I read Atlas Shrugged in 1963 when I was a nineteen year old sailor with more than one year of service already. I was at Keflavik Naval Communications Station. Let anyone say what they will about Ayn Rand but she clearly explained that the CORRUPTION of language was one of the main tools of oppression. I am reminded of what she wrote every day when I have to try to decipher what people say and write and I am often left wondering if they themselves even know what they are trying to express. It is obvious that as far as the “mainstream” media types are concerned words have different meanings when spoken by different people and different meanings when spoken ABOUT different people. When a “liberal” says something about a “conservative” they mean something very different than what a “conservative” means when they use the same words in regard to a “liberal”.
I loved Atlas Shrugged, except I found the ending kind of wanting. But the book so held my interest completely that I read it in 3 days.