Hair and Philosophy

I normally have ridiculously curly hair, but the nice people at Vain* straightened it for me after I got it cut yesterday. I got some good comments today at work:

my boss : "what's up with your hair?" me: "It's straight."

hired friend #1: "you look like you should work at disneyland." me: "excuse me?" hired friend #1: "well, your hair is just so perfect and cartoonlike."

hired friend #2: "I didn't even know you were here for like 2 hours. I thought we had hired a temp or something."

hired friend #3: "Your hair is so big! You look like you could be on TV!" me: "Is that a good thing?" hired friend # 3 "Yeah! You could totally anchor the evening news."

I don't really know what to make of all that.

Unrelated: This article about Atlas Shrugged got my brain turning a little bit. If you've read the book, check out the article and tell me what you think. Warning - it's long. Just skim it.

Personally I think the philosophy in Atlas Shrugged focuses more on how institutions created by man (governments) to re-distribute wealth not only are ineffective, but are ultimately immoral. While she might have been a total athiest, I think her philosophies were more of an attack on governments as opposed to religion. I think the Christian fear is that her philosophy can be viewed as putting the pursuit of money and self-interest above all else. Christians would say that the love (unbridled pursuit) of money is the root of all evil; God should be pursued first. I think it is too simplistic to say that Ayn Rand followers would screw everyone in their path in pursuit of the almighty dollar. None of her characters did that -- they used their skills and gifts to meet the needs of society (e.g. rail transportation). Yes, they were compensated, but not at the expense of others.

If one can agree that Ayn Rand's grief was with government as opposed to religion, then it follows that "liberitanism" (ignoring the degrees within it) and religion can co-exist in America. If our country didn't separate church and state, then it wouldn't work. For example, if Christianity was the official religion of the US, the Ayn Rand's philosophy would be just as much of an attack on Christianity as it is government.

If you're still reading, thanks for sticking around. The title of this blog IS "The Flaming Patriot," y'know. It can't be about silly dolphin conspiracies and happy hour ALL the time. Don't worry, discussions about Flash Mob and the Seahawks are forthcoming.

*These hipsters can cut hair. Check them out. I also highly recommended Seven. (not hipster--they have a DJ that spins JT)