Next Open Letter: Penn Jillette

[Classic]

Have you seen this?

"Since reaching his goal weight on his birthday, March 5, Jillette has stopped restricting the amounts he eats, and instead follows Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet – this means he consumes no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt."
http://greatideas.people.com/2015/04/08 ... egas-home/

[knot]

It's great for him, but I doubt it will last since he doesnt have any ethical ties to veganism. Doing a bit of searching reveals that he
a) Was "dead serious" in the PETA episode
b) Isnt part of the vegan movement, and even mocks it (presumably) by calling it the "began movement". Not totally sure what "began" is supposed to mean.. but urbandictionary.com says it's a "bitchy vegan"

So yeah, seems like there is a point in making an open letter to him

[EquALLity]

a) Was "dead serious" in the PETA episode

Can you link a source, so there is something to go by?

[knot]

a) Was "dead serious" in the PETA episode

Can you link a source, so there is something to go by?

oops, here :')


https://twitter.com/pennjillette/status ... 8070501376
https://twitter.com/pennjillette/status ... 2337911808
https://twitter.com/pennjillette/status ... 3643598848

edit: I still wonder what "began" means.. It could just be a typo since "v" is right next to "b". OTOH, it's probably an insult referring to vegans as bitchy, but it's not something Ive heard before

[brimstoneSalad]

I'm thinking began was a typo. B is right next to V on the standard keyboard.

[EquALLity]

^How do we know he meant that the jokes represented his actual positions, though?

He might've meant that there were jokes, and in addition, there was serious content.

[brimstoneSalad]

Here are some Randroids talking about Penn:

objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9456

I'm working on reading those, I'll post if there's some good information or references.

Here's him talking about Atlas Shrugged (the movie) and Ayn Rand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqMKD9lrEP8

It's hard to find exactly what his criticism of her is, though (aside from the cult-like group).

"Atlas Shrugged movie to begin filming. This is from the Atlas society. So this is uh crazy people talkin' about crazy things"
"Now I'm a real fan of Atlas Shrugged and a real fan of Ayn Rand"
"Although a friend of mine's been pointing out her support of a serial killer and the fact that to be a member of her inner circle you had to be an absolute stark raving cult believer and believe that everything she said was right and she was the most perfect person ever."
"I don't believe any of that shit, Ayn Rand was a fuckin' whack job. but I agree with a lot that she said..."

[brimstoneSalad]

Here's an interesting clip, where in he distances himself from anarcho-capitalism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IyiUSVmxFw

[EquALLity]

Hm, I don't think he's as crazy as I believed he was. I thought he was an ethical egoist, but given those quotes, probably not.

[brimstoneSalad]

Hm, I don't think he's as crazy as I believed he was. I thought he was an ethical egoist, but given those quotes, probably not.

I don't think they discount that.

Wikipedia has a pretty bad track record when it comes to living people, but it has this to say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette

Jillette is an atheist, libertarian (he has stated that he may consider himself to be an anarcho-capitalist),[27] and skeptic, as well as an adherent to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, as stated on his Penn Says podcast. Jillette is a Fellow at the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, and has stated that he "always" votes Libertarian.[28]

Take that with a grain of salt.