To new thread-joiners, it’s worth noting that although Ayn Rand was clearly an intelligent and prescient woman, much of her writing bears the hallmarks of 19th century intellectualism; although her writing is superficially opposed to Marx, it is similar in many functional ways.
She reputedly loathed Ronald Reagan and other great conservative leaders, not only communists.
She was a devout atheist, jumping on that bandwagon as many early 20th century intellectuals did.
I am seeing conservatives defend abortion/drugs/porn, or whatever their sin is, by calling themselves a “randian”, and denigrating “social conservatives”. This is folly. No culture has ever survived the destruction of their ethics, whether by calling it “socialism”, or by calling it “randianism”. The end result is the same.
However, she was a clear thinker, and there’s clearly a lot most people could learn by reading her work. But personally I would be aware of potential 19th-century-style atheistic bias.
Rand was absolutely opposed to any form of self destructive behavior.Her standard of value for morality was survival not self destruction. Addictive behavior was considered self destructive.
Welcome. I first heard about Ayn Rand in an economics college course in the mid-1980’s. When I heard she favored pure, free market capitalism and a laissez-faire government, I became a fan, without knowing much more about her.
In the late ‘90’s, I remember following discussions on atheist forums about Objectivism.
Then, in recent years, I finally watched/listened to an interview with Rand. Some of her comments were disturbing, and now that I’ve read her book, Atlas Shrugged, I can honestly say I’m not a Randian.
But, I agree with you that there is much to learn by reading her work. IMHO, her theories are not original. This book only reaffirms much of what I already knew and believed, but I’m glad she put it in writing. I disagree with a small bit of what she puts forth; then again, no one agrees with anyone 100%.