I have
been interested in reading Rand for a while now, primarily because she is so
frequently mentioned as a source of inspirational ideology… most commonly by
modern libertarians and other people whose views I mostly oppose. So I wanted
to read her work myself in order to understand her philosophy and then
completely pick it apart. I was expecting to be angry at several points during
the read, which I was. I was certainly not expecting to be impressed or
inspired in any way, which surprisingly, I also was. I expected to come
away from reading this book feeling justified in my mostly ignorant dislike of
Rand, but the more predominant feeling was a severe dislike of those who I
believe have grossly misinterpreted her ideas. Despite this, for all the
effort Rand went to legitimize her philosophy as a solution for personal and
social governance, I have nonetheless concluded, like many others before, that even
though some of it is slightly interesting, her philosophy is riddled with shortcomings
and oversimplifications of reality leaving it completely devoid of application
to modern policy and governance. Here is a summary of my findings and reactions
from the read:
Brief Plot Summary in My Own Condescending
Words
Due to a rise
of government corruption and communist ideas about redistribution of resources
and labor, a group of principled stunning over-achievers, led by John Galt, who
consider themselves to be the “motor” of the world decide to abandon their roles
as society’s innovators and job creators, to avoid having their abilities
exploited and the fruits of their labor redistributed to the lazy and
thoughtless, bringing society to a grinding halt.
