Word: rand
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...admit it. Last semester, you were tempted by the posters for the series of Ayn Rand lectures sponsored by the Objectivist Club...
...cheer and awe of the crowd. Some classic examples of his profound wisdom: "A is A," "Existence exists," "Freedom is the right for man to think" and--my favorite--"The good man lives, thinks, produces and respects others." He highlighted his otherwise vacuous talk with some select quotes from Rand's fiction and tossed in a few textbook points from Kant and Aquinas to make it all seem more legitimate, i.e. academic. Of course, the audience members, waving their well-thumbed copies of The Fountainhead, furiously shook their heads in hearty agreement...
What are these "novel" ideas that objectivists defend at all costs? Reason, egoism and laissez-faire capitalism. Objectivists seem to think these concepts are new finds. And what's more, that their demi-goddess, Ayn Rand, stumbled upon them first. Of course, the concept of laissez-faire capitalism has been around for more than a few decades--at least that's what professors in the economics department keep telling me. But, hell, what do they know? And reason and egoism? Well, let's see. Can you say "Plato, Nietzsche, Russell, Sartre...
...autonomous thinking and reasoning that Objectivists claim to rely on goes, why is it that all an Objectivist can do to make an argument is say "Ayn Rand said such and such?" Where is the free thought? No where, it seems. It's all about whatever Rand wrote in her sacrosanct texts. They claim to have eschewed gods (which is fine) but have really put another in their place--Rand. Where is the reason behind the unwavering support for whatever Rand wrote? Nowhere, for it does not exist...
...they wish (which many philosophers would agree with). However, they fail to recognize the importance of the fact that primates evolved in social groups--that groups are essential to the human species. Or maybe they do not care--after all, that would cast some doubt on their precious Rand's writings. So, the Objectivists continue their irrational philosophy, and try to spread it to others...