Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for February 14, 2013

i shruuged right after atlas…meh.

The real hero of Reagan Conservatism was William F Buckley Jr. Bill, and anyone who ever studied critical thinking, thought Rand a simple minded opportunist whose ideas would not be accepted because her logical flaws are readily transparent, and objectivism would be embraced primarily by those she disdained. If you read Atlas Shrugged or Fountainhead and felt you were one of the elite because you were one of the few able to trudge through a thousand pages to get the core idea that was then restated in 50 or 70 pages, you were not one she would have approved. She was an iinteresting creature of her time, but really a blowhard who had to spoon feed her audience lofty ideals while making them feel special.

Bill Gates is a philanthropist who champions education. I’d say no.

Ayn Rand is what happens when you let highbrow critics rate books rather than the readers. Atlas shrugged and so did I. Don’t visit thr Fountainhead Cafe. Coffee sucks

I have been an admirer of Ayn Rand and a supporter of her philosophy for almost 50 years. My knowledge of Objectivism is extensive. It is from that position that I can say that Ayn Rand stands to philosophy as Darwin to biology or Einstein to physics. She completes what Aristotle started and she supplies the philosophy the Founding Fathers vaguely sensed but could not define and defend.

First, I must give my standard warning: Never believe anything anyone tells you about Ayn Rand (yes, including me) until you have enough understanding of her thought to be able to judge not just her but also those who claim knowledge of her (yes, including me).

There is no convincing people who reject reason, so I won’t address anyone who claims to have read Ayn Rand and to have rejected her thought. I will only say to anyone with an honest curiosity that the only way to judge Ayn Rand and Objectivism is to first read her major works in both fiction AND non-fiction. Objectivism is much more that a few speeches from novels or a host of misrepresentations in academia and the media. As a complete philosophical system at odds with millenia of irrationalism, Objectivism can’t be understood from a little undergraduate dabbling. It takes work that a lot of people are simply not up to.

Finally, I ask: How does one take a philosophy that advocates that you live your life for your values, your success, your happiness - and twist that into the idea that one should be emotionless if not heartless? This reason/emotion dichotomy is a stereotype going back millenia and it does not apply to Ayn Rand or anyone who understands her. Your goal in life should be a happy life, not preparation for death.

Greed is good???

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged . One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” — John Rogers

@pshearer: THANK YOU for being another of us who think! I’m saddened by the ignorant knee-jerk smearing of reason shown in the comments. Atlas Shrugged has sold more copies than any book other than the Bible. . . . .and it is my bible. For one who thinks, reasons, and can integrate abstractions, there is no rejecting Rand since she is right.

You made my morning. :-)

Charles Smith and LancelotsLover1: Thank you for the kind words.Omnius: Thank you for that demonstration of your intellectual level.

You just had to do it…. your implication is that if you believe in personal responsibility, smaller leave-me-alone government you are a merciless, unfeeling robot? No wonder we now have our very own dictator in the white house. disgusting.

This is understandable, given the current political climate, but too glib, and unfair to Ayn Rand. I wonder how many of her critics have ever actually read her work.

How easy for a white male in this institutionalized racist country to say you should live your life for your happiness, your values and your success while working fervently to prevent that opportunity for non-whites and women.

I do not enjoy reading the comics to be preached to or lectured to by anyone in entertainment. Entertainers…and that includes comic writers, should always protect their brand since you are bound to insult half of your readers.

I am deleting this comic for this reason.

Reading the comments to today’s strip reveals how uninformed and just ignorant many people are….

I didn’t much care for Fountainhead, but Atlas Shrugged, just like Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard were good reads, despite their authors’ philosophies.

And to this I say, Who is John Gault?

@davidh48 … I agree about Battlefield Earth by the Hub … I’ve read it about 10 times – love long sci-fi stories … of course how a sci-fi writer got a religion going is beyond my comprehension. gotta consider the source always … (ooh, that’s gonna rile up some conversations, I bet … )