Ayn Rand

[fpb]

There is one person in HP fandom who detested me instinctively, and whom I detested with equal intensity, almost as soon as we became aware of each other. Now I have found out why. She is an Ayn Rand fan. I am, to begin with, too old to put up with Rand's infantile attempts at philosophy - she is one of those people who managed to remain mentally fifteen all their lives - but I also have my roots in European Socialism and Christian Democracy, of all political views in the world the most offensive to an Objectivist (as her cultists arrogantly call themselves). Rand was a disaster and a hypocrite in real life, and her doctrines are only rescued from having to be called revolting by their sheer, self-parodying stupidity. One would think that anyone over the age of sixteen would be able to see through such obiter dicta as "altruism is the root of all evil" or her praise of the dollar sign; alas, America is still full of people without enough culture or self-understanding to see through this sort of thing. One of the things that make Europe still superior to America is that there is no way that a Rand phenomenon could ever take place among us. We do have our follies, but ultra-individualism is not one of them.

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

As I said... Watch for my next post. And I am afraid that the individuals you refer to are probably Rand followers, either directly or through some of her disciples. The saddest part of it is how her views have poisoned the work of at least two artists of great talent, Sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein and comics writer-artist Steve Ditko (who created Spider-Man). I sometimes think I can perceive her influence in what little I have read of Philip Pullman, although he would never admit it.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... well, I wouldn't know about Phillip Pullman, and... no, I'm not getting into this argument again. ;) I still like his books. And NOT because of their anti-religious message. And that's all I'm going to say.

Personally, I doubt if the people I'm talking about are Rand followers. There's enough stupidity in this world coming from a variety of sources, that they have plenty to choose from. One is a huge follower of "Black Metal" - a music style which most would hesistate to actually call music, and whose songs/bands/albums feature such beautiful names as "Kill the Christian" and "Nokturnal Goat Sodomy". I once reluctantly allowed myself to be dragged to this guy's concert, and was treated to an hour-and-a-half speactacle of drinking pig's blood, playing awful music and ripping up Bibles (how original). When I've seen something like that, I think you might forgive me for thinking that Phillip Pullman is really quite tame by comparison.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to add - it's possible this Ayn Rand person never penetrated to this corner of the Earth. Australia seems quite selective about with parts of American culture we pick up - some things penetrate completely, others not at all. The best example is language - I have an American beta-reader, and we are constantly finding how selective the language is. Some words, for which he expects we'd use the British version, have been completely Americanised, whereas others have stayed strictly British. Others, of course, are uniquely Australian, and still others are interchangeable.

Now I'm going to look up Ayn Rand, just out of curiousity.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting remark about the selectivity of Australian word-choices. You could write an essay on that. As for Rand, I view her as a pathological phenomenon, and one that is only really relevant to America, so I have little trouble in believing that her views never crossed the Pacific. She is, however, important in understanding the non-religious areas of the American Right, which I personally find more threatening than the religious ones.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Well, we came across one just today - "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Christmas". Am I right in thinking that in England, people mostly say "Happy Christmas"? My beta thought that'd be the norm for Australians as well, but it's not. We say "Merry Christmas". But there are heaps of things. We've had a few clashes over punctuation - punctuation! All these little rules that differ just slightly.

[chthonya]

(Hope neither of you mind me answering this... in my experience it's usually 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year'. 'Happy Christmas' isn't unheard of, but sounds a little unnatural to my ears.

Anyhow, I hope yours was Happy, Merry, and whatever else you might wish for!)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I thought so too, but, not being native-born English, that sudden question had just sent me into a tizzy. After all, I might have been getting it wrong all these years....
Glad to hear from you, C, and the same to you, along with many decades of rude health!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I fail to see the difference. One is rabble-rousing, one intellectualoid. Comes to the same thing - Christiani ad leones!. AT any rate this was not my point, except for the fact that Rand is as anti-Christian as Pullman and has a similarly idolatrous worship for her brand of human reason.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

We-ell... Okay, bear with me for a moment. Please? From my basic reading of the Rand websites, her main point seems to be that self-sacrifice is pointless, that altruism is a ridiculous notion enforced by religious doctrines. Right so far? Well, whatever else Pullman writes, that certainly doesn't seem to be his message. Asrael and Mrs Coulter sacrifice themselves for Lyra, Lyra and Will sacrifice themselves - or their chance to be together - for the world, for the countless others who will suffer if they leave a window open between the worlds. Just a basic example.

Look, I could be missing something. In fact, given how little I know about Rand, I probably am.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Don't be scared. You like the sod. I don't. You're not the only person I know who likes some writer or other I consider execrable or even dangerous. Doesn't mean that you have to go all trembly every time you defend him. (Especially since the Dan Brown phenomenon has made me reconsider Pullman's relative importance.) Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Well, you know what they say. The burnt hand teaches best, or something like that. :)

Now Dan Brown I can happily diss, though probably for different reasons to you. I find his plots predictable, his characters boring and his importance blown completely out of proportion. Having said that, I actually did enjoy "The Da Vinci Code". Something about it just kept me reading. But it's only good as a sort of mindless entertainment, like an action movie. Well, at least it made me look more carefully at some of the artworks he mentions. That's something, I guess.

Merry Christmas to you, too. Or is it "Happy Christmas"?