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[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

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[–] buggermeharder ago 

I have not read her fiction, but have read some of her commentaries, talks, and interviews. I did watch the movie of The Fountainhead, which was pretty impressive. Rand's idea of building romantic tension was unlike anything I've seen in standard Hollywood trash. Very cool!

I've been aware of her for a long time, but was put off due to her insistence on "selfishness" and strong condemnnations of "altruism". What I've come to understand is that Rand has a narrow definition of "selfishness", which I think would better be called "rational self interest" as others put it, not including destructive self indulgence. As for "altruism", there's no way around it: she hates altruism, a fundamental feature of Christianity, because it incentivizes self destructive behaviors (like "martyrs" and forced "charity"). Now that Socialism and other collectivist garbage is all the rage, I've been re-thinking my own mindless altruism and how it has led myself and others in my life to catastrophically stupid decisions.

As for the Objectivist movements, since I understand there are multiple, they all seem to agree that everyone would benefit from Rand's philosophy, but are not tolerant of each other, much less seemingly related movements such as Libertarianism. Just reading the Wikipedia article on O-ism leaves the impression of a strongly "dogmatic" adherence to singular interpretations of her "gospel". I don't mean to be insulting, but I'm not the first to get the vibe of a "cult-like" atmosphere among O-ist groups. The split between Rand and Branden is one obvious example, but I can also point to Charles Tew as a current "exclusionist".

All in all, it doesn't give me much hope for feeling welcomed by any of the O-ist groups. Maybe I'm better off picking the ideas I like. For example, I don't see much use in applying Rand's ideas about asthetics to whether or not I appreciate any particular work of art.

Thanks for the reply.

[–] [deleted] ago 

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