"Ayn Rand" or "What Is Communism?"

[Seil]

This started out as a means to ask about the books of Ayn Rand, but forked from there, it's in the wrong subforum. Request a move, please?

So I've been trying to read a bit more. Get an idea(.) of human nature and stuff like that what with psychology and philosophy books. Since my brain is not wrinkley enough, I want to broaden my horizons and read something new. I've been hearing a lot about this Ayn Rand chick, is she any good?

Apart from the naivety of that question, all I've got to go on is the idea (idea, here - based on here-say) that she was a bit like Andrew Ryan, what from Bioshock. I've also been playing a lot of Bioshock II recently - y'know, thje one with the crazy chick who turned the insane residents of the 1960's underwater ruin and made them into a "family," ready to work for the "people?" For the "greater good?" And because that's how ideas go in my mind, I'm left with all of that rolling around together, wanting to know more about all of it.

I do understand that it's a pretty broad topic, that there's a lot of history there - the Soviet Union, China, Cuba... The propoganda slurs that North America perpetuated against the (un?)governmental system, the stark portrayals of every day life in a communist "dictatorship..."

I do think that Rapture (Bioshock games again, here.) is a brilliant representation on a secluded city with fluctuating government (that you couldn't get with something like Fallout's Vault life), and I wanna talk a little about that looking at it from a social experiment view. I wanna learn more about the philosophies of Ayn Rand, and disagree with them because I hear that I won't like her. I wanna hear a bit about communism and why it was so reviled, and how it continues to work for both the people and the government.

Can anyone help me out?

[Fifthfiend]

Ayn Rand is the proponent of the philosophy Objectivism, the major tenets of which are that Ayn Rand* should be as much of a selfish asshole as she wants and everybody else should love and admire her for it.


*Also any guy Ayn Rand particularly wants to fuck.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Ayn Rand in a nutshell: I'm out to get my own and fuck all of you that can't cause I'm not gonna help.

Edit: Goddamnit, Fifth.

[Fifthfiend]

You'll have to be faster than that if you want to beat my Rand-hate draw, Kid.

[Azisien]

Smarty gives pretty awesome communist rants sometimes, or he used to. Then he gave up the drink. Shit sucks now.

[Seil]

So if she's Andrew Ryan, who's Fontaine/ Atlas?

[Aerozord]

He's the guy that proves the giant glaring flaw in objectivism. Its not inherently without merit. The idea of being self made, everyone pulling their weight and only their weight. But with no checks or balances all it takes is one dick with a competitive edge to screw over everyone.

[Magus]

There are glaring flaws with multiple characters. Take John Galt for instance, who continually talks about "the sweat of [his] brow" and how he was successful with help from nobody and so he shouldn't be stifled by the demands of society. I'm going to assume that means he was a homeless orphan who lived in an anarchic run-down slum with no law enforcement, housing codes, or public transportation, who was undoubtedly illiterate since he never went to any kind of school...

That being said, a lot of people seem to co-opt Atlas Shrugged with minor alterations to suit themselves. The villain is a giant corporate conglomerate fat cat who pays off politicians to help destroy his competitors and who also receives government subsidies. Sounds like a lot of conservatives who probably list Atlas Shrugged as like, their number one book, or at the least number two (if they are religious).

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Magus

I'm going to assume that means he was a homeless orphan who lived in an anarchic run-down slum with no law enforcement, housing codes, or public transportation, who was undoubtedly illiterate since he never went to any kind of school...

Strangely we never see John Galt as a child at all, nor any other character as a child, nor any children, nor anybody who is old or otherwise infirm, in any of Ayn Rand's books.

Originally Posted by Magus

That being said, a lot of people seem to co-opt Atlas Shrugged with minor alterations to suit themselves. The villain is a giant corporate conglomerate fat cat who pays off politicians to help destroy his competitors and who also receives government subsidies. Sounds like a lot of conservatives who probably list Atlas Shrugged as like, their number one book, or at the least number two (if they are religious).

This is also perfectly in keeping with the tenets of Objectivism.

[BitVyper]

Strangely we never see John Galt as a child at all, nor any other character as a child, nor any children, nor anybody who is old or otherwise infirm, in any of Ayn Rand's books.

Objectivism has a level 3 power that causes your children to be born fully formed, with ageless bodies. Didn't you pay attention in Social Studies?