Posted on 11/03/2008 12:14:37 PM PST by Freestar
(Los Angeles) Barak Obama and John McCain should take note of a Zogby poll released today that found that 8.1 percent of American adults have read the book Atlas Shrugged by pro-freedom philosopher Ayn Rand. This result matches the 8.1 percent result from the 2007 Atlas Shrugged survey. This poll illuminates a large segment of the American public that favors minimum government.
Atlas Shrugged chronicles an America where government has taken control of nearly all aspects of life. As society collapses the heroine follows a trail of clues surrounding the disappearance of innovators and the rise of a mysterious phrase "Who is John Galt?" A 1991 poll by the Library of Congress and The Book of the Month Club found that Atlas Shrugged was the second most influential book after the Bible.
The poll of 1,338 adults was conducted by Zogby International in October 2008 at the request of Freestar Media, LLC. The margin of error of the poll is +/- 2.7 percentage points. More information on the poll and what it discovered about Atlas Shrugged readers can be found at: http://www.freestarmedia.com
Freestar Media, LLC and its sister company Freestar Movie, LLC are currently producing a documentary movie about the health care crisis that exposes the disaster of socialized medicine and offers free-market solutions to lower costs. The movie entitled "Sick and Sicker" will be released in the fall of 2009.
Logan Darrow Clements, Freestar's president, decided to release the Zogby poll results today, the day before the election, to remind voters of the importance of protecting freedom from further encroachment by government.
Freestar Media, LLC was created by Logan Darrow Clements to produce media applying Ayn Rand's philosophy of reason, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to current events. The company's most popular project was The Lost Liberty Hotel, a rebellion against eminent domain abuse that involved applying the Supreme Court's Kelo vs. City of New London ruling to one of the justices who voted in favor of it.
website: http://www.freestarmedia.com
How about some awful combination of Ellsworth Toohey and Wesley Mouch, although Obama strikes me as more of a combination of Peter Keating and Wesley Mouch.
Yes, first she agonized writing them and now we agonize reading them.
Her main problem was her own ego that would accept being edited. Had she cut that book to half it’s length it would have been twice the book it is now with a thousand times more impact.
There is a video game called BioShock that brilliantly follows Rands premise to its logical conclusion... what if you get all the greatest minds together with absolutely no moral code other than money and power? Well I won't spoil the game, but think Stem Cell research, cloning, bio engineering, etc with zero oversight. But it makes for one heck of a great video game!
This is the hands down, the scariest book I have ever read.
It is the #1 book I tell people they should read, if they have the stomach for a true horror story.
It requires a full three days for a voracious speed-reader to consume, because one must walk away from it for small periods of time.
For most “normal” people, who do not habitually read a book a day, it might take three or four weeks to get through.
I would not support making it required reading at the High School level, but it should be a requirement for an Associates Degree.
WOW....no I did not realize that! Hollywood will probably screw it up though. Thanks for posting the info.
Goes to show the loss of the educational system in the USofA. 35 years ago our required reading for senior year was Atlas Shrugged and Gulag Archipelago among others. Of course we also took Calc, Trig, Russian/German/French, and had a hell of a football team.
Some wonder how sales of around 6 million copies could result 8 percent of adults could have read Atlas Shrugged but I remind everyone that that this is probably the most passed-on book ever.
While perusing the various posts I came across yours, and you hit it squarely. Atlas Shrugged is just that... a horror novel. It’s what happens when the power hungry ignoratii of the fascist nanny-state leverage themselves into power. Learn it from a fictional novel, or live it first hand, your choice. Spot freakin on.
And despite an interrupted, fragmented education due to various reasons, primarily dealing with court ordered “racial equality bussing” and riots,(one of which I was at the center of) I managed to graduate with honors, and also be offered three full college scholarships.
I choose to enlist in the USAF instead.
What school,in which state, and in what year did you graduate, that the subjects you stated were “required” for graduates?
To: Tijeras_Slim
... First invent an engine that gives you something for nothing...
That would be the American taxpayer.
LOL!!!!!!! Not THAT is funny!!!!
If, God forbid, Che Obama is elected tomorrow, I propose freepers get together and donate or buy copies of Atlas Shrugged by the tens of thousands, and lets mail them to Obama and his cabinet members. Let's DROWN them in tens of thousands of copies of this wonderful, timeless classic that so beautifully tells the tale of WHY ideologies such as Obama's are disastrous to the human spirit. Who's with me?
To truly enjoy something it has to be earned.
This was my first Ayn Rand book, then I read The Fountainhead, then The Virtues of Selfishness, and even works by Alan Greenspan when he was associated with Objectivist theory.
Percent of Americans who serve or have served in the US Military. 9% of US Population.
‘Completely disagree on her writing skill. She could have chopped 300 pages on that tree killing book and still made her excellent points with all of her insights.’
What do you have against lumberjacks? They need work too!
I am reading Atlas Shrugged for the very first time and I am honestly blown away. With the exception of the Bible, no book has ever so profoundly shaken me. It is as if Ayn Rand looked into the future and began describing the very path we are now on. Because of her, I understand what is going on around us even now.
If you are one of the few that has not taken the time (and trust me, this book is an investment of time) you must read
Atlas Shrugged.
Freepers, FYI - there are some old interview clips of Ayn Rand on Youtube...if you get a chance, check them out.
I’ve been an Ayn Rand freak since my High School English teacher told us that the rock band Rush’s “2112” album was a tribute to Ayn Rand. I know she was an atheist, but God bless her anyway. :)
You mean instead of this?
Think about it. Both philosophies cannot be true.
There is a middle ground between marxism and unbridled greed, you know. :)
Can the two be completely melded with all differences ironed out? - No, but for me it is not necessary.
I accept the tenets of the Bible on faith, and the tenets of objectivsm on reason. Where they contradict, I chose Christianity.
The tenets of objectivism that speak most clearly to me is how a group of people should be governed and how much of a violation it is for the government to ‘spread around MY wealth’ to those who can't be bothered to ‘even take out the garbage.’And the world world would be a better place if we all took care of ourselves, rather than looking to others to help us. But that's my opinion. YMMV
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