# Ayn Rand fans?



## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)

I am curious as to what personality types are more into the novels, and philosophies of Ayn Rand; and why. What do/did you enjoy about it/gain from it?


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## Pac-Man (Nov 21, 2009)

I liked the idea of organizing intellectuals into a superior society and promoting rationality to the highest of degrees.


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## TurranMC (Sep 15, 2009)

After playing Bioshock, a game that attempts to personify a world made by the ideals of Ayn Rand, I got very interested in her and her philosophies. She is very interesting to me. What is it that you like about her?


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

I am completely opposed to her ideas about selfishness being a virtue, and have trouble understanding how any supposedly rational person could respect her. That's just my opinion, though.


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## fractaloverlap (Mar 30, 2009)

I enjoyed them.

Individuality is good. The actions of self-interest are inherently more efficient than those of altruism.


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## TurranMC (Sep 15, 2009)

snail said:


> I am completely opposed to her ideas about selfishness being a virtue, and have trouble understanding how any supposedly rational person could respect her. That's just my opinion, though.


In my experience all her arguments are incredibly logical. They are so logical that most people who disagree with her and her philosophies simply attack the character of her or her followers and not the philosophies themselves. In my experience anyway.


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## Harley (Jul 5, 2009)

The only book I read from her that I liked was We The Living (the other was Fountainhead, which I thought was _wayyy_ too long) which I absolutely LOVED. I don't really get her whole philosophy, but I do agree with her on some points about individuality and selfishness.


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## tinker683 (Nov 29, 2009)

I've read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I liked the Fountainhead, _loved_ Atlas Shrugged.

Overall, I really like a lot of her stuff, though I personally got the feeling that she may have been misrepresenting altruists a bit and some of the situations in the books I'm not sure would actually play out in real life as they did in the books.

But again, overall, I really liked the books. I admired Hank Reardon's character the most


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## Geodude (Nov 22, 2009)

She is a very good writer, with a well mapped out and put together philosophical system and worldview that I entirely disagree with. I guess that would mean I respect her work, but disagree with it. I don't really know enough to get into an argument about it (I don't recall her arguments well enough, as it is about 9 years since I studied her, and because I didn't think much of it, I didn't make an effort to remember it). I think because of my general dislike of her philosophical system, I didn't feel all that inclined to her fiction, so haven't read it.


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## Nexus6 (May 21, 2010)

Promethea said:


> I am curious as to what personality types are more into the novels, and philosophies of Ayn Rand; and why. What do/did you enjoy about it/gain from it?


I have a lot to say about that question, but in light of recent interpretation of my comments, I think I'd be wise to say nothing.


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## benfoldsfive dude (Nov 24, 2009)

I've only read _Anthem_, and it was a great novel to read because it showed how the individual not being him/herself because of a limiting and oppressive government.


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## Dooraven (Dec 9, 2009)

I like the concept of Objectivism. The only problem is that she keeps on trying to put a free market ideology into an otherwise logical structure.


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## impulse211 (Jan 29, 2010)

I tried to read Atlas Shrugged 2 years ago.. but after 300 pages I got sidetracked by other things.. 

I think I'm going to pick it back up and read. I enjoyed it


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## soya (Jun 29, 2010)

Geodude said:


> She is a very good writer, with a well mapped out and put together philosophical system and worldview that I entirely disagree with. I guess that would mean I respect her work, but disagree with it.


oh, well... looks like the post i was going to make has already been made.

thanks, Geodude.

additions:

She tends to elaborate in _boring_ ways much of the time.

Also, her support of individuality can be inspiring, but is ultimately kind of narrow and pompous. 

It's not as if we are all either forced into Soviet complacency or freed and empowered by Capitalism!


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## xezene (Aug 7, 2010)

She is one of the few authors out there I really, truly don't care for. I completely disagree with her rather-Freudian philosophies she espouses -- which, to me, are very short-sighted and, in the end, illogical -- but the main reason I don't really like her is that her writing provokes no emotion in me. I had a hard time establishing a connection with any of the characters she writes about. And I can connect with nearly anybody.


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## heartturnedtoporcelain (Apr 9, 2010)

There is nothing appealing her books or her 'philosophy.' The books are poorly written - to the point of being unreadable. Also, the triumph of absolute egoism and disregard for others is disgusting - especially in Atlas Shrugged. Her anti-feminist stance also strikes me the wrong way.


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## SavMandu (Jun 12, 2010)

I read Anthem twice in college in one sitting each time. I also read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and saw the movie as well. I was into the Objectivist thing when I was younger, but the whole Ayn Rand cult and the selfishness part of it, plus the uncritical attitude towards capitalism turned me off eventually. Don't get me wrong, I am a capitalist, but I view it as Churchill viewed democracy, being the least evil system.


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## entperson (Sep 14, 2009)

I like all of her stuff, but I also take it with a grain of salt. She tends to present very black and white situations, especially in Atlas Shrugged. I think there are a lot more variables that she didn't consider when making her case against altruism. That being said, reading both Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead definitely changed the way I viewed things, especially people's motive and my own.


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## fn0rd (Mar 21, 2010)

Some of the best works I have read, despite some of its shortcomings.


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## Shahada (Apr 26, 2010)

entperson said:


> I like all of her stuff, but I also take it with a grain of salt. She tends to present very black and white situations, especially in Atlas Shrugged. I think there are a lot more variables that she didn't consider when making her case against altruism.


I think the "variables" thing is one of Rand's biggest (and funniest) flaws to me. Her stories are set up in such a way so that there's never any ambiguities whatsoever, the protagonists are flawless ubermensch and everyone else is a parasite. In Rand's worlds there's no such thing as a person who doesn't subscribe to Rand's philosophy who's a respectable person. In Atlas Shrugged it goes to even more absurd lengths, when all the overmen and overwomen abandon society while leaving in glorious harmony...because their leader has created a perpetual motion machine. If the best way you can defend your ideology is through having characters literally use magic, maybe you should just admit your stories are pulpy schlock entertainment rather than "philosophy." It'd be like arguing that dictatorship is the best form of government through a novel about a benevolent psychic dictator who always makes the right choice because he can see the future.


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## wafflecake (Aug 30, 2010)

Not a huge fan (I like decent prose), but Galt's speech was epic.


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## Packey (Jun 20, 2010)

I was in love with her work at one stage in my life, my copy of Atlus Shrugged has been literally read to pieces. But as I grew older I began to see all the faults with her theory and with the misguided beliefs she clung on to.


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## Rez (Nov 6, 2009)

*Read it, loved it*

Read Atlas Shrugged

I am looking forward to reading the fountainhead




leaders are made when they step out of line


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## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

I absolutely LOVE her. There are a few points I disagree with, but I think she pretty much hit the nail on the head.


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## Paeter (May 18, 2011)

I'm a fan. Her ideas have given me a lot more self-esteem and self-worth. I still have to read her books.


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## Arbite (Dec 26, 2010)

Loved Atlas shrugged, got The Fountainhead on hold at the library atm.


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## Valdyr (May 25, 2010)

I find her fiction overwritten/bloated, and her philosophy is a phoned-in take on ethical egoism combined with LAUGHABLE metaphysics and epistemology that isn't taken seriously by academic philosophers.

So no, I'm not a fan.

EDIT: This is not necessarily to say that I simply disagree with her political ideology, though in fact I do. There are defenses of libertarianism (classical liberalism) that _are_ taken seriously in the philosophy world, Robert Nozick's _Anarchy, State, and Utopia_ chief among them.


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## Donkey D Kong (Feb 14, 2011)

I *strongly* disagree with her economic policies, but that's just me. I found her after playing Bioshock, so that may have affected my opinion of her.


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## Palaver (Jan 5, 2010)

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> All Rand protagonists are NTJ's- 'nuff said.


Bitter ones, at that. I prefer introspective writing. Classifying people isn't understanding them. This is where NTJs fail. Though, I am a fan of them trying--though not at them being confident (absolutist) about their findings.


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## Feral sheep (May 13, 2011)

not a fan of her


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## android654 (Jan 19, 2010)

snail said:


> I am completely opposed to her ideas about selfishness being a virtue, and have trouble understanding how any supposedly rational person could respect her. That's just my opinion, though.



You can't fix the world with hugs and kisses. Its the main principle she got correct. I'm merely not a fan for her delivery system of those ideals.


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## Emerson (Mar 13, 2011)

Personally, I disagree with the majority of the messages of the books, but I found the Fountainhead a great read, a bit wooden and dull at times but her development of characters through about 5 lines of speach is incredable. 

Also, Howard Roark kicks ass.


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## snail (Oct 13, 2008)

android654 said:


> You can't fix the world with hugs and kisses. Its the main principle she got correct. I'm merely not a fan for her delivery system of those ideals.


I thought her delivery system was very powerful. The ideas themselves are what I despise with every fiber of my being.


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## PrinceinExile (Dec 29, 2010)

I think she had some valid points and in other area's I think she was wrong, as for her stories I think she was a pretty good writer, I liked The Anthem. I had to read it my senior year. It was one of a handful of books, I was forced to read in school. That I enjoyed and finished before the rest of my class. ((Well... I finished (almost) all books ahead of my class but that was because I sped read to get them over with not because I like them. This was one of the books I finished in like either a week/week and a half.))


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## Abx (Oct 5, 2011)

I just liked some of her quotes.


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## EmpireConquered (Feb 14, 2012)

Atlas Shrugged is her masterpiece, the epitome of her beliefs, the utopia she longed for. The story has some pent-up anger and frustration of the ignorant people in it, making it deeper and her beliefs stronger. Individuality however is the core of it. Its about being an individual and not restrained by others. A true book of NTs in their struggle of finding a place with only their species.


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