[lbo-talk] compare and contrast

[// ravi]

On Apr 30, 2012, at 10:08 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>> Ravi: "The real problem IMHO is that unless the student is suitably
>> informed that Plato (and Rand) is (are) caricatured version(s) of
>> thinking, they might quite likely take him (them) very seriously, as
>> many do, and the results are dangerous. And most readers are given no
>> such corrective precaution before they are introduced to this stuff.
>> With that in mind, I feel the least harm is not to wilfully expose
>> impressionable minds to these writings but to let them arrive at them
>> in the due course of events "
> 
> [WS:]  An interesting thought, but I think it is the other way around.
> Impressionable minds are attracted to Plato, Rand & Co. because they
> find in them the confirmation of the conclusions at which they have
> already arrived - about their own special place in the universe.  I
> think Joanna was right on the target when she called it juvenile -
> part of adolescence is a discovery that one can think for oneself
> rather than being told what to think by parents and teachers.  Some
> get carried away with this realization, especially when it gets
> reinforced with cultural tropes celebrating individual creativity,
> which btw have a particular appeal to adolescents.

Good point(s). I agree and would now say: the influence of Plato/Rand can be to confirm [self-serving or aggrandizing] errors of thought (and cut off at the bud more nuanced thinking).

	—ravi