Stranahan Shrugged

Posted on 03/13/2009 at 6:30 pm by Bob Cesca

by Lee Stranahan

About a week ago, Bob suggested I go after the GOP’s ideas. My Huffington Post takedown of Ayn Rand is a part of that.

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  • JIm

    I believe we all had a brief fling with Rand when we were younger. I did. By my early twenties, that affair had ended. Deeper reading and the exercise of critical thinking took care of that. Plus, that awful newsletter of hers was less than useful on any of the important matters of the day. Just rhetoric and posturing nonsense.It’s not even a philosophy. There is no system, not really; just a lot of palaver, most of which is lifted from other sources, about capitalism and selfishness. As far as epistemology goes, she is embarrassingly weak. Rand in the same company as Descartes and Kant, to say nothing of Plato? Are you kidding me? There is no way I would ever recommend her to a youngster today. Kids, if you’re visiting this blog, you’re probably left-leaning in your views, right? Do yourselves a favor, read Herbert Marcuse instead: One Dimensional Man, is an excellent introduction. Leave Rand to the trashbin- the one marked “Fanatics Only”.

  • idreamofskiba

    I did, Jim.I LOVED Anthem. I would still say I like it, but I think I took it the wrong way when I read it. I think it meant something different to me than what it was supposed to.

  • http://www.thenewwearsoff.com/ Kyle

    Oy, and here I’ve been, taking philosophical cues from Portnoy’s Complaint.

  • ElMystico

    Lee, when you say “Its defense of selfishness and unrestricted capitalism provided an heir of intellectualism” I think you mean to say ‘air’ as in it lends it an atmosphere of intellectualism, whereas an heir of intellectualism would be like— (**interference: Ayn Rand abortion joke deleted**)—- Well, anyway, it would be providing intellectual babies, not intellectual support is what I’m getting at.Grammar quibbles, anyone?

  • dy

    There’s this as well: “There were darker personal tragedies, too; fans of Ayn Rand in 1960s who had the misfortune to be in her circle and gay, something that Ms. Rand did approve of. There were whispered rumors of an Objectivist therapist who broke with Rand after one of his gay patients committed suicide after being unable to reconcile his sexuality with the Objectivist philosophy.” (emphasis mine)I had to read that a couple of times and then go double-check via googling to see if Ayn Rand was or wasn’t homophobic.Well, the writing is at least a tad better than Jamie Lee Curtis’s spoutings over there.

  • http://www.leestranahan.com Lee Stranahan

    Thanks for the notes – always appreciated and fixed the errors.

  • joshd

    You, my internet friend, deserve a slow-clap for that. Bravo and well done. I wish it went on longer.

  • Lee Stranahan

    Thanks – this was the first round. It’s a chess game. It’ll take a couple of days for it to make it’s way to the Objectivist boards and then the fun starts.

  • ronzo

    Enjoyed the post, Lee. It left me wanting more. – The first rule of “going Galt”? … yep.

  • Jim

    I’ll check the Objectivist boards next week, Lee, I’ll have some epistemological fun exposing Rand for the wingnut she was.