Thursday, April 02, 2009

I just don't understand the fascination with "Atlas Shrugged " Part 1

As I have said before, I first read Atlas Shrugged back in Jr. High School after reading Anthem. It didn't make much of an impression on me then other than Reardon Metal and Project X (Anthem however did - I still get creeped out by the I/We, Mine/Ours plural pronoun thing. Until I was about 20 pages into the book I thought it was about some weird two headed alien. What do you want I was 12.) and I missed the whole "oh, I am a rebellious 18 year old college student thing" so I didn't read it again until recently. I wasn't that impressed. Apparently however, I am the only person who has read the book who hasn't been changed in some orgasm inducing earth shattering way.

Today on the Drudge Report there is an article about Atlas Shrugged being the first anti-bailout movie and again I am left wondering what the hell people see in this book.

OK so let's give the book it's due first. It is a celebration of both the individual and capitalism. I applaud that. Both of those ideals need defending.

That said I can't think of another book I have read where the heroes are less sympathetic. Everyone of them is a Nietzchean ubermensch looking down on those less capable than themselves. Not because of their station in life, such as manual labor, (all of the heroes work as manual laborers at one point or another) but because they are lesser beings. There is also a spirit of cruelty that runs through the heroes, such as when Reardon tries to humiliate Dagny Taggert while they are having sex, that is disturbing. The antagonists share this quality to be sure, but it's actually a little different in a way I can't quite describe. So superior and cruel appears to be Rand's preferred vision of humanity. Not real sure I agree with that.

I also found Rand's actual defense of capitalism less than stellar but I will deal with that in another post.

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