Book Review: What to Think About (2015)

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Brian Wright

Philosophy for a thoughtful younger generation
by Chris Brockman

Let’s see it would be somewhere in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during my life in the SE Michigan general liberty movement—which at that time still had a decidedly Libertarian Party component, at least for me—Chris and his wife Julie were welcome, sane voices in that not always august milieu. In 1978, Chris wrote a short book What about gods?, which became the modern standard for helping children think intelligently about the phantasmagoric world of deities and religion. [I would like gods? to be required reading for first graders in the government schools… but of course someone on the school board would jump up to shoot down such an ‘irreverent’ book for junior and his friends. “What about moral values!?” they’d exclaim.]

Exactly. Continue reading →

Book Review: Ayn Rand

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Brian Wright

… and the world she made (2009)
by Anne C. Heller[1]

Well executed book on an iconic figure by Ms. Heller, who certainly wasn’t an insider with the ‘Objectivist movement’ or blown away by Rand’s work—Heller bestows no glowing accolades on Ayn Rand or her achievements, yet respectfully reports on them with a discernible general sympathy. I find the author’s objectivity valuable, yet necessarily giving an incomplete Gestalt of ‘Who is Ayn Rand.’ Heller is too young to have experienced the rush that Rand’s passionate articulation of heroic individualism provided, mainly, in Baby Boomer prime time (late 1950s into the early 1970s)—with The Fountainhead (1943, movie 1949) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), then the nonfictional politics oriented writings from Rand and her coterie. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: The Delta Declaration

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Brian Wright

Myers-Briggs lookalike with an eye toward positive change

Let me begin the column with a figure that I developed in the course of writing After 9/11 Truth: The Death Star in Ashes, Humanity Rises. Chapter 7: Share it Forward begins with the above graphic that expresses the cardinal mission for us who seek the paradigm shift into a Billion+ Points of Light society. You can also see the Dark Side’s intent. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: My Bette Erwin Memorial

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Brian Wright

Tribute to a fiery leader who nurtured the cause of liberty

Bette_Erwin This is an encore piece (originally penned January 8, 2007) as I reach the last of the columns I created in the former clunky format. By conjuring up memories of the way we were—at least here in L/libertarian Michigan in the final quarter of the 20th century—it propels me to think more strongly from the roots of experience. Also, the Libertarian Party that she helped to seed has reached, by many people’s accounts, a Day of Reckoning. It is good to reflect on the salient plusses that arose under its auspices. — bw

For a while I was afraid no one would find out about her passing; finally some solid information emerged from a scattering of emails from friends and who knew her back in the day. “The day” being roughly 1974-1984 in Michigan libertarian politics.

During the period when Bette came to preeminence—she was the Michigan Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate in 1976 and 1982—I was into my iconoclastic-anarchist phase. Continue reading →

Book Review: Atlas Shrugged (1957)

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Brian Wright

“So this is the little lady who caused all the fuss…”
by Brian Wright

Those with a historical bent will recognize the subtitle in quotes as what Abraham Lincoln (president of the US, 1861-1865) was purported to have said to Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin—a scathing indictment of slavery that many feel led to the War of Northern Aggression.[1] I’m using it here in a reference to Ayn Rand, who was, as it turns out, a diminutive woman, and to her majestic philosophic ideas… that have and will shake up what commonly has been regarded as proper human behavior for centuries. Briefly, her philosophy, known as Objectivism, stands for objective reality, reason, egoism (enlightened self-interest), and capitalism.[2] Continue reading →

Movie Review: Atlas Shrugged, Who is John Galt?

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Brian Wright

Near perfect rendition of the Ayn Rand iconosphere__9.5/10

Sure, I know what you’re thinking, I’m just like a sports’ homey praising his pedestrian quarterback for a performance that gets the job done, but lacks the glittering brilliance of the Hall of Fame QB of a bygone era. Exactly! Atlas Shrugged, Part 3, the movie’s final installment, subtitled ‘Who is John Galt?,’ is not truly a masterpiece, but it is as inspired and imaginative a treatment of the literary-philosophical giant Ayn Rand’s magnum opus as can likely be created under practical contemporary constraints of budget… or realistic access to a full spectrum of creative talent who can convincingly present the essence of what Rand stands for, on film. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Leaving Fat City

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Brian Wright

Leaving Fat City
Maybe Oprah shows us the way out

This is an early column of mine (December 2006) that seems fitting to recycle at this time of year…

In some of my writings, and in my conversation, I’ve been insensitive and negative toward people who have a glaring weight problem. Recently, when I came to realize one of my friends is truly suffering from the problem, I felt the need to make amends.

Jack (not his real name) has gotten noticeably larger, too. He’s a great guy, and I care about him, about his health and longevity. All he seems to get from his friends, including me, is laughter or offhand comments about fatsos. My column today is partly an attempt to redeem myself. Continue reading →