5 Stupid things about Ayn Rand

[genkaus]

I did, I posted the fucking thing.

Again, point them out. Don't just sit there on your high horse. You're not going to get away with claiming there's ad-homs and misrepresentations in there without demonstrating it. Shouldn't be too much of a fucking ask considering you clearly think it so obvious.

Let's start with no.1.

1. She was a poor writer - and the evidence of this was.... a line about her dull prose and dummy characters and an "appeal to authority" line which doesn't even reflect on her writing skills. In fact, if her books are capable of invoking life-long obsession then she must be a darn good writer.

2. The comments about "voluntary participation in society" are pretty much meaningless. According to the poster, Rand said that the individual's participation should be voluntary which is not the case in real world. Well, duh. That's why Rand said "should be" and not "is". Adding "Rand's sacrosanct concept of property rights are meaningless without a society" is not really a criticism. Especially since Rand herself defined rights as "moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context".

3. According to the video, being an ideal randian individualist means never getting any help from anyone. That's a mis-characterization. The correct idea would be "never accepting any help that you did not repay in full".

4. She demonized poor and glorified the wealthy - not so much. Another mis-characterization. The characters in both good and bad camps were in equal part wealthy and poor. The characters she wrote as the ideal Randian individuals - Roark and Galt - would not be considered wealthy by any standard.

5. Apparently, she inspired "generations of selfish assholes". And as examples we have... zilch. This would be an ad-hominem. If you like Ayn Rand, you are a selfish asshole. Doesn't mean anything she said is wrong.

It doesn't need to have the same effect at all to be comparable. I'm saying there is a similarity in the reasoning behind criticising both topics. Obviously that flew over your head.

I said:
"to show that if something is stupid it should be treated as such."

Where did I mention anything about the effect it has. You're missing the point of my comment if you think it had anything to do with the amount of effect either one has on society.

Read your own damn posts before you reply. You said "when people start threads criticizing bible scripture they don't just do it 'ostensibly for the reason of criticizing it'. They do it for a more underlying reason, mainly to show that if something is stupid it should be treated as such. The same can be applied to this thread"

You did not mention anything about the effect and you are the one missing that point. People don't engage in lengthy diatribes or post long videos only to "show something is stupid" if it has no effect on their lives. You don't see a section here about Greek Mythology, do you? The significant volume of Ayn Rand critics, far out in proportion to her following, points to a hatedom.

Since when does: Having the right to talk about something.

Equate with: Having an interest in talking about something.

I started the topic on Ayn Rand. Why am I then interested in those things you listed.

I am just laying out your rationale for you. If you don't attach any particular significance to Ayn Rand's works and have simply started this thread because you happen to think it is stupid - then there are mountains of other works equally or more stupid which deserve your equal attention and there is no reason for you to focus simply on Rand. Is there any particular reason you are more interested in Rand and not, say, Marx?

I'm sorry, but do you even read what I'm saying?

I've just said your personal anecdotes don't mean shit. But you carried on talking about your personal experience. So what.

"bring up ideas simply for the purpose of criticism"

Would you like some straw with that man?

Oh, I'm sorry, can you name anyone who does commit to her ideas completely? Or is it a diversion from the fact that you have no good reason to pick Rand out of a multitude of others that you'd also find stupid.

Please stop straw manning, it's getting a tad tedious.

Stop hating, it's getting a tad annoying.