Atlas Shrugged – Day 096 – pp. 1070-1079
A Christmas Miracle! I got to go home for a few days for the holiday. I didn’t pack my book. Figured it would put my luggage over some arbitrary airline weight limit. Besides, I really didn’t have the time to write what with all hugging and partying and catching up.
Weather in Chi-town cooperated. Stayed above zero (actually almost above freezing) and treated me to a pleasant layer of the white stuff I haven’t seen for sometime. It’s amazing how you miss the things you take for granted — or even learn to bitch about.
Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday whether it was Christmas, Hanukkah or another celebration.
And now, on with the show…
Chapter VIII – The Egoist.
Let’s see. John Galt just signed off from a 60 page diatribe talking about… do I really have to recount it again?
“It wasn’t real, was it?” said Mr Thompson.
That pretty much sums it up.
“We seem to have heard it,” said Tinky Holloway.
The room is abuzz with a low-level panic. They’re all at odds about how to handle this disruption in their plans. If they say anything against what happened, it lends validity to the accusations Galt made. If they say nothing, it’s like an endorsement of the broadcast.
“It’s horrible! It’s immoral! It’s selfish, heartless, ruthless! It’s the most vicious speech ever made! it . . . it will make people demand to be happy!”
No. I think it’ll make people demand to be left alone by the looters.
The morons in the room make a stab at doing what they do best. Convincing themselves that the reality of any given situation isn’t real. They try to convince themselves that no one would believe the claims that they heard.
“…men of mystical insight won’t got for that speech … working men won’t go for it … women of the country won’t go for it … Scientists know better than to believe in reason…”
And then there’s a nice tidy summary statement from Dr. Ferris:
“People are too dumb to understand it.”
A bold gamble. What if they do, Floyd?
This actually reminds me – although a bit exaggerated – of the way things are today. Let’s just tell people that consumer prices aren’t rising and their dollars’ purchasing power isn’t circling the bowl. We’ll tell them that minus food and energy prices the CPI is right where we expect it should be. No one will argue. People are too dumb.
So what do do?
A lone woman’s voice chimes in.
Give up.
Surrender? Not a chance. The revolt in the room goes up.
But Mr Thompson is getting an idea, “a wonderfully Grinchy idea.”
“Oh, I don’t know. … He knows what to do. We’ve got to be flexible. … Thank you Miss Taggart, Thank you for speaking your mind.”
Dagny and Eddie hit the road.
The room, especially Dr. Stadler – the only guy singled out by JG – is in a panic. It’s us or him.
“And what is it you would have me do?”
“You must kill him.”
“Kill him, you dam fool? We need him!”
They decide to put a tail on Dagny. If anyone knows where he’s at, it’s probably her.
They’ll follow her until she leads them to him. Then they’ll cut a deal with him.
“Mr. Thompson, I’m afraid he’s a man who’s not open to a deal.”
“There’s no such thing…”
I guess we’ll see. Still wondering about that Thompson Harmonizer thing. Haven’t heard a thing about it since Rand’s 50 or so pages introducing it. There’d better be some more action with that before these last couple hundred pages are done…
Cut the scene to Dagny and Eddie walking home. Eddie ‘fesses up that he knows who the man is. That he’d been having lunch with him in the cafeteria for years.
Dagny know it too. But, she tells Eddie, if you value his life, you must never see him or speak of him again. Just a matter of time now. She’s resolved to hang in there and see her job through.
Cut to the next morning.
“Mr. Thompson wishes it to be known … that there is no cause for alarm.”
And yet signs of alarm are becoming evident. Towns are being set on fire and burned to the ground. Residents of the towns are vanishing. Crowds are lashing out against political speakers – G-sponsored rhetoricians, I guess – sent out to re-establish the calm. Managers at factories are disappearing.
Looks like the Galt diatribe has had some effect. And it’s only starting…