Any of you crazy people read ayn rand?

[Guest hi how you doing]

Any of you crazy people read ayn rand? I been reading some stuff this woman wrote on anti psychiatry websites and she paints a bad picture of pyschiatrists and their attitudes. I find the writing to be a little over my head, any intellectuals in this group that have read her stuff? I'm a fan of judge judys show as well.

[olga]

I read those books 35 years ago, so I'm not much help. She was a pretty wacky lady herself---check out a biography of her, if you're interested.

As to her views on doctors---well, she was writing fiction. I don't look to fiction authors for guidance in my life. heh

olga

[AirMarshall]

I read Atlas Shrugged about 15 years ago, during the Bush I vs. Clinton election. The 25th anniversary of its publishing. Amazingly many of the same issues were key to that election.

Nonetheless. Ayn Rand could have used an editor with the nerve to actually edit. She can get pretty tedious and pedantic.

Her basic theory of Objectivism hinges on the idea that people acting in their own self interest, unhindered in any way by government, religion, psychology will automatically do what's best for society. She fails to take into account that not everyone shares her (early 20th century Russian) moral and ethical values of fair play and honesty, and makes no allowance for those unable to take care of themselves. Oh, and she has a thing about Empire cut dresses.

Her personal life was rather eccentric. She and her parents were refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution, which is probably all the explanation needed to understand the source of her thought.

a.m.

[resonance]

The self-interest -> do what's best for society link is attractive. I wish it played out better in practice. I would not expect her views on doctors to be any more current or accurate than her views on human motivations.

[december_brigette]

hi,

lately ive been feeling guilty about the authors i never read. seriously. note that i received a BA in english and im feeling really dumb these days... especially after abi & wifezilla intro'd me to HP Lovecraft. where have i been?

ayn rand would be one of those authors. but good god, her books are too many pages. im struggling to read books to baby.

so....much thanks to AM for using effective wording & clarity about ayn rand. i can put her away and think about this lovecraft book i found in alex's bookcase.

db

[Steve@3AM]

DB

Lit major? No woder you read so many of the books on that other thread!

But...

You're trying to read LOVECRAFT to baby???

That baby will have every MI on the boards!

(You really never read Lovecraft? Missed a treat! You might also try to find Colin Wilson's "Mind Parasites" which follows Lovecrafts style but is, perhaps, even more well written. It's GREAT - as Tony the Tiger would say.)

[pulver]

This is very good, airmarshal. She needed an editor for sure but could also have used a psychiatrist. My favorite example of realism coming up against theory. Is when the young psychiatrist she had been having sexual relations with wanted to break it off because she was so old and wrinkled she no longer appealed to him and she said something like " If you really understood my theory it wouldn't make any difference how old I was."

I think her biography is more interesting than her books. You are right about teadious and pedantic. Surprising the number of people who name her books as the most influential they have read. I once worked with a man who was a member of the objectivism group and read all their stuff. He could not deal with someone treating him the in the self interested way he tried to treat people. He could dish it out but he couldn't take it.

Really liked your post.

Pulver

quote name='AirMarshall' date='Jan 29 2008, 10:56 AM' post='274628']

I read Atlas Shrugged about 15 years ago, during the Bush I vs. Clinton election. The 25th anniversary of its publishing. Amazingly many of the same issues were key to that election.

Nonetheless. Ayn Rand could have used an editor with the nerve to actually edit. She can get pretty tedious and pedantic.

Her basic theory of Objectivism hinges on the idea that people acting in their own self interest, unhindered in any way by government, religion, psychology will automatically do what's best for society. She fails to take into account that not everyone shares her (early 20th century Russian) moral and ethical values of fair play and honesty, and makes no allowance for those unable to take care of themselves. Oh, and she has a thing about Empire cut dresses.

Her personal life was rather eccentric. She and her parents were refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution, which is probably all the explanation needed to understand the source of her thought.

a.m.

[Velvet Elvis]

Her utter lack of understanding of human psychology is almost as vast as her lack of understanding of economics.

Oh yeah, equating rationality with virtue, thereby making anyone who disagrees with you a less moral person is a bullshit move of the umpteenth degree.

Also, there is no formulation of ethical egoism that can't be forced into contradiction in a few simple moves.

[Spuffy]

Her utter lack of understanding of human psychology is almost as vast as her lack of understanding of economics.

Oh yeah, equating rationality with virtue, thereby making anyone who disagrees with you a less moral person is a bullshit move of the umpteenth degree.

Also, there is no formulation of ethical egoism that can't be forced into contradiction in a few simple moves.

Plus, it's difficult to weigh actions rationally if the self alone is responsible for creating all values. Solipsism is not virtue. Now, rational argument is a virtue. This brings me back to debating members of the Rand club in high school. Some of the smartest kids contracted the sickest social ideals after finding one of her books stopping a draft under a door or lying in a trunk for a car's rear-tire snow traction. I'm still more confused by those who approach her novels as fiction. While I breathe I will defend the individual. But I can't sit through the world's longest General Hospital script as written by R. Limbaugh and the talent-drained corpse of F. Nietzsche.

[Guest Hi how you doing]

hi,

lately ive been feeling guilty about the authors i never read. seriously. note that i received a BA in english and im feeling really dumb these days... especially after abi & wifezilla intro'd me to HP Lovecraft. where have i been?

ayn rand would be one of those authors. but good god, her books are too many pages. im struggling to read books to baby.

so....much thanks to AM for using effective wording & clarity about ayn rand. i can put her away and think about this lovecraft book i found in alex's bookcase.

db

Boy are you dumb.

[SunshineOutside]

DB is an incredibly smart woman. She has done nothing to you. I Can't imagine why you would be wicked and say that. We love her here.