by Jennifer Burns
Her family, a jewish family of the Russian bourgeoisie, lost everything to the Bolshevik revolution.
Her exaltation of the "individual", ethical egoism, and disparage of "altruism" as a disguised will to power, was based on Nietzsche's analysis of "resentful" Christianity and ubermensch ("superman"), which she later saw as the foundation of capitalism. 24-25
In Rand's earliest works of fiction, she "found criminality an irresistible metaphor for individualism...28 [a sociopath who had transcended herd sentiments..she, herself was cold and aloof, without concern for social connections]
in 1934 she began an philosophical journal, and in it she wrote: "I want to be known as the greatest champion of reason and the greatest enemy of religion." 29
Her play, "We the living" is contemptuous for the masses, and exaults the individual. 32
"The first purpose of the book [Rand speaking] is a defense of egoism [as a moral system] in it's real meaning, egoism as a new faith,"... 41..a "transvaluation of values" redefines egoist as one who lives for himself...[the "fuck-you-rich"]. 42
Communism and Christianity were both destructive to selfhood "Christianity is the best kindergarten of communism possible" 43
She was skeptical of democracy because of it's demands on the individual, and many of the early writters who influenced her were also disciples of Nietzsche one way or another: HL Mencken, Spengler, Gasset, Nock [all elitists bordering on facism] 43
Burns gives us a breakdown of the characters of "The Fountainhead," and attributes the left as "fey, effeminate, and unnatural, as opposed to the rough-hewn masculinity of Roark's individualism." 45
Ayn Rand was childless [this explains a lot].
Rand was a "Roosevelt hater"...a cottage industry had developed...Menchen...the origin of the tern "libertarian" 48
[Research the "Liberty League" backed by the DuPont family, were facists and wealthy businessmen trying to wrest the conrol of government from the masses. 49
Roosevelt and public utilities 53...assult on private industry...and Walter Willkie as a foe of Roosevelt...Willkies grass roots support ended up being a carefully orchestrated corporate campaign. 53...Rand was member of the "Willkie Club"54
According to Rand, Roosevelt's "collectivism" would lead to a "Totalitariana America, a world of slavery, of starvation, of concentration camps and firing squads." 59
Rand's "Manifesto of Individualism" p.61
the political sphere is the opposite of the creative sphere, and always a threat to it. 62
another dualism of Rand's: Active Man vs. Passive Man, was the basic dictomy that ruled world history. 62 Second generation millionaires were passive and intellectuals, who really were just second raters lusting for power.
Anti-state, pro individualist, pro-capitalist American tradition: Our Enemy, The State by Nock; British economist Herbert Spencer (the man vs. the state) and his disciple, William Sumner (Yale).
Howard Roark, Rand's hero in "Fountainhead,": "The integrity of a man's creative work is of greater importance than any charitable endeavor." 83
The "evil of altruism": a Rand "signature idea": In her first notes of the novel, Rand attacked Christian ethics...and eventually "altruism" in general (the doctrine that man live for others and place others above self".
Rand's characters were cold, distant, and destructive relationships; Roark's rape of Dominique was a sadomasochistic scene--where Dominique wanted more. .86
In the final editinng of Fountainhead, the explicit references to Nietzsche was eliminated, but the disgust for the herd or "second handers" is still demonstrated in Wynand ("the man who could have been") as he walks the streets of New York and his disgust and contempt for "those who produce nothing" (663/87)
Nock's "Memoirs of a Superfluous Man", is profuse with educated disdain for the common man. 87
Altruism was just a disguised will-to-power. 88
morality was stark choice between egoism and self-sacrifice. 89
VIEWS OF HAYAK (and classical libertarianism):
Ayn Rand considered Hayak "poison" because he acknowledged there could be an important role for government-sponsored health care, unemployment insurance, and minimum wage. 104
Rand: "The man is an ass, with no conception of a free society at all".
Although Rand intended "Father Amadeus" to "realize the evil of forgiveness" she eventually cut the priest from her novel for fear of endorsing religion. 140
...the result of an angry and alienating childhood.
In Atlas Shrugged, Rand developed her "objectivism", the idea of rational absolutes based on Aristotle and individualism, where even emotions could be deduced from thought and reason.
Objectivism became a religious cult: the outside world was a "dead culture," and Rand was their authoritarian priestess, and NBI (Nathan Brandon Institute) the church. 232 (The Cult of Atheistic Capitalism) [p. 233 is worth quoting at length; Rand didn't really understand the Socratic method; see Albert Ellis, "Is Objectivism a Religion").
"The playwright Sky Gilbert, once and enthusiastic Objectivist remembered, "As a young, self-hating, gay man, I welcomed Rand's Puritanism. I imagined I could argue myself out of homosexuality...always reminding myself that gay was 'irrational'" 236
JUST A BEAUTIFUL CASE OF HOW RATIONALISM AND SOCRATIC DISCOURSE BECAME IT'S OPPOSITE, A RELIGION.
An outgrowth of Objectivism, Anarcho-capitalism 247 The state is a moral evil; for Rand it was a necessary evil, but for Anarcho-capitalists, it was an unnecessary evil. 250-251 Offshore tax havens are morally required because "taxation" is unjustified coercion.253
Leonard Peikoff, a follower of Rand's and philosopher at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, wrote "The Ominous Parallels, a comparison of Nazi Germany and contemporary America.
Rand saw the environmentalist movement as "anti-industrial revolution", 262. Rand failed to notice the that a part of the environmentalist movement was a celebration of the creativity of man--e.g., the Whole earth Catalogue, "We are gods and we might as well get good at it"-- and his ability to solve social problems. Stewart Brand, the founder of Whole Earth, was also a rand fan.
But Rand was also aghast at pro-life agenda's: "The embryo has to rights"..."
but also saw the feminist movement as a quest for special treatment, arguing that feminists exalted gender over the development of their individuality and rationality. 264
"She attacked Native Americans as savages, arguing that Europeans had a right to seize their land because native tribes did not recognize individual rights...the same with Palestinian rights. 266
Hayak and Friedman, both admirers of Rand, and polemicists of free market economics, won nobel prizes in 1974 and 1976.
Robert Nozick was awarded the National Book Award i in 1975 for a philosophcial defense of the limited state, in "Anarchy, State, and Utopia"
"Reason" magazine also made libertarianism into a respectable intellectual tradition.272
Rand smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, and in 1973 was diagnosed with lung cancer. 275
She did not support Reagan, because he was a conservative, sported a mixed economy opposed abortion. 275
The Koch Brothers are libertarians. 275
Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, was a devote of Rand, but developed a web site whose thrust is "trust in the wisdom of crowds," "warring sensibilities," "celebration of the social nature of knowledge, and faith taht many working together will produce something of enduring value contradict Rand's adage, "All creation is individual".
Craigs list founder, Craig Newmark, was also a following of Rand, but ultimately a web site that emphasized collaboration and mutuality.
"In both cases Newmark adn Wales built on Rands ideas but married them to a very different theory of human nature, one in which community and connection are paramount.285
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