Ayn Rand, political philosopher and author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, among other novels, has never really been out of the public eye, though it's likely that few of the people who read her and debate her ideas today ever had the chance to see her live. So let's take this opportunity to look at footage of Rand appearing with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show on August 11, 1967. (Johnny's other guests included Florence Henderson and the Temptations—an eclectic show to say the least.)
This was the first of three 1967 appearances by Rand with Carson, and not only does this give us a chance to hear Rand describe the philosophy of Objectivism in her own voice, it points out the vapidity of today's late night talk shows. In fact, Carson's own version of The Tonight Show was a shadow of its former self by the time it came to an end, but it towers as an ivory tower of intellectualism compared to the Three Stooges of late night we currently suffer with. I don't think she suffered fools gladly, and Lord knows she would be confronted with them today*; I rather suspect she would have handed Colbert his head on a platter, while Kimmel and Myers would have been the appetizer and dessert, respectively.
This was the first of three 1967 appearances by Rand with Carson, and not only does this give us a chance to hear Rand describe the philosophy of Objectivism in her own voice, it points out the vapidity of today's late night talk shows. In fact, Carson's own version of The Tonight Show was a shadow of its former self by the time it came to an end, but it towers as an ivory tower of intellectualism compared to the Three Stooges of late night we currently suffer with. I don't think she suffered fools gladly, and Lord knows she would be confronted with them today*; I rather suspect she would have handed Colbert his head on a platter, while Kimmel and Myers would have been the appetizer and dessert, respectively.
*They remind me of one of my favorite Tom Wolfe quotes, from The Right Stuff: "It was the kind of crowd that would have made the Fool Killer lower his club and shake his head and walk away, frustrated by the magnitude of the opportunity."
Hey Mitchell, no need to share your political bias in your critique of today's talk show hosts.
ReplyDeleteIt's a free country. I am a political creature. Always have been, always will be. When you get my blog, you get all of me.
DeleteThat was a bit flippant, and while I don't mean to beat a dead horse, I'd note this: Steve Allen was certainly a liberal; Jack Paar was as well, though he was personal friends with both Nixon and the Kennedys; Johnny Carson was, although he rarely brought it out during the show; Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin certainly gave prominent time to political voices. The difference between them and those who populate the airwaves today is that, unlike today's hosts, these men were talented, intelligent, willing to give both sides equal time, and saw their programs not as platforms for ideological grandstanding, but civic (and civil) discussion on the issues of the day. Even the strongest supporters of today's hosts, and I suppose there are a few of them out there somewhere, could hardly claim that they are mental giants. More likely intellectual pygmies.
DeleteJust read up on Rand on Wikipedia. She sounds like she was a self-centered, egotistical phony who looked out only for herself. Sound familiar?
ReplyDeleteShe was a very interesting woman. Her philosophy of Objectivism was, as Whittaker Chambers correctly pointed out, an empty ideology; to paraphrase, he wrote that any ideology without a foundation of morality was just another -ism, no different from communism or capitalism. Nevertheless, she has some very provocative ideas, as displayed not only in Atlas Shrugged but The Fountainhead , are demanding of respect and discussion, whether or not one ultimately agrees with them. Her greatest failing was her atheism, which, as Chambers rightly suggests, means her philosophy is fatally flawed. (Libertarianism, after all, can be seen as a sort of heresy.) I do not think she was probably a very nice person, nor a pleasant one, but certainly a stimulating one; not phony, but flawed. As, indeed, are we all.
Delete