Posted on 06/20/2013 12:48:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I actually enjoyed her novels.
Read all the way through The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Skimmed Anthem. I've read The Virtue of Selfishness, , and other works. I don't agree with everything Rand has to say, but I do agree with much of it, especially on capitalism and markets.
Hey, it got him Cindy Sheehan, and who wouldn’t want that? (Well, almost everyone, but that’s besides the point)
Think you are the only one here with a few Degrees under your belt? I’ve also read Satre, Keirkegaard, Orwell, etc...
I don’t read Rand for the gripping plots and character development. Objectivism is easy to explain, but sometimes needs a bit of plain illustration to show how the archetypes in her stories fit into reality.
And fit they do. Especially in todays political climate.
I’ve read Hayek, Rothbard (not my favorite), and Mises. My alma mater has Dr. Mises’s library.
Now, run to your search engine and search on “Mises” so you’re up to speed.
I live in Massachusetts. I discovered Ayn Rand in college in the late 1960s, when everybody else was joining SDS.
My ex-girlfriend (before my beloved last one who died in January) was a liberal college professor in Cambridge, MA, and so were all of her friends and relatives to whom I was regularly exposed.
I have been listening to people off the "right-wing-o-sphere" my whole adult life.
You are right that I will learn nothing from you and your very bizarre, utterly ignorant and pointless rantings.
Others look at religious teachings as good teachings. It is bad to lie, steal and murder, so any G-d that tells you to not lie, steal or murder should be on the same side as the moral people.
You might find this interesting. It's by a high school classmate of mine.
http://www.amazon.com/An-Atheist-Defends-Religion-Humanity/dp/1592578543
Brilliant. Thank you.
I tried.
Overwrought characters, cliched dialogue, and over the top melodrama aren't my things.
Maybe it's because English wasn't her native tongue, but that didn't seem to bother Joseph Conrad.
Anyway, I think it's unwise to adopt any one person's philosophy as a whole, but she obviously did have keen insight into the conflict between those who wish to be free and those who wish to control.
It's just my opinion that she did not express those insights in a very artful way.
Many disagree, apparently. ;0)
“Pointless” is the key word.
I was trolling, unsuccessfully for worthy opponents.
Just a stupid and offensive statement. You must be a "progressive."
I’ve pretty much read your list there, plus all her essays.
Ideas aside, it was tortuous.
Thanks for doing the heavy lifting for me.
For information about her racism and eugenics’ sympathies, I directed another Freeper to her unedited letters.
She’s an extremely nasty character in her letters.
I was forced to read Ludwig von in school.
And, yes, that’s a Clockwork Orange/Mises reference.
Too much for you?
The FBI file on the incident is public record. I’ve seen it, with the mug shot and a photograph of the pills in question.
You must be an unthinking Limbot. I know cognitive dissonance is a harsh creature.
Whatev.
Of course not; that mention was made only to clarify my objection: that as fiction novels, her major works just aren't very good.
Life is too short to read stuff you don't like.
You're welcome although I have no particular dog in this fight. It's been shown, through the years, that FReepers can be feisty as well as the smartest people on the whole world wide web and points beyond. ::-)
That's why my posting contained some cautionary notes about the veracity of the quotes attributed to her. If it turns out that Ayn Rand was indeed an abortionist, it doesn't necessarily undo her wisdom on free markets and individual initiative. But, at least for me, I certainly can't hold her character in high regard.
I belive Ayn was a product of her environment. She learned to fight socialism on the same brutal terms that it sought to subjugate her.
I enjoyed “We the Living”. Depressing and sad, but a good quick read.
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