Blogcritics Comments on Ayn Rand's fear of cold sores

Comment by Moony on Ayn Rand's fear of cold sores

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 05:22:45 EST

Ed, that would be 'The Virtue of Selfishness', selflessness being something of which she very definitely did not approve! Interesting mistake, though.

Comment by Mark Spangler on Ayn Rand's fear of cold sores

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:32:41 EDT

In a nutshell, Rand was morally bankrupt. The convservative notion that repeats If I'm left alone to do well and others will benfit" ad naseum is, and always will be the philosophy of a kindergarten student who won't share the crayons. Why does anyone, anywhere ever take anything this verbose and untalented writer/thinker seriously? She was a joke. Get over it Ayn, and fellow Objectivists... we all need each other, like it or not.

Comment by bliffle on Ayn Rand's fear of cold sores

Tue, 9 Oct 2007 12:28:28 EDT

I read one or two of those Ayn Rand screeds when I was 21 and considered them naive. She's an embarrassment to the very ideas she supports.

Comment by Guy on Ayn Rand's fear of cold sores

Tue, 9 Oct 2007 00:25:06 EDT

I think you hit the nail on the head. Ayn Rand's good ideas exist, and consist, essentially, of repeating, with reactionary intensity, that "freedom is good," over and over again. Working through a love/hate relationship, or being especially selective in picking out passable elements in any given text, is simply not worth it. The fact your ex-girlfriend loved her mother doesn't mean she was fun to be around. For all the emphasis on "objectivity," she resorts to categorical argumentation than taking a stab at, say, science, which might have to do with the fact that the postwar social sciences were only backing up about half of her assertions, and certainly none of her forays into misdirected rage or paranoia. On the fiction side...I've never seen quite as many displays of callous macho men demolishing overtly devious straw men and unidimensional mice. In order to be readable, the opposition would need credible motivation, and the faintest sniff of pragmatism to flavor the air. I don't know of a Intro to Fiction teacher that doesn't warn against didactic storytelling- she was absent that day.