Atlas Shrugged

[JoeZhang]

Honestly, around here, Ayn Rand is a complete nonentity. No one has heard of her, no one reads her books and her ideas have no political influence whatsoever.

It's rare but occasionally American exchange students bring up objectivism there is either a baffled silence or once it is explained nobody can get their heads around it.

I think there are a few cranks/sociopaths in the UK who follow it but like your country it has no influence.

 

[stj]

^^^Paul Ryan, the recent Republican vice-Presidential candidate, was a great admirer of Ayn Rand. Apparently, reading her works was something of an informal test for his employees and friends.

But those of you who imagine that you are fortunate to have escaped her influence are of course wrong. Alan Greenspan, for many years head of the Federal Reserve, is another Ayn Rand fan. But unlike Ryan, his many years have left the men he mentored, such as Ben Bernanke. And they still have an influence on all countries.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Bernanke was never a student of Greespan's. I believe his thesis adviser was Stanley Fisher.

 

[iguana_tonante]

You know what would solve the problem of traffic? More cars.

Explain.

Same as the solution for the problem of gun violence is more guns.

sarcasm

Pretty much.

 

[Jeyl]

I watched this movie and I couldn't help but laugh at how the government is portrayed as this evil, greedy and overly oppressive lot who make all these ridiculous laws. I've seen business companies make rules more stupid than this. Does this government free world of Atlantis still sell full priced games with DRM so far embedded into the product that it also requires an always online connection?

 

[Zaku]

Was this a good movie?

If you're a conservative, yes, both installments so far have been very good.

If you voted for Obama and think Occupy Wall Street had a point, no, it sucked.

I'm not a conservative. Obviously I couldn't vote for any of your candidates and I don't have any particular opinion about "Occupy Wall Street". I know almost nothing about Ayn Rand and objectivism (like a lot of people outside U.S.).

So...

Was this a good movie?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You know what would solve the problem of traffic? More cars.

Explain.

Same as the solution for the problem of gun violence is more guns.

sarcasm

Pretty much.

I can never tell if you're on my side or not...

 

[IndyJones]

That one wasn't exactly a toughie.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Explain.

Same as the solution for the problem of gun violence is more guns.

sarcasm

Pretty much.

I can never tell if you're on my side or not...

Good. Good...

 

[Gaith]

I always thought the idea that a specially-shaped antenna could extract free energy from static electicity in the atmosphere to be one of the most amusing technobabbles of all time.

Maybe she gets chutzpah points for even trying that one.

Well, she wrote her novels with a little help from benzadrine - prescription meth. Perpetual motion was probably on her mind...

 

[Hound of UIster]

Actually I think it was based on Tesla's mythical static electricity generator. She was never that creative.

 

[arch101]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

Banned by who? Its been out for 55 years. Don't see it going away any time soon.

It could be banned, perhaps, by a government that absolutely DESPISES individual achievement and is completely convinced that nothing good can ever be accomplished without government's "help". Now, where oh where would we find such a government...

 

[Greg Cox]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

Banned by who? Its been out for 55 years. Don't see it going away any time soon.

It could be banned, perhaps, by a government that absolutely DESPISES individual achievement and is completely convinced that nothing good can ever be accomplished without government's "help". Now, where oh where would we find such a government...

Honestly, that sounds like sheer paranoia to me. I don't recall liberal books being banned during the Reagan and Bush years because they were "un-American" or whatever. Heck, even during the height of the McCarthy era, I don't remember Marx or Mao being banned by the government.

And the last time I checked, the shelves at Wal-Mart and my local grocery store were fully stocked with the latest books by Glenn Beck or Ann Coulter or whomever. And I'm sure you can still find Ayn Rand in any sizable bookstore or library.

There is that pesky little First Amendment, you know, and if you really think that the evil Democrats or liberals or whomever are out to destroy the Bill of Rights . . . well, that's a pretty farfetched scenario. You might as well worry about the gorillas or computers taking over.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

Banned by who? Its been out for 55 years. Don't see it going away any time soon.

It could be banned, perhaps, by a government that absolutely DESPISES individual achievement and is completely convinced that nothing good can ever be accomplished without government's "help". Now, where oh where would we find such a government...

Not here.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

Banned by who? Its been out for 55 years. Don't see it going away any time soon.

It could be banned, perhaps, by a government that absolutely DESPISES individual achievement and is completely convinced that nothing good can ever be accomplished without government's "help". Now, where oh where would we find such a government...

Where's that Futurama "Oh wait you're serious" threadbomb when you need it?

 

[Amaris]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

Banned by who? Its been out for 55 years. Don't see it going away any time soon.

It could be banned, perhaps, by a government that absolutely DESPISES individual achievement and is completely convinced that nothing good can ever be accomplished without government's "help". Now, where oh where would we find such a government...

Aside from the one in your head? Nowhere. Certainly not in the good ol' God Blessed United States of America, E Pluribus Unum.

 

[Davros]

Forget the film. But, you should read the book before it's banned.

One would be better off reading The Jungle.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If you build it, they will come.

 

[Klaus]

There's one way to make sure it doesn't get banned...

...wrap your copy securely in tinfoil.

 

[stj]

I don't think public libraries carry any Marx or Mao, nor physical bookstores. That's why left-wing parties usually set up shop as, literally, a shop, for books and periodicals that are not freely available due to "market forces." Mail order has been prone to interference/surveillance by the USPS at various times. The worst was the decades in the antebellum South of course, which censored abolitionist literature.

Happily for the purity of American morals, Ayn Rand is pretty much always available. Often, like 1984, she's pushed as a "classic" in sections devoted to improving YA minds. (For much the same reasons.) The rape scene in The Fountainhead I'm sure has been very educational to less sophisticated teens for years now.

Now I hate to be hoity-toity, but...The Jungle? Sinclair observed he aimed for America's heart and hit its stomach. Being where the national soul resides, The Jungle is a YA classic too. (It is well known the concerned adults, teachers and librarians who make up the YA classic reading lists do insist on certain works aimed at improving the morals.) The Jungle makes a case for government banning poisonous foods being sold for profit. This kind of socialism is innocuous enough yet allows the listmakers to congratulate themselves on their daring.

No, I think what you need to read as a genuine counterpoise to Rand's utopian thriller is Jack London's dystopian thriller, The Iron Heel. After reading the chapter on the Chicago Commune you could follow up by reading Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, especially the sequence describing the peacekeeper assault on Luna City.