The Vindication of Ayn Rand

The Autonomist ^ | 03/11/05 | Cass Hewitt

[FreeKeys]

BradyLS: I think her best novel was the one set in Leninist Russia, We the Living. The Italians made a movie adaptation of the novel in 1942 called Noi Vivi, which was then banned from public viewing by Mussolini's government.
Rembrandt_fan: National Review Online recently republished a fifty-year-old review of 'Atlas Shrugged' by Whitaker Chambers, which I strongly recommend
Askel5: a review of Atlas Shrugged by Whittaker Chambers

Doesn't anyone find it bizarre that Rand spent so much time and energy excoriating ALL types of collectivism so that SHE personally caused tremendous problems for Mussolini, yet intellectual slobs like Chambers, who called her a fascist and obviously never got even the most fundamental of her points, are given so much credence by people who should know better?

As Leonard Peikoff has written so eloquently,

“To compare Miss Rand’s heroes to Nietzschean supermen and to identify her politically with Hitler is not stupidity on Chambers’ part. It is willful perversion. Were I in philosophic agreement with Mr. Chambers, I would say that his review is the proof of his doctrine that men are born with Original Sin and are inherently corrupt. But I am not in agreement with Mr. Chambers. He cannot blame Adam or God for that review. It is his responsibility.” [...] “Mr. Chambers is an ex-Communist. He has attacked Atlas Shrugged in the best tradition of the Communists—by lies, smears, and cowardly misrepresentations. Mr. Chambers may have changed a few of his political views; he has not changed the method of intellectual analysis and evaluation of the Party to which he belonged.
-- from http://tinyurl.com/59cwy

also see: these comments on Chambers.

[Larry Lucido]

Hmm, an aircraft made of Reardon metal, that runs on Wyatt jet fuel. But why do they need a bridge in Colorado now? And how do they get an old Dannager coal-fired plane stuck in the tunnel that blows up?

[jackbob]

Then I am in bad need of a cliff notes or readers digest condensed version, which includes all that which is insightful.

[Askel5]

Please ... Rand is sufficiently embarrassing as a rule to anyone with any intellectual integrity. Spare me the total blithering idiot Peikoff.

[Larry Lucido]

Yea, and she's not as hot as Ann Coulter.

(Ducking for cover)

[FreeKeys]

I agree that both Rand and Peikoff have been unpleasant jerks. That does NOT take away from the insights they have made which have proven helpful and even life-saving to me and others.

People with intellectual integrity know and consistently avoid the argumentum ad hominem, IMCO.

[Askel5]

Verrrry funny, Mr. Lucido.

(for true! regards)

[Capitalism2003]

This post made me pull out my old paperback copy of Atlas Shrugged. I flipped to a random 200-something page and read a few lines...It has hooked me again. I just have to read it again now. ;)

Rand was THE anti-Marx, and Atlas Shrugged is a must read for every conservative.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

The article depicts a quasi religious cult and the inevitable falling out.

[Larry Lucido]

:-)

[glock rocks]

Atlas Shrugged changed my life.

[Askel5]

Excellent ... we're agreed on Peikoff and Rand, then. That's a start. Rand, in particular, is hopelessly emotional and prone to personal attack, smear and hyperbole as suits her mood at the moment.

Conversely, most of Chambers' critique is targeted squarely on the intellectual merit and quality of prose in Rand's epic.

You take umbrage at her voice's being distilled "To the gas chamber -- go!" But you cannot square that response on your part with Rand's clear and unequivocal support for abortion, among other curiously dictatorial and judgmental pronouncements on mankind.

And how could her voice be other than common with militant atheists (of whatever "spiritual" stripe) who must decide for themselves that which is Good and that which is Evil, rather than perceive rightly (and with all due humility for enduring truth and the sanctity of all human life) what Is and Is Not just.

It's Peikoff who manages the commie smear in this instance ... seizing upon a statement he rejects because he cannot understand it for what it is and ignoring entirely the solid and objective indictment of Rand and her truly painful prose.

Feel free to cite the critique yourself as part of your argument against Chambers as shabby intellectual lightweight and secretly-still-commie out to smear Rand.

But you do yourself no favors by relying on the likes of Peikoff or bloggers flinging about Buckley's "foolish Catholicism" (AS IF Buckley were Catholic in the first place!).

[B4Ranch]

Ayn Rand's writing do have that consequence or so it appears.

[Rembrandt_fan]

Arguing the merits (or lack thereof) of Ayn Rand with a true believer is an exercise in futility. In its way, it's like arguing with a Scientologist about their resident literary 'genius', L. Ron Hubbard. As has been pointed out, Chambers was reviewing a specific book, and to his credit, his review was confined to the literary worth of that book. I don't recall a 'smear' against Fearless Leader anywhere.

She was a lousy writer and pernicious thinker. Objectivists be damned.

[lonevoice]

Hey, pride in the usa, I knew you wouldn't want to miss this one. Ayn Rand has both her admirers and her detractors on FR. We're a diverse group.

As for me...Atlas Shrugged...the book that influenced me more than anything I've ever read.

[B4Ranch]

>>I vocalized "damn it" out loud. <<

LOL I do the same thing, too often.

[jackbob]

She was a lousy writer and pernicious thinker. Objectivists be damned.

I do not have any disagreement with what you say about Randian true believers. As with most true believers, they see what they want to see.

I am however curious as to your calling her a "pernicious thinker." Could you be a little more specific, giving an example from her non-fiction writings? As far as Objectivists go, I've found that they turn me off far more than their philosophy does. As a matter of fact, I find myself mostly agreeing with their philosophy, but with enough disagreement to not consider myself an objectivist. I wonder however what is it about objectivism that causes you to say "be damned."

[jackbob]

Its cheaper than punching holes in the wall.

[shrinkermd]

"Ayn Rand certainly did have an incredibly brilliant mind. It was fascinating for me to hear her speak at the Ford Hall Forum and other venues back in the sixties. But she could also be arrogant and impatient and short-tempered. I remember times when someone would ask an innocent (or perhaps merely ignorant) question, and she would suddenly and viciously attack the questioner and speculate on the person's psychological and philosophical flaws as a human being. It wasn't pretty. Other times she could be gracious and relatively charming."

Most, but not all, truly creative writers are egocentric, prone to a dominating disposition and likely to offend many while gaining plaudits from others. Rand came to this country as a young girl. She mastered the English language sufficiently well to write well crafted novels that are still read and discussed. At the same time, she was a feminine type person whose chief fault was not sexual peccadilloes but chain smoking. She died of lung cancer much too early.

[BradyLS]

Hmm, an aircraft made of Reardon metal, that runs on Wyatt jet fuel. But why do they need a bridge in Colorado now? And how do they get an old Dannager coal-fired plane stuck in the tunnel that blows up?

They don't need a new bridge, but a new airport to compete with Denver International. They'll use Reardon metal for everything conceiavable--maybe even the wiring! You can have an old airframe passed by a shoddy inspection/maintenance team for the Dannager disaster...