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Call It 'Atlas Snubbed'
Wall Street Journal ^ | 7/17/2011 | Al Lewis

Posted on 07/21/2011 3:45:14 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo

Love for Ayn Rand goes unrequited. Libertarians love her, but she rejected them as "emotional hippies of the right." Conservatives love her, but she opposed Ronald Reagan, saying, "His likeliest motive for entering the Presidential race is power lust." Right-leaning Christians love her, but she was an atheist, an abortion supporter and a champion of the anti-Christian ideal that selfishness is a virtue. She also called religion a "sign of a psychological weakness." Her fans -- including Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, talk radio's Rush Limbaugh and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- would be crushed to learn she might never love them back, either. Ms. Rand has been dead since 1982, but today she's as loved as ever. Her 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" champions laissez-faire capitalism and individual achievement. She vilifies communism, socialism and unionism. She dubs government redistribution of wealth immoral. Some of her ideas are central to the American Dream. But Ms. Rand did much of her writing while hopped up on amphetamines and nicotine. And like most people who abuse this combination, she went too far. She crafted philosophical arguments and wrote bizarre works of fiction to prove their premises. Then, in the delusional grandiosity that only chemicals can inspire, she declared herself, "the most creative thinker alive."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: atlasshrugged; aynrand; bookreview; capitalism; conservatives; snub; socialism; teaparty
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Atheism, amphetamines and nicotine make bad philosophy.
1 posted on 07/21/2011 3:45:19 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
"Her 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" champions laissez-faire capitalism and individual achievement. She vilifies communism, socialism and unionism. She dubs government redistribution of wealth immoral."

Agree 110% with her on these points!

2 posted on 07/21/2011 3:48:59 AM PDT by newfreep (Palin/West 2012 - Bolton: Secy of State)
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To: Publius

‘If you can’t attack the message, then attack the messenger’ ping.


3 posted on 07/21/2011 3:49:03 AM PDT by Hoodat (Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. - (Rom 8:37))
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
One of the least attractive elements of the Left is it's adherence to political correctness. The most obvious part of that is their requirement that all true leftist must agree on everything. I don't need a politician or any office holder to see the world exactly as I do; I'll settle quite happily for 75%.

Ayn Rand promulgated some great truths about government snd the virtues of self reliance. I accept her philosophy for it's truth and allow her the failing all humans have. I can't see a better way.

4 posted on 07/21/2011 3:57:55 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Somewhere in Kenya, a village is missing an idiot)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Oh no, not....nicotine!


5 posted on 07/21/2011 4:00:31 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Im so conservative John Galt asks “Who is Dainbramage?”


6 posted on 07/21/2011 4:09:08 AM PDT by DainBramage
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To: DainBramage

LOL


7 posted on 07/21/2011 4:09:54 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

The difference between Conservatives and Libertals is that Conservatives do not demand complete ideological orthidoxy in all things. Liberals are always looking for a way to destroy those opposed to them, so any deviations are a reason to hate somebody. But Conservatives are allowed to listen to, to be friends with, and learn from people from anyplace on the political spectrum. We might not agree, but we don’t have to hate.


8 posted on 07/21/2011 4:13:53 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Palin-o delenda est)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

The irony of philosophical atheism is that, whether you go left with it, or right, you will meet on the backside of the world — as a libertarian.


9 posted on 07/21/2011 4:15:27 AM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great... ...until it happens to YOU.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Everyone reads (or pretends to) "Atlas Shrugged", watches Hollywood's version of "The Fountainhead" and thinks he knows Rand's philosophy.

But her real philosophical work goes unread. Rand's "Objectivist Epistemology" is brilliant. She lays out a cogent and concise theory of concepts and explains how humans acquire knowledge. It should be must-reading for everyone who plans on teaching.

Of course, bashing her admittedly quixotic lifestyle is tons more fun -- and so easy, too!

10 posted on 07/21/2011 4:15:33 AM PDT by BfloGuy (Nobody is in a position to decree what should make a fellow man happier. -- L. Von Mises)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Well. It didn’t take long for this to rear its ugly head! Now we know Ann was a pil popper. I feel so much better now. Course, she can never defend herself to the author of this piece of crap.


11 posted on 07/21/2011 4:18:40 AM PDT by marygam ((Obama is not a messiah, wake up folks!))
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Baby, meet bath water. Exit stage riiight. As far as her being hopped up on amphetamines, caffeine or whatever, our armed forces employ these tools to keep pilots in the air after exhaustion would normally preclude them from action. Do the effects sometimes result in errant targets getting put in the hurt locker? Who can say without a larger data set to study? I have not personally read, or seen Atlas Shrugged (yet). But from what I have read, time and again on the subject matter of that tome, I think it reasonable to conclude that the larger body of Rand's ideas are at the very least a good starting point and idea “tool bag” for free thinkers to utilize as guideposts on the exploratory journey toward the noble goals of self determination and attendant self respect. My $.02 and all that.
12 posted on 07/21/2011 4:25:12 AM PDT by Flotsam_Jetsome (I'll take Fraudulent Marxist Usurpers for $2.4 Trillion, Alex.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

If Newton had beaten his wife, would apples still fall from the tree?


13 posted on 07/21/2011 4:36:31 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: 9YearLurker

Rand new what evil looked like, she just couldn’t/wouldn’t recognize its source.


14 posted on 07/21/2011 4:39:46 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (JMO but I reserve the right to be wrong...)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Not right there, dangling at the end of her fingers or tipped at an angle from her pursed lips! ;-)


15 posted on 07/21/2011 4:44:31 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Mr Ramsbotham
Beat me to it!

Newton was an odd duck who never even had a wife and was extremely and oddly religious therefore I reject the notion of gravity and adhere to the time-tested notion of crystal spheres.

Daily I find more wisdom and common sense here at FR than in the commercial media - sheesh!

16 posted on 07/21/2011 4:53:34 AM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (White Hetero Able Male (WHAM) a.k.a. NOT Holder's people)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Anyone who agrees with anyone 100% of the time is an idiot.


17 posted on 07/21/2011 4:55:52 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Extrapolating from molehill to mountain is always a bad course of action.

Mountainizing will always lead you astray


18 posted on 07/21/2011 5:01:02 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 ....Flash mobs are trickle down leftwing REDISTRIBUTION))
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
We now know corporations are the real "parasites" in an economic crisis.

Did the author even bother to read a summary of Atlas Shrugged? Corporations were happily using government to crush competition all the way through the book. The beggars on the street played a very small part in the novel compared to the ones in the board rooms.

19 posted on 07/21/2011 5:03:44 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (The Dems demanding shared sacrifice are like Aztec priests doing it while cutting out my heart.)
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To: BfloGuy
Quite right! Her measurement omission as a factor in concept formation is more important than her trying to use selfishness as a virtue to justify capitalism (she didn't call it free enterprise).

Thomas Sowell, Ph.d claimed that criticizing capitalism as immoral would be like blasting calculus because it doesn't have vitamins. It is an economic system not a political system and describes human activity necessary for production.

20 posted on 07/21/2011 5:06:45 AM PDT by Stepan12 (Palin & Bolton in 2012)
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