Being able to think for yourself and question authority would have kept all of us out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Zen's Rant on Ayn Rand - intelligent responses appreciated
by Dogpatch 70 Replies latest forum announcements
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Room 215
One man's opinion: I reserved judgment on her as a human being; but IMHO, her "masterpiece" Atlas Shrugged is one of the most overwrought, overwritten and overrated novels ever. It seldom -- if ever -- rises above the level of a Saturday-Matinee-at the-movies serial.
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Terry
According to a survey done for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Atlas Shrugged was situated between The Bible and M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled as the book that made the most difference in the lives of 5,000 Book-of-the-Month club members surveyed, with "A large gap existing between the #1 book and the rest of the list". [ 49 ] Modern Library's 1998 nonscientific online poll of the 100 best novels of the 20th century [ 50 ] [ 51 ] found Atlas rated #1 although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library board of authors and scholars. [ 52 ]
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SixofNine
Being able to think for yourself and question authority would have kept all of us out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
This is true, but irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
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DaCheech
Irrelevant to the only person here who seems to know anything real about Ayn Rand?
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Terry
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botchtowersociety
Zen basically says Rand is a worthless writer and gives reasons why she is not "deserving" (I am not sure what he means by that, or if he even understands Rand's philosophy). Not to defend her writing style, or the length of her book, but this is a very subjective opinion.
Objectively, her books have sold many millions of copies, with over 700,000 in 2009 alone. It is one of the best selling books, even today.
Not bad for a 54 year old book.
http://www.englishcompanion.com/Readings/booklists/loclist.html
Respondents to the Survey of Lifetime Reading Habits, conducted [fall 1991] for the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress' Center for the Book, cited the following when asked to name a book that had made a difference in their lives:
- The Bible**
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
- The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
- The Book of Mormon
- (Five titles were tied for the next place):
- The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan
- A Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl
- Passages, by Gail Sheehy
- When Bad Things Happen to Good People, by Harold S. Kushner
** A large gap exists between the #1 book and the rest of the list.
25 BOOKS THAT HAVE SHAPED READERS' LIVES
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- The Bible
- The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
- Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
- The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
- Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
- Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
- Hiroshima, by John Hersey
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
- Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
- The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery
- Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Roots, by Alex Haley
- The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
- War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
- What Color is Your Parachute?, by Richard Nelson Bolles
- The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
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DaCheech
Had no Idea who she was, until Buzzy and friends started a stupid thread the other day.
thanks buzzy
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Terry
When people start "warning" you about how bad somebody or something is and putting out a big shotgun blast of negatives the red flags should come flying out!
Bad ideas are not something to warn against and condemn. You fight Bad Ideas with Good ideas. Intelligent people really can tell the difference.
However...
When criticism doesn't even DEAL with ideas at all....that really says something important...........about the critic!
The critic who has no ideas must resort to attacks on THE PERSON (Ad Hominem) rather than deal with the merits of a real argument.
An example we are all familiar with is how the Governing Body shuts down criticism from former members. The merits of the accusations are completely swept aside by changing the subject to Ad Hominem name-calling (Apostates) (mentally diseased) and fearful warnings to avoid them at all costs.
This is intellectual surrender! You mean if you have THE TRUTH it cannot defeat lies?
Anyway....
I think the best thing Ayn Rand's philosophy has going for it is that it makes individual persons IMPORTANT as individuals rather than ONLY important when propping up a GROUP's values.
I've been a small cog in a large group. How did that work out for me? Badly! When I needed help they labelled me and kicked me out without spending a moment's time loving me. This after 20 years of service!
I no longer accept that we only have value when we are "giving it all" for the GROUP!
By golly, I'M IMPORTANT enough that when I do things to better my life I'm spending my time wisely. Then, and only then, do I really have something to GIVE to others----and on MY terms; not theirs.
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Glander
Great thread, Dogpatch. Terry, your opening statement sums up the typical Rand hater and their completely non-intellectual response to her writings. (Several posters above completely proved your point.)
