[UA] Ayn Rand(omfactor)

[Greg Stolze]

>Who is this "Ayn Rand" person. I had someone try and use it against me in a
>Death Penalty argument over in another gaming forum.

Ayn Rand wrote "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," neither of which
have I read.  She also wrote "The Virtue of Selfishness," which I did read.
She founded a philosophy called "Objectivism" (IIRC) whose central tenet is
"If you don't look out for yourself, it's pretty fucking stupid to expect
other people to look out for you."  I've heard the argument that a lot of
her ideas are backlash against Nazi and Communist collectivism, but
honestly?  I don't have a lot of patience for a philosophy which, when
taken to its logical conclusion, dismisses Gandhi, Mother Teresa and all
firemen everywhere as utter fools.

She makes some good points about the weaknesses of collective action.  "If
'the good' is defined as 'what is best for the group,' then ANY action the
majority pursues is 'good' simply because the group chose to do it."  But a
lot of Objectivists seem to spiral way out into the lunatic fringes of
Libertarianism, where the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace is
omnibenevolent and anyone who can't take care of himself deserves to get
weeded out for the crime of weakening the strain.

-G.

Who is probably grossly oversimplifying.



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