Ayn Rand – And how she screwed us all

[Cyrano]

If you don’t know who Ayn Rand is, she wrote “The Fountainhead,” and “Atlas Shrugged,” among other works. She’s the goddess of neoconservatives and of millions of others who read her works, or heard of them, and which led them to believe or imagine their superiority over the rest of humanity. Alan Greenspan, who ran the Federal Reserve, (seemingly forever), was a true believer in her philosophy. The fiscal damage he did to America is almost beyond belief.

Basically, Ayn Rand believed that there were “superior” people who create things, and all the rest of us leeches who are along for the ride. She proclaimed that those who create things were exempt from any claims the rest of humanity had upon their works. She held that altruism is evil and that no one owes anyone else anything. (Google her if you don’t know about her.) And by the way, can anyone name anything that Wall Street "creates?"

I read Ayn Rand’s books many years ago and I found her to be a person whose upbringing in communist Russia warped her perception of humanity. She invented/adapted a philosophy which is partially responsible for the suffering taking place in our country today.

Most of the ruling class in America is driven by greed and a lust for power. Many of them have never read Ayn Rand. But for those who have, she has provided them with a rationale that frees them from guilt and responsibility for the suffering of others. They consider themselves to be superior people who are not subject to the rules of civilization.

Ayn Rand despised fascism, communism, and every other ism you can think of. Yet, it turns out that “Randism” has helped lead us to chaos, widespread suffering, and disaster. Her true believers couldn’t care less.

So when looking around for how we got where we are today, put Ayn Rand near the top of your list.

[elleng]

1. She wrote it, fiction. no need for us to adopt it.

Then there was greenspan.

;(

[donco6]

2. We've had quite a few Randians here over the years.

You don't see them much anymore.

[pansypoo53219]

11. greenspan was her acolyte and

we are paying for it now.

[fascisthunter]

3. people fell for it, because they wanted to profit from it

I'm sure many who espouse her thinking know it's BS, but it is a means to their ends.

[Ter]

4. You're wrong, neo-conservatives HATE her

The Ron Paul and libertarian leaning Republicans love her.

[Cyrano]

5. Whatever title you put on the millions who kneel at her alter,

they are the enemies of all liberal beliefs. I seem to recall others who held the belief that they were "superior beings." That didn't work out to well for the world. True believers in Ayn Rand, as well as those who pretend to believe in her philosophy, will always stand in the way of human progress, not to mention simple decency.

[OKNancy]

6. Here is a good article/comment

about Greenspan and Rand http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greenspan-and-ayn-rand-disciple-or-traitor-2010-06-19

[gmoney]

7. she was all about capitalism, or as she called it "Objectivism"

She believed there were a few "great men" among us (seemingly always men in her belief) who have the vision to achieve great things, and she simplistically credits them with doing so more or less single-handedly. Every person who worked building these railroads or skyscrapers or whatever is choosing to sell their time, talent, and labor at market price -- or they're free to go start their own railroad with the $5 they have in their pocket. It's the capitalist's "duty" to make the market price for labor as low as possible because it serves the capitalist's self-interest, which is the only conceivable reason for anyone to do anything. Also, the capitalist is entitled to keep any and all profits from the success of his efforts and vision, just as the worker should be able to keep all his wages, and they both are expected to live within their means.

She basically ignores the need for society, or the huge "leg up" society has provided the "great men" by establishing the ability to conduct trade, law enforcement, infrastructure such as utilities, roads and ports, a medical system, and a reasonably educated workforce.

It's basically a fantasy -- it does presume that "all men are created equal" but it also presumes that we all have equal opportunity, and if someone chooses not to be a trail-blazing entrepreneur, then that's their choice, but they have no right to demand anything (in terms of taxation) from those who are more "motivated" and successful. In a "survival of the meanest" way, it does make a certain amount of sense. She portrays her heros as men of unflinching integrity, and all the wealthy people who made their money from inside deals, inheritance, bending the rules, or just plain corruption see themselves in Rand's mirror as being a similarly heroic beacon of achievement and moral perfection.

[Cyrano]

8. It's amazing how many bought the crap she was peddling.

Then again, her philosophy lets the greediest, meanest pricks and sociopaths in the world off the hook. It let's them believe in their own "greatness" and the "inferiority" of the masses.

[Yupster]

16. The main character and main hero

of Atlas Shrugged is Dagny Taggart, a woman who ran the railroad. The book is pretty much told from her point of view. I always assumed the character was autobiographical.

Anyway, how do you say her great men were always men when her number one character, number one hero was very much a woman?

Sorry I didn't get any fiurther into your post than the first line, but if I'm talking baseball and one person in the conversation says that the Yankees never won a World Series, then I don't really want to hear anything else they know about baseball.

[riverbendviewgal]

9. I was enamored once by Rand

I read her books in my twenties...but then I read her Virtue of Selfish book and I found my own values conflicted with hers.....

I realized I had socialist liberal values and looked at my past life and present life then and found I didn't match with Rand's values..

She is a good read but I myself don't like selfishness. I was born American and now am a Canadian and can see the differences....

In Canada we do seem to be more compassionate and emphatic and there is less greed and the need for money.....

I am looking at Black Friday happening down south of my border today and have to laugh.....I am so grateful I don't have that selfish need for more.

[tinrobot]

10. Ayn Rand is a lot like Jesus

A lot of people hold her up as an icon, yet don't really understand her views.

For example - most Christian evangelicals say/do things that Jesus would be totally against (intolerance, greed, etc.) Yet they are the ones who hide behind his name the most.

People who hide behind Ayn Rand tend to be in favor of a lot of things she would be against as well. She would not be in favor of our corporate-friendly government that grants special favors to businesses over individuals. She was also a total atheist and would rail against conservatives love of all things Christian.

Her views were definitely a mixed bag. She actually had some views that I agreed with. She also had zero compassion for her fellow humans, which is where I'm very much against her views.

[tomg]

12. Favorite quote about Rand

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

Don't know who said it but it is accurate.

[Cyrano]

13. Great quote.

I was about that age when I first read Ayn Rand's novels. And although I got caught up in the plots of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," I had the nagging feeling that there was something wrong that I couldn't identify.

A few years later, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to teachers who helped me develop a social conscience. And it was only then that I realized what I found disturbing about her writings.

[undergroundpanther]

14. Eric Voegelin,& Leo Strauss and Machiavelli are

Tyrannic philosophy to excuse criminal despotic minds.
Ayn Rand Leo Strauss,Machiavelli,Eric Voegelin and
Leo Strauss are what you get when sociopaths "philosophize"...
Put Ayn Rand in with this toxic stew of depraved excuses for a kakistocracy,
and you can see how ugly and cruel neo conservatism
and the "free market" becomes" and you arrive at the REAL reason for the Iraq war.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again: When impetuous young men are repelled by the vulgarity of democracy,
Plato can point out to them that energy, pride, and will to rule
can indeed establish the despotism of a spiritually corrupt elite,
but not a just government;
and when democrats rave about freedom and equality
and forget that government requires spiritual training
and intellectual discipline,
he can warn them that they are on the way to tyranny.

These examples will suffice to indicate that political science
goes beyond the validity of propositions to the truth of existence.
The opinions for the clarification of which the analysis is undertaken
are not merely false: They are symptoms of spiritual disorder
in the men who hold them.
And the purpose of the analysis is to persuade—
to have its own insights, if possible,
supplant the opinions in social reality.
Analysis is concerned with the therapy of order.

http://www.voegelinview.com/ev/being_and_scientific_analysis.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Voegelin


In other words, we impose representative government on countries
which lack the conditions for it, namely the articulation of the
individual as a representative unit.
What makes the individual a representative unit is that he is,
and is seen as, a potential knower of truth,
or, as Voegelin put it, a sensorium of transcendence.
These conditions do not obtain in Moslem countries such as Iraq,
which are articulated in terms of clan, tribe, and mosque,
not in terms of the individual.
Therefore attempting to impose democracy on such countries will only
succeed in liberating their clannish and tribal and religious passions,
to the ruin of the country.
A fortiori, spreading "global democracy"
may only succeed in unleashing the evil forces of Islam-ism
on the world as a whole. The silver lining of this disaster is
that it may (we hope) discredit the ideology of democratic
universalism and lead to a re-awakening of the West
to its own historic identity vis à vis the non-West.
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/002260.html

Remember the conservatives called Obama an ANTI- COLONIALIST...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo Strauss =asshole enabler of liars.

Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception
Many neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz are disciples of a philosopher
who believed that the elite should use deception,
religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses
What would you do if you wanted to topple Saddam Hussein,
but your intelligence agencies couldn't find the evidence to justify a war?

A follower of Leo Strauss may just hire the "right" kind of men
to get the job done – people with the intellect, acuity,
and, if necessary, the political commitment,
polemical skills, and, above all, the imagination to find
the evidence that career intelligence officers could not detect.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/


Strauss-ian method: so careful is he to hide the point of his argument,
he nearly fails to make it. Certainly he fails to support it.
Strauss puts his students to such a mental effort to try to understand
him that they are too exhausted to make the mental effort to criticize him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A second fundamental belief of Strauss’s ancients has to do with
their insistence on the need for secrecy and the necessity of lies.
In his book Persecution and the Art of Writing,
Strauss outlines why secrecy is necessary.
He argues that the wise must conceal their views for two reasons
– to spare the people’s feelings
and to protect the elite from possible reprisals.

"The people will not be happy to learn
that there is only one natural right –
the right of the superior to rule over the inferior,
the master over the slave,
the husband over the wife,
and the wise few over the vulgar many."
In On Tyranny, Strauss refers to this natural right
as the “tyrannical teaching” of his beloved ancients.
It is tyrannical in the classic sense
of rule above rule or in the absence of law (p. 70).


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5010.htm

[davidwparker]

15. K&R

[jimlup]

17. I strongly agree

I intentionally never read the last page of Atlas Shrugged just so that I could say that "I never finished it".

[Scruffy1]

18. Strange-I found her books boring in the extreme

Intellectually very shallow and even dishonest. I remember thinking at the time only those that already believed this crap would be reinforced by it. Yet I just saw a "Who is John Galt?" sticker on a motorcycle recently. I never asked him if he actually knew how to read. Of course her writings appeal to the rich and want to be rich and have a strong affinity with Calvinism-more recently known as fundamentalism. Of course the churches have a vested interest in this doctrine which crates an underclass-that way they have a reason to raise the Almighty Dollar-there most sacred God.
Have you ever noticed that fundamentalist politicians mostly talk about the Great God Dollar?

[JoseGaspar]

19. Summary of Rand's significance.

"Rand has been accused of being a Nazi enabler. That is hardly fair. Just as surely, Rand enables Libertarians, Neo-cons, pedophiles, serial killers, imperialists, pimps, mercenaries, stock brokers, secret polluters, oil company executives, racists, torturers, embezzlers, people who kick dogs, corrupt officials of every shape and description, CIA agents, drug dealers, corporate directors, slave owners, Fascists, neo-Fascists, crypto-Fascists, anarcho-Fascists, Holocaust deniers, rapists, Malthusians, assassins, car-jackers, investment bankers, immigration agents, scabs, Ronald Reagan, confidential informants, Augusto Pinochet, sellouts, demagogues, Congressmen, “creation scientists”, Mafioso, Ponzi schemers, and people who franchise Pay-Day Loan offices.

It’s Benito Mussolini inserting himself as the hero of a Horatio Alger story. Jay Gatsby doesn’t die at the end of the novel; he founds Blackwater. Mr. Smith goes to Washington and changes his name to Jeffrey Dahmer.

Whenever mud sinks below the sea of humanity and thus declares, by its very muddiness, not only that it stands apart from the rest, but is entitled to feed off of the flesh and bone left behind, there is the spirit of Rand to declare a New Virtue for the New Man."

anaxarchos

[dragonlady]

20. The guy who will succeed Senator Feingold

is quite a fan of Ayn Rand. He answered a question about how "Atlas Shrugged" influenced him during one of the debates. I can hardly bear to write this.
:cry:

[LibDemAlways]

21. Ron Paul obviously liked her enough to name a son

after her - a guy who will presumably be representing the wealthy people of Kentucky in the US Senate.

[Misskittycat]

25. I was wondering about that. Is that the basis for Rand Paul's name? n/t

[Froward69]

22. Attempting to rationalize greed and selfishness

Ayn Rand indoctrinates by repetitive false phrases. the weak minded fall for it easily.

[FlyByNight]

23. Maladjusted misanthrope

Her socioeconomic "philosophies" helped to poison the political discourse and harmed untold millions. Theory over reality; facts be damned.

:puke:

[aikoaiko]

24. We read Atlas Shrugged in high school literature class

If I recall correctly, at 14 I liked the support of individualism, but even then I recognized that taken to its extreme the philosophy collapsed.