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captainsblogPlenty of really good pieces worth comment in this week's New Yorker. The more substantial ones will require more thought than I am currently capable of, but this one's a bit of a lark. On their Shouts and Murmurs page, John Hodgman (better known as "PC Guy" in the Apple commercials, as well as the biggest advocate for BBC America showing QI). He reports, not quite as fact, that Republican-libertarian darling Ayn Rand went on a bizarre pop culture tour in her waning years:
After a couple of appearances on the interview program “Donahue,” in 1979 and 1980, the author and philosopher Ayn Rand enjoyed something of a renaissance in popular culture, including a week as a panelist on “Match Game” and a guest appearance on “Fantasy Island” as the Spirit of Capitalism. In 1980, two years before her death, she was offered a short column in “Parade.”
He then quotes some clearly-faked excerpts from said column, which true disciples of John Galt are pretty pissed about ("bashing Rand by the most brazen means the MSM has tried yet." And Limbaugh says WE have no sense of humor). To be fair, the complainers and whiners aren't entirely sure that Their Heroine didn't do a weekly newspaper column at the end, but if she did, that liberal New Yorker rag made sure it was "heavily edited after her death in a most calumniable manner."
(Wow. Words of four syllables. Most of the current Randian base hasn't gotten past rudimentary shapes and colors.)
I'll leave you to the links to decide if they're right, but I find the equally unproven "Match Game" connection to be even more interesting. That 70s Show was the ultimate in libertine libertarianism on television, with enough double entendres in each question to start a wife-swapping meet. While I'm sure it never happened, I'd like to speculate about how it would have gone if her Aynship had been in the bottom right box in place of Brett Somers on some post-Reagan-revolution weekday.
Moochy Mary was so moochy-
HOW MOOCHY WAS SHE?-
-she mooched and took the fruits of John's labor. So John retaliated by grabbing the fruits of Mary's.... blank!
::dings sound off as various stars pop their cards into their slots with comments of "I'm in," constituting innuendo in and of itself::
Gene turns to the contestant, clearly unfamiliar with this masterrace work of 20th century Western literature, and he goes for the cheap-laugh answer, boobs.
We then turn to the panel:
Morey Amsterdam!
"Gene, I went with 'Rose's Marie!'"
Fannie Flagg!
"Gene, I said 'Mary's fried green tomatoes!'"
Charles Nelson Reilly!
"I said the fruits of her.... fruits! Because I'M SO GAY and you all make such fun of it!"
Betty White!
"Sorry, Gene, I couldn't say anything risque, because I'm still going to be a beloved cultural icon forty years from now."
Richard Dawson!
"Gene, would it be okay if I just kissed Mary on the blanks?"
And, finally, Ayn Rand!
"YOU PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND! MARY IS PART OF THE 47 PERCENT THAT WILL HOLD US BACK FOREVER! AND DON'T TALK ABOUT ME BEING AN ATHEIST! WE NEED THE JESUS VOTE TO OVERCOME AND...."
::cut to capitalist commercial::
After a couple of appearances on the interview program “Donahue,” in 1979 and 1980, the author and philosopher Ayn Rand enjoyed something of a renaissance in popular culture, including a week as a panelist on “Match Game” and a guest appearance on “Fantasy Island” as the Spirit of Capitalism. In 1980, two years before her death, she was offered a short column in “Parade.”
He then quotes some clearly-faked excerpts from said column, which true disciples of John Galt are pretty pissed about ("bashing Rand by the most brazen means the MSM has tried yet." And Limbaugh says WE have no sense of humor). To be fair, the complainers and whiners aren't entirely sure that Their Heroine didn't do a weekly newspaper column at the end, but if she did, that liberal New Yorker rag made sure it was "heavily edited after her death in a most calumniable manner."
(Wow. Words of four syllables. Most of the current Randian base hasn't gotten past rudimentary shapes and colors.)
I'll leave you to the links to decide if they're right, but I find the equally unproven "Match Game" connection to be even more interesting. That 70s Show was the ultimate in libertine libertarianism on television, with enough double entendres in each question to start a wife-swapping meet. While I'm sure it never happened, I'd like to speculate about how it would have gone if her Aynship had been in the bottom right box in place of Brett Somers on some post-Reagan-revolution weekday.
Moochy Mary was so moochy-
HOW MOOCHY WAS SHE?-
-she mooched and took the fruits of John's labor. So John retaliated by grabbing the fruits of Mary's.... blank!
::dings sound off as various stars pop their cards into their slots with comments of "I'm in," constituting innuendo in and of itself::
Gene turns to the contestant, clearly unfamiliar with this master
We then turn to the panel:
Morey Amsterdam!
"Gene, I went with 'Rose's Marie!'"
Fannie Flagg!
"Gene, I said 'Mary's fried green tomatoes!'"
Charles Nelson Reilly!
"I said the fruits of her.... fruits! Because I'M SO GAY and you all make such fun of it!"
Betty White!
"Sorry, Gene, I couldn't say anything risque, because I'm still going to be a beloved cultural icon forty years from now."
Richard Dawson!
"Gene, would it be okay if I just kissed Mary on the blanks?"
And, finally, Ayn Rand!
"YOU PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND! MARY IS PART OF THE 47 PERCENT THAT WILL HOLD US BACK FOREVER! AND DON'T TALK ABOUT ME BEING AN ATHEIST! WE NEED THE JESUS VOTE TO OVERCOME AND...."
::cut to capitalist commercial::