I don't see how these fine points of objectivism matter. The fact remains that objectivism has nothing to teach us in terms of ethics.
She had a new idea with her attacking altruism, which she framed as premising the self as evil. I don't know of anyone before her to have thought of this.
Taking traditional altruism to heart, I was suicidal at the age of 12. My interpretation of Rand's ethics -- that there are TWO kinds of selfishness AND ONE OF THEM (involving, in part, something you might have heard of called "The Right to the Pursuit of Happiness") is THE GOOD KIND.
So she saved my life, and I will be forever grateful. If you've never faced the terror of having the purest of self-sacrifice demanded of you, and demanding it of yourself, you may never appreciate the intensity of my gratefulness, and it would be easy for me to disparage your antagonism as a form of hostility, or at least, unkindness born of ignorance.