I too, have only recently discovered Ayn Rand. However, I skipped straight to her masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged, which is my favorite novel, and I watched the Fountainhead (which is excellent). I have many reservations about her ideas, but I can also identify myself as Randian without hesitation. There are so many ideas, at which I had independently arrived, that I have fallen in love with Rand's thoughts, and I suspect that I will come to agree with the remaining ideas. Personally, I think a bare minimum welfare can exist within a libertarian framework, because I do not (I think Rand does) distinguish between sins of commission or omission, and failing to provide a starving person with bread or shelter amounts to murder (however, I am a utilitarian, and if providing food only furthers the procreation of starving people, I might agree, but starving people do not commit suicide and must prefer starvation to death or being unborn). I also acknowledge the genuine threats of moral and epistemological skepticism and I think Rand's dogmatic assertions to moral and objective knowledge are naive.
Here are many of those ideas, some more idiosyncratic than others, which I had already thought myself:
Value is found in production and not passive entertainment. Atlas Shrugged praises the business tycoons and steel industrialists who produce the physical goods that everyone uses. There are a few small passages about, how the world economy collapse and people start spending more time in the movie theatre escaping. I had already only seen about 3 movies in 2003 and 2002 (I was raised on Hollywood) and became a vocal critic of the entertainment industry. I try to do more productive things with my time.
Individualism. Rand wrote that her entire philosophy can be described as individualism and I recognized myself as an individualist a long time ago. I strongly resist any attempt to agree simply because the majority agrees, and indeed, I find that the majority opinion is a good predictor for the incorrect answer to many controversial or important question.
Inventions cause economic growth. My ignorance of economics will show, but this has always been my intuition, although many people do not share it, apparently. Economies grow because of technological advances, both macro and micro, especially after the age of colonization. Rand understood the importance of technology before the discovery of computers, DNA, or the Internet.
Bad art. Rand criticized the corruption of the arts. I already agreed with the those who noticed the difference between the heights of classical music and pop music, between early Hollywood and summer blockbusters.
Celebrations need something to celebrate. I already thought celebrations are usually ridiculous affairs (Academy Awards) where an industry pats itself on the back. Rand criticized meaningless celebrations and her characters feel awkwards at celebrations and parties that serve no purpose.
Vacations are a time to work. Rand's characters try to work even during vacation and I had already people that vacations are a time to work. I hate the idea of laziness and lying on the beach sipping martinis, although this is the ideal use of time according to America.
Anti Original Sin. Atlas Shrugged explicitly negates what is perhaps the most absurd of so many Christian absurdities: the notion that humanity is naturally sinful, that sex is sinful. Rand wants to kill Original Sin just as much as she wants to kill Robin Hood. A particular example of this, which I can also relate to, is the scene in which Reardon turns the light back on before the sex scene:
"Standing straight, holding his glance, she extended her arm to the lamp on the table and turned out the light. He approached. He turned the light on again, with a single, contemptuous jerk of his wrist."
This emphasizes a question I had already asked myself, which is why do people (and women especially?) want to have sex in the dark? That only seems to promote the shamefulness of the act, keeps sex hidden like using the bathroom, and I think not being able to see the naked body of your lover is positively unsexy, even pacifying.
Life is to be lived on earth, not Heaven. This is a favorite theme from art (such as Emily Dickinson's poetry). John Galt specifically denies the relevance of any afterlife and criticizes those who fail to live on earth because of such delusions about such a place. This is especially important for immortalists.
No children. One peculiarity that people criticize Rand for is that she and her characters usually have no children, intentionally. I had already agreed with Rand a long time ago and decided to never have children or sacrifice my life for theirs. I especially do not agree with ethicists like Leon Kass who argue that we should willingly sacrifice our lives for our children, and even die so that the children can inherit the world. This is the conflict between our selfish genes and ourselves or brains - and I say so much the less for my genes (perhaps I will clone myself, although sex evolved for a reason).
Greed is good. Way before reading Atlas Shrugged I had not understood why greed is said to be evil, and I am glad that greed, in America, is legislated against less than, for example, homosexualityer point and agree that "selfishness is a virtue". I even subscribe to psychological egoism, which argues that all human actions are done because people think, in the long run, that action will cause them to feel the best. Although Rand bends the definitions of words such as selfish, I entirely understand her argument.
Laws are not sacred. So many people seem to assume that simply because something is illegal, it is immoral, even controversial laws that differ in other countries. How many people swear blind allegiance to their countries? But Rand's characters are criminals who not only disagree with bad laws, but break them. I have always been fascinated by crime, and I am quite critical of the government.
Feminism. Rand is a feminist. The hero of Atlas Shrugged is a woman. Even better, not only is Rand a feminist, but she does not go to the opposite extreme of insisting her women always act like men. Rather, Dagny is beautiful, sexy, and embraces the more feminine sex roles of willing slave, housewife etc. She is free to act as she wishes, not confined by any sex role. I have always been a feminist and desired to promote women's rights.
Edited by John Doe, 13 July 2003 - 05:05 AM.
