The Gateway Objectivists' November Meeting:
Journal Club
Join us for an evening of discussion about Objectivist and related journals
at our second Journal Club. Everyone is welcome to present a specific
journal, or just come to listen and join the discussion. Presenters will
provide a summation of each journal's most interesting articles, allowing
about 15 minutes per speaker including discussion time.
We will have plenty of snacks following the meeting.
Missed the last Journal Club?
Don't worry. If you'd like to present a
journal, there are plenty of on-line Objectivist
publications that no one has planned to
present, as well as other libertarian, economic
or philosophic journals available.
If you can't find something to present, you
can still come to hear and discuss what has
been published recently.
Based on the success of our first Journal Club
in the spring, we plan to continue these
meetings periodically and to keep expanding
the group of journals that are presented.
StosselFest '99 a Success
As always, John Stossel's inquisitive and
entertaining news specials were a big hit at
our last meeting. With a number of programs
to choose from, we voted on The Power of
Belief, Are We Scaring Ourselves to death and
Greed.
Since everyone in attendance had seen the
recent Is America #1?, we voted to watch
popular specials from the past. And with so
much discussion during the evening, we never
made it to Greed.
In The Power of Belief, Stossel looked at how
faith and "wanting to believe in something"
affects us. Exposing rituals like firewalking
and spirit channelling, he showed that even
with proof to the contrary, some people still
want to believe in the supernatural, This
excellent show questioning why there is so
much faith in America today is a must see for
any Stossel fan.
His first ABC News Special, from 1994, Are We
Scaring Ourselves to Death?, was a look at fear
and the media's role in contributing to
perceptions of fear. Looking at public health
scares like Times Beach, alar and cell phones,
Stossel showed that the media now functions as
an amplifier for suspected dangers of unusual
or sensational items. Rarely is coverage given
to the real dangers of things like smoking,
which reduces the average life much more
than hazardous waste, pesticides or airplane
crashes.
Protesting Superfund's cleanup of lead
poisoning by razing an entire community near
Aspen, Colorado, a doctor said, "If you want to
avoid health hazards, stop skiing." There was
absolutely no evidence that anyone was
getting sick, In fact, long-time residents have
lower lead levels than the average American.
In an effort to promote Stossel's critical
thinking on everyday issues in America, the
Palmer R. Chitester Fund, which advocates the
work of leading scholars and intellectuals, has
started 'Stossel in the Classroom', a teacher-
friendly curriculum involving some of
Stossel's work.
Greed, Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death, and
Freeloaders materials, including the videos,
student study guides, and teacher's guides, are
available. They will even donate the materials
to a school of your choice with your tax-deductible contribution. The organization's
website, www.prcfund.org, will soon have
discussion boards and chat rooms, with John
Stossel himself even dropping in occasionally!
Who Plays John Gait?
USA Today People columnist Jeannie Williams
has been soliciting suggestions for actors in
TNT's upcoming miniseries of Atlas Shrugged.
Producer Albert S. Buddy is planning the four-
hour miniseries, which will be the first movie
made based on the novel.
The columns appeared on www.usatoday.com
and in the printed edition on November 5 and
12. The first article asked readers to submit
their casting ideas to her on-line, while the
second one reported a number of her
responses, including an extensive list of
"Purely objective nominations."
The lists were alphabetical, not ranked by
number of responses. Some of the suggestions
for Rearden were David Duchovny, Harrison
Ford and Tim Robbins. For Dagny, there was
everyone from Cate Blanchett to Ashley Judd to
Linda Hamilton. The John Gait list was similar
to the Rearden list, but also included actors
such as Edward Burns and Edward Norton.
Basically, every A-list and B-list Hollywood
actor and actress were somewhere on the lists.
And while we have all discussed for years who
we would want in the movie, this is a made-for-
cable movie (and not even a premium
network) with a projected budget of $20
million. Considering this, the movie is more
likely to star Steve Guttenberg as Rearden,
Andrew McCarthy as Gait and Richard Grieco as
Francisco. Dagny would be a toss up between
Kellie Martin and Tori Spelling.
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