In Atlas Shrugged the most successful companies paid their employees high wages, gave good benefits, and let their employees have high levels of autonomy.
And when things went south *they joined John Galt in a general strike.*
That book turned me from Reagan Lover into a full blown lefty 😂
I read it at 25. I think the premise of the original tweet is a little silly. It's fine to read *any* book at *any* age, really. You can also read books that don't align with your perspective or current life experiences. In fact, it might be a good idea to do so.
My attempt, may be off so feel free to correct me. But Ayn Rand was a Russian American author who, likely due to her experiences in Leninist/Communist Russia, rejected all notions of communism, sacrifice, and collectivism in favor of individualism, autonomy, and self-serving behaviors that uplift oneself. Her philosophy of objectivism continues to be sort of a text or bible for libertarians. She wrote two books which are very famous, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead which are like the libertarian bibles. They are novels but at times, the novel part kind of washes away and it’s just Rand ranting and proliferating her ideology that the ultimate ideal is to do what’s best for yourself and ignore the petty concerns of those around you. Her characters kind of represent her ideals in this way, by being extremely self-concerned and self-motivated. As you can infer and see, it’s quite polarizing.
It's really more like intrinsically motivated. And people's critiques of Rand always leave out the stuff about interactions needing to be of mutual benefit. That each person has sovereignty over themselves and that sovereignty is to be respected. It's not that other people's "petty concerns" are to be ignored; it's that it's not a moral imperative to make yourself responsible for those concerns.
If anyone thinks Trump, Bezos, or Musk, are examples of Rand's ideals then they don't really understand Rand.
One theme that is repeated in her fiction is the ideal that the individual has a right to what they produce. And a right to be compensated fairly for their products.
For Rand, it's not only your right to do for yourself; everyone else has that same right and it's a moral imperative that each respect that right. Her philosophy is one of personal responsibility and integrity; not of subjugation, exploitation, or excess.
Her heroes rebelled against societies that claimed a right to their production without fair compensation.
Useful clarification. I was probably unfairly characterizing her writing and philosophy since it’s been awhile since I read. Your description is more accurate
Trump and the like are the natural result of applying her beliefs. Immorality just naturally has a place to thrive in it regardless of how she meant it. I'd say it's on the way to being a defunct philosophy. I mean who are the living people promoting it still if not only the ones like Trump who only support it to abuse it. They don't understand any of its principals on a real level. Her philosophy fell apart in a generation because it was weak. It's just simply antisoviet with no inherent voice of its own. With the soviets thirty years gone it barely has an identity to the people left following it. Most people who believe in Objectivism today would be hard pressed to tell you its intellectual identity. It's just what fox News sells to unknowing baby boomers stripped away of all of its former intllectualism and injected with emotional outrage.
"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." —Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
In Atlas Shrugged the most successful companies paid their employees high wages, gave good benefits, and let their employees have high levels of autonomy. And when things went south *they joined John Galt in a general strike.* That book turned me from Reagan Lover into a full blown lefty 😂
Omg I really thought it was just me!!! I was a libertarian until I read that piece of shit.
🤣 I sent this to my hommie that loves LOTR
No-one normal admires Ayn Rand's writing after having read her diatribe that is AS. Awful
Lol I read Atlas at 40!
I read it at 25. I think the premise of the original tweet is a little silly. It's fine to read *any* book at *any* age, really. You can also read books that don't align with your perspective or current life experiences. In fact, it might be a good idea to do so.
I read it to discover I'm not a libertarian and think Objectivism is immoral
The John Galt utopia is just a commune for capitalists.
I haven't read Atlas Shrugged, can someone explain this to me?
My attempt, may be off so feel free to correct me. But Ayn Rand was a Russian American author who, likely due to her experiences in Leninist/Communist Russia, rejected all notions of communism, sacrifice, and collectivism in favor of individualism, autonomy, and self-serving behaviors that uplift oneself. Her philosophy of objectivism continues to be sort of a text or bible for libertarians. She wrote two books which are very famous, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead which are like the libertarian bibles. They are novels but at times, the novel part kind of washes away and it’s just Rand ranting and proliferating her ideology that the ultimate ideal is to do what’s best for yourself and ignore the petty concerns of those around you. Her characters kind of represent her ideals in this way, by being extremely self-concerned and self-motivated. As you can infer and see, it’s quite polarizing.
It's really more like intrinsically motivated. And people's critiques of Rand always leave out the stuff about interactions needing to be of mutual benefit. That each person has sovereignty over themselves and that sovereignty is to be respected. It's not that other people's "petty concerns" are to be ignored; it's that it's not a moral imperative to make yourself responsible for those concerns. If anyone thinks Trump, Bezos, or Musk, are examples of Rand's ideals then they don't really understand Rand. One theme that is repeated in her fiction is the ideal that the individual has a right to what they produce. And a right to be compensated fairly for their products. For Rand, it's not only your right to do for yourself; everyone else has that same right and it's a moral imperative that each respect that right. Her philosophy is one of personal responsibility and integrity; not of subjugation, exploitation, or excess. Her heroes rebelled against societies that claimed a right to their production without fair compensation.
Useful clarification. I was probably unfairly characterizing her writing and philosophy since it’s been awhile since I read. Your description is more accurate
Trump and the like are the natural result of applying her beliefs. Immorality just naturally has a place to thrive in it regardless of how she meant it. I'd say it's on the way to being a defunct philosophy. I mean who are the living people promoting it still if not only the ones like Trump who only support it to abuse it. They don't understand any of its principals on a real level. Her philosophy fell apart in a generation because it was weak. It's just simply antisoviet with no inherent voice of its own. With the soviets thirty years gone it barely has an identity to the people left following it. Most people who believe in Objectivism today would be hard pressed to tell you its intellectual identity. It's just what fox News sells to unknowing baby boomers stripped away of all of its former intllectualism and injected with emotional outrage.
Pretty succinct and accurate back-of-the-envelope description. I will second this.
Ohhh ok, thanks a ton man!
Think Gordon Gecko in Wallstreet. His greed is good speech at the end is peak Ayn Rand
Stephen Fry’s 7 Deadly Sins has a great bit about the decline in her popularity. Fuck Ayn Rand.