Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged as a Movie

[craig r]

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I was a philosophy major and I feel there is a reason she was barely discussed

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I'm an economics major and the name Mises is utter heresy on school grounds. In fact, on my economics department floor, citing any reaction to statism other than praise is heresy.

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I can understand that.

Yeah, there were a lot of philosophers that are proponents of capitalism that we didn't discuss. I think they just might not be considered "important" in the history of philosophy. But, there were some philosophy students who always asked why we spent so much time on Marx? They claimed we aren't a communist country so why should we read him. To study philosophy and not understand Marx, is like being a Christian and never reading the gospels. Marx, and Freud to some extent, is one of the most influential people of the late 19th and the entire 20th century. I am not a communist, nor do I agree with everything he said, but there haven't been any 20th century philosophers that haven't had to refute him at some point. My guess is that Ayn Rand is not very influential or important of an economic philosopher and should only be studied for what she is known for. I guess I can equate it to Bertrand Russell. Math and Logic are his strong points. But, when it comes to religion or politics, no serious student of philosophy is going to spend a lot of time studying him (even if they agree with his anarcho-syndicalist philosophy and atheism).

craig

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[maryfield48]

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Am I the only one on here that doesn't like Ayn Rand?
craig

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Not by any means.

[Roy Munson]

I have never read Atlas Shrugged but I did slog through The Fountainhead on a flight to and from Las Vegas. All the characters in this book were developed along very rigid guidelines. Each seemed incapable of veering from their strict belief systems regardless of consequences.

Humanity was lacking in almost every character whether they were they superhero Howard Roark or his polar opposite in Ellsworth Toohey. One of the few characters that possessed any semblance of humanity was Peter Keating who the author ultimately describes as a talentless, lackey worthy of nothing but contempt.

As an atheist who has strong laissez-faire leanings I ,too, was told that I would find the works of Ayn Rand to be no less than stunning. It is likely that I lack the intelligence to appreciate the author's brilliance but I found "The Fountainhead" very disappointing as far as a story goes.

I will give the author credit for her descriptive ability. She can definitely paint a vivid mental picture of a setting. On the flip side the dialogue is cumbersome. I found that I would have to read long passages of conversation many times just to make sure I knew which character was saying what.

[tolbiny]

Thanks, i now have a mental image of you. You fit right in with a subset of people who told me to watch Moulin Rouge. Those people clearly have no idea what i like in a movie. The subset that you fit into are the bunch of retards who found out i left the room after 10 mins, claiming that it will "get better". I didn't spend 10 mins on Atlas shrugged, i spent 2 hours. Rather than finish it i sat in an airport/plane for three hours doing nothing. As someone else said she seems entirely incapable of building characters and developing a story. If shes writing philosophy, then write philosphy. Shes not good enough to try to incorperate it into a story.

[craig r]

Hey, they have some copies of her books in print that are on the same type of paper as the bible. so, the book can't be totally useless if you need rolling papers. Other uses are:

1) When you get in an argument with somebody give them the books and tell them, "you are an idiot, I think you will like this".

2) Sometime you might run out of toilet paper. It isn't the greatest on your butt, but the book is the greatest either.

3) Something to lean on when you are writing

4) Anytime you are mad at the world and think it can't get any stupider, read a chapter. You will then realize it can be much worse.

5) Give it as a gift to someone you hate. Tell them I hate you and think you are stupid, so I think you will enjoy this book.

6) Christian Book Burnings: I am not a fan of burning books at all or any type of censorship, but hey, if the fire is already started, you might as well throw the book in there. Or, you can give it to one of the book burners since they are morons also. (refer to suggestion 5).

7) Drink and Drink until you forget the fact that you ever bought the book. Then when you sober up and see it around you can be pissed off that some ashole left that book in your house.

craig

p.s. Waste not want not.

[tolbiny]

"7) Drink and Drink until you forget the fact that you ever bought the book. Then when you sober up and see it around you can be pissed off that some ashole left that book in your house."

Lol- fortunatly i got reimbursed for that book from work, so it wasn't to bad. i was thinking of dripping bacon grease over it and feeing it to my dog.

[craig r]

Why would you do that to your dog? A better idea would be instead of dropping bombs on Iraq, we just drop her books and novels. That would be so scary for the Iraqis. All resistance would end. The problem would be is that we wouldhave to make sure those books didn't get into the wrong hands or we could be bombed. And I forgot my bomb drills. I think according to Rand and her Objectivism of Selfishness or whatever it is called, I wouldn't have to try to save anybody else.

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I have simply never understood the fascination that faux intellectuals have with Ayn Rand.

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-usually identifiable when they refer to her as "Anne" Rand.

[craig r]

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I have simply never understood the fascination that faux intellectuals have with Ayn Rand.

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-usually identifiable when they refer to her as "Anne" Rand.

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Anytime I hear someone pronounce it "Anne" Rand, I tell them that I never read any of those vampire novels. Most don't get it and it isn't funny anyways.