Fear and Loathing

[wlotus]

I am reading Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, and the book is stirring anger and fear in me. I am about 1/4 through the book, and there is an overwhelming theme of mediocrity being rewarded, while those who do not walk in lockstep are pushed down until they surrender. When the person who is shining brighter than the rest does not quietly accept pleas from friends to step back, people in authority step in to create rules to force them to submit. The rules are created in back rooms and under tables, and the jealousy and hatred that fueled their creation are whitewashed...in this case with empty words about social responsibility and the need to even the playing field so everyone can achieve. Furthermore, those who do not fall in line are told they are selfish and wrong to fight the power.

Not only does this remind me of current political events in this country, it reminds me of some of my experiences in corporate America. I know it is just a book, but it is pushing all sorts of buttons.

Comments

[jane-etrix.livejournal.com]

Francisco's point seems to be more along the lines of, "Why waste your energy dealing with this society? Go out and live your life, rather than spending your life trying to work inside of a system that makes no sense."

To my way of thinking, this is pretty much the same thing. The idea that the individual can simply divorce himself from society is, to me, nothing short of a very childish view of the world- and I do think Objectivism is childish. Again, Reardon (and Dagny, Francisco, etc.) did nothing alone; Reardon had a good idea, but he needed other people to help him realize it. Yet there is absolutely NO recognition of this reality in the book.

The industrialists were "free to live" before disappearing. They thought they couldn't live in a world that didn't appreciate their talents in the way they wanted to the world to appreciate them, and I'd have more sympathy for them had they not failed to appreciate all that others had done for them and/or the positions of privilege at which they started.

Again, to me, this is just the antithesis to the Communist ideals of a collectivist utopia, and in order to create the image of that utopia, the real world has to be presented in an unrealistic way.