Atlas Shrugged, at 50

[Virgil]

I've never read Ayn Rand, but came across this in the pappers and thought it might interest people here on lit net.


Atlas Shrugged, at 50
By Onkar Ghate
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 9, 2007

For most people, reading Atlas Shrugged is an unforgettable experience. The story is gripping, involving numerous mysteries and unexpected but logical plot twists. The characters are unique – what other book contains a philosopher-turned-pirate? And the writing is that rarest of combinations: at once clear and deep.

But for many readers, Atlas is even more: it's life-changing. Fifty years after its publication, how can a novel still exert this powerful an effect? Because in its pages Ayn Rand forces you to look at the world anew.

To give a taste of its radicalness, consider that today it's bromidic that the person of virtue is akin to Mother Teresa; he selflessly lives to serve others and demands that you do the same. Likewise, the person of vice is selfish; he pursues his own interests and demands that his actions bring him a profit. Whenever a television show or movie needs a stock villain, one whose evil motivation will require no setup, you can be sure a businessman erecting an office building on a patch of green land or a corporation testing an experimental drug will be penciled in. Simply to point out that they are pursuing profit is sufficient to damn them. More murders on television are committed by businessmen than by mobsters and gang members.

This entire viewpoint, entrenched for centuries by religious and secular thinkers alike, Atlas challenges. What emerges from its pages is that the moral person is, in fact, truly selfish: He chooses to embrace his own life by choosing to purposefully, systematically and unwaveringly do the thinking and take the actions necessary for happiness.

On this approach, ruthless rationality and the ever-increasing production of profit – the core of what it takes to be successful in business – become the essence of the moral life.
[Snip]

Continued here: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28201

[metal134]

There sure are a lot of threads about Ayn Rand lately, lol!

[Nick Rubashov]

There sure are a lot of threads about Ayn Rand lately, lol!

I know, I feel like I'm becoming an expert on Ayn Rand without even reading her works. The article was interesting Virgil, thanks for posting it. I seemed to me while reading piece that the author worships Rand as a god, then I saw this on the bottom of the page.

Onkar Ghate, Ph.D. in philosophy, is a resident fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif. The Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

Guess he actually does lol.

[jon1jt]

i've praised Rand in other threads so i'll make some random points and go on my merry way. first of all, i've read Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and We, The Living and the article Virgil posted, in my opinion, is quite correct: Atlas Shrugged can be a life changing experience---at least to those who are open to it's central message, which is actually apolitical. it's worth adding that Shrugged is one of the most important philosophical books written in the 20th Century next to Heidegger's Being and Time and Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine (huh?!). :)

money is the prime mover's reward, but the work product is an end in itself. money rewards the innovation and inspires the innovative to form and transform the economy, and the only economy that allows the best to emerge is one that is free from ALL regulating and moralizing agencies. a subtle point that gets lost in the thick narrative is that the selfless rail against the prime mover only because the selfless lack the intellectual capacity and sheer gumption to compete. Envy, self-loathing, and low self-esteem induce individuals to 'use' the idea of pity as a device to subvert the superior class as a way to assume a moral superiority for themselves that's owed, granted, imposed. rand's morality is an upheavel of thought within the individual himself and not the collectivity.

Shrugged demonstrates what happens to the world and the people in it when the prime movers go on strike. Rand portrays labor and government as antithetical to the free market spirit. labor creates a government only to "use" it against their adversaries in the name of equality and justice for all. she departs from Marx's notion that labor is the dominant class, even though the system would as easily collapse if they went on strike. the workers only gain such a position because the prime movers established the foundation, the board on which the "game" is played.

rand cherishes the highest capacity of human thought---pure reason, and in Atlas Shrugged she celebrates the one and only "human right"--- pure freedom. equality and justice for all. Bah. Atlas Shrugged is a wonderful book and i bless Rand's soul for producing it. :)

i highly recommend to people who think they understand the philosophy behind Atlas Shrugged because they heard or read a few pithy remarks on the subject to read the book, carefully.

"The most depraved type of human being is the man without a purpose."
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

[Shalot]

the workers only gain such power because the prime movers established the foundation, the board on which the "game" is played.



What if the board is flawed? What if the workers have to suffer needlessly because the people in charge are a bunch of lazy idiots?

That's why I don't like Rand. I think someone posted something about Rand and capitalist propaganda a while back. Maybe I should re-read my Rand and try to think about it with the points you put forth in mind.

[jon1jt]

What if the board is flawed? What if the workers have to suffer needlessly because the people in charge are a bunch of lazy idiots?

That's why I don't like Rand. I think someone posted something about Rand and capitalist propaganda a while back. Maybe I should re-read my Rand and try to think about it with the points you put forth in mind.

you're right, the board is terribly flawed, which is why rand does not promote it as her model. the system she envisions has never existed and will never exist. in fact, she was very disillusioned with the system in her lifetime, and it's far worse today. Dagny Taggart, John Galt, Hank Reardon, and Francisco, may be characterized as absolutists, rebels, cultists---certainly godless, but definitely not lazy idiots. :lol: i encourage you to re-read it. :)

[metal134]

It seems to me that Ayn Rand appears to be an almost hand picked mouth pice of the corporate elite.

[jon1jt]

It seems to me that Ayn Rand appears to be an almost hand picked mouth pice of the corporate elite.


i'm just curious, what is your definition of a corporate elite exactly? and why does it seem that rand is their spokesperson?

[andave_ya]

Just wanted to say that your thread encouraged me to get Atlas Shrugged from the library. I picked it up today. Man it's a huge book!

[metal134]

i'm just curious, what is your definition of a corporate elite exactly? and why does it seem that rand is their spokesperson?
The corporate elite would be defined as the multi-billion dollar corporations that were dealing with the concessions having to be made due to new legislation and regulations, which Rand so spoke out against.

[jon1jt]

The corporate elite would be defined as the multi-billion dollar corporations that were dealing with the concessions having to be made due to new legislation and regulations, which Rand so spoke out against.

like i mentioned above, rand opposed government, which she saw as a puppet for the weak who used a strong hand to suppress natural economic activities. last i checked, the multi-billion dollar corporations were the ones who keep hundreds of millions employed and families today have a better quality of life than ever before. even private organizations realize the economic impact of corporations on the less developed world. raw trade statistics don't lie; planting new business in impoverished neighborhoods or regions booms well for local communities, the country, and global economy. and that the way to end poverty is for elites to employ a bottom-up approach that emphasizes the value of a robust labor force as a way to long-term political and economic development. i'm not blind to the fact that elites (multi-nationals) stand in contradistinction to issues that threaten the world with their international institutions and regulatory agencies, such as GATT, NAFTA, the UN and World Bank, the WTO and European Union. issues such as climate change, human rights, poverty, political violence, and genocide are issues where elites can do more, but it's people who inspire real change.

if you want to blame somebody, blame government and the global system represented by leaders who all too often work against the very people who put them in power.

[Argyroneta]

I am half way through it at the moment and loving it. Without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever picked up!

[arkira23]

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