Do the anti-soviet individualist polemics of Ayn Rand coexist with anthropological analysis of the often egalitarian early human societies?
Do you think the work of the greedy pygmy reflects a parasite or a rugged individualist?
Read more: Ayn Rand v Pygmies: Does Evolution favor Individualism or Altruism?
‘Atlas Shrugged is so revered in right-wing circles that, as one ex think tanker admitted, people who hadn’t read it were described as “virgins.” (Without the readership of virgins it would have languished in obscurity.) Rand’s acolytes are always threatening to “go Galt” and deprive us of their beautiful minds, but they never really get around to it. Like the old Dan Hicks song says, “How can we miss you if you won’t go away?” Most parasites of the subsidized classroom know that, in Greek mythology, Atlas holds up the world. One Rand character asks another, “What would you tell him?” “To shrug.”
Warning to would-be Galts: Shrugging while holding a heavy globe on your neck and shoulders is orthopedically unsound and could lead to severe cervical spine injury. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of physics knows that the easiest way to unload a heavy planet is by simply standing up straight. When was the last time you stood up straight? You, like John Galt, have been benefiting from government services all your life. The upstanding thing to do is to acknowledge that fact, and then man up and pay your fair share. (I assume you’re a man by your prose style, your chosen pen name – and by the fact that most of Rand’s followers are.) Instead, you guys are always threatening to “go Galt.” Which raises the question: Who’s stopping you?’
Read more: Objection to Abject Objectivism, or, John Galt is a Crybaby and So Are You
Mystic Politics 