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StellaByStarlite -> RE: Ayn Rand (7/12/2007 4:51:06 AM)
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ORIGINAL: SugarMyChurro
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ORIGINAL: Level
Fan or foe of her work?
Neither.
I enjoy her work on a kind of comic book level. Her characters are flat and her stories extremely didactic. Social justice is depicted in a kind of neo-classical way using the same kinds of symbols (e.g. Atlas, the Greek Titan).
Her work is a reaction against a totalitarian state; her solution is to run off into the la-la land of capitalist ideology. In her time and in her situation I can understand getting from point A to point B - fair enough. But you'll have to excuse me if I don't find her reactionary politics the solution to anything or to be the source of any significantly deep wisdom for the ages.
Ultimately, Rand doesn't know how to get along in a community. Her work is all about the triumph of the individual and yet the individual owes much to society and is standing on the shoulder of giants. In my view, social justice starts with the acknowledgment that we are all part of a community and that no one stands alone. You take, and you give back - that's a perfectly ethical exchange.
I read " Atlas Shrugged" at around 19 or so, so it's been awhile. Of course, at that time of my life, I was impressed, lol.
She sure turned out to be quite the egocentric loon, though. Her followers not being much better. I think it's pretty ironic that a philosophy that stressed individuality so much would evolve into such an incestuous clique. =)
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