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The evolution of Ayn Rand
Chicago Tribune ^
| 1/30/05
| Steve Chapman
Posted on 01/30/2005 3:14:41 PM PST by beavus
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One question: What did "The Incredibles" have to do with Ayn Rand?
1
posted on
01/30/2005 3:14:42 PM PST
by
beavus
To: beavus
It was about extraordinary people and society's resentment of their great qualities.
2
posted on
01/30/2005 3:17:47 PM PST
by
Darkwolf377
(I care as much about Sunnis not voting as I did about the white minority not voting in S.Africa)
To: beavus
"One question: What did "The Incredibles" have to do with Ayn Rand?"
That people who have superior ability should not be punished for their ability, but should be free.
4
posted on
01/30/2005 3:18:25 PM PST
by
Harpo Speaks
(Honk! Honk! Honk! Either it's foggy out, or make that a dozen hard boiled eggs.)
To: beavus
"..I don't know", Atlas Shrugged.
5
posted on
01/30/2005 3:18:35 PM PST
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
To: beavus
One of the overriding themes in "The Incredibles" was that the exceptional should be encouraged and revered. Another was that the impulse to cut down the exceptional, and make everyone the same, is one of evil.
6
posted on
01/30/2005 3:21:09 PM PST
by
Dales
To: beavus
If I have to pick between Ayn Rand and God I certainly won't pick Ayn...
7
posted on
01/30/2005 3:23:10 PM PST
by
guitarist
To: Darkwolf377
It was about extraordinary people and society's resentment of their great qualities. Of course. Thank you. I guess the author is right. Rand has hidden in my subconscious!
8
posted on
01/30/2005 3:24:59 PM PST
by
beavus
To: beavus
The U.S. Library of Congress did a study a few years back and found that "Atlas Shrugged" is the second most influential book on the planet, right behind the Bible. Despite any personal agreements you may have with Rand over the role of religion, every conservative should own this
masterpiece.
To: Dales
Two themes, interesting. Do you agree with them?
10
posted on
01/30/2005 3:32:20 PM PST
by
bvw
To: Darkwolf377
I'm sure Ayn would have been grateful to see government money spend on ceremonies, monopoly post stamps memorializing her ideas & influence - by big-spending, ideological poseurs.
Ron Paul is the only person fit to participate
11
posted on
01/30/2005 3:32:28 PM PST
by
4Liberty
(wages & revenues are price signals-- and some people [unions, subsidized cos] can't accept criticism)
To: Dales
The "bad guys" in The Incredibles are like typical socialists.
Rand was THE anti-Marx. Writers like F.A. Hayek provided the economic arguments for capitalism, essentially proving that socialism can't work, and will spread misery wherever it is tried. These were fine and dandy, but it took Ayn Rand and a novel called 'Atlas Shrugged' to lay out the MORAL justifications for a society based on capitalism and freedom, rather than state control in the name of "equality".
Together, Rand (morality) and Hayek (economics) offer very powerful intellectual ammo against the left.
To: Capitalism2003
Supposedly one of the most widely read books in the country, but you wouldn't know it by talking with people. My guess is that most people who read it are teenage girls and think it is a romance novel.
13
posted on
01/30/2005 3:35:17 PM PST
by
beavus
To: guitarist; beavus; Prospero
I enjoy Any Rand,and many of her principals molded my current way of thinking. However, her theory of " the Attila" vs"the Witch Doctor" has a number of holes in it. yes, if the world were Galt's Culch it would be a very nice thing indeed, but what are we to do with the "witch doctors" and "Attilas" once we have turned the world into the creative Utopia? We will turn into them, because you cannot enlighten people who are blind to the truth, just as you will never be able to make eveyone think the same about freedom as you. You become what you abhorr. Just as Communists ended up doing the exact thing they killed the Czar for, we ( objectivists, so to speak) would become the new " Attila" and the new "Witch Doctor".
Ayn Rand is full of inconsistancies for a thinking person to completely adhere to her completely. I could expound futher,but I think I won't
14
posted on
01/30/2005 3:39:05 PM PST
by
RepublicanReptile
('Open your mind, close the Border")
To: beavus; Capitalism2003
My guess is that most people who read it are teenage girls and think it is a romance novel.Why would you say that? I've heard conversations about Ayn Rand come up lots of times in literate circles. Usually the consensus is that the Fountainhead is a great book, and Atlas Shrugged is a lot weaker as a novel, but has a lot of provocative ideas.
I find intellectuals and people on the left give her a lot of props and respect these days. They have a mature relationship with her, admiring some things, diasagreeing with many, without feeling the need to either join her cult following, or paint her as the anti-christ.
15
posted on
01/30/2005 3:43:53 PM PST
by
PianoMan
(and now back to practicing)
To: RepublicanReptile
Interesting points, but you have to remember that Atlas Shrugged was an idealization. Rand said her favorite literary form was the romantic (not romance :->) novel. The pristineness of the themes and characters should make that readily clear. The idealization is a good vehicle for clearly communicating specific ideas. It shouldn't be confused with a Polaroid of daily life.
16
posted on
01/30/2005 3:45:37 PM PST
by
beavus
To: PianoMan
Why would you say that? Because my personal experience when arguing with people is that they don't realize that intelligent responses were made to their assertions decades ago by one of the most widely read American authors. If they had read Rand, the debate would start at higher level.
17
posted on
01/30/2005 3:48:03 PM PST
by
beavus
To: beavus
If they had read Rand, the debate would start at higher level.
It's Egoism, not egotism.
18
posted on
01/30/2005 3:49:48 PM PST
by
Castro
(Moses supposes his toeses are roses...)
To: Capitalism2003
I read most of Ayn Rand's works 20 plus years ago. Like most theorists, her strength was her extremism in her views. I take from her like I take from most thinkers, that which makes sense to me, and reject that which contradicts my own sense or faith. In the case of Rand, I celebrate, along with her, the talents and abilities of the gifted. To a lesser extent I agree with her rejection of altruism, but only to the extent that it leads to a sense of entitlement among those who are its beneficiaries. Altruism makes ME feel good, and so has value to me, and so by helping others I am, in a sense, being selfish, as Rand champions. I also favor giving enough assistance to others so as to encourage them to become productive, or more productive, which benefits them directly, and the rest of us indirectly. She would disagree with my religious faith, but the use of my ability to reason, coupled with a level of human intuition, provides me with no honest alternative.
Sorry for the rant, just my initial reaction to this post. And I HAVE to go see The Incredibles.
19
posted on
01/30/2005 3:50:47 PM PST
by
NCLaw441
To: beavus
Having read The New Intellectual, I still have yet to read any concrete explanation as to how a world of Objectivism would be created, without it's adherents becoming what they had diposed, i.e., the " Witch Doctor" and the " Attila"( which is what Nathanial Branden discribed as the ruling personalities in mankind for all of time)
20
posted on
01/30/2005 3:52:39 PM PST
by
RepublicanReptile
('Open your mind, close the Border")
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