The Long Shadow of Ayn Rand

[William Haskins]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15atlas.html?ex=1347508800&en=8fc42c2f2603a791&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

One of the most influential business books ever written is a 1,200-page novel published 50 years ago, on Oct. 12, 1957. It is still drawing readers; it ranks 388th on Amazon.com’s best-seller list. (“Winning,” by John F. Welch Jr., at a breezy 384 pages, is No. 1,431.)

The book is “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand’s glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest.

For years, Rand’s message was attacked by intellectuals whom her circle labeled “do-gooders,” who argued that individuals should also work in the service of others. Her book was dismissed as an homage to greed. Gore Vidal described its philosophy as “nearly perfect in its immorality.”

But the book attracted a coterie of fans, some of them top corporate executives, who dared not speak of its impact except in private. When they read the book, often as college students, they now say, it gave form and substance to their inchoate thoughts, showing there is no conflict between private ambition and public benefit.

[Bravo]

is this your way of ensuring i keep posting here?

[blacbird]

it gave form and substance to their inchoate thoughts, showing there is no conflict between private ambition and public benefit.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it influenced Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Jack Abramoff, Dennis Kozlowski, Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken . . .

caw

[William Haskins]

is this your way of ensuring i keep posting here?

if it serves that purpose, sir, that's a good thing.

[Bravo]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it influenced Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Jack Abramoff, Dennis Kozlowski, Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken . . .

caw


ken lay, skilling, etc were the epitome of second-handers - they were incapable of succeeding through their own merit so they conned and charmed their way to positions of power.

rand's heroes are people who suceed based on their own ability and willpower.

[Bravo]

and enron could hardly be considered capitalistic since it needed a huge amount of government protection and money.

it shouldve sunk a lot sooner.

[blacbird]

ken lay, skilling, etc were the epitome of second-handers - they were incapable of succeeding through their own merit so they conned and charmed their way to positions of power.

Those aren't important skills in the arsenal of "enlightened self-interest"?

caw

[Shadow_Ferret]

One of the most influential business books ever written is a 1,200-page novel published 50 years ago, on Oct. 12, 1957.

Um, did anyone ever bother telling these people that a novel is fiction and that means made-up?

[Perks]

When I read the book, I guess I was both old enough not to consider it a manual for life, and young enough to take away the message that self-reliance was an admirable trait and would get you farther than waiting for a charity bus.

[InfinityGoddess]

Um, did anyone ever bother telling these people that a novel is fiction and that means made-up?

Her novels may have been fictional, but her school of thought is not. The Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer) is a think-tank of libertarian "objectivists" who believe in unfettered capitalism, as if capitalism is a form of government and not an economic system.

[SpookyWriter]

Her novels may have been fictional, but her school of thought is not. The Ayn Rand Institute (http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer) is a think-tank of libertarian "objectivists" who believe in unfettered capitalism, as if capitalism is a form of government and not an economic system.And has anyone proved this theory wrong?

[RG570]

When I first read that book, I came away thinking I was better and smarter than everyone else.

Then later I realized that Ayn Rand was just a bitter old hag who missed out on the good, easy life of an aristocrat during the revolution and had nothing contempt for those beneath her social class.

Her views on women are disturbing too. It's really too bad that her pseudo-philosophy has had such impact on society. I think she's deeply damaged the western psyche. It's nothing but bourgeois cruelty, and Atlas Shrugged might as well be on a "better together" deal on Amazon along with Mein Kampf.

[rugcat]

ken lay, skilling, etc were the epitome of second-handers - they were incapable of succeeding through their own merit so they conned and charmed their way to positions of power.That doesn't mean they couldn't aspire to the heights of Ayn Rand's heroes.

One of the unfortunate byproducts of the book's philosophy was to convince many that their own personal avarice and lack of social ethics was a good thing, giving them justification to pursue their selfish and greedy aims at the expense of others, stifling whatever small stirrings of conscience they might have once possessed.

[Perks]

Wow. I wish it wasn't such a long book, because now I want to read it again and I'm staring down a stack of five books I've got on my shelf to read.

[Bravo]

i like the much fountainhead better.

i think everyone who wants to create art should read that.

[InfinityGoddess]

i like the much fountainhead better.

i think everyone who wants to create art should read that.

I've read Anthem in school once. Still have that book somewhere.

[blacbird]

When I first read that book, I came away thinking I was better and smarter than everyone else.

Then later I realized that Ayn Rand was just a bitter old hag who missed out on the good, easy life of an aristocrat during the revolution and had nothing contempt for those beneath her social class.

You're not the only one who's had this realization. Tobias Wolff has discussed his youthful infatuation with Rand, which vanished after he actually met her, and found her to be a flinty misanthrope who had no real friends, for good reasons, and was proud of it. Her fiction is pretty much a crystallization of her personality.

caw

[Bravo]

i admit that there's a lot to hate w rand. for example, her staunch black and white worldview is dangerously naive.

but personally, i like taking the good out of everything and i found rand's insistence on working hard, and being honest, and doing what you believe, to be inspiring.

[donroc]

Yes, Bravo, Roarke (sp?) is a role model for any writer who believes in what he writes, conventional wisdom and current market be damned.

And many inner directed entrepreneurs who achieve a dream can be swallowed by lesser types when they are so successful they must go public and go outside the company to hire corporate snakes masquerading as CEOs, CFOs and their ilk.

www.donaldmichaelplatt.com

[robeiae]

You guys know Ayn was only like five feet tall, right?

[dclary]

i admit that there's a lot to hate w rand. for example, her staunch black and white worldview is dangerously naive.


So is your utter grey worldview.

[SpookyWriter]

You guys know Ayn was only like five feet tall, right?Just tall enough to set my beer down while I talk to friends during parties.

[SpookyWriter]

So is your utter grey worldview.Sure bring jeff into the conversation. He's going to be rich again.

[blacbird]

You guys know Ayn was only like five feet tall, right?

Which has relevance in what way?

caw

[SpookyWriter]

Which has relevance in what way?

cawSize doesn't matter?

Geezzzeee...blackie, I thought scarletpeaches already had this conversation with you a few weeks ago.

[robeiae]

Which has relevance in what way?

caw
Objective reality is always relevant. How could a short person always cast a long shadow?

[SpookyWriter]

Objective reality is always relevant. How could a short person always cast a long shadow?Stop looking up her dress during noon rush hour. :D

The shadow of a person with substance is always going to be higher than the height of a sloth mind. - T.J. Hooker

[robeiae]

Oh, B.S. TJ Hooker didn't say that...did he?

:ROFL:

[robeiae]

Out of Chaos comes Order--Pamela Anderson

[SpookyWriter]

Oh, B.S. TJ Hooker didn't say that...did he?

:ROFL:The man remains an intellectual giant in his own way. Who else could be so stupid and yet be so smart to make it in HouserWood.

http://homepage.mac.com/mmtz/stcomix/images/misc/uk/tjhooker.jpg

[Bad Penny]

Ayn Rand was a confused moron. And that's all I have to say about that.

Except maybe to add that The Fountainhead is one of the world's most laughable works, in book and in movie form

[blacbird]

Objective reality is always relevant. How could a short person always cast a long shadow?

Near the sunset of her ideas.

caw

[Jacob]

When I first read that book, I came away thinking I was better and smarter than everyone else.

Then later I realized that Ayn Rand was just a bitter old hag who missed out on the good, easy life of an aristocrat during the revolution and had nothing contempt for those beneath her social class.

Her views on women are disturbing too. It's really too bad that her pseudo-philosophy has had such impact on society. I think she's deeply damaged the western psyche. It's nothing but bourgeois cruelty, and Atlas Shrugged might as well be on a "better together" deal on Amazon along with Mein Kampf.
Agreed!

[Bird of Prey]

Well, the interesting part about Rand's pursuit happiness is that it doesn't work for. . .well, like anybody?

Greenspan adored her though. Oh well. I wonder what he thinks now.

[robeiae]

Heh. Quite a bit of absolute declarations of fact on this thread--very little analysis. Plays better, I guess...

Certainly, Rand has positions that can be effectively attacked/questioned, but I'm hard pressed to toss her opinions re everything out the window. For instance, her analysis of Kant's epistemology is dead on target and rightly calls Kant to task for his abandonment of empiricism, despite Kant's claims of having Hume wake him from his "dogmatic slumber."

[Bravo]

huh?

[robeiae]

Precisely.

[KTC]

You know. Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books. I read it for pleasure (several times). I'm not intellectual enough to get anything else out of it.

[robeiae]

Again--precisely.













:D Sorry, Kevin.

[brokenfingers]

Heh. Quite a bit of absolute declarations of fact on this thread--very little analysis. Plays better, I guess...

Certainly, Rand has positions that can be effectively attacked/questioned, but I'm hard pressed to toss her opinions re everything out the window. For instance, her analysis of Kant's epistemology is dead on target and rightly calls Kant to task for his abandonment of empiricism, despite Kant's claims of having Hume wake him from his "dogmatic slumber."I bet you're a hoot at parties... ;)

[robeiae]

I bet you're a hoot at parties... ;)
I enjoy a game similar to "Hi Bob" but using Spengler's The Decline of the West and Heidegger's Being and Time. Very stimulationg. Plus, the chicks dig it.

[Magdalen]

Books that pander to humanity's baser instincts will always be popular.

Validate the darkest corners of my cranium
and I will bake a yellow cake for you,
heavy with the richness of uranium,
frosted with a fluffy cloud of mushroom

<Shrugs>

[robeiae]

No need to bring Thoreau into this.

[Magdalen]

You only say that because you had stock in Waldenbooks.