Ayn Rand

Post Reply New Topic

Ugh...this is precisely why I hate objectavism and why I can't get along with most people to follow a conservative point of view. She says that altruism is a bad thing and essentially suggests that "every man should be out there for himself". That is stupid! We are social animals! We build social hierarchies because it is within our nature to preserve our species! Being able to work in groups is a survival mechanism so it only makes sense that we'd want to be altruistic. No, every man is NOT for himself. Even though self preservation is a crucial part of our genetics, we are (or supposed to be) genetically wired to be altruistic (Read "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkin's). A community can only be made when everyone pitches in and when people can't pitch in, we help them. When we take care of people, society is much better, our species thrives and our wellbeing is restored. Don't believe me? Ask Norway.

She and people like her suggest that socialism is evil but all I'm hearing is "Wahh" Im a rich little piece of s**t! I don't wanna pay my taxes! You poor people who can't afford to pay for your own education and healthcare don't matter to me because it's all about MEEEEEE! Sure, if the tables were turned, my opinion would totally dissolve, but in the mean time, boo hoo, poor me!! !! !! !!".

As for her being an aspie, I have no clue, but I really don't care.

Ah yes Rand. I've read The Fountainhead and I've read Atlas Shrugged twice.

Let's see.

I strongly agree with her anti-religious sentiments.

Also the Good 'ole boy cronies whom she calls looters. Either produce goods or offer services to make a living, or GTFO. I have no respect for people who wear suits, work in offices, surround themselves with mediocre talent and meaningless rules, pretend they are everyone's friend, and basically make insane amounts of money out of thin air. They are a drain and burden on society. I fear for this country (USA). We all work in offices, selling stuff to one another. The production is all overseas. ;-/ This economic model isn't sustainable.

I also applaud her emphasis on individuality. Group-think and herd mentality may have served our ancestors. Time has come to look beyond that and nurture original ideas instead of parroting the society. This forum's members, of all people, know exactly what I'm talking about.

Now the not so good.

Her ideal of a minimalist government handling the military and foreign affairs, and nothing else, is naive. People take anything they think they can get away with, if you give them a chance. That behavior is stunted by government regulations, and the fear of fines or jail time. I wonder how many more Madoff's would we have without the government? How many more unsafe food factories, unsafe roads, unsafe airlines???? The list is endless. No kiddies, the market would not "correct" itself and force the unethical businesses to fold. The unethical businesses would just make even more money because they'd have less overhead.

Her sex theory is downright weird and creepy. WTF???

Finally, as much as I admire her heroes, they are very naively conceptualized. No industrialist can accomplish great things on their own. They require unskilled and semi-skilled labor. TEAMWORK. There are some fields where individual achievement is preferable over teamwork: arts, design, engineering, research, theoretical sciences. But an individual artist can't construct an art gallery, a designer can't build a house to design its interior, an engineer can't produce what they've engineered, a scientist can't build a 20-mile wide particle accelerator to test their theories. Etc...

Rand = smart; but a bit nuts, and naive.

who misses her? a measure of a person is how much they are missed when they go.

I should just point out to ruveyn that I read about her post-humous diagnosis while I was researching personality disorders. I am a bit skeptical about it as well. After all, she did leave behind some intellectual works and personal philosophies for history. Most narcissists are simply too greatly self important to leave any personal sacrifice for the sake of history, and so they tend to be remembered for nothing. In the interview, she seems too aware of the questions and their meanings to be a narcissist. The videos of the Narcissists I watched showed that they utterly ignored everything the interviewer said and only talked incessantly about themselves and how great they were without providing any evidence as to why they were so immensely important as a person.