"Ayn Rand, Hugely Popular Author and Inspiration to Right-Wing Leaders, Was a Big Admirer of Serial

www.alternet.org... ntire

Her works are treated as gospel by right-wing powerhouses like Alan Greenspan and Clarence Thomas, but Ayn Rand found early inspiration in 1920's murderer William Hickman.

www.alternet.org... ntire

One reason most countries don't find the time to embrace Ayn Rand's thinking is that she is a textbook sociopath. In her notebooks Ayn Rand worshiped a notorious serial murderer-dismemberer, and used this killer as an early model for the type of "ideal man" she promoted in her more famous books. These ideas were later picked up on and put into play by major right-wing figures of the past half decade, including the key architects of America's most recent economic catastrophe -- former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan and SEC Commissioner Chris Cox -- along with other notable right-wing Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

The article is grisly in describing this unfortunate victim of Ayn Rand’s hero.
It goes to show us the mentality of this right wing hero, whose twisted morality, or immorality, is a inspiration to many Republican Conservatives.

I can cherry pick all of the authors as well. All day long.

Marx: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
So with that kind of thinking, the illiterate need not apply. Doesn’t matter if your dyslexic or receive a *snip* poor education. You don’t qualify…sorry.

Jesus: Turn the other cheek.
With that kind of thinking, we would now have a One World Government by now. People think for themselves…get over yourself. Think about your agenda before spouting. And how it may actually affect you.

I run in conservative and "right wing" circles and I don't know one who admire Rand. Some have read her books but I'm not aware of any who admire her.

What a crock of a thread.

reply to post by TDawgRex




And if I did have an agenda so what?
What's wrong with believeing in somthing?
Whats wrong with challenging somthing that's harmful to human beings, as I see it.

reply to post by Abney


Likely the conservatives you know are like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman who don't know Ayn Rand from Donald Duck, so your friends don’t count.

According to the law of the land, everyone is guaranteed the right to be an idiot. It's the 2nd amendment.




House

reply to post by starless and bible black


The law of common sense and morality is that if you vote for a philosophy that loves a serial killer groupie, then you are worst than an idiot, you are dangerous to the health of the nation.

reply to post by inforeal


Q: And if I did have an agenda so what?

A: Your Agenda may be at odds at what I see as harmful. (Maybe, maybe not. Actions count)

Q: What's wrong with believing in something?

A: Nothing at all. Everyone should believe in in something, but I believe that people should believe in something that is greater than themselves. Something that will last long after they’re gone.

Q: What’s wrong with challenging something that's harmful to human beings, as I see it?

A: Challenging one’s self is always a worthy task. But in order to it properly, you must distance yourself from all points of view and look at the problem afresh, from all angles. Then you are faced with a decision. One only you can make.

End of lesson Grasshopper.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Your “lesson” is filled with so many assumptions.
You can’t judge out of a vacuum or from ignorance unless you have a higher perspective.

You infer that reaching objectivity is desirable, fine, though much of what you wrote was superfluous.

And a lesson to you is that some things are basic and others are esoteric. … When one doesnt know the basic and mix it with the esoteric one is confused

And I wonder why you neglect the issue at hand . . . your apparent admiration for a sociopath

Originally posted by Abney
I run in conservative and "right wing" circles and I don't know one who admire Rand. Some have read her books but I'm not aware of any who admire her.

What a crock of a thread.

This thread really shines a light down that
awfully dark well of Ayn Rand.
I always thought her philosophy was more like
a disease.
And yes those people are
going to jump into that well, they always do.

In spite of the terribly fun back and forth spats in this thread, I found the article interesting and alarming.

What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"

This echoes almost word for word Rand's later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others." (The Fountainhead is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' favorite book -- he even requires his clerks to read it.)

www.alternet.org...

I only know a few "right-wingers" who admire Rand, but it certainly does bother me that they would fawn over someone like her. Even without her infatuation with a killer, I am disturbed by her description of her lead character.

He was born without the ability to consider others.

Rand considered, and her fans consider, this to be an admirable trait?

Originally posted by TDawgRex
I can cherry pick all of the authors as well. All day long.

Marx: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
So with that kind of thinking, the illiterate need not apply. Doesn’t matter if your dyslexic or receive a *snip* poor education. You don’t qualify…sorry.

Maybe you had a brain fart moment, but that doesn't make sense?

In this theory of Marx's, the illiterate would get all that he needs, and work not invovling reading (manual labor) would be his job. He wouldn't qualify forwhat? (not that I'm Marxist or anything, just the statement confused me)


I do not like Ayn Rand. I get angry when I read her work, and often find it amazing that someone with a decent brain could not see the holes in her own theory. It just all seems to be motivated by blind resentment over the events in her home country and her family.....which right there throws out the whole objectivity thing.

reply to post by inforeal


Here is maybe a little more honest account of Ayn Rand's thoughts on William Hickman:

objectivish.blogspot.com...

Edit:

This is worth reading too:

fvdb.wordpress.com...

US Congressman Rand Paul stating his admiration
of Ayn Rand.

and of course Ron Paul's comments
on how much influence Ayn Rand made
in his life.

These two characters father and son....well the father has decent ideas about foreign policy but he is just another crackpot libertarian hypocrite otherwise, and the son is a true sadistic conservative republican who has a fetish for the rich and hatred for the poor.

I figured they would be fans of a serial killer groupie, it fits their characters

What does who Rand was inspired by have to do with the validity of her philosophies? Should we call all liberals disgusting, amoral communists?

Originally posted by Abney
I run in conservative and "right wing" circles and I don't know one who admire Rand. Some have read her books but I'm not aware of any who admire her.

What a crock of a thread.

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,"

- Paul Ryan.

What a crock of a post.

reply to post by 547000


You could call anybody anything you like, but the reality is that Liberals fight for poor people and conservatives fight for rich people

I AM A POOR PERSON OR AT BEST LOWER MIDDLE CLASS SO I SUPPORT LIBERALS IN PHILOSOPHY AND CONSIDER LIBERTERIAN AND CONSERVATIVE PHILOSOPHIES ANTI-HUMAN BASED ON HOW THEY ACT.

Do you believe humans are born with equal abilities? Libertarians fight for the freedom of all, rich or poor.