Can someone explain Ayn Rand to me?!

i guess this is the ultimate implication that bothers me.

OMG W R JUST JELOUS!

How do we look from up on that precipice? Like ants? I'm glad that you, above all others, has the "correct" interpretation of Rand's philosophy to which she failed to live up.

For those here who want to begin studying rational philosophical thought, I recommend avoiding all areas of philosophy beyond basic Rand

How is this any different from religion? Kids, don't read any scriptural criticism or any philosophical work that predates our sacred text! It might contradict or draw attention to issues with our work.

The harsh romanticizing of personal work and economics that Rand engages in borders on single-minded ridiculousness. Is it at all possible that someone's life's work could be raising their own child, or that someone could be satisfied with putting in a mind-numbing day of mediocre work in trade for an enjoyable social life? Both of these are completely reasonable yet the exact lifestyles that would be vilified as boring. Not everyone is dumbly stumbling through life and creating a system of nepotism, inefficiency, and protectionist controls on purpose. It just kind of happens sometimes when you're trying to accomplish things while having better things to do with your free time.

For those here who want to begin studying rational philosophical thought, I recommend avoiding all areas of philosophy beyond basic Rand

Go you! Bon courage! Keep those blinders on tight! And whatever you do, don't ever develop a sense of humor.

Radical individualists seem to enjoy being told what to think, don't they?

actually, any economics student who spouted out randian nonsense in class at my college would have either (a) been mocked mercilessly (amongst those who cared); or (b) been met with total indifference. and since my undergrad school was the one that sprang milton friedman on the world (a fact the econ. dep't never let econ. majors forget), that's saying something.

I was told today that the real victims of oppression are those in "the productive class."

pretty funny radio interview here with al ruddy, who spent years trying to make an atlas shrugged movie. his descriptions of dealing with rand and the randians are great.

Whoa you are whistling for Vision (or whatevs his name is) to come rail hotly & obfusticate meaning.

haha. i think ruddy describes objectivists as being crazier than scientologists. anyway, the actual link to listen is on this page. on the plus side, he says ayn was pretty sexy.

lolz Vision is a rand fan? that explains a lot

Whenever I read Garu G's posts I like to picture Ayn Rand.
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 01:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

Seen on a 'staff recommendations' shelf in a local Waterstone's: Atlas Shrugged (or was it The Fountainhead), with the hand-written card declaring that "it is hard to come up with rational arguments against her philosophy".

Q: Does pompous certainty disbar you from being a philosopher or does it make you a particular kind of philosopher?

I bet there is a Dinosaur Comics about that!

Whoa you are whistling for Vision (or whatevs his name is) to come rail hotly & obfusticate meaning.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Monday, November 10, 2008 10:42 PM (30 minutes ago)

Haha! First thing I thought of!

It is great when he makes fun of your user name. Great!

No, no it really isn't.

I mean "enormously silly and childish."

thankyou

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n200/youngstunna5/candyman.jpg

That is usually what I mean when I say something is "great," which comes from a childhood of not being allowed to use "bad words."

That's a great word. ; )

more like

http://petewarden.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/31/beetlejuice.png

Ah, the mot juste.

oh no! douchebags who either engineered or enabled our current economic shitpile and fancy themselves modern-day John Galts are going on a "brain strike"!! OH NO!!!

She looks like Greenspan with a wig.

Well, she DOES have a sense of humor (not really exhibited in her books unfortunately) -- and lol @ how she loves "charlie's angels" and how much she sounds like Alan Alda or David Van Driessen re how "real men" should not suppress their feelings.

Who cares if Atlas shrugs now? He's already dropped the planet.

Can you say "conservative cunts" boys and girls? I knew you could!

Ayn Rand's zombie presence makes perfect sense. Indeed, her lit cred, thoroughly middlebrow and thus utterly American, lends her capitalist fantasies some theoretical weight. Rand fancied herself as high-minded, an intellectual counterbalance to Karl Marx. In truth, Rand was closer to Walt Disney, minus the Mouse King's showbiz flair. Each used cartoons to convey their message. Both were dedicated anti-communists, hostile to organized labor, friendly to the post-war Red Scare. Only Rand felt that the U.S. government wasn't going deep enough in uprooting commies, primarily those in Hollywood, hypnotizing Middle America with phony smiles and pretty songs while undermining free enterprise and its besieged supporters....

Heller also note(s) that Rand considered the dollar sign "a better symbol than the cross, because it didn't require the sacrifice of anybody." I trust that Heller doesn't share this ahistorical view. Not only have the cross and dollar enjoyed a lucrative, long-running alliance, the dollar requires massive sacrifice across the planet. Poverty, starvation, environmental damage and genocidal violence are some of the dollar's greatest hits. Use any calculator you like to tally the body count under state socialism, and it'll explode when computing the ongoing ravages of global capitalism.

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2009/11/atlas-insolvent.html

Indeed, her lit cred

what??????????????????? she has no lit cred.

w/ people who buy books, and biographers, apparently