an oath before you can remain, and that policy was created by John Galt, who she makes clear is her ideal libertarian.
Alas, Ayn Rand's foundation was taken over by the same people who seek to take over J.K. Rowling's, such that they can bastardize her ideas to conform to their principles and not those of the original author/creator.
Thank you Gahrie for saying it better than I would have. I’ll add for Vickie’s consideration that I objected to football’s ceremony and broadcast time being appropriated for propaganda and opinion. In basketball there’s one guy speaking out about China and his on-court behavior is no better or worse than his team mates and opponents. Rodgers, every time I see him talk about things other than football he’s doing it off the field. I never objected to Kaepernick speaking his mind off the field either, even after the game. I objected to the National Anthem being co-opted. It’s an opportunity for unity among fans and players.
He was also on the Pat MacAfee show today and said he’s never read it, but they did show all his “book club” recs, one for each game this season.
It has been 33 years since Boris Yeltsin made an impromptu stop at a Randall's grocery store in Clear Lake, TX, yet you still believe and peddle this nonsense: "eventually it was all rebuilt and USSR industrial output exceeded by many times what it'd been in 1917."
As for the notion that "Going Galt" means to do nothing, it seems you never read the book or comprehended any of the basic elements. The actions of Francisco d'Anconia, Ragnar Danneskjöld, and John Galt literally fight against the corrupt government and industries, even stating to the main protagonist, Dagny Taggart, that they will fight her if she continues to support the corrupt government and industry. It is a theme repeated in all three parts of Atlas Shrugged. Pretty hard to miss it unless you choose to miss it.
Rodgers' answer on a local Milwaukee radio sports show a few years ago:
...year 1-7 of his NFL career: Cal, next 7 years of his NFL career will be Butte and if he gets past 14 years in the league he might switch to his high school team.
Someone once described him as a football savant when he's on the field: his ability to scan the defense and process different scenarios, etc. Watching him throw the football to Davante Adams is amazing. Davante turning and catching the ball is like watching ballet.
Except the Captains and lieutenants of our modern industrial world are libtards. Knock yourselves out oh so brave Trumper snowflakes and go Galt. Instapundit has been threatening it for a couple decades. Maybe it will replace your empty threats of Civil War. Whatever, you people certainly could afford to lose a several stone. Starvation is healthy.
victoria: "I find it interesting that most Conservatives are embracing Aaron Rogers, a football player, yet they tell the basketball players who speak out on non Conservative items to "shut up and dribble" Is that because he has a degree from Cal? Is that because he is white? Is that because he, conveniently, looks like most right wing-nuts?"
It would take hours to unpack the projection, false equivalences, moronic comparisons and smug unearned sense of superiority of this post.
We'll just leave it at that.
Don't care about AR, have never read AS (though I understand the gist of Rand's argument, which is not that complicated). Nothing against Rodgers--a reading athlete is the best kind in my book--but sportspersons' opinions have not been important to me for 68 years now.
As for Howard not being as smart as he thinks he is, nobody is as smart as Howard thinks he is. The Social Security gambit is the sure sign of a lazy and self-satisfied mind.
Rogers is my favorite quarterback of all time. I don't care what he says or does except on the gridiron.
That's right, Narr. Not all of us are qualified to be a government librarian in academia. Given your lack of hard core real world experience where the rubber meets the road, it's not surprising you don't know what trolling is.
Oh yeah. The reference to Soviet construction after 1917 seemed clear to me as referring to the period between the wars. The USSR did OK through the 20s and 30s by a policy of near autarchy that decoupled them from the world economy (they are still one of the most closed off) and allowed them to focus on heavy industry. They continued to export raw materials in exchange for high tech and finished goods, but foreign trade and finance were small potatoes compared to internal affairs, and there was nothing in Eastern Europe to loot in 1918 and a few years after.
It was not until after WWII that the USSR began to borrow and buy extensively from the capitalists, who were more than happy to deal with the Reds. A plausible argument has been made that only Western capital and credit kept the USSR going as long as it did.
"Trolling" and the constant repetition of unoriginal cliches are not the same, Howard.
As for my real world experience, how would you know? I chose a certain path through life--maybe I tried some others before settling on that one. How about you?
I would like to hear Rodgers expand on why he likes Atlas Shrug, before saying that a book Rogers has "explains everything". Specially if I was a journalist. For all the wokeness, seemingly capturing every aspect of our lives, I see more of this kind of prejudice than before the wokeness takeover.
Full disclosure: I didn't read the book, despite all the recommendations i heard from friends and acquaintances. And I don't remember much of the movie. If memory serves, there was a second part I never watched. So, if Rodgers says he liked the book and Rodgers is someone I admire... who knows, I may look into it, then again, I may not. My impression is I already agree with the premise of the book. If I agree with something, look into what challenges it instead. A weak challenge may reinforce what I already believe and is probably a better use of my time. (Just don't ask me to read woke stuff)
Trying to picture some of the other books/items AR could have received as holiday gifts and put on those shelves. Obviously influenced by the rate-the-room-guy.
If memory serves, there was a second part I never watched.
There are actually 3 parts, but few ever read part 3 and I had to look up if they ever completed the third movie. If at all interested in reading Rand's work, just read The Fountainhead, which was her first attempt to describe Objectivism. She wrote Atlas Shrugged to hammer home the aspects that people misunderstood from The Fountainhead. She thought writing more would satiate the critics.
I guess since a few have put in disclosures: I enjoy Rand's books and I understand her ideals. I enjoy Rowling's books and I understand her ideals. I wouldn't mind visiting Galt's Gulch or Hogsworth, but I don't think I'd want to live in either place very long. It is just the descriptions of Rand's book that are so far off is like someone describing Harry Potter as a series about being in school during Christmas. Sure, it happens in the story, but it is hardly a major premise or scene in the novel.
You are right, Narr. I apologize. I don't know you and it's unfair and frankly stupid to make assumptions about your life.
Heinlein explained Rand best:
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
Rent seeking is not equivalent to creating.
Heinlein's flirtation with social credit (the OG version, not the Chinese version - akin to UBI) in the years before he was able to pay off his mortgage through writing gave me pause.
But he evolved. Of course, his worldview is every much as fantastical as Rand's. Both rely on a wild deus ex machina or two in order to allow their free-thinking protagonists to Live As They Choose. Jubal Harshaw might have been the last Heinlein character to work within the system, and he was presented as a lawyer/doctor/writer who was so accomplished in all these areas that he actually lived outside the system (but his run-ins with the government in Stranger In A Strange Land indicated that he could only live outside the system on the government's sufferance).
Anyway. Rogers does allow the NFL to use him as a billboard, in exchange for their paying him a lot and giving him the opportunity to do something he excels at and, I hope, loves. I'm not going to fault him, not pay too much attention to his political opinions.
Anybody remember the Saturday morning Harlem Globetrotter Popcorn Machine?
Rodney Allen Rippy- take a bow…
Now that memory’s dredged up. Last year it was the Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, now this. I blame covid….
Historically, Packers offensive schemes make them historically bad at clock management. Maybe this time will be different…
The main problem with Atlas Shrugged was the impenetrable hundred-page monologue speech. She needed an editor.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault?
If we went Hunter-Gault we'd all move to South Africa.
Any criticism of Ayn Rand - You don't understand Randism.
Any crticism of Marx - You don't understand Marxism
"I also find it funny when people suggest Ayn Rand's support for "Open Borders" means no immigration control."
In real life, Rand was against any restriction on Immigration. What she has a character say in a Utopian novel is irrelevant on this subject.
"I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky."
Flannery O'Conner
"2 novels can change a 14 year old’s life: Lord of the Rings & Atlas Shrugged. One is a fantasy that engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adult, unable to deal with the real world. The other has orcs."
victoria said...
I find it interesting that most Conservatives are embracing Aaron Rogers, a football player, yet they tell the basketball players who speak out on non Conservative items to "shut up and dribble" Is that because he has a degree from Cal? Is that because he is white? Is that because he, conveniently, looks like most right wing-nuts?
i treat him like most Athletes, who cares?
Vicki from Pasadena
Basketball players having their shoes made by slaves in China are modern day slave owners.
They are terrible people and should be treated as such.
Enes Kanter is the only one to stand up.
The Left loved---LOVED---Aaron Rodgers during the Kaepernick ordeal.
It is not good enough to hold mainly the "correct" progressive views. You must hold the "correct" views 100% of the time. If you only hold the "correct" views 99% of the time, you are an irredeemable monster.
Howard, thank you. (You've spared yourself a boring recital of real-life work experiences, starting with talking myself into a job when I was 12, that advertised for 14 y.o.)
btw, Patricia Neal was super hot in The Fountainhead.
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